Illinois Residents Owed $1 Billion in Unclaimed Savings Bonds

It all adds up to an astounding amount of money and part of it might be owed to you. The Illinois State Treasurer has announced that there are approximately $1 billion dollars in unclaimed savings bonds in the Land of Lincoln alone. The good news is there's an easy way to check if you're owed part of that money.

I saw this report from WQAD News 8 as they shared video of Illinois State Treasurer Michael W. Frerichs. He is saying that the state of Illinois knows there are at least $1 billion dollars in unclaimed US savings bonds and the federal government is under no obligation to find the rightful owners.

He said the federal treasury has over $30 billion dollars in unclaimed US savings bonds across the country and Illinois is only a small part of the overall total.

How can you check if you have an unclaimed US savings bond in your name?

The good news is that there is now a portal where you can check to see if you have an unclaimed US savings bond. It's called Treasury Direct and it's an official US government site. The government allows you to buy and redeem US savings bonds directly through that site. As of the date of this writing, this is the easiest way to find out if you are owed money by the federal government.

The Illinois State Treasurer mentioned that many received US savings bonds for birthdays or other celebrations in life and they are rightfully owed money. He said the federal government is counting on people not knowing or being willing to go through the process of claiming it. Now, there's an easy way to get what is rightfully yours. Check the official Treasury Direct portal to see if money has your name on it.