How to Get a Bond Certificate: FS Form 1048, Signature, and Costs

To replace a lost savings bond, file FS Form 1048 (Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds) with the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, have your signature certified by a notary or bank officer, and mail it to Treasury Retail Securities Services in Minneapolis.¹ There’s no fee, but there’s a catch: your replacement will not be a paper certificate. Since the Treasury stopped issuing paper savings bonds over the counter on January 1, 2012, replacements for Series EE and Series I bonds are issued only in electronic form through a TreasuryDirect account.²

What to Gather Before You File

The Treasury identifies bonds primarily through the owner’s Social Security number, so that is the one piece of information you cannot do without.³ Everything else is helpful but not fatal if missing. Try to assemble:

The bond series (EE, I, E, or HH)
The face value (denomination)
The approximate purchase or issue date
The serial number, if you have any record of it
Names and addresses of the owner, co-owner, or beneficiary as they appeared on the bond

If you have partial information (say, an SSN and a rough purchase year), the Treasury can usually still find the record. You’ll also need a valid government-issued photo ID for the certification step.

Completing FS Form 1048

FS Form 1048 asks for the owner’s information, whatever bond details you can supply, and a short description of how the bond was lost, stolen, or destroyed.⁴ Fill it out but don’t sign it yet. The signature has to be made in front of a certifying official.

One decision to make on the form: whether you want the replacement bond reissued (which for EE and I bonds means an electronic bond in a TreasuryDirect account) or whether you’re asking for payment. If you’re asking for reissue and don’t already have a TreasuryDirect account, set one up before mailing the form, or be prepared to open one during processing.

Series HH Bonds Work Differently

Every Series HH bond has now reached final maturity, so the Treasury will not reissue an HH bond. If your lost bond is a Series HH, the only option available through FS Form 1048 is payment by direct deposit.⁴

Getting Your Signature Certified

Your signature on FS Form 1048 must be witnessed by a certifying official who applies a seal or stamp. The Treasury accepts several forms of certification:⁴

A notary public with an official seal or stamp
An officer of a bank, credit union, or similar financial institution using the institution’s official seal, a signature guarantee stamp, an endorsement guarantee stamp, or a corporate seal
A Medallion program stamp (STAMP, SEMP, or MSP)⁵

For most people replacing a lost bond, a notary is the easiest route. Fees typically run $5 to $10 per signature. Medallion Signature Guarantees are more specialized. They come from banks, credit unions, or broker-dealers participating in a medallion program, and institutions usually only guarantee signatures of existing customers.⁶ For a straightforward savings bond claim, you don’t need a medallion stamp; a notary is enough.

Where to Send It and How Long It Takes

Mail the completed and certified form to:

Treasury Retail Securities Services
P.O. Box 9150
Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150⁴

Use a trackable service. You’re sending a Social Security number and personal identifiers through the mail, and you want proof of delivery. Keep copies of every page.

The Treasury’s own contact page says searches for lost, stolen, or missing savings bonds take at least seven months to process.⁷ If there are discrepancies in the information you provided, or if the Bureau needs more from you, expect longer. Correspondence comes by mail, so a single question can add weeks to the timeline.

There is no Treasury fee for replacing a savings bond.

If the Owner Has Died

When the bondholder is deceased, the process branches based on whether the estate is going through probate. For a non-administered estate, a voluntary representative files FS Form 5336 along with a certified copy of the death certificate for every deceased person named on the bond.⁸ If the bond itself is missing, file FS Form 1048 as well.

Each person who ends up entitled to a bond then files another form depending on what they want to do with it:⁸

To cash the bond: FS Form 1522
To keep an EE or I bond: FS Form 4000
To keep an HH bond: FS Form 4000 and FS Form 5396

The bonds themselves are sent unsigned, and signatures on the forms may need to be certified. If the estate is going through probate instead, the court’s letters testamentary or letters of administration take the place of the voluntary representative paperwork. Certified death certificates run $5 to $34 per copy depending on the state, and it’s worth ordering several since more than one institution may need originals.

What It Actually Costs

The federal government charges nothing for a savings bond replacement, but the supporting paperwork has its own price tag:

Notary fee: usually $5 to $10 per signature, though some states let notaries set their own rates
Certified death certificate (estate claims only): $5 to $34 per copy, and you’ll want several
Trackable mailing: a few dollars per envelope

For a living owner replacing their own bond, the total out-of-pocket cost is usually under $20. Estate claims cost more because of the death certificates and any probate filing fees, which vary widely by jurisdiction.

A Note on Corporate Bond Certificates

If the certificate you’ve lost is a corporate bond rather than a U.S. savings bond, none of the above applies. Corporations use transfer agents to maintain ownership records, and the transfer agent handles replacements. You can identify a company’s transfer agent by calling its investor relations office or checking the SEC’s transfer agent data.⁹

Corporate replacements are expensive. Before issuing a new certificate, the transfer agent typically requires the owner to buy an indemnity bond that protects the company if the original certificate turns up later. The indemnity bond usually costs two to three percent of the current market value of the missing certificate.¹⁰ On a $10,000 corporate bond, that’s $200 to $300 before any administrative fees. Corporate transfers also typically require a Medallion Signature Guarantee rather than a notary stamp.

And if you’re looking for a paper certificate for a marketable Treasury security (a T-bill, T-note, or T-bond), there isn’t one to lose or replace. Marketable Treasuries exist only as electronic book-entry records, so the ledger entry with your broker or in TreasuryDirect is the proof of ownership.¹¹

1
TreasuryDirect. Get Help for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Savings Bond
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TreasuryDirect. Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings BondsContact Us
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TreasuryDirect. Glossary for Savings Bonds Terms
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TreasuryDirect. Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds
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TreasuryDirect. Signature Certification
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Investor.gov. Medallion Signature Guarantees: Preventing the Unauthorized Transfer of Securities
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TreasuryDirect. Contact Us
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TreasuryDirect. Non-Administered Estates
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U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Transfer Agents
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Investor.gov. Lost or Stolen Stock Certificates
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TreasuryDirect. FAQs About Treasury Marketable Securities