Question about unclaimed funds
Robert Matthews
were trying to release an amount of money to me. The actual gist of the
letter is that they're looking for this person and they gave some semi-
personal information such as DOB and so on. The letter went on to say that
if I was this person to call so they could send out the paperwork,
otherwise give them a courtesy call, etc. It seems relatively legit (i.e.
no amazing offers or computer printed signatures).
I did a little research and found reference to the company on a Chamber of
Commerce listing page for their town as well as a couple of other
references that all seem pretty normal. So I called them and they asked me
some questions, said "okay, great," and they sent out the paperwork. They
wouldn't offer any information regarding the claim for obvious reasons.
The paperwork they sent me includes an affidavit, a release
authorization/power of attorney, and a compensation agreement. The
affidavit requests information such as name, address, social security
number, place of birth, as well as names of my mother and father. The
RA/POA is pretty concise and states that I am under no obligation for any
expenses in the event that no assets are received. The compensation seems
to be a bit high to me -- over 30% of the received assets are to be issued
to the attorney. All paperwork has to be notarized before I return it.
My first concern with all of this is the possibility of identity theft. Is
there a way I can positively confirm the legitimacy of all of this? Should
I contact a local attorney regarding these matters? Also, what are the
chances I could find out more information about this claim on my own?
I'd appreciate any insight anyone has to offer.
--
rďs...@earthlink.net
fix the i to reply by email
Robert Thompson
news:<jmetvt02jbgd2p6ls...@news.supernews.com>...
<snip>
- Poster had received letter from "finder" of unclaimed assets
<snip>
> My first concern with all of this is the possibility of identity theft. Is
> there a way I can positively confirm the legitimacy of all of this? Should
> I contact a local attorney regarding these matters? Also, what are the
> chances I could find out more information about this claim on my own?
>
> I'd appreciate any insight anyone has to offer.
*reposted after reformatting
I recall, more than a few years ago, there was some items related
to a new business of finding "lost" money, locating the owner and,
for a percentage fee, telling the owner about the money owed.
Nothing illegal about that, if that is all it is.
It seems from your post that someone is attempting to do the same
thing. I can not answer if, in this case, the firm in question
is legit. Nor can I answer for you if 30 percent of, an as yet
undisclosed sum, is too much to pay. You may be able to negotiate
for a less percentage fee. Further, the company may not have done
all the work to insure that you are the "Robert Matthews" they are
looking for.
I do understand your concern for ID theft and your desire to
proceed cautiously.
The following is based in my personal information about
unclaimed assets in the USA. - YMMV
If you think that you may be owed money, there are several things
you can do on your own and spending not much more than some web
search time, some phone time or letter writing time. Possibly,
begin by checking with anyone that you have provided a deposit,
old landlords, utility companies and the like. If you moved
away without leaving a forwarding address, they may have
attempted to returned your deposit or otherwise contact you, and
got "person no longer at this address". The company may have
attempted contact before you filed a change of address with the
post office, with the same result.
Another possibility, but along the same lines is that you
overpaid a bill and are owed for the overpayment. Don't overlook
the possibility of an insurance payment due you; if an auto
incident is the reason, you may be owed money from the *other*
driver's insurance company as well. Also, don't overlook the
possibility that you paid a doctor or other medical bill for
which the provider later received an insurance payment and now,
either the doctor / provider owes for the duplicate payment or
the insurance company owes for the service. As in the previous
example for an auto, there may be more than one insurance company
involved. If married and both you and your spouse had health
insurance, both companies and the doctor / provider may have
failed to "coordinate benefits".
If you have now or have had a purchased home with a PMI
(Private Mortgage Insurance) requirement for the mortgage (or the
equivalent for federally backed mortgage), you may have paid PMI
premiums after the requirement had lapsed. The excess PMI
premiums would be refundable to you. Your mortgage company
should be able to assist you in this. Another possibility, the
title / closing company re-figured the amounts and attempted
writing to you using your *old* address, and not the address of
the home you were purchasing.
You may have been listed as a beneficiary on an insurance policy
or bank/credit union account. A friend or loved one has passed
away without telling you about the arrangements. Or the insurance
company / bank may not have a current address at the time they
attempted to contact you.
Another possibility is a check issued to you remains outstanding
and unpaid. That is, you got the check but it was never *paid*
by the company's bank.
By no means, is this a complete list of what may have transpired
to have someone looking to pay you money.
