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Budget and Financial Management

Contacting you about debts and unclaimed funds

You may have unpaid fines or penalties registered with the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER), which we are required to collect and enforce. We also make compensation and restitution payments that may be ordered by a Queensland court to be paid to you.

We use various means—phone, email, SMS— to tell you about your debts or unclaimed funds, but we understand that scammers can do the same. We are committed to giving you accurate information about our communication with you and protecting your financial and personal details.

Phone calls about your SPER debt

If you have recently received a SPER enforcement order, or we have suspended your driver licence, you might get a call from us.

We’ll call to explain your obligations, payment options and the consequences of not paying your SPER debt on time. We won’t discuss the specific details of your case until we have verified your identity.

If you are concerned about providing details over the phone, call us on 1300 365 635.

Email scams

We urge people to be careful when responding to emails about penalty infringement notices. We have identified an email scam designed to get your bank details when you open an attached file.

If you’re concerned about the source of an email, call us on 1300 365 635 (overseas +61 7 3328 4811).

If you think you have received a message from a suspicious source, do not reply to it or open links or files within the message.

The websites where you can find our content are:

If you believe you have given bank account details to a scammer, contact your financial institution immediately.

Find out more about:

Unclaimed funds

If you have overpaid a debt or have a compensation or restitution payment owing to you, we may have sent you a cheque. If you haven’t cashed it, we will contact you to arrange to have the funds transferred to your bank account.

We may contact you by phone, post or SMS. The text message we send will have instructions on how to apply to reclaim your funds.

Apply for your payment

Follow these steps to apply to have your funds transferred to your bank account:

  1. Download and complete an EFT application form, including your party ID number. If you don’t know yours, call us on 1300 365 635.
  2. Provide supporting documents
    • a copy of a bank statement that confirms your name, BSB and account number (this includes bank accounts held in joint names)
    • evidence of a change of name (e.g. marriage certificate) if you are known by other names.
  3. Email or post your completed EFT application form and supporting documents

After we process your application, we will deposit the funds into your nominated bank account within 4 to 6 weeks.

The Public Trustee

We are required to transfer all funds that have gone unclaimed after 2 years to the Queensland Public Trustee. The Public Trustee is responsible for holding unclaimed money on behalf of Queenslanders.

Learn about unclaimed money in other states and territories:

Related links

Contact SPER

Statistics for debts registered with SPER

State Penalties Enforcement Act 1999

Enforcement orders

Payment options

Fine issuing agencies

Forms and publications

Last updated: 31 October 2019