Don't believe the hype.

It is unfortunate how rare it is to find an honest news piece that reports the facts about the world of unclaimed property - A little understood, yet enormous cash generating aspect of government.

I recently read a quote by the Alabama State Treasure that was published by ABC News: 

"Nothing gives us more satisfaction than to give you your money," remarks State Treasurer Young Boozer.

Ironically, the State is holding $672,000,000, having paid out $114,000,000 over the last 5 years.  That equates to approximately $28,000,000 per year in payouts, or a quite inadequate 4% per year. 

More scandalous is the fact that in 2013, Boozer supported legislation that stripped citizens personal assets from the unclaimed property fund to be used to fund his treasury department; and increased the regulations that allow companies like Fletcher from helping return these accounts.  No longer is the State a custodian, they are deceptively looting this money to fund the government and making sure that no one gets in the way.

And Boozer had the audacity to declare that the legislation would benefit taxpayers.  

Boozer is not alone, this behavior is happening all across the country, as the government needs to find increasingly clever ways to fund its obligations.

It is interesting that these news stories, really fluff pieces, never disclose how private auditors are paid handsomely by the Government to identify ever increasing amounts of unclaimed property eligible for escheat under ever more liberal regulations.

The message is clear - It is okay for the Government to pay a professional to abscond with the citizens personal assets, but it is not okay for the citizens to pay a professional to recover this money.

Working with a professional recovery outfit like Fletcher is an incredible resource to have in the struggle to recover unclaimed property, and the contingency fee we charge aligns our interests with our clients.  To paraphrase from Mr. Boozer:

Nothing gives us more satisfaction than recovering money for our customers.

Don't believe the hype.