How to Process HUD Rebates From Home
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) encourages home buying by backing mortgage loans. For this assistance, the buyer makes a one-time payment to an insurance policy. If the buyer pays back the loan without default (through payments, selling the home or refinancing), she receives a refund of the insurance payment. However, often the buyer forgets the refund and the money goes unclaimed. To make money from home, many have chosen to become a "tracer" and locate these home buyers to inform them of the refund. In exchange, the tracer asks for a percentage or a flat fee as commission.
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Instructions
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Contact the Department of Commerce's National Technical Information Service to obtain lists of buyers with unclaimed funds from your state. There is a fee for these lists. They are offered in monthly subscriptions, single monthly issues (of all 50 states) or single state lists. Individual state lists may be as low as $25, while a year's subscription to all 50 states is $5,550. Orders can be faxed in with a credit card number or called in to 800-553-6847. The lists are available in paper format, CD-ROM or DVD, with a raw data or searchable PDF file.
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Begin your search for refund recipients. The lists you have purchased from will provide the address for the home that was originally purchased with HUD-backed insurance. Starting with this address, work to find the individual using websites like Whitepages.com, People.yahoo.com or Zabasearch.com.
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Contact the recipient. The best form of initial contact is to send a letter notifying the individual of the refund along with a power of attorney form that enables you to receive the refund yourself. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope in which the recipient can return the power of attorney form.
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Call the recipient on the telephone, if possible. If you have obtained a phone number, call the recipient to follow up the letter. Explain that you will receive and cash the check, take your commission and send the rest to the recipient within a certain number of days of receipt.
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Send the signed power of attorney form and the case number, date of mortgage pay-off, property address, tracer's phone number and address, and buyer's name to HUD at:
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
P.O. Box 23699
Washington, D.C. 20026-3699
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Fill out and return the Application for Premium Refund or Distributive Share Payment form, if necessary. HUD will send this form to you if it is needed for additional verification. Otherwise, HUD can request that the Department of the Treasury send you a check directly.
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Receive and cash the check six to eight weeks later; withdraw your commission and write a check for the remaining amount to the refund recipient. Send the check promptly. Contact the recipient again to inform them that their check is in the mail.
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Tips & Warnings
Once a rebate recipient has learned of the rebate, she can directly contact HUD for the refund with no fee, bypassing your help entirely.
References
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