Million Dollar Day nets $1.6 million for Peorians
State Treasurer sets record for money returned at Cash Dash event

June 9, 2009

Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias declared Million Dollar Day a success after his Cash Dash team set a record by initiating more than $1.6 million in claims for Peoria-area residents.

“We took a new approach to this outreach event by holding it at a mall where people usually go to spend their money, not find it, and we set a goal to return $1 million in a single day,” Giannoulias said. “We’re proud to say we blew away our goal by conducting more than 700 unclaimed property searches in seven hours and filing claims worth over $1.625 million as a result of this event.”

The line at the Million Dollar Day tent spanned 20 to 30 deep at the busiest part of Million Dollar Day, held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 6 at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie.

The Treasurer’s Cash Dash team, relying on five laptops, two photocopiers and cell phones, diligently searched names on the state’s unclaimed property database and processed claims for people with photo IDs and Social Security cards on the spot.

The goal was to set a record for the most cash and assets reunited with their rightful owners during a single outreach event in Illinois. The previous record, $585,000, was set last year at an event in Rock Island.

“The largest amount returned to a single person was over $190,000, but we take the same pleasure and make the same effort to return $50 to Illinois residents, especially in this economy,” Giannoulias said.

Since 1999, the Treasurer’s Office has acted as the state’s “lost and found” for forgotten and abandoned bank accounts, insurance payouts and other cash or assets commonly known as “unclaimed property.” The average claim for an individual is about $200. Funds are often lost when an owner moves addresses or passes away and the heirs cannot be located.

If you missed Million Dollar Day, you can still search for yourself at the state’s Cash Dash website, www.treasurer.il.gov and file a claim. The Cash Dash database is updated with new names each month.