SUN: Maryland has accumulated $2.76 billion in unclaimed money. Is any yours?

Anyone in Maryland who might have lost track of uncashed checks, overpayments or safe deposit boxes has a good chance of finding even decades-old unclaimed property in a little-known division of a state agency.

The Unclaimed Property Division, part of the state’s Office of the Comptroller, collects and safeguards abandoned property that banks, stockbrokers, credit unions and insurance companies must, by law, transfer after a period of inactivity.

As of Dec. 15, the state had more than $2.7 billion of misplaced or forgotten assets in its possession. The agency doled out $121 million to rightful owners in the last fiscal year. Checks typically average about $187 each, but officials said they recently issued two six-figure checks for returned property.

The office says it has taken steps in recent months to modernize and raise the profile of the division, a lost and found of sorts, to connect more people and businesses with missing property. Upgrades are part of a plan to improve technology and processes, both for those seeking lost property and for those required to remit it to the state.

Read the full story on The Baltimore Sun’s website.