Find missing money -- without paying a fee
Posted
Nov 05 2008, 02:03 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post comes from David Wood at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com.
With the economy suffering a bad case of the blues, most of us would welcome a few extra dollars that came with no strings attached.
That makes us prime targets for "free money" enticements. Sure enough, the Internet is crowded with advertisements like "Claim your missing money" or "Free search for unclaimed money."
One of the older and better-known promoters is FoundMoney.com. Started by Edward Palonek™ -- who, by the way, claims to have trademarked his name -- FoundMoney.com calls itself the "leader in unfound assets" and provides a "free national search for lost money."
I wanted to see if I had unclaimed assets, so I typed in my name and discovered hundreds of results with various amounts of unclaimed funds. However, there was no physical address listed with the names, not even a state. To find out more information I would have to purchase a membership, which sort of negates the value of the "free" search.
I didn't think I wanted to invest in a membership because, according to complaints filed with ConsumerAffairs.com, other consumers have paid for a membership only to discover there was no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
"I used the free search and it came up with two accounts in my name," wrote Sharon, of Salisbury, N.C. "After paying for the real search, guess what? Nothing shows up in my name. I requested a refund and was told you only get a refund if your name shows up and you're unable to get the funds," Sharon said.
Michael, of Elko, Nev., said that he laid out $24.95 for a membership for nothing. "I felt I could trust the site because it said that Oprah (Winfrey) and Maury (Povich) both had the founder on their show," wrote Michael. "I am just like all the rest of the people that spent money and got burnt."
In response to published complaints, we heard from Kathy at FoundMoney.com.
"We are committed to client satisfaction and offer a full unconditional 100% money back guarantee on all our services. Clients are NEVER at financial risk of not getting their desired service," Kathy wrote.
Kathy said that negative consumer reviews are actually the work of disgruntled competitors dazzled by the brilliant success of FoundMoney.com.
"We hate to brag, but our package of services together with our customer care and satisfaction is so great that many of our competitors have become extremely jealous of our success and have resorted to a number of unscrupulous online negative marketing tactics," she claimed.
"We would ask you to strongly consider, that most if NOT all of the (obviously overboard!) supposed complaints about FoundMoney.com and its online unclaimed property business are unfounded and probably manufactured (by) our less successful competition!"
We decided that not only would we strongly consider Kathy's claim, we would actually ask complaining consumers about it. They were not amused.
"I am not nor have I ever been associated with the competition of FoundMoney.com. The allegation is ludicrous," said Lee, of Sacramento, Calif.
Michael of Elko said, "I'm just a blue-collar worker trying to raise five kids, and for them to suggest that I work for their competition, all I have to say is that they need to back off."
Never say never
In fact, there is a way to find unclaimed money without paying a fee.
"All states provide a way to search for missing money for free, and unlike the sites that charge, the state Web sites provide identifiable information such as a mailing address," said Steve Larson, deputy state treasurer of Iowa and president of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. "People also need to understand that the states have the latest data whereas with non-state sites, it's anyone's guess how often the data is updated."
It is estimated that state treasurers and various agencies are holding more than $32 billion in unclaimed property. The phrase "unclaimed property" refers to abandoned savings or checking accounts, stocks, payroll checks, insurance payments or refunds, customer overpayments, and other sums of money.
Where to go
While many Web sites say they're the "official" site for unclaimed funds, only one destination is officially endorsed by NAUPA -- MissingMoney.com.
MissingMoney.com allows you to perform a free detailed search for unclaimed property in more than 40 states, all from one centralized location. It also has links to the unclaimed property division of each state that is not a part of the MissingMoney.com database.
The majority of states handle everything for free, although a handful charge some type of processing fee once it has been confirmed that you are owed money.
A good example is Ohio. "In 1991, the Ohio General Assembly established a 5% administrative fee to be assessed to each claims account," said Dennis Ginty, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Commerce.
As with the other states that charge a fee, Ohio won't charge you anything to search. In short, you will not pay a cent unless you know that a check is on the way.
"For instance, if the consumer has $100 in unclaimed funds, the state would keep $5 for processing the claim and the consumer would receive a check for $95," Ginty said.
I decided to use the free detailed search provided by my state and discovered that I was owed $50. The money came from an old P.O. box I had in 1999.
Once I fill out the form and provide my state with routine identity information, it will send me a freshly printed $50 check from the state treasurer.
I guess that proves you really can get something for nothing every now and then.
