Found Money
7 On Your Side with Michael Finneyabc7 San Francisco Oakland San Jose
What if someone contacted you out of the blue and said they found some money belonging to you? No, it's not some scam, but missing money that you own sitting in an old bank account.
Getting a certain letter was like pennies from heaven to Marie Snyder of Burlingame. 800,000 pennies.
Marie Snyder: "We were very happy. Everything was fine."
Writing the letter? A company called, Capita Link. It knew where there was $10,000 and — for a price — it would tell Marie where to find her money.
Marie: "Somebody's going to do something for you, it was more money than we expected to get. It was $7,000. We gave them three which seemed like a good deal."
Capita Link asked for and received a 30-percent finders fee. To Marie, it made sense — $7,000 is better than no money at all.
But that isn't what Marie was really dealing with.
Here's how the law works: If a California financial institution hasn't heard from you in three years it must turn your accounts over to the state. But before that deadline some institutions divert your account to a middleman.
And that's what CapitaLink is — a middleman between you and your money.
Tim Shallenburger, Kansas State Treasurer: "It's borderline ethical how somebody can do that, in my opinion, but they do."
Tim Shallenburger thinks about this issue more than most. He's the Kansas State Treasurer and sits on a nationwide committee overseeing unclaimed property programs.
The president Of CapitaLink, Gaston Alvaro, doesn't see any ethical problems at all.
Gaston Alvaro, CapitaLink Group: "The ultimate goal is to manage unclaimed property between the public and the institutions. It's the same goal the states have."
Not exactly. You see the state doesn't ask to take a cut of the action.
Mississippi State Treasurer Marshall Bennett says those middleman companies have a role to play, still he's concerned consumers don't understand the system.
Marshall Bennett, Mississippi Treasurer: "It sounds like a strong armed tactic if you to illicit some business or some money out of an individual, sort of bleeding them to get the money. But it is a way that finders operate and it is not illegal."
None of the financial institutions we contacted would comment on this story.
Also, remember as far as we know, all these "finder" companies are operating completely within the law.
What's more, Capita Link told us they don't charge most consumers a fee to recover their missing money.
Now, before you sign any agreement to get your money back, check the many public data bases for your missing funds. If you are ready to begin looking for possible lost assets, select this "Find Lost Property" link.
