Tom Cullerton helps reunite residents with unclaimed possessions

SPRINGFIELD- Illinois residents may now be reunited with unclaimed property sooner than in the past.

State Senator Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park) advanced Senate Bill 886 which would allow the Illinois' Treasurer's Office to facilitate a faster return of unclaimed property.

"This small step will reunite Illinois residents with their money sooner," Cullerton said. "Data sharing between the Treasurer's Office and Illinois Revenue Department will help cut government bureaucracy and get money and property in your hands faster."

In Illinois, the State Treasurer's Office is tasked with safeguarding unclaimed property, such as forgotten bank accounts, life insurance benefits and unused rebate cards. The office recovers hundreds of thousands of properties each year from government agencies, banks, insurers, utilities and other companies across the country that have been unable to return the properties to their rightful owners.

Then the office's I-CASH program works to notify owners and reunite them with their money and other property. In the last year, the program returned a record-setting $155 million to Illinois residents.

The Treasurer's office currently holds more than 14 million properties valued at more than $2 billion.

"We need to cut government red tape wherever we can," Cullerton said. "This will help get property in your hands sooner rather than later."

Senate Bill 886 advanced out of the Senate's State Government Committee with bipartisan support and now moves to the full Senate for consideration.