Is Surplus Funds Recovery Legit? How to Tell the Real Thing From a Scam

Are surplus funds real, or is this whole thing a scam?

The money is real. When a home is sold at a foreclosure or tax sale for more than the debt against it, the difference does not belong to the bank, the county, or the buyer — it belongs to the former owner, after any valid liens are paid. That leftover money is called surplus funds — also known as excess proceeds, excess funds, or overage.

This is not a loophole or a secret program; it is written into public law. In Ohio, publicly available statute R.C. 2329.44 directs what happens to the leftover money after a judicial foreclosure sale, and county offices like the Franklin County Clerk of Courts publish the exact process for getting it back. In Georgia, O.C.G.A. § 48-4-5 requires the tax commissioner to notify the owner when excess funds exist after a tax sale. You can confirm any of this directly with your county — we encourage it.

Here is the part that makes people suspicious, and rightly so: an entire industry — some of it honest, some of it predatory — exists to find those former owners and offer to recover the money for a cut. So the question "is surplus funds recovery legit" has a two-part answer. The money is legitimate. The company contacting you might or might not be. The rest of this guide is how you tell the difference.

How did a company I've never heard of know about my foreclosure?

Because foreclosure is public. The court case, the sheriff's sale result, the sale price, and in many counties an actual published list of excess funds with names and amounts are all public records. Georgia tax commissioners post downloadable excess funds lists online, and Ohio's county unclaimed funds lists are published by the Ohio Department of Commerce. Anyone — including you, for free — can look them up.

The North Carolina Justice Center puts it plainly in its foreclosure-scam fact sheet: scam operators monitor public foreclosure records and contact owners, sometimes before the owner even knows a surplus exists. So a stranger knowing your old address, the sale date, or even a dollar amount proves nothing either way. It is not evidence they are a scam — and it is definitely not evidence they are legit. The information they "found" was free. What separates a real company from a predator is what they ask you to do next.

What do government agencies say about surplus funds companies?

Regulators never say the money is fake — they confirm it is real, and warn about how some companies behave. The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs publishes a consumer brief titled "Surplus Funds Scams: How to Avoid Them." It describes companies approaching owners right after the sheriff's sale, charging "exorbitant fees, sometimes up to 75% of your surplus amount," and notes that in many cases owners can apply on their own for less than $100.

The Washington State Attorney General sued a company that reached foreclosed homeowners before official notices arrived, told them recovery would be nearly impossible without help, and took cuts often exceeding 50 percent — far past Washington's 5 percent statutory cap. That company was dissolved by court order in 2019.

The FTC's guidance on refund and recovery scams reduces to one rule: never pay upfront to recover money you are already owed. Its 2026 alert on unexpected calls about unclaimed funds lists the red flags: official-sounding made-up names, a specific dollar figure quoted to build trust, "time is running out" pressure, and requests for personal information or a "processing fee." The Ohio Department of Commerce publishes similar warnings about unclaimed funds scams.

How can I tell a legitimate surplus funds company from a scam?

Put every company that contacts you — including us — through the same checklist. Every marker below comes from the government sources above, not from industry marketing.

Why does it matter who actually files the claim?

In Georgia, the "who files" row is not a preference — many county tax commissioners refuse recovery firms outright. Gwinnett County states that it "does not recognize a legal relationship of 'representation' by an asset recovery firm, nor by an individual who has been granted Power of Attorney," and that you are never required to pay or be represented by any third party to claim excess funds. Chatham County says the same: claims are accepted only from the claimant directly, or from an attorney legally representing the claimant.

That means any company promising to "handle everything" in those counties without a licensed Georgia attorney cannot actually do what it is promising — the county will not accept its paperwork. This single, verifiable fact filters out a large share of the industry. Ask any company one question: "Which licensed attorney will file my claim, and in which court or county office?" A legitimate operation answers instantly. You can then confirm the attorney's license with the state bar for free.

How do I check for free whether money is owed to me?

You can find out — and claim the money — yourself, for free or close to it, without signing anything. Here is exactly how. Every official source, from the FTC to your county clerk, agrees on this: finding out whether the money exists costs nothing.

1. Gather the basics: the property address, the county, and roughly when the sale happened. If a company contacted you, ask them for the case number — a legitimate one will hand it over.
2. Ohio, mortgage foreclosure: call the Clerk of Courts in the county where the home sold and ask whether excess funds are on deposit in your foreclosure case. Franklin County, for example, publishes its process and claim form, and Ohio Legal Help offers free foreclosure resources, including form help.
3. Ohio, older cases: search the free Ohio Department of Commerce county unclaimed funds lists — no fee, no signup.
4. Georgia: call the Tax Commissioner in the county where the property sold, or check its published excess funds list — Gwinnett and Chatham both post theirs online.
5. While you are on the phone, ask about your deadline. Deadlines differ by state and by type of sale (mortgage foreclosure vs. tax sale), and according to publicly available statute, some money is eventually lost for good — in Georgia, excess tax-sale funds that sit unclaimed for five years move to the Department of Revenue (O.C.G.A. § 48-4-5). The county can tell you exactly where your case stands — verify it with them, not with whoever called you.

If I can claim it myself for free, when is help actually worth it?

For a straightforward claim — one living owner, no competing liens, a cooperative county — you may not need anyone. File it yourself and keep every dollar; legal aid organizations can also help for free if you qualify. But some situations genuinely change the math:

• Competing claims: second mortgages, HELOCs, judgment liens, or an HOA may claim the same funds ahead of you, and disputes go to contested hearings.
• A deceased owner: heirs usually need probate documents — such as Letters of Administration — before a court or county will release funds, and multiple heirs multiply the complexity.
• Aged or escheated funds: in Georgia, excess funds unclaimed after five years move to the Department of Revenue and generally require a court action to release.
• Hearing counties: some Ohio courts, including Franklin County Common Pleas, require a hearing where your claim can be questioned or challenged.
• Out-of-state owners, divorce splits, or bankruptcy complications layered on top of the claim.

Does Capital Quest Group pass its own checklist?

In the harder cases above, a licensed attorney genuinely changes the outcome — not because the paperwork is secret, but because someone else may be fighting you for the money, or the process runs through a courtroom. This guide is educational information, not legal advice; for guidance on your specific situation, consult a licensed attorney. With that said, run us through the same table — we built it to be used on us.

• Upfront money: none, ever. Attorney fees, filing fees, and court costs are all covered by us. You pay nothing unless money is recovered.
• Who files: licensed attorneys. Every claim we handle is filed by our own licensed attorneys in Ohio and Georgia — including in the Georgia counties that accept claims only from the owner or an attorney. That county rule is exactly how we already operate.
• The paperwork: no assignment of rights, no deed transfers, no power of attorney routing your money through us. The claim stays yours, and recovered funds flow through proper legal channels.
• Verifiability: before you sign anything, we tell you the case, the sale, and which office holds the funds — so you can call the county and confirm every word. We encourage it.
• Pressure: none. Take our agreement to your own lawyer, your county clerk, or a legal aid office first. If we are the right choice today, we will still be the right choice next week.

Keep reading

• State guides: Ohio surplus funds, Georgia excess funds, Florida surplus funds
• Got a Letter About Surplus Funds? How to Tell If It's Real
• How Long Do I Have to Claim Surplus Funds After Foreclosure?
• Can I Claim Surplus Funds Myself, Without a Lawyer or Recovery Company?
• Was My House Sold for More Than I Owed?