(Part 1 of 2)

In May 2007, Illinois State Treasurer State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias announced that the state's "Cash Dash" program is holding nearly 1.4 Billion dollars in Illinois unclaimed money. The only thing standing between the cash and its true owners is the knowledge that it's out there waiting to be claimed and the knowledge to track it down.

Sadly in addition to Illinois, state treasury departments across the nation continue to take in more unclaimed property annually than they return to the people. Due to the fact that everyone believes in the old "if it's too good to be true" saying, the majority of people do not believe that there are truly tens of billions of dollars waiting to be claimed nationwide. Even for those few who have learned the truth about unclaimed properties, the best way to find these monies eludes them most of the time.

The Prairie is State is one of just a few states that holds over a billion dollars on its own, and that means that if you are a resident of Illinois then you have even greater odds of finding a claim in your name, especially when you factor in that the state has just under 13 million people and there are over 10 million names on the state's Illinois database.

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

The Illinois State Treasury has given back more than 432 million dollars since it took control of the unclaimed property program in 1999, 84 million dollars of which was given back in 2006 alone, but with 1.4 Billion dollars waiting to be claimed and more coming in all the time, the heap of cash will keep on growing.

(to be continued)

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Track down your share of unclaimed billions – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Everybody loves free money, and you may be able to get some if you're willing to treasure hunt on one of the many lists of unclaimed property. Typically, unclaimed money originates at financial institutions and other companies. You may have money coming to …

Money tip: Track down your share of unclaimed billions – Seattle Times
Everybody loves free money, and you might be able to get some if you're willing to treasure hunt on one of the many lists of unclaimed property. Typically, unclaimed money originates at financial institutions and other companies. You might have money coming to

$12 million lotto ticket still unclaimed – Victorville Daily Press
… winner can’t claim the prize money, said California Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso. “We’re getting really close to the deadline for this particular ticket,” he said. “It’s extremely rare for a ticket of that size to go unclaimed.”

Unclaimed funds to help fill Mich. budget
LANSING, Mich., Sept. 27 (UPI) — Michigan is looking to use about $208 million in unclaimed checks and other valuables to help balance the state budget, officials say. Michigan – Budget – United States – Jennifer Granholm – President