Illinois State Treasurer’s Office News Releases

SPRINGFIELD — Families have more protection from life insurance companies that use loopholes to avoid paying death benefits now that the Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits Act was signed into law, Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs said today. Frerichs championed the legislation after learning some life insurance companies choose not to pay death benefits even when they know or should have known that a customer died. Instead, the companies rely upon this non-payment to fatten their profit margins. Since 2011, the treasurer’s office identified more than $550 million in life insurance proceeds…

SPRINGFIELD — More than 100 bidders, some from as far away as Arizona and New Mexico, spent more than $171,000 in this past weekend’s live auction, Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs said today. It was the first time in a decade that the live auction returned to the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. “The state fair’s celebration of Illinois, family fun and agribusiness offered the perfect setting for the auction,” Frerichs said. The state treasurer’s office holds more than $2 billion of unclaimed property including lost bank accounts, insurance policy…