Texas has almost $9 billion in 鈥渦nclaimed property.鈥� Those are funds from uncashed paychecks, unclaimed refunds and deposits, and money and safe deposit contents from dormant bank accounts.
If money hasn't been claimed or a check hasn鈥檛 been cashed after a few years, the holder of the asset (like the bank) must send the money to the Texas Comptroller. People can still get their money back, but they have to know to look for it by going to .
Type in your name or the name of your business to see if you have money to be claimed 鈥� like a credit balance owed to you from your cable provider or a returned deposit from your old apartment complex. If you find money listed on the site that you believe is yours, click the 鈥渃laim鈥� button and submit any requested documents to prove the money is yours. After your claim has been verified, the state will send you a check.
The rate at which the Texas Comptroller鈥檚 office is collecting money, however, is far outpacing the rate the office is returning it. According to Bryant Clayton, the assistant director of the Unclaimed Property Division, in fiscal year 2023, for example, the state collected $1.1 billion, but returned only about a third of that 鈥� or $340 million.
There are now more than 73 million unclaimed properties with a total value of $8.8 billion. That money sits in the state's General Revenue Fund to be used in the budget. It's also earning interest 鈥� for the state.
The Texas Comptroller鈥檚 office started a pilot program this year to proactively return money to people. Clayton said it identified 1,000 unclaimed properties worth less than $5,000 each for which it could reasonably determine the owner鈥檚 address. The office sent letters to people letting them know to expect a check in the mail. Some letters weren鈥檛 deliverable. In the end, he said, the office mailed out only 596 checks for a total of about $186,000.
By January, the office will evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot program by checking how many of those 596 checks were cashed 鈥� and if they were cashed by the right person.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 always one of our items we鈥檙e thinking about is: Are we getting property back to the right person?鈥� Clayton said.
Clayton said his team looked to what other states were doing to return property to residents, but Texas had a unique problem.
鈥淭exas doesn鈥檛 have a personal income tax,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd so, citizens of the state of Texas don鈥檛 routinely interact with our office. And we don鈥檛 necessarily get, every year, someone鈥檚 current address because they鈥檙e filing personal income tax. And so, we don鈥檛 have that same level of direct data that other states do in trying to reach out to their citizens.鈥�
Clayton said his office has tried various outreach campaigns to return money to people, groups and entities like cities and school districts.
鈥淲e will continue to do that,鈥� he said. 鈥淎lthough, I will tell you, it can be tough to make the justification to spend time doing that when we already have folks filing claims with us to the point where our claims examiners are busy all the time.鈥�
Then there鈥檚 the issue of individuals not believing you are trying to return money to them, he said.
鈥淎 lot of people won鈥檛 take the call," he said about his own experience calling people. "People won鈥檛 believe you are who you say you are.鈥�
Clayton said the best thing his office can do is publicize its website for claims. The site only lists funds over $25, but you can contact the office for a complete search of any unclaimed properties in your name.
Most of the claims filed with the office are by people trying to get their own money back, but about 13% of claims filed since 2018 are by heirs trying to claim the funds of, say, a deceased parent. The process gets more complicated because claims officers have to verify the person has died, find their latest will and identify all the heirs.
鈥淲e have to make sure we are returning property to the rightful owner,鈥� Clayton said.
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