Everybody needs some money, sometimes, so what if you found out you had thousands of dollars owed to you?
In the state of Texas, the office of the comptroller holds in excess of $9 billion in unclaimed assets. The majority of those funds, according to the comptroller’s office, includes long-forgotten utility deposits, various types of refunds, payroll checks and dividends.
During the last fiscal year, the comptroller returned $422.4 million in unclaimed funds to Texans.
Bryant Clayton, who works as the assistant director of the office’s Unclaimed Property Division, said the range of values is from a penny to millions of dollars.
“We've done claims of all sizes,” Clayton said. “The average claim we see is between about $1,000 and $2,000 and has one or two properties on it.”
On Feb. 1, the comptroller’s office joined in with other unclaimed property administrators, nationwide, to celebrate the fourth annual “Unclaimed Property Day.”
Glenn Hegar, who is the state comptroller, said in a news release that he was proud to have returned more than $3 billion to Texans since he began serving in that capacity. Last year’s $422 million returned was a record, he said. It was also the fifth time that the office has returned more than $300 million or more in a fiscal year reporting period.
Those returns came from nearly 250,000 claims, according to Hegar.
“These achievements are a testament to the hardworking folks in our Unclaimed Property Division. We are committed to finding new and innovative ways to improve efficiency and reunite more money with Texans in every corner of our great state. The money belongs to the people, and I encourage everyone to visit ClaimItTexas.gov to see if the state is holding some of their unclaimed property,” he said.
The ClaimItTexas.gov website serves as a portal to all unclaimed assets in the state of Texas, and its interface virtually walks users through the steps to find and then claim their heretofore unknown monies.
The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators reported that one in seven Americans have unclaimed property owed to them.
Businesses generally turn property over to the unclaimed property program after it has been considered dormant for one to five years. There is no statute of limitations for claiming unclaimed property in Texas, allowing owners to file a claim at any time.
According to Hegar’s office, checks for unclaimed cash assets will be limited to properties under $5,000 that the office reasonably believes it can link to the proper owner.
The Comptroller’s Office has returned more than $4 billion in unclaimed property to its rightful owners since Texas’ unclaimed property program began in 1962.
If you think you have some unclaimed assets in the pipeline, visit the comptroller’s unclaimed property portal at: ClaimItTexas.gov, or you can call 800-321-2274 (CASH).
