According to MD State Comptroller Peter Franchot, Maryland unclaimed money now exceeds half of a billion dollars and quickly approaching 600 million dollars. As of May of 2007, the total held at $580 million, and with new unclaimed property that is added consistently outpacing the amount handed back to the citizens, 600 million dollars can't be far off.

After certain kinds of funds have been abandoned for three years or more (depending on the type), they are classified "unclaimed property", and the financial institution, corporation, or insurance company holding them has to turn them over to the State Comptroller's Office. There many different of types of accounts that can potentially become unclaimed property, but according to the Comptroller's site, some of the most common in MD are: contents of safe deposit boxes, bank accounts, insurance benefits, wages, stock dividends, security deposits.

The citizens of MD should consider themselves lucky, because they live in what is known as a "custodial state", which means there is absolutely no time limit for them to claim their forgotten funds, and after a person dies the rightful heirs may still claim it. But residents must act quickly on safe deposit boxes, because their contents will be auctioned off. At any point in the future the rightful owner can still step forward and claim the proceeds, but if the item is of personal value, it may be gone forever.

MD missing money isn't only for current residents, though. American citizens who previously resided in MD may be owed a claim, and even people who have never even set foot in the state, in some instances. When corporations that have business locations in multiple states across the country, they required by law to hand over abandoned assets to the state in which the company is incorporated. So if a person has ever worked for a corporation that calls Maryland it's home, they could be owed lost property, even if a search of their own home state's records didn't turn up anything.

For the same reasons stated above, MD residents ought to search the records of any other states where they may have lived or held a job or had business interests, even if they did not know it. Each state holds its own list, so searching the records of only one state does not come close to being a complete search.

On top of searching multiple states, you ought to search them regularly. Why? Because you do not know when they last updated the listings. To start with, the wide ranging dormancy periods are coming to an end for thousands of properties all of the time, but until they've expired, the state isn't even aware of the cash. Even after they've taken control of the funds the states often take their sweet time adding the account to their system. It takes manpower - someone actually adding the record - and we are all aware of how efficient the government usually is, right? Searching frequently is the name of the game.

There are quite a number of tips to help track down lost money that most beginners are not aware of, but a seasoned expert can show people the "ins and outs" of locating funds owed to them to save them time and frustration, which often hinders searchers in their quest.