To check what a savings bond is worth, you need four things printed on the bond itself: the series (EE, I, or the older E or HH), the denomination, the issue date, and the serial number. With those in hand, paper bonds are priced through the U.S. Treasury’s free Savings Bond Calculator on TreasuryDirect.gov, and electronic bonds show their current value inside your TreasuryDirect account. Both Series EE and Series I bonds keep earning interest for 30 years, so a bond that has been sitting in a drawer for decades is almost certainly worth more than its face value.
What You Need From the Bond
On a paper bond, the series, denomination, issue date, and serial number are all printed on the front, usually near the top or upper-right corner. The series tells you how the bond earns interest. The denomination is the face value. The issue date is when interest started accruing. The serial number identifies that specific bond in Treasury records.
If someone told you they bought you a bond electronically but you don’t see it in your own TreasuryDirect account, it may still be sitting in the purchaser’s “gift box.” A gift bond legally belongs to the named recipient from the moment of purchase, but the recipient can’t see or manage it until the purchaser delivers it electronically.1TreasuryDirect. FAQs About Undelivered Gift Bonds Ask them to log in and complete the delivery.
Pricing a Paper Bond With the Savings Bond Calculator
The Treasury’s Savings Bond Calculator is the reliable way to price a paper bond. Open the calculator page on TreasuryDirect.gov, pick the series and denomination from the dropdown menus, type in the issue date, and click “Calculate.”2TreasuryDirect. Savings Bond Calculator – Detailed Instructions The results show three numbers you actually care about: total interest earned since purchase, current redemption value, and the next date the value will increase. The redemption value is what a bank or the Treasury should pay if you cash the bond today.
If the calculator returns a message that the bond has stopped earning interest, that bond has hit final maturity. Both Series EE and Series I bonds stop earning 30 years after the issue date.3TreasuryDirect. Comparing EE and I Bonds After that, the bond just loses purchasing power to inflation, so there’s no financial reason to hold it any longer.
Checking Electronic Bonds in TreasuryDirect
Bonds bought online through TreasuryDirect update their values automatically inside your account. Log in, go to “Current Holdings,” and select the savings bonds link. Each entry displays the current redemption value, total interest earned, the interest rate in effect, and the next accrual date. Clicking into an individual bond shows its full rate history.
How the Value Grows
Series EE bonds issued May 2005 or later earn a fixed rate set at purchase. Interest accrues on the first day of each month and compounds semiannually.4eCFR. 31 CFR Part 351 – Offering of United States Savings Bonds, Series EE Cash mid-month and you won’t get credit for that partial month. Series I bonds earn a composite rate that blends a fixed rate locked in at purchase with a semiannual inflation adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index.5eCFR. 31 CFR Part 359 – Offering of United States Savings Bonds, Series I The inflation component resets every six months, which is why an I bond’s growth speeds up or slows down with current prices.
Series EE bonds also carry a guarantee that the bond will reach at least double its purchase price at the 20-year mark. If the fixed rate alone wouldn’t get it there, the Treasury adds a one-time adjustment to close the gap.6TreasuryDirect. EE Bonds
If You Think You Own Bonds But Can’t Find Them
The search process changed in late 2025. The Treasury’s “Treasury Hunt” lookup tool was shut down on September 30, 2025, under the SECURE Act 2.0.7TreasuryDirect. Treasury Hunt – TreasuryDirect Unclaimed bond searches now run through your state’s unclaimed property program, which has secure access to the Treasury’s database of unredeemed and matured securities.
Start at your state’s unclaimed property office or at unclaimed.org, run by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. You’ll usually search by name and Social Security Number. If there’s a match, the state program walks you through the claim, which may include identity verification and proof of ownership.
