Common Sense in 2020
January 2020 Treasurer’s Note by Treasurer Michael Frerichs
There is a new front in our battle to return money to you.
Many of you know that the Illinois Treasurer’s Office has more than $3 billion in cash and items that have been surrendered as unclaimed property. Examples include lost bank accounts, insurance policy proceeds, and forgotten safe deposit boxes. We typically receive these items after they have been untouched by their owners for three or five years. By law, we are required to return the value of the cash or property no matter how long it takes.
However, there is a $26 billion loophole at the federal level. The loophole is the simple U.S. Savings Bond.
For generations, savings bonds have been a staple for family gifts commemorating birthdays, holidays, and graduations. A savings bond effectively is a loan to the federal government that can be redeemed with significant interest. For example, a $50 Series EE bond purchased 30 years ago is worth more than $100 today.
The federal government knows when the bonds mature and stop earning interest. However, federal officials do not tell the owners to cash the investment. Instead, federal officials stay silent and simply keep the money — and have been doing so for more than 70 years.
That is just plain wrong.
A bipartisan group is working to close this loophole. Proposed federal legislation would require the federal government to surrender the matured bonds to each state. In turn, we in Illinois would work to find the rightful owners. We estimate the value for Illinois residents to be approximately $1 billion.
We work hard to return your unclaimed property. In the past four years, we quietly have returned more than $733 million to Illinois families. It is the most money that has been returned since Illinois’ unclaimed property program was established in 1961.
Closing this loophole is just common sense. Positive change occurs when elected leaders treat public money as if it were their own. We need more ideas like this. May you find prosperity, generosity, and benefit from common sense in 2020.
Subscribe and Read the Treasurer’s Office’s eNewsletter: http://bit.ly/IllinoisTreasurer
View past issues of the newsletter here.
