Residents across the Hunter region have a significant financial opportunity waiting to be discovered, with new data revealing more than $14.2 million in unclaimed money is currently sitting with the state government.
A Growing Pool of Forgotten Funds
Figures released by Revenue NSW show the total amount of unclaimed cash registered to people in the Hunter has surged by almost $2 million in just one year. As of the end of November 2025, a staggering $9.2 million is owed to residents of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie alone, marking an increase of approximately $1 million since late 2024.
In the broader Hunter Valley area, excluding those two major centres, a further $5 million remains unclaimed, up from $4.2 million at the end of the previous year. This places the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie area as having the highest amount of unclaimed money of any NSW region outside of Sydney.
Where is the Money and Who Does it Belong To?
Unclaimed money encompasses a variety of sources that have been lost track of over time. This includes overpayments, uncashed cheques, dividends, refunds, and even superannuation from the NSW public sector. Money typically becomes 'unclaimed' when individuals move house and forget to update their details with companies, lose important paperwork, or when beneficiaries are unaware of funds left in an estate.
Across the entire Hunter, there are 46,029 separate unclaimed items, with the average claim valued at over $300. The data pinpoints specific postcodes holding the largest sums:
- Postcode 2300: $1.2 million
- Postcode 2283: $1.1 million
- Postcode 2325: $716,000
- Postcode 2290: $677,000
- Postcode 2320: $674,000
The single largest category of unclaimed funds is unpresented cheques, representing more than $4 million of the Hunter's total. Underpayments and overpayments account for $3.8 million, while trust funds hold over $2 million and more than $1.5 million is owed in dividends.
A Potential Holiday Season Windfall
NSW Minister for Finance, Courtney Houssos, is urging locals to check the Revenue NSW website, suggesting the recovered money could provide a "welcome boost" for families during the holiday period. "We want to get money back into the hands of families and households as soon as we can," Ms Houssos said.
The scale of unclaimed money is substantial across the state, with Revenue NSW holding almost $300 million from more than 800,000 items statewide. For Hunter residents, a quick online search could turn forgotten funds into an unexpected end-of-year bonus, simply by verifying their details with the government's official portal.
