(Part 2 of 2)

Although there are many more, Illinois names the following as the most common sources of missing money: abandoned savings and checking accounts, unpaid wages or commissions, stock, bonds, mutual funds, un-cashed dividends, customer deposits or overpayments, credit balances, refunds, money orders, travelers checks, paid-up life insurance policies, safe deposit box contents. Anyone who has had or knows someone who may have had one of these accounts at one time or another is encouraged to search often.

The Illinois State Treasury has handed back more than 432 million dollars since it took over the unclaimed property program in 1999, $84 million of which was returned in 2006 alone, but with $1.4 Billion waiting to be claimed and more coming in every year, the heap of cash will continue to grow.

Because money is constantly added to the fund, it is important to check regularly, not just one time. Money owed to you might be added tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or depending on the type of property in five years if that's the proper dormancy period. Each type of property has its own dormancy period within each state, after which state laws require the holder to hand it over to the state who will then hold it until the true owner steps forward to claim it.

Additionally, residents of Illinois may be owed unclaimed property in other states even if they have never lived in or even set foot in them. Things like insurance overpayments when an employer uses an out of state insurance company can result in found money located in other states. Issues often also come up corporations' headquarters are in another state.

The bottom line is that the state of Illinois is currently home to a massive amount of money that belongs to its residents who just need to learn the proper ways to search, how often to search, and where to search. Learning these search tips from locators with years of experience in this field can greatly enhance your abilities to locate your money.

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Red Tape: Get what’s coming to you (MSNBC)
Does someone owe you money? You may have some unclaimed property waiting for you — and there's no need to pay a middleman to find it.

$150,000 rail compo unclaimed – Stuff
The Securities Commission is having difficulty getting rid of $150,000 of Tranz Rail compensation money to 535 Tranz Rail shareholders. The money is part of about $27 million paid in settlement of the Tranz Rail insider trading case in June 2007 …

State providing help in search for 'lost money' – Enid News & Eagle
State Treasurer Scott Meacham’s Unclaimed Property Division will participate in the Enid Home Show at the Chisholm Trail Expo Center this weekend to help attendees search for lost money. Staff members will be on hand throughout the show with laptop …

Need money? You may have some coming (The Shawano Leader)
You may have money you didn’t even know about. Do you want to know how to retrieve it? The Office of the State Treasurer is printing names of people who have unclaimed funds in Wisconsin for 2008.