BELLEVILLE -- The Illinois state treasurer's office returned almost $299 million in unclaimed property in 2024, but $5 billion statewide has yet to be claimed.
I-CASH, the state's program to return unclaimed money, processed 331,032 claims last year, according to a Jan. 14 press release from Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs. A claim filed by one person or business may encompass multiple properties.
Preliminary numbers show $260.6 million in cash and $38 million in securities were returned statewide in 2024, with an average claim amount of $902, the release said. The average unclaimed property was worth $513.71. Businesses and other organizations can have unclaimed property, as well as individuals.
Illinois state treasurer's office spokesperson Eric Krol wrote in a Jan. 8 email to the News-Democrat the office is still calculating returns for December, so the year's total numbers may change.
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As of Jan. 8, Krol said there were 202,750 unclaimed properties in the city of Belleville alone, with a total cash value of $27,421,548.46.
"Putting money back in people's pockets helps families and our state's economy. This money belongs with its rightful owners," Frerichs said in the press release. "We have made it easier to file a claim in many cases and streamlined the system with the help of state lawmakers."
Some of the most common types of unclaimed property include the following, Krol said:
Bank draftsInsurance premium payments and refundsCredit balances and accounts receivablesAccounts payableCustomer overpaymentsPayroll (such as a last paycheck an employee forgot to pick up)Utility deposits
Across Illinois, more than 33 million properties are unclaimed, with a total value of $5 billion.
You can search online at the state treasurer's office website to find out if you have unclaimed property. You can search for missing property held by other states at missingmoney.com.
On the Illinois unclaimed property search function, you can claim your property by typing in your name, selecting the property and clicking "claim" and "continue to file claim" and following the steps given to complete the claim process. You may be asked to provide supporting documentation.
In some cases, residents do not have to file a claim to receive their property. I-CASH has an Enhanced Money Match program, which focuses on simple claims, or cash owed to one individual.
In the fall 2024 Enhanced Money Match program round, the state treasurer returned nearly $13.2 million to 138,561 people, with most checks worth $50 to $100.
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