Iowa

You can charge up to 15% as an Iowa unclaimed money finder.

However, you do need do be a private investigator to search for money in Iowa.

There are basically three things you can do regarding this:

1. Become a private investigator.

2. Find a private investigator to work with. You can use their letterhead, phone number, etc. and in return you can pay them a percentage of what you get back.

Update as of October 2012 I always mention you can partner with a private investigator and use their information.

Now, Iowa has become wise to that practice.

A person “may not use a subcontractor to fulfill the licensure requirement” and they “will not communicate with a private investigator that is not part of the finders regular business”

So you either have to have the private investigator become the main finder, or,prove that the private investigator works for you.

Go to Iowa Updated Finder Information to read the complete update.

3. Don’t search in Iowa. Just because you live in Iowa doesn’t mean you can’t search in other states.

If you are a private investigator, or working with one, then there are some pretty basic rules regarding Iowa unclaimed money finders.

All agreements with Iowa unclaimed money finders are:

When you ask for it, they send you an order from and a summary of the unclaimed money finder law. If you want, you can also view the complete Iowa Unclaimed Property Law here, but all you really need to know are the laws related to finders.Iowa actually makes their site fun with “The Great Iowa Treasure Hunt”!  If you want to get an idea of what someone has coming to them without ordering a list, you can go to the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt website and start your search there.

All you need to do is enter the first three letters of a last name and see what comes up. For instance, you can enter Raf and get “Rafael, Rafferty, Raftis, etc.” to come up. Then, you click on the box next to the name and scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the details.

You can see how much they have coming to them and decide if you want to contact them or not. It’s very easy.

As I’m typing this, out of curiosity, I typed the last name “Howard” in to the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt

This person came up with over $3000

Primary Owner
E HOWARD
1122 HANCOCK DR Boone, IA 50036
Cash: $3,245.70
Shares: 0
Description: PROCEEDS FROM MAT’D POLICIES,E
Property Previously Held By NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE CO.

and this person also came up with over $3000

Primary Owner
BERNICE HOWARD
1338 DES MOINES ST DES MOINES, IA 50309 Cash: $3,572.40
Shares: 0 Description: UNIDENTIFIED REMITTANCES Property Previously Held By NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE CO.

That’s just one random name I entered in there. If you want, you can enter just the “How” of Howard and see how many more come up. Then, you just check off the boxes on the right to see the amounts.I’m going to leave these two up there just to see if anyone can find them or their relatives.

If anybody does, please go to the Contact Page and let me know so I can take it down.  Maybe I’ll put up a couple of new ones for someone to find after that.

As the Iowa State Treasurer says on the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt home page, every year millions of dollars are turned over to the state as unclaimed money. The state definitely does not have the resources or the manpower to return all of this money themselves.

This is where an excellent opportunity has developed.

If you are interested in becoming an Iowa Unclaimed Money Finder click here for more information.