Florida just gave three colleges over $80,000 that belonged to them the whole time.
Now CFO Blaise Ingoglia says every Floridian has money sitting in the same pile.
And Florida’s CFO just admitted that the state is holding $3 billion that belongs to taxpayers.
Florida Is Holding a $3 Billion Stack
That is the whole point Ingoglia made Wednesday at USF – and he said it plainly.
"It is not our money," Ingoglia told the crowd. "We are just holding it."
One in five Floridians has unclaimed property sitting in state accounts right now.
Not one in a hundred. Not one in fifty.
One in five.
That money comes from forgotten bank accounts, uncashed paychecks, utility deposits, insurance payouts, stocks, and securities – the kind of things people lose track of when they move, change jobs, or simply forget.
And the state is required by law to hold it for you indefinitely.
Wednesday's event at USF was part of Ingoglia's "Claim Your Cash Florida" campaign, launched in September to drive awareness about the program.
https://twitter.com/GovGoneWild/status/2100666722407645650?s=20
USF alone had $73,651 waiting – money it will now use to help students stay enrolled.
Polk State College's $2,419 is going to My Brother's Keeper, a program that covers food, rent, and basic needs so students do not have to drop out.
“Behind every piece of abandoned property the state is holding, there is a family, small business, or even a state college or university that is able to claim their cash and put it to good use,” Ingoglia said. “My office works diligently every single day to return this money back into the pockets of Floridians. Through Claim Your Cash Florida, making a claim is as simple as click, claim, cash.”
$66 Million Went Back to Floridians in September Alone
This is not a small operation.
Florida returned more than $66 million in unclaimed property to residents in a single month – September 2026.
The program has been running since 1961 and has paid out nearly five million claims over its lifetime.
In the record-setting 2016-2017 fiscal year, Florida returned $313 million to residents in a single year – more than 513,000 individual claims.
The year after that, CFO Jimmy Patronis broke his own record with $321 million returned.
Now Ingoglia is pushing harder – and the current $3 billion total held by the state is bigger than those past figures because the outreach has not kept pace with the deposits flowing in.
By law, businesses that lose contact with account holders must eventually turn those funds over to the state.
The money keeps coming in. It does not expire. And most people never check.
Here Is the One Thing You Need to Do Today
Go to ClaimYourCashFL.gov.
Type in your name. Try your maiden name. Try former business names.
It takes two minutes.
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If the state is holding something for you, you will see it – and then you file a claim with documents proving you are the rightful owner.
There is no deadline. There is no fee. The money does not disappear.
What kills these claims is simple ignorance – most people do not know the program exists, which is exactly why Ingoglia is making the rounds with a camera crew and a stack of checks.
State CFOs across the country are holding over $70 billion nationally in unclaimed property right now.
That is not government savings. That is not a rainy-day fund.
That is your money, and your neighbor's money, and your grandfather's pension check that never got cashed – sitting in a government account waiting for someone to ask for it back.
Florida's conservative leadership is doing the work to return it.
You just have to show up and claim it.
Sources:
- Kennedy Owens, "Ingoglia urges Floridians to claim their cash as colleges recover funds," FL Voice News, October 7, 2026.
- Florida Department of Financial Services, "CFO Blaise Ingoglia Launches Claim Your Cash Florida," myfloridacfo.com, September 15, 2026.
- Florida Department of Financial Services, "Unclaimed Property Program Returns $313M in 12 Months," myfloridacfo.com, July 2017.
- Florida Department of Financial Services, "CFO Jimmy Patronis: $321 Million Back to Florida Residents and Businesses in One Year," myfloridacfo.com, July 20, 2018.
- NBC News, "States have billions of dollars in unclaimed property," nbcdfw.com, 2024.
