Heir Hunters

[T&S]

What sort of percentage do the companies who do the Heir Hunting expect from the heirs they find?

TIA

[dotty.]

40%

[dotty.]

I'll do it for 20%, there you are, saved you a small fortune already

[T&S]

40% ?!?!?!

Blimey O'Reilly that seems a lot!

[VHG]

>>Blimey O'Reilly that seems a lot!

Well of course without them you probably would have got nothing.

The thing I always wondered is if Heir Hunters came to you and said you had some money coming what is to stop you doing the research yourself and cutting them out.

I assume Heir Hunters dont tell you WHERE the money is coming from so you may have to spend weeks or months trawling your family tree. May just be easier to pay the 40%.

Better 60% of something than nothing.

[cazzz1975]

its quite amusing when the client refuses to sign up for fraser and fraser and decide to file their own claim, its a shame more people dont file their own claims, these heir hunter companies make a mint out of it

[cazzz1975]

most people are aware of the lists that the heir hunters use now, they dont go back too far on the family tree either so its feasable for anyone approached to do the same work as the heir hunters.

[Barmaid]

I've seen all manner of fees between 2.5% and 40%. I often thought I should set up myself and do this.

[bednobs]

i've always thought to mysel if someone rang me up and said "you could be in line for an inhertance" or "can you tell me more about your family" i would put the phone down and assume they were scamming me!

[Barmaid]

If someone did that to me Bednobs, I'd be sure they were scamming me since I know just about every cousin, uncle, aunt, second cousin etc etc.

[bednobs]

i know they must cut bits out for the prog but the people seem so trusting!

[cc1]

I think that the potential recipient can negotiate the rate, especially if there are other companies chasing them. If they knocked on my door, I would contact other companies to get a better deal, if I didn't think I could do it myself. Their costs have to cover the non-productive cases as well, they also sometimes pull a dozen or so certificates, which have jumped in price since the interest in genealogy started!

[dotty.]

No they've just jumped in price last year, before that they were the same for almost 10 years

[Ric.ror]

My mother was contacted by a company who charged 30%.
I told her to throw the initial letter away as I thought it was a scam. Turned out I was wrong