Mark Lewyn: Treasurer’s $8. 65 check for the pope reveals the politics of unclaimed money - EUROPE SAYS
When Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, he brought an unusual gift: a check for $8. 65. The money came from an old PayPal account that had been turned over to Illinois as. . .
When Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, he brought an unusual gift: a check for $8. 65. The money came from an old PayPal account that had been turned over to Illinois as unclaimed property before Robert Prevost, an Illinois native, became the pope. The amount was insignificant. The publicity was priceless. The pope’s $8. 65 windfall was not really about the money. It was about the politics of returning unclaimed property. Returning unclaimed money is good politics. Returning most of it is much harder. Across America, elected officials routinely hold news conferences celebrating the return of forgotten money. They announce six-figure checks to families. They pose with retirees who discovered old pension funds. They celebrate veterans who recovered long-lost benefits. Now, apparently, they can add popes to the list. The stories are heartwarming. They are also politically useful. Every returned dollar creates goodwill. Every successful claim becomes proof that the system is working. What rarely gets equal attention is the money that remains behind. Today, state governments collectively hold more than $100 billion in unclaimed property. According to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, roughly 1 in 7 Americans have money waiting to be claimed. Yet despite decades of public awareness campaigns, more than $100 billion remains untouched, and that cash pile grows bigger every year. New York is sitting on $20 billion; California, $15 billion; Texas, $10 billion; New Jersey, $6. 6 billion; and Illinois, $5 billion. The fundamental problem is that the system still places most of the burden on citizens. To recover your money, you must know that unclaimed property programs exist. You must know which states to search. You must remember addresses you may have lived at decades ago. You must search under every variation of your name. And then you must repeat the process because new records are added continuously. That made sense in 1985. It makes far less sense in 2026. The pope’s story exposes the contradiction. If a state can find the pope for $8. 65, why can’t it find millions of ordinary citizens who are owed much larger sums? The answer comes down to incentives. Politicians receive credit every time money is returned. Returned money generates positive headlines. It creates compelling human-interest stories. It demonstrates responsiveness and consumer protection. At the same time, states have relatively little incentive to build systems that would dramatically increase claim rates. Many states use unclaimed property funds to support government operations, manage cash flow or generate investment income before claims are paid. Others rely on large unclaimed property balances as a stable financial resource. The specifics vary from state to state, but the result is often the same: Governments are very effective at collecting unclaimed money and far less effective at proactively returning it. To be fair, some states have begun taking meaningful steps forward. Illinois has expanded automatic matching programs and has returned billions of dollars to residents. Other states have adopted direct outreach programs and simplified claims processes. The bigger opportunity lies in technology. Artificial intelligence can identify faces in photographs, translate conversations in real time and detect fraudulent transactions in milliseconds. The same technology can be used to identify likely owners of unclaimed property, monitor databases continuously, notify consumers automatically and dramatically increase return rates. The pope’s $8. 65 check made for a wonderful headline. It generated attention for a worthy program and reminded people that forgotten money can belong to anyone. But it should also prompt a tougher question. If governments can find the pope, why are they still waiting for everyone else to find themselves?Featured Local Businesses