If none of this applies or sounds likely, there is still a
no / low cost alternative.
Just quickly looking, I found
http://www.lostmoney.com
http://www.foundmoney.com
http://www.unclaimedmoney.com
http://www.unclaimedassets.com/usa1.htm
Checkfree, working with the states administrators for unclaimed
assets, has a web site; sorry, I don't recall what that site is.
A web search can come up with a more complete list of resources.
However, if in the US, check the links for the administrator for
unclaimed assets for the states where you have lived in the last
10 years. The site for the National Association of Unclaimed
Property Administrators
http://www.unclaimed.org/
has links to all of the state agency web sites. The state web
sites may be free for you. Ohio is free to search (I checked
Ohio because I live here).
Also, they have a page on "About Finders" -
http://www.unclaimed.org/been_contacted/default.asp?VisitorType=owner
that gives some explanation about the type of company that
contacted you.
(If the link breaks in transit, go to the main URL link, click on
the "Owners" link, then on the "About Finders" link)
Follow up with the state agency directly. There should be no
cost to you to recover money or other unclaimed assets held by
any of the state agencies listed in the above link. Some
will accept email for a claim; some will accept email for a
request for a claim form. Expect to provide some proof of
identity if the amount is significant.
If all that turns up nothing, or you are still curious, check the
company's BBB record, ask the BBB &/or the company for references,
ask for information about the company's bond or fidelity
insurance. If they are a public company, you can get more
information about the company and the officers.
Also, verify that this company, or any affiliate, is not in the
debt collection or any other type of "skip / trace" business.
Said the spider to the fly ;-)
If you did come up with anything on your own, and you are
actually paid something, ask the company to verify that they will
not duplicate your previous efforts. They ought to reply that
they have a unique, and not otherwise paid asset, before you
proceed. "Investigate before you invest" has been a good watch
word for years. If the company uses an attorney and you know the
attorney's name, you would be able to inquire with other lawyers
in the area, or the state bar association for the location of the
company about the standing of the attorney. Likewise, you can
use the same process if the company has an investigator or any
other professional license or employs a professional.
If you have a good confront level with the company, and you feel
they have something your own efforts were unable to discover, and
feel there is no other way, have a *your* attorney review the
documents the company is requesting, especially the POA or any
other document that gives the company authority to represent you.
At the very least, the POA ought be time limited to, say, 3 to 6
months, and be further limited to presenting your claim for an
unclaimed asset. Your attorney may recommend other limitations
to the POA and with dealing with the company to insure that the
company retains *only* the agreed to fee, such as, insisting that
all checks for unclaimed assets will be made out and mailed to
you and not the company alone.
If your attorney agrees, then, and only then, would returning the
information and the POA to them be warranted.
Good luck on recovering your potential windfall.
Ohio Tax Man - Robert Thompson
Westerville (Columbus) Ohio
OhioT...@netscape.net
My free advice is worth what you pay for it. :)
I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. When you read
anything tax or legal on the net, always verify it on your own,
in light of your particular circumstances. You may also need to
consult a lawyer.
Arthur L. Rubin
> If you have now or have had a purchased home with a PMI
> (Private Mortgage Insurance) requirement for the mortgage (or the
> equivalent for federally backed mortgage), you may have paid PMI
> premiums after the requirement had lapsed. The excess PMI
> premiums would be refundable to you.
Are you sure about this example? As the PMI removal requirement
relates to the actual equity being over 20%, not the outstanding
balance being less than 80% of the purchase price, I don't
see how removal could be automatic and/or retroactive.
This is based on my understanding of PMI 5 years ago, and I
haven't researched it recently. I've never actually had a
loan with PMI, as I've always had over 20% down payment.
....
>
> Just quickly looking, I found
> http://www.lostmoney.com
> http://www.foundmoney.com
> http://www.unclaimedmoney.com
> http://www.unclaimedassets.com/usa1.htm
The link I found off one of the State web sites is
--
Arthur L. Rubin 216-...@mcimail.com
Robert Thompson
news:<jba30ucmjcefco15s...@news.supernews.com>...
> r?e...@earthlink.net (Robert Matthews) wrote in message
> news:<jmetvt02jbgd2p6ls...@news.supernews.com>...
> <snip>
> - Poster had received letter from "finder" of unclaimed assets
> <snip>
> > My first concern with all of this is the possibility of identity theft. Is
> > there a way I can positively confirm the legitimacy of all of this? Should
> > I contact a local attorney regarding these matters? Also, what are the
> > chances I could find out more information about this claim on my own?
