06/30/09
In this economic downturn many states are looking towards making their budget shortfalls by simply claiming unused gift cards. How much can they really make up with the unclaimed cards? Is it going to make such a big difference in their budget? Could the state’s time and resources be put to a better use? On the other side, one could argue that every penny counts.
South Carolina is leading the new frontier of collecting unused gift card credits. While their methods were slow at first, now the operation is expanding. Other states appear to be following this path. Texas, for example, wants to pass a bill that would allow the state to collect these unused gift cards even when they contain no expiration date.
Today, more then half of the states have adopted some form of collection of unused gift cards. With the rising budget deficits in most states, this trend of collecting abandoned cards is expected to continue. New York facing a mounting debt of more than $7.4 billion dollars collected a mere $9.6 million in 2008 according to Wall Street Journal. Seems like a drop in the bucket? But the same laws are allowing states to “take” unclaimed property for the purpose of the State’s spending. New York State has collected $691 million dollars in this manner. This money should have been returned to their rightful owners who in turn would stimulate the economy. The extra economic growth would provide more revenue for the state and so there would be no need to pillage the abandoned properties.
The NRF has released top tips for buying gift cards http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=593
1. Know the difference between gift card policies from retailers and banks
none of the gift cards from the nation’s 25 largest retailers have expiration dates and 84% have no fees
2. Buy gift cards from reputable retailers.
3. Spend your gift card, don’t save it
4. Personalize your gift card
5. Keep your receipt
To claim your property visit www.foundmoney.com and don’t let the state take your money!
04/15/09
Supreme Court on Unclaimed Balances in Ohio
Ohio – In a recent Supreme Court ruling declared unconstitutional a provision of state law that considers interest on unclaimed funds not payable to those who claim it.
“The provision that dubbed interest nonpayable “strikes at the core of the concept of private property because, at a stroke, the General Assembly severed the link between the owner of an asset and the income produced by that asset,” Justice Paul Pfeifer wrote in the unanimous decision.” As reported by the Columbus Business First.
This is one more reason why you should check your name for unclaimed balances. As economy tightens more states will follow.
“The appeals court contended that unclaimed funds are abandoned property and subject to the government taking interest without compensation. Pfeifer wrote in this week’s ruling that Ohio statute doesn’t support that position.”
Latest estimate as of April 2009 predict Unclaimed Balances in United States alone reaches more then $32 Billion.
02/16/09
Unclaimed Assets
01/20/09
Unclaimed and missing money
LAS VEGAS --- The recent announcement from of General Motors that, without a bailout, the company could face further problems has prompted FoundMoney.com (http://www.foundmoney.com) Founder Edward Palonek (http://www.edwardpalonek.org) to comment on the situation. FoundMoney.com is an Internet-searchable database for unclaimed money, and Palonek reports that the big three have millions of dollars sitting and collecting dust.
"A worst case scenario has been presented to congress which summarizes that GM's new operations would need more money than the already allocated $13.4 billion dollars," said Palonek. "The big three automakers need to examine other potential streams of cash. "The problem of auto makers not collecting money extends to almost all foreign car makers, such as, Toyota and Honda."
According to Foundmoney.com, General Motor Company (GM) has over 1,500 unclaimed money records with the estimated worth of $3.4 million. Chrysler Company has about 1,200 records with unclaimed funds worth over $1.6 million, while Ford Motor Company has more than 1,300 records in the Foundmoney.com database totaling over $2.2 million.
"The problem of domestic companies not realizing that they could recover this money quite easily also extends to foreign car makers," added the unclaimed money expert.
Toyota has an estimated $918 thousand of unclaimed funds and Honda has over just under $500 thousand in unclaimed money.
"Millions of individuals have recovered millions of dollars in recent years with companies like Foundmoney.com," stated Palonek. "While the auto makers sit on a pile of gold, they continue to ask for bailout money. Some auto makers have taken drastic cuts, which is evidenced in the recent Detroit Auto Show where some carmakers did not show up. Mitsubishi, Nissan, Ferrari, Land Rover, Rolls-Royce and Suzuki where among those car manufactures that did not attend the auto show in an attempt to save money."
Foundmoney.com reports that Nissan has over $700,000 of unclaimed money - money that could have helped to pay for the auto show.
FoundMoney.com is the Internet's largest search engine for unclaimed funds. Its database was opened in 1995 with over 1,000,000 records. Palonek started the company after his own parents passed away. As he realized the difficulties imposed by financial institutions when recovering this money, Palonek made his research available to the public.
Palonek and his company would like to offer the big three automakers a free service to help them recover their unclaimed funds. "Full story be told, millions of dollars are at stake here. Foundmoney.com would help the auto makers with the appropriate claims for some 7,000 plus records containing millions of dollars. It's money you just can't ignore when you're strapped for cash," commented Palonek.
