Amounts owed to your organization (unclaimed property) can go unclaimed for a myriad of reasons. Your company could have moved locations. You could have changed your process or contact point for payment receipt. A check could literally be lost in the mail. Once items are lost and go unreconciled, they turn into unclaimed property. Unclaimed property can be funds held by a state/jurisdiction resulting from statutory escheat requirements or they can be outstanding balances held by a government entity (that will never be escheated) until you or your organization come forward.
Whether your unclaimed property is held by a state unclaimed property department or government entity, it is important to know there are two ways to get your property; search and claim it yourself or utilize a Third-Party Recovery Firm, a company who assists owners in the identification and recovery of unclaimed property they have located.
If you or your organization has decided to utilize a third-party to recover unclaimed property, you should ensure that you are not victim to an unclaimed property recovery scam.
Examples of potentially fraudulent behavior include:
• Asking for payment upfront
• Asking for personal identifying information
• Not being forthright about how the recovery firm received their data/information
• Requiring a broad Power of Attorney to be signed
• Not disclosing who the funds are specifically owed to
• Being unable to easily locate the recovery firm online, with the recovery firm not having a stable online presence
• Being unable to reach a live person at the company to speak with and answer any follow up questions.
The recovery of unclaimed property can be an exciting and rewarding activity. When utilizing a Third-Party Recovery Firm to claim unclaimed property, it is important to verify who you are partnering with in order to protect the assets that are rightfully owed to your company.
To learn more about Corporate Asset Recovery, visit MarketSphere’s Knowledge Vault and down load this free White Paper: A Guide To Uncovering And Recovering Unclaimed Funds.
MarketSphere provides a variety of unclaimed property managed services that gives organizations an escheat compliance edge and keeps them focused on core business activities. Contact us for a free consultation at upcontact@marketsphere.com.
*Content contained in this article is considered accurate as of the publish date.
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