You’ve Got Money!

There’s a poster taped to Neal Duchin’s bulletin board that sums it up best: “Look up for falling money!” it reads. Indeed Neal (Nachum) together with his partners Avram Goldstein and Michael (Micha) Zwick have created a company that can only be described as beyond out-of-the-box. Meet Assets International a Michigan-based asset-recovery firm. Never heard of an “asset-recovery firm” before? Join the club!

“One of my kids asked me what I do. I told her that we find money for people. She said ‘If you find money for other people why don’t you find some for us?’” quips Neal as he explains what it is exactly that his company does.

“We do three things and the nature of our business is such that we have to do all three perfectly. First we need to locate assets that are collectable. Secondly we’re the matchmakers. We have to figure out who has the legal claim to these assets find that person and offer to work with them to collect their money. And lastly we have to document things beyond the shadow of a doubt to demonstrate that this party to the exclusion of any other party has the sole rights to the property so they can claim it.”

Literally billions of dollars in unclaimed money in theUnited Statesare just sitting there waiting to be given back to their rightful owners. Among other things this money includes forgotten apartment security deposits; non-cashed overtime checks and savings bonds; lost insurance refunds; and abandoned safe deposit boxes; until they are claimed these monies are required by law to be turned over to the state for safekeeping. Class-action suits are also a rich hunting ground for unclaimed money; while most of the time the payouts are measly there are always those cases where recipients could potentially receive thousands of dollars — if they only could be found!