> >
> > I'd appreciate any insight anyone has to offer.
>
> *reposted after reformatting
>
<snip>
.
> However, if in the US, check the links for the administrator for
> unclaimed assets for the states where you have lived in the last
> 10 years. The site for the National Association of Unclaimed
> Property Administrators
> http://www.unclaimed.org/
> has links to all of the state agency web sites. The state web
> sites may be free for you. Ohio is free to search (I checked
> Ohio because I live here).
<snip>
> Good luck on recovering your potential windfall.
>
> Ohio Tax Man - Robert Thompson
> Westerville (Columbus) Ohio
> OhioT...@netscape.net
>
> My free advice is worth what you pay for it. :)
>
> I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. When you read
> anything tax or legal on the net, always verify it on your own,
> in light of your particular circumstances. You may also need to
> consult a lawyer.
Quick followup -
Marshall Loeb article, DAILY MONEY TIP, for
1:00 AM ET Nov. 20, 2001 titled
"A clearinghouse for unclaimed assets"
(If link is broken, look for the archive for Marshall Loeb in the
Personal Finance section at http://cbs.marketwatch.com/)
In this article, Marshall Loeb lists several reasons I did not
think of as to why there might be unclaimed assets. He also
makes reference to
http://www.missingmoney.com/
(This was the site that I was trying to remember.)
The site is officially sponsored by NAUPA - The National
Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.
The site has a free lookup for unclaimed assets that have been
turned over (escheated) to a state's unclaimed assets
administrator.
Not all states participate in this free service, but of those
that do, can be a quick way to search several states at once.
Additionally, there is a facility to send an electronic claim for
an item found.
Robert Thompson
news:<lk260uckod0cnkmae...@news.supernews.com>...
> Robert Thompson wrote:
>
> > If you have now or have had a purchased home with a PMI
> > (Private Mortgage Insurance) requirement for the mortgage (or the
> > equivalent for federally backed mortgage), you may have paid PMI
> > premiums after the requirement had lapsed. The excess PMI
> > premiums would be refundable to you.
>
> Are you sure about this example? As the PMI removal requirement
> relates to the actual equity being over 20%, not the outstanding
> balance being less than 80% of the purchase price, I don't
> see how removal could be automatic and/or retroactive.
>
> This is based on my understanding of PMI 5 years ago, and I
> haven't researched it recently. I've never actually had a
> loan with PMI, as I've always had over 20% down payment.
>
> ....
>
Good point. The example may not be applicable in all cases.
The origional poster may have never had a mortage loan.
Alternatively, the poster may have always had the 20 percent
down.
I mentioned it as a possiblity as that mortgage companies are
human as well and PMI (or the fed guarantee equivelent) *may*
have been charged after the requirement for PMI had lapsed. I
mentioned the possibility as an item to investigate further, as
the poster would find applicable.
Since this is related to unclaimed funds for which none of us
is aware of the time frame, it may be related to events
that occured before the current law on PMI became effective. If
the funds have been escheated to the state, then, generally,
5 years have elapsed since the holder had last contact with
the owner. The time frame varies from state to state, and from
type of unclaimed asset to type of unclaimed asset. The NAUPA
web site may have the info on holding periods.
Barry Gold
Robert Thompson <OhioT...@netscape.net> wrote:
>I mentioned it as a possiblity as that mortgage companies are
>human as well and PMI (or the fed guarantee equivelent) *may*
>have been charged after the requirement for PMI had lapsed. I
>mentioned the possibility as an item to investigate further, as
>the poster would find applicable.
PMI doesn't get canceled automatically. The borrower has to
explicitly request it, and only after the request has been verified
by an appraisal will the PMI be cancelled.
And this actually applies only to new mortgages(*) made in the last
year or so. For older mortgages, the only way to get PMI canceled is
if your lender agrees to it(+). If the lender won't go along with your
request, your only other option is to refinance with a more
cooperative lender. (A good idea in general. If you're dealing with
somebody who has a "screw the customer" attitude, you should switch to
someone else who is more customer-friendly as soon as you can.)
(*) Deeds of Trust, actually.
(+) Unless the mortgage has an explicit clause specifying the PMI will
be canceled when 20% of the loan has been paid and/or when the equity
reaches 80%.
--
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