You might be receiving a check in the mail soon with unclaimed property, the Illinois State Treasurer said, as part of the state's "I-Cash" system that matches missing money to Illinois residents.
The system, Illinois State Treasure Michael Frerichs said, uses a program called "Enhanced Money Match" to automatically send rightly owed missing money checks to Illinois residents without the need to file a claim.
According to Frerichs, the latest round of the iCash's matching money program has sent checks nearly 140,000 residents.
"If you are home, if you see a check in the mail from the State Treasurer's office, it's not a scam," Frerichs said during a press conference Tuesday. "All you have to do is open that envelope and cash that check."
The vast majority of checks in the latest round were for between $50 and $100, Frerichs said, with the total amount coming in at approximately $13.2 million.
Since 2018, the Illinois Treasurer's Office has returned more than $102 million to nearly 442,000 people.
“We put technology to work to return more money to people in our state," Frerichs said in a press release. "After all, the money belongs to them."
Local
Here's what to know about the money matching program, and how to search the state's I-Cash database for missing money owed to you.
How Illinois automatically sends out checks
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The state's "Enhanced Money Match" program crossmatches data from the state with the State Treasurer's unclaimed property database, the release said. Frerichs' office then matches and confirms names and mailing addresses and then subsequently sends a letter to the unclaimed property owner that contains the amount of unclaimed money, and the source.
Following a "quick, final review," a check is issued to the owner, the release said.
"All they have to do is watch for it in the mail a few weeks after they receive a letter from the State Treasurer's Office," the release said.
Don't don't forget to deposit the check, Frerichs' office stressed.
The program is specifically designed for cash owed to a single person, the release said.
"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," the release added.
According to officials, the money match program is part of the office's "Unclaimed Property" program, also known as I-Cash. Illinois currently holds more than $5 billion unclaimed property, the release said.
The release stressed that the treasurer is legally required to return unclaimed property to its rightful owners or heirs, "no matter how long it takes."
How to use iCash to see
While the money match program only applies to individuals, the state's searchable I-Cash database can be found here. The database contains unclaimed property information for individuals, properties or businesses.
You can check the I-Cash database to see if you have unclaimed money here.
You can also visit the Comptroller's website to check for unclaimed money here. The Office of the Comptroller currently has records of almost 150,000 uncashed checks worth over $50 million, the website said.
