Apr. 19, 2012
Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot wants Maryland residents to be on the lookout for his agency’s annual unclaimed property advertising insert. The 184-page insert, which is in today’s issue of The Republican, is designed help reunite Marylanders with nearly $51 million in unclaimed property.
The unclaimed property unit of the comptroller’s office is the guardian of bank accounts, contents of safe deposit boxes, security deposits, wages and insurance benefits, and proceeds that have been unclaimed for more than three years. Property such as parcels of land or homes is not included.
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By law, financial institutions, insurance companies, utilities, and other companies are required to notify the comptroller of any property that has gone unclaimed, or without activity, for more than three years. Once the comptroller’s office is notified, the staff try to locate the rightful owners to match them with their property.
Even though the comptroller is the guardian of the property, the items continue to belong to the owners or their rightful heirs, and are available to be claimed at any time. There is no deadline on when the owners can collect their funds.
“The number-one priority of the comptroller’s office is to serve the citizens of Maryland,” said Franchot. “In that respect, we take our responsibility for reuniting Marylanders with what is rightfully theirs very seriously. Many of the unclaimed property accounts on our books are simply forgotten by the owners. But, in other cases, the property is something left behind by a relative, which no one knew about until he/she checked the list.”
Franchot urges all who find their names in the insert to telephone his office toll-free at 1-800-782-7383 to find out how to reclaim their lost property. The agency’s complete list of 970,000 accounts, worth more than $985 million, is also available online at any time, for free, at www.marylandtaxes.com or www.missingmoney.com.
Some items held by the Unclaimed Property division of the comptroller’s office are eligible for auction on eBay to obtain the best return in value for the rightful owners. The auction program has been in place for six years, and nearly 6,100 items have been sold, totaling more than $1.2 million These items can be viewed and bid on by clicking the eBay icon at www.marylandtaxes.com.
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