More than a month after one of Illinois’ largest retirement communities filed for bankruptcy, families are coming to terms with the fear they may not receive in full a substantial contractually owed refund they were once promised, NBC 5 Chicago reported. Friendship Village of Schaumburg, Ill., filed for bankruptcy last month after it said it could not recover from losses brought on by the pandemic. Among its listed debts are dozens of families who are owed entrance fee or deposit refunds, ranging from more than $100,000 to $500,000 each. Friendship Village is among the list of many retirement communities struggling to honor their refund obligations after COVID-19 disrupted a common business model that they say worked for many years. Questions surrounding that business model have led an Illinois lawmaker to propose a law that would mandate a system for communities to follow when paying out these kinds of refunds, in an effort to bring transparency and timeliness to the process. Friendship Village of Schaumburg was created in 1974 and is the largest continuing care retirement community in Illinois.
