How can I verify that TLSG is a legitimate business and learn more about your company?

• TLSG is the recognized leader in the unclaimed property identification and recovery industry. TLSG has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (“BBB”), and has been a member of the BBB since 1995. There have been numerous “Excellent” references posted by TLSG clients in the Positive Customer Feedback section of TLSG’s BBB Reliability Report. Additionally, the Customer Complaints section of TLSG’s BBB Reliability Report verifies that TLSG has no client complaints. To confirm TLSG's standing with the BBB please visit the BBB’s website at http://www.bosbbb.org/reports/reliability.asp. You may also contact the BBB by phone at (508) 652-4800.
• TLSG has been in business for more than 16 years and has always been in good standing with its State of incorporation, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Verification of TLSG's corporate status is available by visiting the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Corporations Division at: http://corp.sec.state.ma.us/corp/corpsearch/corpsearchinput.asp. To confirm TLSG’s corporate standing you may also reach the Commonwealth’s Corporations Division by phone at (617) 727-9640.
• TLSG's President and General Counsel, Kim Sawyer, has been a licensed attorney for 18 years and is a member in good standing of the bars of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of New York. Attorney Sawyer's standing with the Massachusetts Bar can be confirmed at the Commonwealth of http://massbbo.org/bbolookup.php. Attorney Sawyer’s standing with the New York Bar can be confirmed by searching http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/attorney/AttorneySearch.

Will you provide me with a corporate client list and references?

• To view a partial listing of TLSG’s active Fortune 500 clients please click here. You may also view the text of expressions of appreciation sent by TLSG corporate clients here. In accordance with corporate confidentially policies we cannot publish the company name or individual contact information of any business client that has sent TLSG an expression of appreciation. Please contact your Recovery Associate if you require any additional information.

What services does TLSG provide?

• TLSG specializes in supporting Fortune 500 Companies in the identification and recovery of all types of unclaimed funds. However, TLSG assists businesses of all sizes as well as public sector clients and individuals, in the location and recovery of unclaimed funds.
• TLSG is uniquely focused on identifying funds held by sources that are exempt from state abandoned property laws and that are subject to statute of limitations. Those jurisdictions with statutes of limitations require owners to recover their monies within a prescribed period of time or the owner's right to claim those funds may be extinguished by the passage of time. Such finds must be recovered within a prescribed period of time or your business risks forever losing the right to claim its funds. When specifically retained by a company to do so, TLSG will also assist in the identification and recovery of property held by State Abandoned Property Offices. For a detailed explanation of the services that TLSG offers to its corporate clients please click here.

What is the source of my business’ unclaimed funds?

• The unclaimed funds belonging to your business are likely being held by a federal, state, county, city or town agency or court. Your business' funds are not held by any State Abandoned Property Office. We would be pleased to advise you of the name of the exact source holding the funds belonging to your business, after we have received back the signed documents necessary for TLSG to initiate the recovery of your funds.

How come my business never received the original payment that TLSG has contacted me about?

• There are many possible reasons as to why your business' funds may have become lost. The most common reason that business funds become lost is because the original check is returned to the issuer as undeliverable mail due to an inaccurate, obsolete or incomplete mailing address. In many cases, the inaccurate payee and address information is a result of a corporate action such as a merger, acquisition and dissolution or a change of ownership. Funds may also not reach your business as the result of an office relocation or closing. Additionally, the use of trade names, f/k/a’s and d/b/a’s, or payments sent in care of a third party often contributes to problems with delivering the original payment. In some instances, your business’ payment may have been lost as a result of a clerical mistake such as a typographical error or insufficient postage. It is also possible that the original check may have reached your business but was not presented for payment because the person who received the payment did not know which liability to apply the payment against.

How could I or someone else in my business not know that a payment is owed to my business?