"This month, General Motors will receive $9.4 billion and Chrysler, $4 billion. The other $4 billion will come in February but only when Congress approves a request for the second half of the financial bail out fund. In the mean time, FoundMoney is in the process of contacting the companies involved, and we hope to hear a response soon," said Palonek.
Featured on television shows such as Oprah Winfrey and Maury Povich, FoundMoney's service guarantee assures users that the information available to clients within the database will contain more than $50 or a full refund is available.
"For years the automakers have ignored missing money. Harsh economic times make finding unclaimed money a great cash infusion - not just for the automakers,but also for any individual. Millions of people have already visited Foundmoney.com to locate money using a proven method for unclaimed funds recovery."
According to the National Association of State Treasurers, there currently is more than $30 billion in unclaimed money, and with the total rising faster than people claiming, it is projected that by 2020 there could be as much as $40 billion of unclaimed money. "Aging boomers are adding more significantly to this number," remarked Palonek. "If someone forgets about a savings account today, that account may potentially take over five years before it reaches status of unclaimed money. As in the case of the automakers, it is certain there will be more unclaimed money in the coming years."
01/19/09
Missing money world wide
There is no doubt the world economy is facing some tough issues ahead, but there may have a positive cash infusion into the economy from an unlikely source: unclaimed money. This is a world wide phenomenon with billions of missing money world wide. In the UK people are urged to check and double check whether they've got any missing money in old accounts they might have forgotten about. Banks are making a considerable efforts to locate their rightful owners.
While most countries will keep missing money in a special accounts for future generations to claim, some other countries and institutions do not follow this road. Recently a man in Shanghai has failed to collect a lottery jackpot of $827,700. As a result that money will now be added to the next draw.
It is estimated that Americans have more missing money per capita then any other country. “This is good news for the dire economy, now we just have to find the people who are owed this money. “ says Edward Palonek founder of Foundmoney.com.
The best method for searching money is to conduct a search on a national database of missing money. Found money provides such a database with unprecedented proven track record, this is one website you can bookmark.
12/31/08
New Year Wishes
Wherever you are in the world when the clock strikes Midnight, Edward Palonek hopes you are having a great time, surrounded by friendly people in a place that you want to be. Stay Safe and have fun bringing in another fantastic year, 2009.
From everyone at FoundMoney.com and the founder Edward Palonek
12/29/08
Edward Palonek finds new ways to help Obama Stimulate the Economy.
Edward Palonek reports that more than 9 billion dollars are unclaimed in New York State. “With rate of recovery nearing 75%, the money from unclaimed accounts could add up to close to 7 billion dollars of economic stimulus” says Palonek, founder of FoundMoney.com
People find money in many places like street corners, old jackets, but few consider the idea of finding money online. The new trend is to search for money online. While there are many websites, one stands out of the crowd. Foundmoney.com has been operating since 1994 where thousands of people have found a small fortune. Recently, someone in New York State has claimed an account worth over 4 million dollars in stocks he did know existed. The top account holders in New York are valued at $6.8 million dollars. There are some millionaires walking the streets and they don’t even know about it.
Government institutions like IRS has unclaimed money and procedure for storing and locating the owners of this money. According to http://www.irs.gov website, the abandoned property is stored according to 9.7.11.4 (05-15-2008). These section states that:
”Abandoned or other unclaimed currency or monetary instruments shall not be deposited into the Treasury Suspense Account. Abandoned or other unclaimed currency or monetary instruments may be deposited into the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Suspense Account until an owner files a proper claim or title vests in the United States.”
Edward comments “Claiming the money from various institutions can be tricky but most are relatively easy”. IRS has a very strict procedure on claiming money as to the 9.7.11.8 section of the “Abandoned Property” manual, which state:
“The procedures relating to claims filed for abandoned or unclaimed property contained in 41 CFR 128–48.502 and 41 CFR 48.503 are similar to the petition for remission or mitigation process covered in IRM 9.7.7, Claims and Petitions”
President Obama has promised massive spending bills to stimulate the economy, perhaps one of the first agenda on the new administration list should be the re-structuring current handing and recovery of unclaimed money. “As in New York, the 9 billion dollars could go a long way to help this State” comments Edward. Currently the handling of unclaimed money by the State and other intuitions allows for a lot of fraud. As a result of various found money scams the states are making it harder for legitimate unclaimed money owners to claim their money. Foundmoney.com has seen all sort of scams and claims of unrealistic fortunes. “Be aware of the imitators who promise a large sum for a small percentage” says Mr. Palonek
Edward Palonek
HTTP://BLOG.FOUNDMONEY.COM
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