The Texas Comptroller recently state in an article that the lone star state returned over $300 million in unclaimed money and property to its rightful owners last fiscal year. While that total may seem high, Texas as a state has over $5 billion in missing money sitting in its coffers. The number of claims that were returned was over 700,000 with an average of nearly $400 per claim!
One of the largest states with unclaimed property, Texas has a searchable database that lists the property ID along with the name the account is under. Also included is the address where the property was originally from as well as the holder name, property type, amount and year reported. The website also has a section to check the status of the claim. All you’ll need is the claim ID number and you can see the status in real time.
Bexar County alone has over $221 million in unclaimed money. San Antonio, which is located in Bexar County has $218 million of that total. There is no statute of limitations for unclaimed property the state holds, meaning there’s no time limit for owners to file a claim. According to officials at the Comptroller’s office, Texas has returned more than $3 billion in unclaimed property to its rightful owners since the unclaimed property program began in 1962.
Also be aware that Texas is different than most states in the fact they they charge a 1.5% handling fee for any claim above $100.
Like most states Texas also collects physical property and uses Ebay to auction it off periodically. Items in the ‘vault’ include $130,000 gold bar, gold coins from Mexico, a math book by Sir Issac Newton, and a framed lock of John Lennon’s hair.