ANNAPOLIS, Md. (March 23, 2026) — The Office of the Comptroller of Maryland today announced that Maryland has joined the States’ Unclaimed Retirement Clearinghouse (SURCH), a national initiative designed to help workers and retirees more easily locate and recover lost or unclaimed retirement funds.
Administered by the National Association of State Treasurers in partnership with participating states, SURCH provides a centralized, multistate platform for retirement plans and financial institutions to transfer unclaimed retirement assets to state unclaimed property programs. By joining SURCH, Maryland is enhancing its ability to reconnect residents with retirement funds that may have been lost due to job changes, relocations, or outdated account information.
“Too many Marylanders have retirement savings out there that they have forgotten about or don't know how to locate,” said Comptroller Brooke Lierman. “This partnership helps cut through the confusion and puts people back in control of their money so they can have a more stable retirement.”
Each year, millions of dollars in retirement assets nationwide go unclaimed when individuals change jobs, move, or lose track of accounts over time. Through SURCH, retirement plan administrators and recordkeepers can report unclaimed retirement funds across multiple participating states using a single, streamlined process. Once transferred, those funds are held securely by state unclaimed property programs, which use data matching, outreach, and publicly searchable databases to reunite individuals with their money. For Maryland residents, this means an easier, more reliable path to recovering retirement savings that might otherwise have been lost.
“SURCH has created a new opportunity for state unclaimed property programs to now return missing retirement funds to retirees,” said Shaun Snyder, Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of State Treasurers. “Maryland’s leadership contributes to a unique and forward-thinking partnership between the retirement industry and states to tackle a multi-billion-dollar problem. Combined with Maryland’s recent upgrade to its unclaimed property system and the refreshed national search database of missingmoney.com, SURCH will help return this money to its rightful owners when it's needed most, during their retirement years.”
“Our program exists to reunite people with what’s rightfully theirs,” said Mahesh Seegopaul, director of unclaimed property for the Office of the Comptroller. “SURCH gives us another powerful tool to find owners, match records, and return retirement funds quickly and securely.”
Marylanders can search for unclaimed property, including retirement funds, at any time by visiting the Comptroller’s website, www.claimitmd.gov. Claims can be filed free of charge, and the office encourages residents to check regularly, particularly after changing jobs or moving.
In FY2025, the Comptroller’s Office returned more than $121 million in unclaimed property to Marylanders, including money found in dormant bank accounts, insurance benefits, stock dividends, utility deposits, and items from safe deposit boxes.
The addition of Maryland to SURCH reflects a growing collaboration among states to address the nationwide challenge of unclaimed retirement assets and to protect the financial security of workers and retirees. For more information about the States’ Unclaimed Retirement Clearinghouse, visit statesurch.org.
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