State’s Cash Dash tour pays off for locals

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Updated: December 21, 2011 8:21AM

ST. CHARLES — An hour after the State Treasurer’s office opened its Cash Dash station in City Hall, nearly 80 people had asked aide Sharon Howard-Garchitorena to search the database for their names and their family’s names. And a lucky six of those folks discovered they owned money or stocks being held for them by the state.

“We’re like the lottery, only with better odds,” quipped state Treasurer Dan Rutherford.

In fact, Rutherford said an average of 20 to 25 percent of people who attend his biweekly Cash Dash tours find they own assets that banks and other institutions turned over to the state after losing track of account holders. The state holds those assets for as long as it takes to find the owners, even if that means releasing them to a deceased owner’s heirs.

In all, the Cash Dash program holds $1.5 billion in money, stocks, unpaid wages and other financial securities turned in by Illinois banks and businesses. While a few claims are quite large — Rutherford said one person is owed more than $270,000 — most are less than $100, and many are less than $10.

“Those claims are very small, but it’s still their money and I want to get it back to them,” he said.

Rutherford has been taking the Cash Dash program on the road. On Thursday, the Cash Dash team visited Algonquin, Carpentersville, Elgin and St. Charles after spending Wednesday in Lake and McHenry counties.

“The mayor of Mount Vernon found some stock that her grandparents had bought her when she was little,” Rutherford noted. “She almost fell backward when she found out, because she’d never known it existed.”

St. Charles Mayor Don DeWitte also searched the database for himself and his family. “My deceased father has a small claim, and my brother has a claim,” he said. “You never know until you look.”

People aren’t the only claimants listed in Cash Dash. Rutherford brought checks for the St. Charles School District, which had a $200 claim, and for St. Charles East High School, which had a $185 claim that dated back to the days when it was the only high school in town.

People who visit a Cash Dash stop shouldn’t expect to walk away with cash in their pockets if they find a claim. First they have to file all the proper paperwork.

“The amount of paperwork involved depends on the amount and type of the claim,” Rutherford said.

Sometimes Cash Dash acts as a safety net for assets lost via mismanagement.

“I just found a mutual fund that was given to my daughter when she was born eight years ago,” said city worker Chris Tiedt. “I was very surprised because I sent in the paperwork the company mailed us to keep track of my daughter. I’m irritated with the company, but I’m glad I found it on Cash Dash.”

People searching for lost assets also can access the database at www.treasurer.il.gov.