Tips to Prevent Your Money from Becoming Unclaimed Property
Tips for Keeping Your Money
Checking and savings accounts are among the most common unclaimed property items. At NuMark Credit Union, the last thing we want to do is to turn a member’s funds to the Illinois Unclaimed Property Division. Below are some tips to help you keep your money.
Know Where You Keep Your Money
Keep a list of all the bank accounts that you have. Be sure to list the account type, credit union or bank name, and approximate balance of each account. Of course, you want to keep this in a safe place. Knowing where you keep your money will help you keep your money.
Keep Your Accounts Active
If you have a savings or checking account that you don’t always use, be sure to conduct a transaction every 6 to 12 months. This could be a deposit, a withdrawal or transfer to another account. Transactions keep accounts active and out of dormancy. At NuMark Credit Union, if no transaction occurs after 12 months, we will charge $5 per month as a dormancy fee. After 3 years of dormancy NuMark Credit Union, as well as every other financial institution in Illinois, is required to turn over the funds to the Illinois Unclaimed Property Division.
Monitor Your Accounts
Be sure to always monitor your accounts online through Online Banking/Mobile App or monitor by viewing the monthly statements. Watch for dormancy fees. If you receive a dormancy fee, conduct a deposit or withdrawal from the account or contact the financial institution to bring the account out of dormancy.
Keep Your Information Updated
Anytime you move it’s very important to give your credit union or bank your most updated mailing address and physical address. This also goes for your phone number. Keeping your information updated makes it easy to contact you when we need to, especially if your account has been dormant for over 2 years. The main reason why many accounts are turned over to the Illinois Unclaimed Property Division is because a member did not notify us when they received a new phone number or they did not notify us when they moved.
For more information on keeping your NuMark Credit Union accounts active and out of dormancy, contact us or call 815-729-3211.
