(Part 1 of 2)

In May 2007, Illinois State Treasurer State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias stated that the state's "Cash Dash" program currently holds nearly $1.4 Billion in Illinois unclaimed money. The only thing standing between the cash and its rightful owners is the knowledge that it's out there and the knowledge to locate it.

Sadly beyond just Illinois, state treasury departments across the nation keep on taking in more unclaimed funds annually than they return to the rightful owners. Because everyone believes in the old "if it's too good to be true" saying, the majority of people refuse to believe that there are really tens of billions of dollars waiting to be claimed across the country. Even for the handful who have come to accept the truth about unclaimed cash, the best way to find these monies eludes them most of the time.

The Prairie is State is one of those rare states that is holding over 1 billion dollars on its own, and that means that if you are a resident of Illinois then you have even better odds of finding a claim in your name, especially after you factor in that the state has less than 13 million people and there are more than 10 million names on the state's Illinois database.

Even though there are many more, Illinois names the following as the most common sources of forgotten funds: credit balances, customer deposits or overpayments, safe deposit box contents, money orders, refunds, paid-up life insurance policies, travelers checks, unpaid wages or commissions, abandoned savings and checking accounts, bonds, stock, un-cashed dividends, mutual funds. People who have had or know someone who might have had one of these types of accounts at some point in the past is encouraged to search regularly.

(to be continued)

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UPDATE: Buying on eBay – nbc15.com
Press Release from the Office of the State Treasurer. Madison – State Treasurer Dawn Marie Sass announced today that the Unclaimed Property Department in the Office of the State Treasurer paid out a record-breaking number of claims in 2009 and the …

Disbarred Orlando Attorney Going To Prison – WFTV
ORLANDO, Fla. — A former Orlando attorney, who admitted to stealing from his clients in foreclosure, will spend the next two years in prison. He was sentenced Thursday. Three years ago, Norman Moss was handling unclaimed money from the sale of a Lee …

Wisconsin residents looking to put cash back in their pockets (CBS 5 Green Bay)
Property Claims Set another Record in 2009 with more than $26 Million given back to Wisconsin residents