State Treasurer Michael Frerichs expects that about 73,000 Illinoisians will have something extra in their Christmas stockings.
Frerichs announced yesterday that the state is expected to deliver the money from a program that allows the Treasurer’s Office to automatically return unclaimed property to individuals without the need to file a claim. The General Assembly raised the limit on the amount of money that can be returned this way to $5,000, meaning that more checks will be delivered this year than ever before.
The Enhanced Money Match Program leverages data already collected by the state and crossmatches it with the treasurer’s unclaimed property database. When a matching name and mailing address is identified and confirmed, the unclaimed property owner will receive a letter from the Treasurer’s Office that describes the amount and source of the money. After one additional security step is concluded, a check simply is issued to the owner. All they have to do is watch for it in the mail.
The latest round of Enhanced Money Match letters started hitting mailboxes over the weekend to an estimated 73,000 individuals. Checks could be issued in November before Thanksgiving. The total to be returned is $28.8 million. The first round of Money Match in August has returned nearly $45 million to almost 62,000 people so far.
Enhanced Money Match focuses on simple claims: Cash owed to a single person. Not included is cash owned by multiple parties, including a joint holding of a parent and minor child, as well as shares of stocks and bonds, escrow accounts, and the contents of bank safe deposit boxes. That part does not change, but the limit is raised to $5,000 from $2,000.
Enhanced Money Match is part of the office’s Unclaimed Property program, also known as I-Cash. It is one of the state’s oldest consumer protection initiatives.
In Illinois, the state treasurer is tasked with safeguarding unclaimed property, such as the contents of overlooked safe deposit boxes, unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts and unused rebate cards. Illinois holds more than $5 billion in unclaimed property. The state treasurer is legally required to return unclaimed property to its owners or heirs, no matter how long it takes.
To see if you have unclaimed property, check the online database at www.illinoistreasurer.gov/ICASH
Region: Springfield,Local,City: Springfield,Region: Central
via Local – WMAY – 92.7 WMAY https://www.wmay.com
October 25, 2023 at 02:05AM
Illinois Delivered 