Discover Your Unclaimed Property With I-Cash #ICash

Disclosure: I partnered with the Illinois Treasurer’s I-Cash program to share this information and my story.

A few weeks ago I received a call from my brother who had just checked the Illinois Treasurer’s I-Cash program website. Now if you have never heard of the Illinois Treasurer’s I-Cash program it is a program founded back in 1999 with the goal of assisting Illinois residents in reclaiming their recovered assets. Right now the Illinois Treasurer is safeguarding more than $2 billion in cash and 20 million shares of stock and mutual funds that need to be returned to Illinoisans.

Why are there so many recovered assets?

Well after banks, government agencies and other companies fail to return money and assets to their rightful owners they get transferred to the Treasury. People can lose track or maybe they don’t know about a loved ones assets. Businesses and banks are required by law to turn over unclaimed accounts to the state so they can be returned to their rightful owners.

Some examples include:

• inactive savings and checking accounts
• unpaid wages or commissions
• stocks, bonds and mutual funds
• money orders and bill overpayments
• paid-up life insurance policies
• safe deposit box contents

The Illinois Treasurer wants the money to be returned to its residents as the Treasurer cannot take ownership of the money, but rather serve as a custodian. Generations from now, a family member could claim your property with the right paperwork!

So twice a year the Treasurer’s office publishes all the names to the Unclaimed Property list with property of varying cash values or in the form of stock/mutual fund shares or safe keeping contents.  The I-Cash website is frequently updated with the new names while also removing names of those who have claimed their assets.

So anyway back to my brother calling me telling me he checked the Illinois Treasurer’s I-Cash program. First I admit I got excited thinking he found my name on the list. Yes you can search anyone’s name, only last name is required. So after my brother put his own name in there and didn’t find anything, he started putting in every name he could think of for his friends and family. So he called to tell me that my last name came up in the I-Cash website, but it was actually for a recovered asset for my father-in-law. I quickly called my mother-in-law to tell her and she was so excited.  It was a less than $10 amount but hey it was something! They are saving up to come to Disney World with us and that is a few more dollars towards their goal! I explained how easy it is to claim the assets. You just need to fill out a quick form and print it out.

Oh and you definitely want to register for the site before you file a claim because then you can check the claim status online.

With one in four Illinois adults searching the Illinois Treasurer’s I-Cash database and finding a property to claim, you really have nothing to lose! Also the average claim paid out is $1,000! Heck as of January 1st of this year there were more than 400,000 properties worth over $1,000 waiting to be claimed by rightful owners from every county in the state.

So what are you waiting for? Check to see if you have recovered money and make sure you tell your friends and family to check their names!