Premier

Victoria’s Unclaimed Millions

25 May 2020

A windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars is waiting to be claimed by Victorians in long-lost wages, rental bonds and share dividends.

The latest data shows the State Revenue Office has more than a million unclaimed entitlements across Victoria, ranging from as little as $20 all the way up to $994,994 – the biggest single entitlement – which is owed to a Mulgrave woman.

A Brighton East woman has an unclaimed entitlement of $412,610, while another in Ardeer in Melbourne’s west has $259,828 waiting for her.

A man in Ivanhoe East has a whopping 70 entitlements in his name – for a total of $16,888.

The unclaimed money is made up of share dividends, salaries and wages, rents and bonds, debentures and interest, and proceeds from sales that for whatever reason is not collected. After 12 months, the money is held by the SRO.

Last financial year, the SRO reunited $16.6 million with its rightful owners through more than 18,000 entitlements – that’s 50 claims processed a day.

There are currently 825,211 entitlements for Greater Melbourne worth a total $123 million.

That includes $433,888 in Footscray (2,529 entitlements), $284,951 in Eltham (2,562 entitlements), $347,916 in Hoppers Crossing (3,553 entitlements), $958,894 in Richmond (6,234 entitlements) and $578,609 in Doncaster (3,168 entitlements).

In regional Victoria, the leading area is Geelong with $2.7 million (25,137 entitlements), followed by Ballarat with $1.28 million to be claimed (11,296 entitlements) and Bendigo with $1.1 million (11,069 entitlements).

There is no time limit to claiming held money, which can be searched via sro.vic.gov.au/unclaimedmoney.

Quotes attributable to Treasurer Tim Pallas

“This is money that is just waiting for be collected by their rightful owners. We encourage all Victorians, businesses and community groups to do a search – you may be pleasantly surprised.”

“You will know within seconds if you’re sitting on an unexpected windfall.”

Reviewed 26 June 2020

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