• Most businesses, for no fault of their own, are unaware that there are unclaimed funds available for them to claim. In many cases this is because the business never realized that it was entitled to the funds in the first place or, although the company may have been aware that it was owed the monies, the company never thought that it would ever receive payment. For example, your business may be owed an outstanding payment from a government agency as a result of federal rebate or credit that your company was entitled to for constructing energy-efficient commercial buildings or your company may be due an outstanding payment from a city or town as a result of a green building incentive. However, you may have never been aware of any of these incentive programs in the first place so you never expected the payment. Another common reason why a larger corporation may be entitled to recover funds, which it may be unaware, is that the original payment is owing to a predecessor entity, which as a result of a merger or acquisition, the surviving company is now entitled to claim. Additionally, your business may be due monies from a bankruptcy proceeding. Your business may have had a customer that filed for bankruptcy several years ago. Because the customer filed for bankruptcy, and your business was an unsecured creditor, your business never expected to receive payment so it did not monitor the bankruptcy case and, ultimately, wrote off the receivable.

How come the government agency, court or representative that originally issued my business’ payment is not doing anything further to get my business back its monies?

• Most government agencies have only minimal requirements with respect to locating the owners of outstanding payments. Moreover, the current economic climate makes it exceedingly difficult for government agencies, with very limited resources and significantly reduced staff, to expend the additional capital to implement programs in order to locate the beneficiaries of missing payments when such expenditures are not mandatory.

Can I find my business’ monies on a State Abandoned Property website or on www.missingmoney.com?

• If you received a call or a correspondence from one of TLSG’s Recovery Associates identifying unclaimed funds belonging to your business you will not be able to locate these funds on any State Abandoned Property website or at www.missingmoney.com. TLSG does not identify or assist with the recovery of property held by State Abandoned Property offices unless specifically retained by a business to do so. Should your business be interested in learning more about how TLSG may be able to assist your company with its State Abandoned Property recovery needs please click here.

Why can’t the property that TLSG has identified as due back to my business currently be found on a State Abandoned Property website or www.missingmoney.com?

• Many payments issued by Federal agencies or local government agencies and courts are not subject to State Abandoned Property laws; therefore, those payments will never be posted on a State’s Abandoned Property website or www.missingmoney.com. Moreover, TLSG monitors many federal agencies and cities, counties and towns where statutes of limitations require you to recover your unclaimed funds within a prescribed period of time or forever lose your right to recover your property.

What are the main differences between funds held by “State Abandoned Property Offices” and the “Unclaimed Funds” that TLSG has identified as available for my business to recover?

• The names of the owners of property held by State Abandoned Property Offices are generally publicized on either a State sponsored website, www.missingmoney.com, or in a newspaper. Conversely, the names of the owners of the majority of unclaimed funds that TLSG identifies are not publicized. Moreover, an owner typically does not permanently lose their right to recover funds held by State Abandoned Property Offices. In many instances, with respect to the unclaimed funds that TLSG identifies, if your business does not make a timely claim your business may forever lose its right to receive their monies. Another difference between the two categories of unclaimed property is that most funds that are held by State Abandoned Property Offices originate from an unclaimed payment owed to the owner by an independent third party, such as a bank, retailer, insurance company or utility company. On the contrary, the original issuer of the majority of the unclaimed funds that TLSG identifies as available for recovery is a government agency or a court representative.

Can you advise me exactly where my business’ funds are prior to entering an agreement with TLSG?

• TLSG will advise you as to whether your business’ funds are currently held by a governmental agency, court or by a private business. Additionally, if TLSG is aware of the date that the original payment was made we will also disclose that information to you. However, as TLSG has invested significant financial resources in researching and identifying these funds as well as verifying that your business is the rightful owner of these monies, to protect its interest, TLSG will not disclose the exact source of your business’ funds until an agreement is in place.

If I do not act promptly, will my business lose its right to claim these funds?

