The following story is from KATV in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The claimant recovered over $200,000, yet he thinks it’s immoral that he was charged for it!
Meanwhile, if the finder didn’t contact him, he would still have no idea that the money was waiting for him!
UPDATE JUNE 2015 – Well KATV took down the video I had on here. You can still read the full text below. The plain text is from the video and the bold text in italics are my comments. Here is the link to the story on their site, but you can see the video is disabled.
Decades ago a Fayetteville man was named in an inheritance he knew nothing about. Again, had the finder not contacted him, he still wouldn’t know anything about it.
Recently a professional finder contacted him and said that, for a fee, he would help him collect nearly a quarter of a million dollars. He happily paid $23,000.00 (10%) to collect $207,000.00. 10%, not an outrageous percentage and keeping within the law.
But he easily could have claimed it all. Yes, if he had known about it which he didn’t!
There are national companies that search state data bases looking for people who have unclaimed cash or property. You can pay them to help you claim what is yours…or you can claim it yourself. You can claim it yourself if you know about it!
When James Dunbar changed jobs, he left more than memories and co-workers behind. “I used to work at…I worked at a different place than I am now,” explains Dunbar. “And when I left I was fully vested in my life insurance there. And unbeknownst to me I had some money coming to me.”
Dunbar got a letter in the mail alerting him to the fact that there was property or cash of his waiting to be claimed. The finder would help him do just that…for a fee. Does this reporter get paid for his job, or does he do it for free? ”
You don’t have to pay anything to get your unclaimed property,” says State Auditor Andrea Lea. “You don’t have to contract with someone. If a finder contacts you then get on our web site or call us directly on our 1-800 number and ask us and we’ll walk you through the process.”
The state auditor’s office stores property from old safety deposit boxes…stuff like gun collections, jewelry, silver…even human remains. Most of the $280 million in unclaimed property though is cash, stocks, bonds or forgotten policies like Mr. Dunbar’s. He says the process of collecting is easy and fears rightful owners, particularly the elderly, are easy marks for finders.
“It’s not illegal but from what I understand it is immoral,” says Dunbar. “And that’s my feelings on it.” He thinks it is immoral as he collected over $200,000 that would still be sitting there if he had not been contacted by a finder.
You can visit the state auditor’s web site and easily search your name or any name. A search of “Jason Pederson” didn’t find anything but a search of Jason’s wife’s name did find some forgotten U-Promise certificate worth between $10.00 and $100.00 waiting to be claimed.
Even though he is the one who searched his wife’s name Jason says it would be unwise…if not immoral…to try and charge her a finder’s fee.
The bottom line is finders provider a service just like any other business.
The amount of unclaimed money being held by the states is growing every year.
The states just cannot keep up with it.
With a handful of state office workers getting paid the same whether they return $1,000,000 or $100 the numbers are going to continue to grow.
Unless finders get involved, there are going to be many more people with $200,000 or more coming to them that will never collect it.
Please click here if you would like to learn more about becoming an unclaimed money finder.
Dear Mark,
Thank you for sharing this. I, too, saw the TV news report by KATV reporter Jason Pederson. I even wrote an email to KATV outlining my displeasure with their purported interpretation of what is or isn’t moral.
The last I checked, they were not licensed, ordained ministers nor clergy. They are reporters who read teleprompters. They are NOT experts on morality. But, they have no problem ruining our profession with their haphazard social commentary.
Their response to my full-page complaint was just three words: “Thanks for watching!” That shows how much their care what their viewers think.
From my perspective, they have little credibility. If they were great reporters, they would respond to my email. They seldom own up to incorrect reports, as I’m sure their attorney has advised them to NEVER acknowledge any known harm that irresponsible reporting may cause to others, as though such denial can protect them from a defamation lawsuit.
As a result of Mr. Pederson’s story, I have lost clients who once believed in my service. His story harmed my business, even though there was nothing immoral about it. I provided a valuable service. For the record, the money I find for people isn’t accessible through the state treasurer’s website.
Hopefully, other professional money finders who’ve been harmed by Mr. Pederson’s story will also come forward to share how his irresponsible commentary has harmed their business, too. Then, we can begin the process of proving said harm in a class-action petition. Apparently, the only communication that KATV will respond to is a legal one. So be it!
Thanks, again for being the voice of reason. I’m glad that you aren’t able to be bullied by the media.
Sincerely, Michael Sanders
Michael,
Thank you for your comment.
I’m sorry to hear this report affected your business (affect or effect? I’m never sure).
Are you located in Arkansas? Outside of Arkansas, I don’t think it really touched anyone else. I actually had to search to find it.
Finders provide a valuable service picking up the slack where the government is not able to.
URS only charges 10%, whether the law says we have to or not. I think that is more than fair for someone to recover money that they probably would not have known about otherwise.
This guy got over $200,000!
Does he think that there are good samaritans out there just researching for hours and then calling people to let them know they have money being held for them?
If he really though it was immoral, he should have just refused to sign a contract and instead waited for the state to call him. He would still be waiting today!
Just curious if you’d be interested in purchasing FeeFinders.com or could possibly push me in the direction of someone that might? Interesting business and cool stories!
IMO, getting 90% of something you didn’t know about is better than having 100% of ignorance. That doesn’t get you anything.
Thanks!
Jude,
No, sorry, I do not have any need for it, but if someone is interested in a site I will let them know. Yes, definitely agree with your assessment!