Replacing a Lost Bond That’s Still Earning
If a paper bond is missing but hasn’t reached its 30-year maturity yet, you can request a replacement by filing FS Form 1048, Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds. You’ll need the original purchaser’s Social Security Number and the approximate purchase dates. Each signature on the form must be certified by a notary public or a certifying officer at a financial institution.8TreasuryDirect. Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds Notary fees typically run between $5 and $15 per signature depending on your state. If approved, you can receive either a replacement electronic bond in a TreasuryDirect account or a cash payment for the bond’s current value.9TreasuryDirect. Get Help for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Savings Bond
Cashing the Bond
You cannot cash any savings bond during the first 12 months after purchase. No exceptions.6TreasuryDirect. EE Bonds Redeem an EE or I bond between 12 months and five years and the Treasury takes back the last three months of interest. Cash a bond after 18 months and you receive only 15 months of interest.10eCFR. 31 CFR 351.35 – Series EE Savings Bonds With Issue Dates of May 1, 2005, or Thereafter The same three-month penalty applies to Series I bonds.5eCFR. 31 CFR Part 359 – Offering of United States Savings Bonds, Series I The Treasury will never pay less than what you originally paid. After five years the penalty disappears entirely.
Most banks and credit unions can redeem paper bonds, but policies vary. Some limit how much they’ll cash in a single visit, and many require you to be an existing account holder. Call ahead and ask whether they cash savings bonds, what per-visit dollar limits apply, and what identification to bring.11TreasuryDirect. Cash EE or I Savings Bonds You cannot partially redeem a paper bond; it’s the full certificate or nothing.
If no local bank will handle your bonds, redeem them by mail directly through the Treasury. Complete FS Form 1522, get your signature certified if the bonds total more than $1,000, and mail the form and the physical bonds to the address on the form.11TreasuryDirect. Cash EE or I Savings Bonds Use certified or trackable mail. The Treasury processes the redemption and deposits the proceeds directly.
Bonds Owned by Someone Who Died
When someone passes away holding savings bonds, what happens next depends on the bond’s registration and the size of the estate. If the bond names a surviving co-owner or beneficiary, that person can generally claim it by presenting a death certificate and ID to a bank or through TreasuryDirect.
If no living person is named on the bonds, the estate isn’t going through probate, and the total redemption value of all the deceased’s Treasury securities is $100,000 or less as of the date of death, the estate qualifies as a “non-administered estate.” A voluntary representative can then use FS Form 5336 to cash the bonds or distribute them to the people entitled to them, with no court involvement.12TreasuryDirect. Non-Administered Estates
For larger estates or those going through formal probate, a court-appointed representative handles the bonds. Documentation depends on where things stand: an open estate needs proof of appointment such as Letters Testamentary, a closed estate needs final accounting documents or a Decree of Distribution, and states with small-estate provisions may accept a Small Estate Affidavit.13TreasuryDirect. href=”https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/manage-bonds/death-of-owner/court-appointed-representatives/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Court-Appointed Representatives
Taxes on the Interest
Savings bond interest is subject to federal income tax but exempt from state and local income tax.14TreasuryDirect. Tax Information for EE and I Bonds You choose when to report it: year by year as it accrues, or all at once when you cash the bond or when it matures, whichever comes first. Most people defer, which means one large interest payment shows up on their return in the year they redeem. Cash a bond worth $15,000 that you bought for $5,000 and $10,000 counts as taxable income for that year. The Treasury sends a 1099-INT.
This catches people off guard. A bond that has grown for 20 years can produce a five-figure interest payment, and cashing several bonds in the same year can push you into a higher tax bracket. Spreading redemptions across multiple tax years is a simple way to soften the hit.
Education Exclusion
You may be able to exclude the interest from federal tax entirely if you use the proceeds for qualified higher education expenses. The rules are specific: the bonds must be Series EE or I issued after 1989, the bond owner must have been at least 24 when the bond was issued, and the expenses must be for you, your spouse, or a dependent.15TreasuryDirect. Using Bonds for Higher Education You must cash the bonds in the same tax year you pay the tuition, and you cannot file as married filing separately. The exclusion also phases out at higher incomes, with thresholds that adjust annually for inflation. You claim it by filing IRS Form 8815 with your return.