SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- When Bonnie Garcia opened the official-looking letter in her home mailbox, she was bothered. It was a letter from U.S. Claims Services, a Bakersfield company, saying she had unclaimed money sitting with the state of California. For a small fee, it promised to help her obtain the funds from the state Controller's Office."I was like, 'Oh, my God, this is crazy'," said Garcia, a Republican state assemblywoman from Cathedral City in Imperial County.She had also heard from plenty of constituents who have received other kinds of letters -- with official-looking, government-like names and logos -- offering to help with foreclosures, cheap land deals or other assistance.To Garcia, letters like the one she got are "specifically designed to be deceptive. They're trying to get you to pay money for something that's rightfully yours and you can obtain for free."The letters inspired her Assembly Bill 2919, which would require any company sending out mailings that involve government services to note on the envelope in prominent and legible type: "THIS IS NOT A GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT."Similar language -- and the contact information for the appropriate state or government agency -- also would have to appear on any correspondence inside.Informed of Garcia's bill, the founder of U.S. Claims Services, Paul Hashim, said it's misguided and will ultimately hurt consumers."Without reputable companies like ours, many of these people will never know they've got money waiting for them," said Hashim, who started his company in 2002. "She's hurting the average guy who needs services like ours to alert them."Hashim said 80 percent to 90 percent of the people who receive letters from his company collect their unclaimed monies on their own. In the second paragraph of a sample letter from his company, it states that U.S. Claims Services is not affiliated with any local, state or federal agency."This letter is intended for individuals not aware of the existence of the claim or how to collect it," it states."In these hard times, there's never been a bigger need for our services," Hashim said, adding that without notification from companies like his, the state's unclaimed monies "will just accumulate in perpetuity."U.S. Claims Services is active in 11 states and, by its account, has helped more than 200,000 individuals collect nearly $180 million in forgotten bank accounts, refunds or other long-dormant funds. As proof, it has numerous thank-you letters from customers, happy to spend $100 or less to retrieve their unclaimed funds.Anyone can access the state controller's Web site -- www.claimit.ca.gov -- for free to search for and recover forgotten bank accounts, refunds or other monies. According to the Controller's Office, about 8 million accounts worth $5.3 billion are waiting to be claimed.There are plenty of ways for individuals to get the word. Utilities and financial institutions are required to notify individuals that their unclaimed funds are being transferred to the state. And the Controller's Office also sends letters to individuals notifying them of dormant accounts.For those who don't get those notices or don't have Internet access, a number of companies like U.S. Claims Services track down claimholders and offer to walk them through the paperwork for a small fee.Fees vary but can be anywhere from 2 percent to 10 percent, depending on the size of the unclaimed funds. On a $250 recovered claim, for instance, U.S. Claims Services might charge $21 to $25."Our approach is to provide the greatest public access possible," said Jacob Roper, spokesman for the state Controller's Office. "An individual can file the claim themselves, which is why we've tried to get the word out via 2.4 million letters in 2007-08."E-mail The Bee's Claudia Buck at cbuck(at)sacbee.com (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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