SPRINGFIELD – Feb. 19, 2013 – Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford is encouraging Cook County residents to attend his I-Cash event in the area Thursday, Feb. 21 to determine if the state is holding any money or unclaimed property entitled to them. In fact, 2,568,983 owners in Cook County have $1,061,654,732 in unclaimed property. This is according to the January list of unclaimed property holders.
Thursday, Feb. 21
Barrington, Township Offices, Conference Room, 602 S. Hough, Barrington
11 a.m.: Rutherford will provide remarks and hold a media availability. He will depart at 11:30 a.m.
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.: I-Cash staff will be on site to help local residents find out if they have unclaimed property.
“People are thrilled to find out they have money just waiting for them through I-Cash,” says Rutherford. “I encourage area residents to come visit me at local I-Cash events for assistance in locating their money or property – plus everyone should make an attempt to review our online database annually so they don’t miss out on money or valuable assets the state is holding for them.”
The recent rebranding and marketing campaign has dramatically increased the number of searches on the I-Cash (formerly Cash Dash) website and the number of claims filed. In the first month after the launch of I-Cash, the number of web visits increased by 140 percent (69,087 to 165,683), and the number of claims increased by 322 percent (7,506 to 31,703) as compared to the month before the switch to I-Cash.
The treasurer’s Unclaimed Property Division’s costs, including staff, computers and travel, are paid for through the Unclaimed Property Trust Fund, and not by tax dollars.
The I-Cash program helps reunite owners with their unclaimed property. The Unclaimed Property Division has $1.7 billion in cash, plus contents from Illinois safe deposit boxes that have been inactive for at least five years. During Rutherford’s first year in office, the program marked the first time in history that the treasurer’s office returned more than $100 million to the people who owned those assets. The total returned for 2012 was $129 million, a 27 percent increase over the previous year. In past administrations, the I-Cash program returned about $80 million annually to owners. It’s common for people to lose track of their assets when they move or when loved ones pass away. Businesses and banks are required to turn over unclaimed accounts to the treasurer’s office.
Some examples of unclaimed property currently held by the treasurer’s office include the following:
– Money from 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.
To find out if you have unclaimed property through I-Cash, you can visit the treasurer’s website at www.treasurer.il.gov and follow the I-Cash link. The website is updated weekly to reflect new properties remitted to the office. Additionally, our I-Cash teams conduct regular outreach across the state, place twice-annual notices in newspapers and send direct mail to new single-owner claimants with property worth more than $100. You can contact the Unclaimed Property Division by calling 217-785-6998 or emailing [email protected], although searches cannot be completed by telephone.