IBA Compliance Connection

Your go to source for compliance!

We have found dozens of cashier’s checks and money orders that must be reported as unclaimed property. However, we did not send notice to the apparent owners in advance of the November 1 reporting deadline, which is today. How should we proceed?

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Because the Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) requires your bank’s report to be “complete, accurate, and timely,” we recommend including these items on your report. Failure to meet your bank’s reporting requirements could subject your bank to penalties and fines.

However, we do not recommend remitting the money orders and cashier’s checks to the Illinois Treasurer after making the required report. Your bank should provide the apparent owners of these instruments with an opportunity to respond to your bank’s notice before remitting their property to the Illinois Treasurer. Your bank also may wish to contact the Illinois Treasurer directly to ensure that they have advance notice regarding the delay in remitting this property. Also, their office may be willing to work with your bank as it resolves the notice issue.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

  • Illinois RUUPA, 765 ILCS 1026/15-401 (“[T]he holder is responsible: (1) to the administrator for the complete, accurate, and timely reporting of property presumed abandoned; . . .”)
  • Illinois RUUPA, 765 ILCS 1026/15-501 (“[T]he holder of property presumed abandoned shall send to the apparent owner notice by first-class United States . . . not more than one year nor less than 60 days before filing the report under Section 15-401 . . . .”)
  • Illinois RUUPA, 765 ILCS 1026/15-1204(a) (“A holder who fails to report, pay, or deliver property within the time prescribed by this Act shall pay to the administrator interest at a rate of 1% per month on the property or value of the property from the date the property should have been reported, paid, or delivered to the administrator until the date reported, paid, or delivered.”)
  • Illinois RUUPA, 765 ILCS 1026/15-1205(a) (“If a holder enters into a contract or other arrangement for the purpose of evading an obligation under this Act or otherwise willfully fails to perform a duty imposed on the holder under this Act, the administrator may require the holder to pay the administrator, in addition to interest as provided in subsection (a) of Section 15-1204, a civil penalty of $1,000 for each day the obligation is evaded or the duty is not performed, up to a cumulative maximum amount of $25,000, plus 25% of the amount or value of property that should have been but was not reported, paid, or delivered as a result of the evasion or failure to perform.”)