I actually as reminded about this from a tweet someone made awhile back, but I’ve heard of it before. I just remember my “scam”-radar went ballistic back then, and it remains today. Why would any organization want to try and re-unite you with money that was owed you?
I know that there ARE real legit companies that do this (sometimes taking a fee), and there are also dishonest scammers who will try and fleece you out of all that money that rich uncle Billy left you last summer. This particular site, Missing Money, is run by the The ACS Unclaimed Property Clearinghouse which is “the largest reporter of unclaimed property in the United States.” I believe they work with other organizations and even state governments to unite individuals with unclaimed property, and because they’re working for someone else, they don’t take a cut.
At least I don’t think they take a cut. I haven’t tried entering my name yet, but I did enter a few bogus “John Doe” names and quite a few results came back. Try it. (One note, if you enter a state other than yours, you’ll have to clear out your browser cookies for missingmoney.com to be able to pick a different state later.) It gives a listing of names with the state the funds are held in, the last known address of the person, the company or organization that reported the unclaimed funds, and the “amount held”. That amount is only disclosed as “under $100″, “over $100″ or “unknown”.
If you click through it gives a statement about how if you do claim the money, then the state where the funds are held will require you to prove you are who you say you are, and that you are the individual to who the money is owed. I didn’t click past this screen, so I don’t know what kind of info you have to give online, or if they take the confirmation items offline instead. I would hope that it’s mostly offline…
As I said, I just don’t have the time to fully investigate how on-the-level this stuff is. It’s awfully seductive to have a site where you can just type in your name and see if you’re owed any money for whatever reason. Hell, free money! It’s also a great lure for criminal masterminds to mess with you. But I’d be interested to hear if anyone has tried out this particular service, or has a story about a different but similar service.
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June 8th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
I would just go to your states unclaimed property website. I did that, and discovered that my husband’s job from 2002 owed him $35, and we didn’t have to pay anyone anything.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
@holly - I was thinking of just doing this too, seems like a much more controlled way to find out. I think that the Missing Money site does have links to the portion of the state’s websites dealing w/ unclaimed property. I’m still not sure what part they play in this, perhaps just to centralize? Maybe it’s also easier to remember than looking up your particular state’s unclaimed property website.
After you found out about the money owed you, did you have to fill out forms online, or did the state send you forms/papers to prove your identity?
June 9th, 2009 at 7:43 am
Fortunately, I found out about it after it had been reported to the state, but before the money had been turned over. There’s a window of several months between when the company reports it, and when they actually turn it over to the state. (This was during California’s “budget crisis” when they temporarily stopped paying out.) They gave me the contact information for the department that took care of unclaimed wages, I emailed them, and after several weeks, they sent a check. I’m not sure what they do if the state already has it though. I’m sure that’s much more complicated, it is the goverment after all