The Illinois State Treasurer’s Office returned nearly $299 million in missing money during 2024, Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs announced on Tuesday. Illinois’ missing money program — also known as I-CASH — processed 331,032 claims last year. Preliminary numbers show that $260.6 million in cash and $38 million in securities were returned last year. The average amount of a claim was $902. I-CASH is one of the state’s oldest consumer protection initiatives. The State Treasurer is tasked with safeguarding unclaimed property, including unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts, unused rebate cards and the contents of overlooked safe deposit boxes. Treasurer Frerichs completely restructured the missing money process. The State Treasurer’s Office has added electronic claims, eliminated red-tape that slowed small-money claims, and leveraged technology to allow payments to be made without a claim even needing to be filed. Last fall, Frerichs returned nearly $13.2 million to 140,000 people as part of the latest round of the Enhanced Money Match program that allows the State Treasurer’s Office to automatically return money to individuals without the need to file a claim. The vast majority of checks were for $50 to $100.