What is a locator and should I use one?
A locator is a service that finds (or offers to help find) unclaimed
property.
Often they will contact you to say that they have potentially found
some money or property that may be yours and they will charge a
flat fee or a percentage of the "find" in return for their
services.
Should you use a locator?
That's up to you to decide but here are a few tips and thoughts:
1) Many states require these types of services to be registered
with the state before they can offer these services to you. So if
you are contacted by somebody offering these services the first
thing you should do is contact the state treasury department and
find out if the comapny is legitimate. We provide phone numbers
for many of the states in this guide.
2) You must understand that while there are legitimate companies
that are properly licensed to do this type of work, you should be
on high fraud alert if you get a call or letter from a company offering
these services.
3) If you get one of these letters or calls consider it a tip! Whether
they are licensed or not, they probably have some reason to believe
that you might have some funds out there somewhere. So before you
consider paying them, use the resources in this book to do your
own free searching at the state run sites. If somebody else found
the money there is a good chance that you can too using the free
resources!
4) If you have checked out the locator with your state and you just
can't find the money yourself, you might want to consider paying
the locator to finish the job. BUT...you don't want to pay before
you get some proof or guarantee of results. And please remember
that ALL things are negotiable including the fees that they are
charging. Some charge a flat fee (often small but there is no guarantee
that the funds are yours) and some charge a percentage of the find.
The companies that charge a percentage are generally more serious
about the business and wouldn't waste there time unless they felt
like there were assets to be claimed.
They don't get paid without you, and there are other companies that
offer the same service so be nice... but don't be afraid to negotiate
the fee and play a little hardball.
Next - Search tips to help
you find your lost assets- Click
Here
(The Unclaimed Property Guide covers the following states: Alabama [ AL ], Alaska [ AK ], Arizona [ AZ ], Arkansas [ AR ], California
[ CA ], Colorado [ CO ], Connecticut [ CT ], Delaware [ DE ], Florida
[ FL ], Georgia [ GA ], Hawaii [ HI ], Idaho [ ID ], Illinois [
IL ], Indiana [ IN ], Iowa [ IA ], Kansas [ KS ], Kentucky [ KY
], Maine [ ME ], Maryland [ MD ], Massachusetts [ MA ], Michigan
[ MI ], Minnesota [ MN ], Mississippi [ MS], Nebraska [ NE ], Nevada
[ NV ], New Hampshire [ NH ], New Jersey [ NJ ] , New York [ NY
], North Carolina [ NC ], North Dakota [ ND ], Ohio [ OH ], Oregon
[ OR ], Pennsylvania [ PA ], Rhode Island [ RI ], South Carolina
[ SC ], South Dakota [ SD ], Tennessee [ TN ], Texas [ TX ], Utah
[ UT ], Virginia [ VA ], Washington [ WA ], West Virginia [ WV ],
Wisconsin [ WI ], Wyoming [ WY ]
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