Unclaimed Property Blog

The deals look great, some even too good to be true. But before you click to commit to that purchase you should do a safety check. Below you will find some helpful hints to avoid being scammed.

Go with reputable companies you’ve heard of, such as Amazon.com. These sites put their name on the line.

The bigger company will also have deals that they will follow through on. The promise of a computer for $50 isn’t always what is advertised with a less reputable company.

That library card you received as a child could cost you as an adult. Read on to find out how.

If you haven’t returned an overdue library book your credit rating could drop by 100 points! This also applies to the videos that can now be rented at libraries.

More and more public libraries are turning to collection agencies to make sure you pay up.

Unique Management Services is an example of a recovery service that will report your overdue fines to your credit agency if you don’t pay up after 120 days.

Sometimes you can go too far to retrieve money you feel is taken unfairly. Here is an example just that.

A 52-year-old man from the German town of Darmstadt tried without success to get his money back. He wanted his 400 euros ($475) worth of what he said was “bad marijuana” from his dealer returned. The dealer would not return the money so he turned to the police for help.

“It is un-usable,” the man told police in the hope they would help him get his money back.

It isn’t the tax man cometh for thee, it is where you can request resolution on a tax issue.

You have a tax return audited and you don’t agree with the auditor’s findings – what do you do? Tax Court? No not yet. At this point you have the right to appeal the audit. The appeal is done and you still don’t agree with the results – what do you do? Tax Court? Yes! You can now take the matter to the U.S. Tax Court, a type of court that handles tax matters.

Have you ever decided not to purchase something on the internet because you were unsure about the site or had the feeling something might be wrong? Read on to find a source for that feeling.

The threat of identity theft is remote but real. With hackers, hijackers and spoofers out there waiting to steal your ID, password and financial information, a little caution is needed. This includes online and off.

When you’re paying bills, making investments, viewing your bank balance, checking your credit card statements, preparing your taxes and buying stuff online, are you taking a risk with your confidential financial information?

Are you aware that 55% of Americans do not have a will? It is one subject no one really wants to talk about since it does involve death and money.

However, ignoring this topic could one day leave these choices in the hands of the state to decide. Do you really want that?

First of all you have to accept the fact that there may never be a good time to talk about death, so don’t put if off.

If you have ever been taken in by the idea that your credit report could be improved for a price, you will be glad to know something is being done about it.

Government regulators are cracking down on companies that claim to remove negative information from consumer credit reports.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and eight state law enforcement agencies, have identified 20 companies that promise to remove information from consumers’ credit reports for a fee.

These scammers keep on getting trickier and trickier. Read on for the most recent concept. It’s pretty ingenious.

Banks have begun putting a three-digit security number on the back of each credit card as an extra line of defense in an effort to foil thieves who steal credit card numbers. The tactic has proven to be effective. So thieves have been working to formulate new scams to trick consumers into voluntarily revealing that code, according to the New York State Banking Department.

Kentucky has given the answer to that question. It came about because some Kentucky tobacco growers have unclaimed money waiting for them in state coffers.

In June, as part of the Phase II Tobacco Settlement program, checks totaling more than $863,000 were returned to the state. Approximately 5,000 checks were returned because no forwarding address was left, the forwarding address had expired, the recipient was deceased or the post office box was closed.

The checks were among 164,000—totaling $114 million—that were sent out.

The June checks will expire this year (June 2006). If their recipients do not collect, the money will go into an unclaimed property fund. After three years, the state may spend the money.

You bring in the mail, put it down in the usual place and by the end of the week you have a pile of paperwork. And now that it is the week end you want to go have fun rather than organize your bills. Read on and learn some simple solutions to dealing with that pile of papers.

The best solution is to keep it simple. The more complex you get the less likely you are to do something about the situation.