How I Made $15,000 From Unclaimed Funds and Why I Will Not Do It Again

I have always been fascinated by unclaimed funds. The hype
that you read is TRUE there are literally billions of dollars in
unclaimed funds just waiting to be claimed and all a finder has
to do is get in the middle!
(well not exactly some states go to great lengths to prohibit finders fees)
So about 17 years ago I was really into this and I would check
out all I could find on the internet. I began finding info about
people with unclaimed money in New Jersey some of it large
amounts. Eventually, I found out that each year at a courthouse in
New Jersey they post a list of unclaimed Funds from lawsuits.
People will file a lawsuit. The case drags on for 10 years, if they
moved to another address and they won the case the court might
be unable to find them and the funds go unclaimed.
So each year, if I remember correctly July 29, they post the list of
funds and you have untill sept to claim the money before it goes to
the State Unclaimed Property office which can take years to get
your money back from.
Anyway, I went down to the courthouse and found the list. It was
many pages and you can’t make copies only notes!!!
Now here is where luck or providence or whatever steps in. In
those days I was more on the formal side and had a white shirt
and tie on. (nowadays I would not wear that unless you paid me)
One of the ladies in the office saw me and said “You must be from
the State, I will make copies for you”
Wow! She thought I was from the state Government, she copied
the whole thing for me!!! Haa!

So I took the list home but now my work had just begun.
The list showed a number of lawsuits like D.O.T. VS. Lejman,
Stanley, $6878.71 and a docket Number and county. But did not
show who won the case or addresses!
The list I had was 26 pages with at least 500 cases. Many amounts
were under $5,000 but there were plenty of big money cases too.
Some over $200,000. To get the needed info addresses, etc I had
to go to Trenton and check the court records on microfilm.
This took a few days. I found info on ten cases that looked good
and sent out registered letters yo the people that had unclaimed
funds. I had set up a so called finder company and the letter basicly
Said they had unclaimed funds and I would help them recover for
20% Commission. I sent the letter by registered mail which cost
about $12 each, But I had to convince them this was Real and not
a scam.
Out of the 10 letters I sent, I got one reply! The lady had won
$50,000 In an insurance case but she did not know because she had
moved to Atlanta. She wanted my help, she was not aware that the
money was from the lawsuit she had started 8 years ago until I told
her.

To make a long story short. I filed a claim on her behalf. But it was
now past the September Deadline. The money has gone to the State
unclaimed property office.

It took 3 years to recover that money! Dorothy got her 50 K
(actually $49,328.53) and she sent me a check for 20% almost
10 thousand!

The next year I decided to do the same thing. I had doubts because
I had done a lot of research and sent out 10 letters costing 12 bucks
each and only got one reply and I did not have the money from that yet.
But I decided to do it again.

The results this time after sending out around 9 letters
I got only one reply that accepted my offer. I called one guy on my
list and he said he knew about The money but did not want his lawyer
to get it!!! The lady who accepted my offer was overjoyed to find out
about the money and I got the claim made while the court still had the
Funds. I ended up with a check for over $5,000!

So why won’t I do this again? Well, it was a lot of work and some
expenditure with no guarantee I would get anything. Only one case out
of 10! Furthermore, when I went to the courthouse to Research, I saw
others doing the same thing. The lady who sent me the 5k check said
after I Contacted her somone else had called but she was loyal to me
because I was first. That shows how close it was. With the competition
increasing, and this opportunity coming only once a year, I figured real
estate or other areas might be better to look into.
Now that so many records are online, it might be worth taking a look
at again. But I am focusing on other things right now.