Maryland is sitting on $2.6 billion of your unclaimed funds
In February, the state of Maryland couldn't tell the 7News I-Team how much of your money it was holding in unclaimed funds. Two days after our investigation aired, it found a number. Maryland is sitting on $2.6 billion.
RELATED | Unclaimed funds: Maryland has no idea how much of your forgotten money it's collected
DC is holding around $600 million, and Virginia has almost $4 billion.
It's not just the public's unclaimed money.
The National Park Service inside the Department of Interior has money sitting with Virginia.
SEE ALSO | DC has $606 million of your unclaimed money, Virginia is sitting on $3.8 billion
So does Catholic Charities USA.
"It should be unusual, but it isn't because unclaimed property programs are dysfunctional. States should automatically return money to all known owners, but they don't," says Ron Lizzi, a national expert on unclaimed funds.
Some states do automatically return money. Laws just passed will allow Maryland and Virginia to do the same for individuals up to $5,000.
That could help clean up the controversy with thousands of dollars owed to the U.S. Library of Congress, according to Virginia and DC. The Library of Congress says it's not the Library's money.
Library of Congress emailed 7News:
“We appreciate the diligence of the Virginia and other state treasuries going to these lengths to connect unclaimed funds with their owners. In past examinations of these lists, none of the funds proved to belong to the Library of Congress. Usually, someone intended to spend these funds on services from the Library. However, we don’t deliver these services until after we get paid. So, while such funds may have been intended for us, they are not owed to us nor belong to us, and we cannot legally claim them.”
Bill Ryan
Director of Communications
Library of Congress
Virginia emailed:
"The holder of these funds reported them as belonging to the Library of Congress, and we do not alter records unless the reporter of these funds provides our office information to update a report they submitted; therefore, the funds will remain as they were reported and will continue to be available until claimed. I believe that most of these funds must’ve been for fees listed on the U.S. Copyright website, which falls under the Library of Congress."
Best regards,
Brad
Bradley Earl
Virginia Treasury Department
Director, Division of Unclaimed Property
