This is NOT a con job!

I am well aware that there are many people making money by charging fees to individuals for helping them recover property that they may have lost but I want you to know that the property is yours and you can get it yourself. I do not believe that enough people know what unclaimed property is, their rights regarding the property and how to retrieve it. They generally hear about scams that request personal information which is later used for unscrupulous purposes or charges for upfront fees that are greater that the amount of the property recovered.

I stumbled across an article that sheds some light on the various aspects of unclaimed property and although it is not a new article it really provides a nice overview of the subject( http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa100399.htm).

I hope you enjoy it and that maybe it answers some of your questions have about the subject.

Talk to you again soon!

Missingmoney.org

I have used the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (naupa.org) website numerous times and I pick and choose the sites that I am going to search but recently I tried their associated site called missingmoney.org that allows you to search numerous states simultaneously. This was great but beware that not all the states are covered so you may still need to look in a specific state such as New York or California but it is still a nice facility to save time and get a good cross section to look at.

Please understand that these site are administered by the states themselves and that there is not fee for searching or recovery of your property. Anybody with a computer and internet access can look for themselves or their loved one's and I encourage you to look at least once a year because these lists are updated regularly.

Good luck with your searches and I hope you get lucky!

Altec Lansing

Many years ago I worked for Altec Lansing here in Milford. It was a great experience and from time to time I still have the pleasure of speaking to some of my old colleagues. I performed a search in PA because frankly I was not sure what other states might have funds because they sell products throughout the world. I found one claim with the PA Treasury so I printed a copy and forwarded to a friend of mine who is still employed at Altec.

I haven't heard how it is progressing but when I do I'll post the progress.

Have a Great weekend!

Imus in the Morning

I am a talk radio junkie. I love to listen to the different opinions and even though I may not agree with them all the time I am intrigued by the thought process.

As a person who commuted several hours a day to and from work I had alot of time to feed my appetite for talk radio. My favorite show is Imus in the Morning. Mr. Imus many times states the obvious but if he didn't ask then no one else would. And he is equally hard on his friends as well as those he is not fond of. So, on Monday I got a bright idea and took a chance to see if Mr. Imus might have unclaimed property and sure enough I found a claim. I could not confirm that this was absolutely his but I had enough information to feel comfortable enough to send a fax to his radio station's Public Service Director. I asked that the Director pass along the claim form as well as my best wishes to Mr. Imus.

I hope he received the claim form and was able to contact the state.

Maybe some day he'll tell us how it worked out.

That's all for now. Have a great evening.

A Neighbor's Find

I was sitting with a neighbor of mine on a Saturday night and we were just having a few drinks and talking. We got on the conversation about unclaimed property and he asked me how I do my searches so we started at my favorite website for this type of investigation the website for the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (http://www.naupa.org/). We then moved to the Pennsylvania Treasury website and my neighbor put his last name in and the very first name on the list was his dad. He couldn't believe it so I told him to print out the claim form which he did and he the next day he called his dad. His father remembered an insurance claim from years past but wasn't sure about the details so he was going to investigate the claim.

I hope his dad does well collecting his property and that it settles soon.

Maybe he will add a comment to tell us how it worked out.

Talk to you later!

Osaka Gas Company Ltd.

I recently attended an interview at a new subsidiary for Osaka Gas Company Ltd. As I was doing some preparatory research I decided to check and see if there might be some unclaimed property in the name of the parent an there we two claims so I decided to print them and take them with me to the interview. The next day as I awaited the interviewer I couldn't decide if I should provide the documents before or after the interview. Once the interviewer entered the room I decided that would be my ice breaker so I provided him with a brief explanation and copies of the claim forms. He was very appreciative that I had taken the time to do the search. After the interview was over I contacted the recruiting specialist that had setup the appointment and explained what I had done. She couldn't stop laughing. I told her that I should have made a memorable impression because I am probably the only candidate that has made them money before being hired.

This hobby does provide a person with lots of unusual stories.

Have a great day!

Penn State University

My children aspire to attend Penn State. We have been on campus for game day and it really is some atmosphere. It is refreshing to be around so many young adults. I forgot how much energy I had at that age.

My daughter wanted me to do a search on Penn State. We did and tried several configurations such as Penn State, PSU and Penn State University and found 23 claims total. I was able to get in contact with a woman in the Public Information Office who understood what I was explaining and asked me to send an email with a pdf attachment of the claims that I found so I did. The next day it occurred to me that I had not tried Pennsylvania State university. That should have been my first try since it is the proper name of the institution. I found an additional 30 claims but because of my schedule for the day I did not have the time to contact PSU. The next days I sent an email with a pdf version of the second set of claims I found to my contact in the Public Information Office.

My daughter was proud about her part in returning this "lost" property to a school she wants to attend.

This is a funny hobby. It warms your heart no matter what age.

You get to play Santa.