COLUMBUS, Ohio — Over the course of the year, the Ohio Department of Commerce's Division of Unclaimed Funds hosts outreach events to raise awareness to help connect people with their missing money. However, no event can match the attention unclaimed funds have received following the Ohio legislature's $600 million plan to help fund a new Browns stadium in Brook Park.
News 5 traveled to Columbus to speak with Akil Hardy, the Superintendent of the Division of Unclaimed Funds. According to the Ohio Department of Commerce's annual report, there were 69,169 claims paid out in 2024. Hardy estimates that they've paid out that same number of claims in just the past two months and are on track for a record number of claims and money paid out this year.
"Right now, we’re going to blow it out of the water, to be honest," Hardy explained. "As we entered into June, we had about 10,000 to 12,000 claims ready to process which is very manageable for us. We can get those turned around in a reasonable amount of time - about 60 days. Today, we have 45,000 claims ready to process. So we’ve got our work ahead of us."
Because of this rush of people, either previously unaware of unclaimed funds or fans that didn’t want their money heading to this project, the Division of Unclaimed Funds' office hired 15 more people to help handle claims, on top of a staff of almost 50.
Currently, they oversee approximately $4.9 billion, comprising forgotten bank accounts, utility deposits, uncashed checks and more.
To see if you or anyone you know has unclaimed funds, head to Unclaimedfunds.Ohio.Gov.
News 5 also asked Hardy to address any claims (many of which were emailed to News 5 or included in the comments of any social media post about unclaimed funds) that argue the process of recovering missing money is too difficult, confusing and tricky.
"For those individuals who are struggling to figure out how do they gather all that documentation to get that process, I always say just start the process," Hardy explained. "What they don’t know is that we have ways to validate that information that may not be on the claim form."
Clock is ticking to file for unclaimed funds
Language tucked into Ohio's newly approved two-year operating budget changes the way Ohio safeguards those unclaimed funds.
Until now, the state held that missing money in perpetuity, while using some of it to plug budget holes and give short-term loans to affordable-housing developers — in the same way banks use your deposits to make loans, while keeping a certain amount of cash on hand.
Going forward, people will have only a decade to file claims. After that, the unclaimed funds, along with interest earned on them, will become the state's property.
Lawmakers directed the commerce department to pull money out of the unclaimed funds pool twice a year, starting on Jan. 1, 2026, and to put that money into a new fund for sports and cultural facility grants. The first deposit into that fund will be $1 billion, including the $600 million earmarked for the Browns.
The budget, approved by Republican lawmakers and signed by Gov. Mike DeWine late last month, creates a grace period for people whose money gets taken by the state. They'll still be able to file claims through Jan. 1, 2036.
News 5's Michelle Jarboe contributed to this report.
