Foreclosure? You may have money in the bank!

Arizona Foreclosure and Real Estate News

Article Abstract: When facing foreclosure in Arizona, many homeowners may think that once all is said and done they have nothing to claim from their home. That may not be the case. If your home sells for more than you owed on the property the funds are for deposited specifically to be claimed by the homeowners. To claim your excess funds from a Arizona foreclosure auction, please contact the county treasurer.  For the full AZ foreclosure article, please continue reading below:

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By Gary Harper

Millions of dollars are sitting in an account and some of that money just might belong to you.

This story deals with people who have gone through a foreclosure and, of course, that's a lot of people because, as we know, foreclosures are at a record high here in Arizona.

Although I can't get your home back, I might be able to get you money you never knew you left behind.

Jenny Celli likes to hop on her motorcycle and leave the open road behind her.

She's also trying to leave something else behind -- a foreclosure that she went through last year.

"Well, your life is destroyed, really," Celli said. "Your life is destroyed and it's humiliating."

And it's still humiliating because the foreclosure has virtually destroyed Celli's credit.

"Oh, I'm screwed," she said. "I'm screwed. I think my credit score is something like 569."

But as bad as a foreclosure can be, the unfortunate incident actually left Celli with some money, money that she later discovered in an account in downtown Phoenix.

"The problem that we are seeing is that we have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars that belong to former homeowners and they don't know we are holding the money," said David Schweikert, the former Maricopa County treasurer.

While in office, he put something on the treasurer's Web site called "excess proceeds" for homeowners who went through a foreclosure.

But exactly what are excess proceeds and how can they help a homeowner whose home was auctioned off?

"If a bidder out there on the courthouse steps bids more than the amount owed to the bank, then the excess proceeds are deposited with us at the Maricopa County Treasurer's Office," Schweikert said.

In Celli's case, when her east Mesa home was auctioned off, the bidder actually paid $20,000 more than what was owed to her mortgage company.

Unable to locate Celli, that $20,000 in excess proceeds was deposited, by law, into the Treasurer's Office until one day Celli did some investigating and stumbled upon her name.

"I looked and I saw my name and I saw money and I said, 'OK, that's good to know,'" Celli said.

It is good to know. There is a long list of people who lost their home here in Maricopa County but have no idea it was auctioned for more than what they owed.

Charlotte Stevens is with the county Treasurer's Office and helps reunite that money with former homeowners.

"Oh, they are very happy, for sure, because for some, it means a new start," Stevens said.

And as Schweikert will tell you, some of the funds being held for former homeowners are significant.

"I have $35,000, $39,000, $133,000, so they are all different amounts," Schweikert said.

In Celli's case, after finding her name, the county Treasurer's Office issued her a check for the $20,000 it was holding for her. It couldn't have come at a better time since she's trying to put so much behind her.

So, how do you know if you have money? Well, if you went through a foreclosure, click here. If you find your name, the treasurer's office has a step-by-step process you can follow without having to hire an attorney to reunite you with some money.

The important thing to mention here is if your foreclosure was more than three years ago, then the money has been transferred over to the state Department of Revenue.

Just last month the Treasurer's Office transferred $800,000 over to the Department of Revenue because people did not claim it.

For more information on Arizona foreclosures and related news, please visit the Arizona Foreclosure home page.

Article Source http://www.azfamily.com/news/3oys/stories/KTVK3OYS20071106_foreclosures-money.1e527a447.html