• TLSG monitors federal, state, county, and municipal jurisdictions where statutes of limitations require owners to recover unclaimed funds within a prescribed period of time or forever lose their rights to recover their property. For example, payments that originate from federal agencies must usually be claimed within six years from their original issue date or your business will lose its right to claim those funds. Similarly, there are many counties and cities that after a four-year period are permitted to 'extinguish' the liability on their books and keep your business’ money. Even if there is not a time limit during which your company must claim its funds, it is always beneficial to act promptly. The quicker your business' money is recovered the sooner your business will regain control over how those monies are used.

How do I begin recovering my business' funds?

• To initiate the recovery process, you must return a properly notarized Limited Power of Attorney, Professional Services Agreement and a business card. Additional documentation is sometimes necessary to substantiate your business' right to claim the identified funds or to prove your authority to collect unclaimed property on behalf of your business. Many sources have specific forms or affidavits that are used to request the funds or require verification of your business' previous address that was associated with the original payment. Some sources also require documentation to verify the signatory's authority to recover the unclaimed funds. Such verification may include a copy of corporate bylaws or minutes, an affidavit on company letterhead from another officer of the company attesting to the signatory's authority, or documents filed with a governmental source that establish the signatory is an officer of the company. If applicable, entities may also require legal proof of a business' name change, merger, or acquisition. This documentation is required by the holder of your business' funds to verify that it is making payment to the correct legal beneficiary of these funds.

What does a Limited Power of Attorney authorize TLSG to do?

• A Limited Power of Attorney is needed so that TLSG may communicate with the holder on your behalf regarding the re-issuance of your payment. TLSG's Limited Power of Attorney is restricted to assisting you with this one specific recovery and cannot be used for any other purpose. TLSG’s limited power of attorney also states that TLSG may not incur any costs on your behalf.

How long should it take to recover my business' funds?

• The majority of TLSG's clients receive their funds within 120 days from the time that the recovery process is initiated by TLSG. However, depending on the origin of your business' funds and the unique circumstances surrounding your business' claim, this recovery time may vary. TLSG will provide you with a more accurate estimate after we have received all of your properly executed recovery documents and the requested supporting documentation.

How is TLSG compensated for its services?

• If your business has received a telephone call or a written correspondence from TLSG, TLSG is contacting you about our Asset Recovery Service. TLSG charges a reasonable contingency fee for its Asset Recovery Services. The fee that TLSG charges is based upon the complexity of identifying and processing your business' claim and the size of the claim. TLSG incurs substantial costs and expenses in identifying and recovering our client's funds. These costs include but are not limited to the following: (1) obtaining and researching the records indicating that funds are owed to your business, (2) preparing and filing the legal documents necessary to claim your funds, (3) retaining outside counsel if necessary and (4) monitoring the status of your claim through the recovery process up to the final payment of your business' funds. TLSG’s fee is inclusive of all costs and expenses associated with the recovery of your business' funds. There are no hidden fees or additional costs and TLSG never requests any payment up front. Should your business not receive the benefit of the payment, TLSG does not receive a fee. To learn more about TLSG’s Asset Recovery Service please click here.
• TLSG also offers an Unclaimed Property Identification Service and an Unclaimed Property Identification & Recovery Program. The fee to perform TLSG’s Unclaimed Property Identification Service is generally for a fixed services fee and is determined on a case-by-case basis. TLSG's Unclaimed Property Identification & Recovery Program is TLSG’s most comprehensive service offering. The service fee for this program is typically contingent and is also determined on a case-by-case basis. To learn more about TLSG’s Unclaimed Property Identification Service and our Unclaimed Property Identification & Recovery Program please click here.

Can TLSG find additional funds belonging to my business?

• TLSG offers our Unclaimed Property Identification Service and our Unclaimed Property Identification & Recovery Program to qualified clients. These services use all proprietary and non-proprietary databases available to TLSG to determine if there are additional unclaimed funds that belong to a particular client. If you are interested in learning more about these services please click here.