Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford Announces Dramatic Increase in Success of Cash Dash Program as Third Quarter Ends
Office of Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford|Tuesday, October 4, 2011
State Treasurer Dan Rutherford is pleased to announce a major increase in success of the Unclaimed Property Division’s (UPD) program, Cash Dash, in the first three quarters of 2011. The Cash Dash program helps reunite owners with their unclaimed property. The UPD currently has $1.5 billion in cash, plus contents from Illinois bank safety deposit boxes that have been abandoned for at least five years.
“I’m proud to say that in the past nine months I’ve been in office, we’ve seen an increase in three main areas: total number of assets returned, web searches and claim inquiries,” said Rutherford. “This is great because it means more people are getting money, property or assets they didn’t know about or forgot they had.”
Assets Returned
From January - September 2011, the UPD has already returned $12 million more in cash and stock value than in all of 2010.
2011 (Jan.-Sept.) 2010
Cash claims paid: $52,529,235 $51,924,893
Stock value: $19,586,945 $8,153,157
Totals: $72,116,180 $60,078,050 => 20% increase
Web Searches
Also, since Rutherford took office, there have already been 1.6 million more Cash Dash web searches for unclaimed property.
2011 (Jan.-Sept.) 2010
5.2 million 3.6 million => 44% increase
Claim Inquiries
In the same timeframe, the UPD has handled an extremely large increase in the number of inquires for property.
2011 (Jan.-Sept.) 2010
217,906 86,183 => 153% increase
“Upon taking office, I made it a priority to get unclaimed property I was holding back in the hands of the rightful owners,” said Rutherford. “With an aggressive marketing approach, we are making this goal a reality. Cash Dash marketers and I have been traveling the state to reach out to people in communities large and small to let them know about the Cash Dash program, and to encourage them to check our database.”
The costs for marketing and supporting the Cash Dash program are not paid for with taxpayers’ dollars; instead, the program is funded by interest earned on the investments of the assets waiting to be reunited with their owners. These expenses include a program director, staff salaries, marketing materials, travel and advertising.
Most of the state’s unclaimed property is held in the treasurer’s underground vault at the Illinois State Capitol, which was used to store the state’s cash, bonds and securities for more than 100 years. The vault can hold up to 100,000 items in unclaimed property, but it is close to being at maximum capacity.
It is common for people to lose track of their assets when they move or when loved ones pass away. Businesses and banks are required to turn over unclaimed accounts to the treasurer's office. Some examples of unclaimed property currently held by the treasurer's office include the following:
Money in inactive savings and checking accounts
Unpaid wages or commissions
Stocks, bonds and mutual funds
Money orders and bill overpayments
Paid-up life insurance policies
Safety deposit box contents.
If one doesn’t make it to a Cash Dash community event, the treasurer’s website is always available so people can find out if they have unclaimed property through Cash Dash. Just visit www.treasurer.il.gov and follow the Cash Dash link. The website is updated weekly to reflect new properties remitted to the office.
One can contact the Unclaimed Property Division by calling 217-785-6998 or emailing info@cashdash.net.
