New Plan

Happy New Year!

I haven't had much to add lately. The holidays took up a great deal of my time too.

I was thinking about an alternative and more efficient way of distributing the funds. I think that the federal government should purchase the unclaimed funds from the states. They would then request the information be transferred using a standardized format. This would allow for sorting claims across multiple states and if a contact could be established with the IRS then the most recent information can be cross referenced.

I think that this would allow for a much smaller distribution staff since there is no duplication of effort by the various states. This would also provide a clear insight into the size of this issue.

It just goes to show "there is more than one way to skin a cat".

Be well!

SANTA COME GET YOUR MONEY!!!

I have done some weird searches in the past but in keeping with the holiday season I searched Santa Claus. If you are reading Santa you will be happy to know that you have funds in the states of Idaho, Washington and Wisconsin. Please contact those state authorities to get your money!!!

It gets me angry that such stuff would actually be listed but it surely was. The amounts are immaterial but the fact that no one took the time to notice is annoying.

At a time when so many people could use their money no one is making an effort to give it back. It makes me sad.

I just want to take a moment and wish you all the best for the holiday season!

I'm Disappointed

I am disappointed because at the end of November I took some initiative and wrote to a number of Senators and to the Governor of Pennsylvania to try and suggest making the liquidation of the unclaimed property funds part of the economic stimulus. I even included a suggestion for enticing the states in participating wholeheartedly in this effort. To date I haven't received one inquiry or suggestion from any of the contacts. I am convinced that no one cares about this issue but me. I don't think this is a complicated exercise because I believe that a great deal of the funds are institutionally owned. I will admit that finding some of the smaller balances or older property owners will present a challenge but in the long run it would be worth it.

I'm sorry that I have not been successful in bringing this suggestion to the attention of anyone who has any clout or interest. I will continue to look for funds for people but one man's efforts will not make a dent.

Please note that the naupa.org website has changed a little and in my opinion it is better.

Take care and have a great evening!

St. Elizabeth's RC Church

When my wife was a child she attended St. Elizabeth's School and so did her siblings. She and her family were active parishioner's of the church. Even my first child was baptized at St. Elizabeth's back in 1986 so needless to say we are both a little emotionally tied to the parish. Well during one of my searches my wife suggested I look for St. Elizabeth's. It took a number of iterations of the name but we where successful and found a claim so my wife contacted the rectory. She had a nice conversation with the priest there, Father Barclay. She was able to catch-up on the local developments and even found out that her fifth grade teacher was now the principal.

After her curiosity was satisfied she got down to the real point of her call and explained to the father about the claim we found. He understood what she was explaining and had even attempted to perform his own search but was unsuccessful. He was very grateful that we took the time to search on the church's behalf. And he was not that concerned with the dollar value but he appreciated the gesture.

It was very heartwarming to receive such appreciation. Sometimes I really enjoy this hobby!

IRS Doesn't Care

I tried a little experiment this evening and became very flustered. I decided to go the the missingmoney.org website and see if I would get any hits for the IRS. I didn't even search all the states but between the IRS and Internal Revenue Service I received 400 hits. I decided to check NY state which is not yet included in the missingmoney.org group and found an additional 138 for the IRS and 240 for the Internal Revenue Service. It is very frustrating for me to see so many claims outstanding and some of them dated back to 1985. I think it should be pretty easy to find the IRS because they aren't hiding anywhere but still these issues remain unresolved.

I hope someone belonging to this organization sees this entry and makes an inquiry themselves because who knows how much uncollected funds are just sitting there idle.

Amazing!!

Talk to you again soon!

Chasing the Big Guys

The other day I was speaking with my buddy from college who's name is Steve and we got on the subject of the weak economy and the various bailout scenarios. This lead back to a discussion of my unclaimed property hobby. I explained my concept that I believe the federal government should lead the effort to first liquidate the unclaimed property assets back into the hands of the real property owners and use this as a first step to stimulating the economy. I told him that the fed should also provide some type of compensating incentive to the states to get them to want to distribute the property. My idea was that the federal government should reimburse the states either a percentage or a dollar for dollar reimbursement for every dollar distributed. To me this is a no brainer for the states. If you take a simple example like a $300 distribution, if the state retains possession they get the interest which at a low interest rate like 1/2% would amount to $1.50 plus the use of the funds. Under my scenario, the state would receive the funds without the liability they would continue to receive the interest and if the property owner just spent half of the distribution they would receive an additional $9.00 (based on 6% sales tax) which means the impact would be $300+$1.50+$9.00=310.50 for the effort to distribute $300. I am not addressing any impact regarding income taxes or any of the local economic multipliers.

Steve was very intrigued and seemed a bit excited and I felt a little rejuvenated by his enthusiasm so I began to author emails to some high profile senators who I felt would have an interest locally as well as nationally to help provide a creative solution to the economic situation we are in. The list was carefully selected based on my perception of the senators dedication to public service to their states as well as the American people. I also took into account their national profile. The list of senators included John McCain (R-AZ), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Orin Hatch (R-UT), Joe Leiberman (IND-CT), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Arlene Specter (R-PA) and Joe Biden (D-DE). I am aware that a number of the senators will be part of the new administration but I felt it wouldn't hurt to get this subject in front of them before they move into their new positions. My hope is that my contact will get in the hands of one of these senators and maybe spark some type of serious discussion.

I really feel this is an untapped yet cost effect funding source that the federal government should take advantage of. If this makes sense to you, please write to your local senators and ask them to consider this alternative. The more people write the more they have to listen.

Thanks and have a great Thanksgiving!!

Bailout? Liquidate Unclaimed Property First!

I recently wrote to the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry M. Paulson, for the second time.

I wanted to propose that a concerted effort be made to liquidate the unclaimed property rolls before providing any additional bailout/stimulus funds. It was my contention that by releasing those funds first that this would provide some stimulation to the economy. The second suggestion was to add an incentive for the states to also have a vested interest in liquidating the funds and that would entail a reciprocal dollar value be returned to the states for every dollar distributed. I felt this would double the impact of the one dollar distribution and that would get the local economies moving again.

I recognize that a project of this type would not be an easy undertaking but I believe that the impact of the federal government spending $30-$40 billion dollars to get $60-$80 billion dollars of economic impact seems like a pretty reasonable way to get the economy jump started.

I hope that Secretary Paulson takes my suggestion seriously or that he at the very least passes my suggestion to the next administration because I think that there are enough funds to provide some relief during this very difficult time.

Thanks for listening!