Illinois Ipass Letter

When we lived in the Midwest we drove to Chicago about every six to eight weeks. Since there were so many tolls we got transponders for the cars through the Illinois Ipass system. It took us a while to figure out that the transponder also worked in other states whenever we travelled. We kept the same transponder when we moved to DC fifteen years ago and keep it updated online so as not to worry about tolls whenever we drive. Last week we got a letter from the Illinois IPass in the mail. It said that because we haven’t used the account for over a year they wanted to close it out. They gave us three options: close it out and provide details on where to refund the money; keep it open; or do nothing and let it become unclaimed property. Of course we wanted to keep it open and the only way to do that was to make a dreaded phone call - something I try to avoid at all costs. I much prefer to handle transactions on line. So I called and was on hold for at least fifteen minutes with no option to get a call back so you wouldn’t have to hang on. When I finally spoke to a live person they reviewed all the information and “reopened” the account. I asked if they do this to everyone every year snd she said no. You would think that everyone’s travel habits changed last year and it wouldn’t be a surprise that there was no activity on the I-pass. We still haven’t taken nor do we plan on taking any road trips in the near future - especially not during the summer. I guess we need to remember to use I-pass a couple of times during the year to avoid this from happening again. I suppose it’s also a safety measure if and when someone will never use their I-pass again. I bet there is a lot of “unclaimed property” out there.