Learning center

How matching works

When you type your name into our search, here’s exactly what happens behind the scenes — no mystery, no magic.

Step 1: We normalize your name

County records are messy. Your name might appear as “Maria Johnson” in one list and “JOHNSON, MARIA” in another. So we convert what you typed to uppercase, remove punctuation, and split it into word tokens. “Mary-Jo Smith” becomes the tokens MARY, JO, SMITH.

Step 2: We compare against public records

Every record in our index has a normalized name built the same way. We look for records where every one of your tokens appears somewhere in the record’s name. All tokens must match — searching “Maria Johnson” won’t return every Johnson in the county.

Step 3: We show you masked results

If records match, you see them with names partially masked (like “M*** J*******”), plus the county, state, sale type, record year, an amount range (never an exact figure), and the date we last checked the record. Masking protects everyone’s privacy — including yours.

What “possible public-record match” really means

A match means a name in a public record looks similar to the name you entered. That’s all it means. Specifically, it does not mean:

that money is definitely held for you;
that you are the same person as the name in the record (common names match many people);
that you are entitled to anything — eligibility is reviewed by the county or court office that holds the funds, never by us.

Why identity verification comes later

Think of our search as a screening step: it tells you whether it’s worth looking closer. The actual proof — photo ID, ownership documents, and whatever the holding office requires — happens between you and the county or court. We explain what offices typically ask for in our after the sale guide and state guides, but the office itself is the final authority.

Why we limit searches

To keep the service fast and fair for everyone — and to discourage automated harvesting of records — we limit the number of searches per browsing session. If you hit the limit, just wait a little while and try again.

Our promise: we will never claim we have located money that belongs to you. We’ll tell you when a public record may relate to you, explain what that could mean, and show you the next step. The rest is up to you and the office that holds the record.