The Texas Comptroller’s office approved and paid out a record $309 million in unclaimed property during the past fiscal year, Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced Monday.
This is the third time the Comptroller’s office has returned $300 million or more in unclaimed property in a fiscal year. In fiscal 2019, the Comptroller’s office returned a then-record $308 million to its rightful property owners; in fiscal 2020, the Comptroller’s office returned $300 million in unclaimed property.
“The $309 million represents more than 160,000 claims paid to their rightful owners, and the fact that my office has returned $2.1 billion to Texans since I became Comptroller is a testament to the hardworking folks in our Unclaimed Property Division,” Hegar said. “I encourage everyone to visit ClaimItTexas.org to see if the state is holding some of their unclaimed property.”
In addition, the Comptroller’s office will be implementing a new way to quickly return unclaimed property to owners this year — sending a check to the owner without requiring them to file a claim. This process was authorized by Texas House Bill 1514 in 2021 and will be limited to unclaimed properties under $5,000 that the agency reasonably believes it can link to the correct owner.
The Comptroller’s office has returned more than $4 billion in unclaimed property to its owners since Texas’ unclaimed property program began in 1962. The state is currently holding more than $7 billion in cash and other valuables through the program.
The $309 million in unclaimed property returned in fiscal 2022 includes forgotten utility deposits or other refunds, insurance proceeds, payroll checks, cashier’s checks, dividends, mineral royalties, dormant bank accounts and abandoned safe-deposit box contents. Businesses generally turn property over to the unclaimed property program after it has been considered dormant for one to five years.
There is generally no statute of limitations for unclaimed property the state holds, which means there’s no time limit for owners to file a claim — they can do so at any time.
For more information about the unclaimed property program, or to search for unclaimed property and begin the claims process, visit the Comptroller’s unclaimed property website, ClaimItTexas.org, or call 800-321-2274 (CASH).
