Unredeemed Savings Bonds: Claim Your Money

• Author: Mary Singleton
• Posted: 2024-03-23

According to ABC News, the United States Treasury Department is currently in possession of a whopping $16.3 billion dollars worth of unredeemed savings bonds. This amounts to around 45 million mature bonds that have reached their full value and are ready to be exchanged for cash. Here, you might be wondering how anyone could forget that they have a savings bond that is worth real money. The truth is, some savings bonds can require as much as four decades to reach maturity. During that time, a lot can happen in a person's life!

In this post, we will investigate how you can discover if you or someone in your family might have unredeemed mature savings bonds that you can claim and then exchange for cash.

Meet the "Treasury Hunt" Website

In an effort to reunite savings bond holders with their unredeemed mature savings bonds, the U.S. Treasury Department has launched a website dedicated to this effort that it calls "Treasury Hunt."

You can access the Treasury Hunt website by navigating to Treasury Direct.

This website was launched in 2000, and since then each year more unredeemed mature savings bonds have been added to the database.

You can also use the Treasury Hunt website to search for lost, destroyed or unredeemed Treasury notes or other types of bonds.

How to Search the Treasury Hunt Website

In order to locate any unredeemed mature savings bonds that might belong to you or a family member, you will need your social security number or the social security number of the family member your search relates to.

All you have to do to use the Treasury Hunt website is to input the relevant social security number and wait for the results to come up on the screen. If there are unredeemed mature savings bonds or notes associated with that social security number, they will appear on the screen.

How to Submit a Claim to Redeem a Savings Bond

If your search returns information about an unredeemed savings bond or Treasury note, you must then submit a claim form to recover the bond and redeem it for cash.

There are different forms depending on the status of your bond. If you are trying to redeem and cash a lost or destroyed bond, you will need a different form than if you are in possession of the bond or can locate it. You can review all of the forms options on the Treasury Hunt Forms page.

Limitations on the Treasury Hunt Website

If you are searching for savings bond or Treasury note Series E or Series EE that was issued prior to 1974, the Treasury Hunt website will likely not have any record of these bonds.

For other lost, destroyed or unredeemed mature bonds or notes issued prior to 1974, you will need to have the date of purchase and the name on the bond to begin a manual search with Treasury Department staff.

How to Know It Is Time to Cash In a Savings Bond or Note

If you hold a savings bond or other type of Treasury security that was issued some years ago, you may not recall the details about this security. This is especially true if you are administering the estate on behalf of a loved one who has passed on.

In these cases, you can use this maturation chart on the Treasury Hunt website to search by security type and issue date.

The maturation chart lists the security series name, issue date and number of years for interest accrual to help you determine whether a bond you hold on your own behalf or for someone else may be mature and ready to cash in.

Other Types of Missing Money Searches

If you are in possession of a Treasury security other than those listed in the Treasury Hunt website's database, there are some additional helpful websites you can access that may help you track down these securities, claim and redeem them at maturity.

Try the national website Missing Money and your state's Unclaimed website to search for other funds or securities that may be yours by right to claim and redeem.