What About Unclaimed Funds? What The Guru's Don't Tell You About State Funds.

Lets talk about State Unclaimed Funds today.

Now to be clear, state unclaimed funds are funds owed to people that are being held by the state.

These are different from surplus funds/mortgage and tax overages.

Mortgage overages (MOs) and tax overages (TOs) are the result of real estate foreclosures and tax sales.

​​These funds are often held at the county level not the state. This means they are subject to different laws then unclaimed funds held at the state level.

Before we go any further, I've made a video detailing the pros/cons on state unclaimed funds. You can access it by clicking the button below.

Lets summarize the pros of unclaimed funds:

-There's billions of unclaimed funds sitting with the states. Which means lots of money to go after.
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-The process and forms are readily available. Just read the law and reach out to the state unclaimed property department and ask what their procedures are and they should tell you. No need to buy a program.

-Expenses are low. Since you don't have to go through a court process, no need to hire an attorney.

Now here are the cons:

-Lack of control. You are at the mercy of the state. They can deny your claim for any reason or ask for any documentation, even if if seems unnecessary.

-​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​More restrictions. Most states have fee limitations which means you can only charge so much. While some states have restrictions on MOs and TOs there are legal ways around them. With state unclaimed funds I don't know of any ways to overcome fee limitations.

-Longer wait times. The state unclaimed funds I've been involved in took 6+ months before resolution.

-Lack of information. Some states don't disclose how much someone is owed. They may just say "over $250".

-Lower amounts of funds. While there are billions of dollars being held by the states, most of the amounts being held are small.

​​For example, most people will have less than $1,000 owed to them. You'll see examples of this in the video. Due to the small amounts, oftentimes, its not worth the time and energy involved to do the deal.​

Because the cons outweigh the pros and based on my personal experience, I choose not to pursue state unclaimed funds as a core component of my business.

This does not mean I won't ever go after funds held by the state, because I will and have in the past. The reward just has to justify the time investment.

For example, I'm currently pursuing some state funds in Idaho. The amount is over $40,000 so it's worth it to me.

​​Whereas, pursuing funds under $1,000, which is the majority of cases at the state level, is not worth it to me.​ Just personal preference.

Ultimately you have to decide if you want to go after state unclaimed funds yourself and if the reward is worth it to you.