With your Social Security Number (or Taxpayer Identification Number) or name and state, you can use our Treasury Hunt search to see if you have any savings bonds listed in our database. If you do, you'll get information on how to claim and cash them. We update Treasury Hunt every month.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury offers an online tool called Treasury Hunt, which can help you locate savings bonds. By entering your Social Security number, you can search for bonds that have reached maturity but remain unclaimed. This tool is particularly useful for bonds issued since 1974.
After a Bond Serial Number, TIN (if applicable), and Issue Date are entered correctly, the tool will display the validity of the bond and the current redemption value to be paid to the customer.
How can I find lost premium bonds? You should be able to find missing premium bonds through the My Lost Account service. However, you can also use NS&I's Tracing Request Form. This can also help you look for other NS&I products you may have lost track of, such as savings accounts and ISAs.
Use TreasuryHunt.gov to find matured savings bonds that have stopped earning interest. You can also learn how to replace a lost or destroyed savings bond. Use the U.S. Courts Unclaimed Funds Locator to search for money you may be owed after a person or business declared bankruptcy.
If your bond was issued before 1974, use this FS Form 1048. Use this version even though you don't know the serial numbers. If your bond was issued in 1974 or after, go to Treasury Hunt. Enter the information Treasury Hunt requests.
Savings bonds earn interest until they reach "maturity," which is generally 20-30 years, depending on the type purchased. If a bond is held past its maturity, the federal government remains responsible for the debt.
After 20 years, the Patriot Bond is guaranteed to be worth at least face value. So a $50 Patriot Bond, which was bought for $25, will be worth at least $50 after 20 years. It can continue to accrue interest for as many as 10 more years after that.
Search for matured savings bonds and missing interest using Treasury Hunt, an online tool from TreasuryDirect.
CUSIP numbers are assigned to securities, like bonds and stocks, for the purposes of facilitating trade and settlement. They are not related to personal documents like birth certificates. The concept that birth certificates are linked to financial instruments is a myth and has no basis in legal or financial reality.
If only one person is named on the bond and that person has died, the bond belongs to that person's estate. If two people are named on the bond and both have died, the bond belongs to the estate of the one who died last.
The Reality. There is no monetary value to a birth certificate or a social security number/EIN, and TreasuryDirect accounts must be funded by the owner (from the owner's personal bank account) to have any value.
If you still have a paper EE bond, check the issue date. If that date is more than 30 years ago, it is no longer increasing in value and you may want to cash it.
Registering savings bonds (Who owns them?)
The person must have a Social Security Number.
The U.S. Treasury keeps a record of each U.S. savings bond's original owner, and offers a partially-complete online listing of those owners' bonds. Using the owner's social security number, you can search for unclaimed U.S. savings bonds, or file a claim for one, by going to the U.S. Treasury's Treasury Hunt webpage.
For those fully matured bonds remaining unredeemed, there is no active program by the Bureau to locate the bondholders and pay them the proceeds to which they are entitled. Traditionally, it has been up to the registered owner to remember to redeem the matured bond decades after the initial purchase.
Use the Treasury Hunt® tool to discover if you own savings bonds.
Key takeaways
Savings bonds are a government-backed, reliable investment that earn interest, reaching full maturity after 30 years. The different types of savings bonds are E/EE, I, and H/HH. Only E/EE and I bonds are still sold, but all types are able to be redeemed through the Federal Reserve.
Can you cash in a savings bond at any bank? Savings bonds can generally be redeemed with the bank where you have a checking account. For example, at Bank of America, customers who have had a checking or savings account open for at least six months can easily cash in their savings bonds.
Treasury Hunt is our online search tool for finding Treasury Securities or missing interest. you, or a loved one who has died, have Treasury securities for which proceeds have not been paid.
There are two primary reasons a bond might be worth less than its listed face value. A savings bond, for example, is sold at a discount to its face value and steadily appreciates in price as the bond approaches its maturity date. Upon maturity, the bond is redeemed for the full face value.
Bond Serial Number–The serial number can be found in the lower right corner of your paper savings bond. This information is not required, but is important for record-keeping purposes if your paper bonds are ever lost or destroyed.