How to Redeem a Patriot Bond: Bank, Mail, or TreasuryDirect

You can redeem a Patriot Bond three ways: cash the paper certificate at a bank or credit union where you hold an account, mail it to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service with FS Form 1522, or, if you hold it electronically, log in to TreasuryDirect and redeem it there. Patriot Bonds are Series EE savings bonds sold between December 2001 and December 2011 with a “Patriot Bond” inscription, and they follow the same redemption rules as any other Series EE bond.¹ Before you hand the bond over, check its current value, bring the right paperwork, and understand what the IRS will want from you later.

Check What the Bond Is Worth Before You Go

Enter the series (EE), denomination, and issue date into the Treasury’s free Savings Bond Calculator at TreasuryDirect.gov. It returns the current redemption value, the interest rate, and the next date interest will accrue.² Knowing the number in advance lets you confirm the bank’s payout is right and decide whether it’s worth waiting until the next accrual date.

Timing matters for one reason in particular: every Patriot Bond stops earning interest 30 years after its issue date.³ The earliest Patriot Bonds hit that wall in December 2031; the last ones sold run through December 2041. After final maturity there is no financial reason to keep holding the bond, and the IRS will treat the interest as received that year whether you cash it or not.⁴

What to Bring

You need a valid government-issued photo ID (driver’s license or passport) and your Social Security number.⁵ The back of the bond has a “Request for Payment” section where you write your current address and sign.

Do not sign the bond in advance. Your signature has to be witnessed by the bank teller or certifying officer processing the redemption; a bond signed at your kitchen table will be rejected.⁵

If you’re mailing the bond in, you’ll also need FS Form 1522, the Special Form of Request for Payment.⁶ When the combined redemption value of the bonds you’re sending exceeds $1,000, your signature on that form must be certified by an authorized certifying officer at a bank or credit union, or by a notary public.⁷ A certifying officer applies the institution’s official seal. A plain address stamp doesn’t count.

Cashing a Paper Bond at a Bank or Credit Union

This is the fastest path to your money. Bring the unsigned bond and your ID to the teller, who will verify the bond, witness your signature, and pay you the full current redemption value in cash or as a deposit.

Three things to confirm before you go:

Most banks will only cash savings bonds for existing customers. If you don’t have an account there, call ahead.
Each bank sets its own cap on how much it will cash in a single visit, and some won’t cash savings bonds at all. Ask about the branch’s limit when you call.⁷
A paper bond is all or nothing. You cannot cash part of one and hold onto the rest.⁷

Cashing a Paper Bond by Mail

If no bank will take the bond, or you’d rather handle it from home, mail the bond to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. The steps:

Fill out FS Form 1522 with the bond serial numbers, your Social Security number, and the routing and account numbers for the bank where you want the funds deposited.⁶
If the combined value exceeds $1,000, get your signature on the form certified by a bank officer or notary before mailing.⁷
Send the completed form and the unsigned bonds to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150. Use registered or certified mail so you can track the package.⁶

Once the Bureau verifies the submission, the proceeds are deposited into the bank account you listed. Treasury currently estimates at least six weeks of processing time for mail-in redemptions.⁸

Redeeming an Electronic Bond in TreasuryDirect

If your Patriot Bond is already in a TreasuryDirect account, log in, open ManageDirect, and choose “Redeem securities” under Manage My Securities.⁷ Pick the bonds you want to cash and the proceeds move to your linked bank account.

Electronic bonds allow partial redemptions. You can cash any amount of $25 or more, as long as at least $25 stays in the bond if you aren’t emptying it. There is no cap on how many bonds or how much total value you can redeem in a single session.⁷

What You’ll Owe in Taxes

Interest earned on a Patriot Bond is subject to federal income tax but exempt from state and local income tax.⁴ Most people defer reporting the interest until they cash the bond or until it reaches final maturity at 30 years, whichever comes first. In the year you receive the interest, Treasury issues a Form 1099-INT showing the total. For electronic bonds, the 1099-INT appears in your TreasuryDirect account by January 31 of the following year.

You can elect to report interest annually as it accrues, but if you switch to that method you have to report all previously unreported interest in the year of the switch, and you won’t get a yearly 1099-INT (only a final one when the bond is cashed or matures).⁴

One boundary worth knowing: if you use the proceeds for qualified higher education expenses for yourself, your spouse, or a dependent (including a contribution to a 529 plan), you may be able to exclude some or all of the interest from federal tax under 26 U.S.C. 135. The bond must have been issued to someone at least 24 years old at the time of purchase, married couples must file jointly, and the exclusion phases out at higher incomes. For 2026, the phase-out starts at $101,800 modified adjusted gross income for single filers ($152,650 joint) and ends at $116,800 ($182,650 joint). If bond proceeds exceed your qualifying expenses for the year, only a proportional share of the interest is excludable.⁹

If the Bond Is Registered to a Child

A parent can cash a Patriot Bond registered in a child’s name at a bank if three conditions are met: the child is too young to understand the transaction, the person cashing it is the child’s parent, and the child lives with that parent or the parent has legal custody.¹⁰

The parent writes a certification on the back of the bond that includes the child’s name, age, and Social Security number, states that the child lives with the parent or that the parent has custody, and states that the child isn’t old enough to request payment. The parent then signs on behalf of the child as a minor. Banks won’t process the redemption without that written statement.

If the Owner Has Died

When a bondholder dies, what happens next depends on how the bond is registered. If a living co-owner or beneficiary is named on the bond, that person cashes it the same way the original owner would have, and the bond does not become part of the estate.¹¹

If no living person is named on the bond, the estate handles it. When the total value of the deceased’s Treasury securities is $100,000 or less as of the date of death and the estate isn’t going through formal probate, a close family member can act as the “voluntary representative.”¹¹ The representative must be at least 18, and eligibility follows a priority order: surviving spouse first, then blood relatives, legally adopted children, and next of kin.

The voluntary representative completes FS Form 5336 in front of a certifying officer, obtains a certified copy of the death certificate for each deceased person named on the bonds, and mails everything (including the unsigned bonds) to Treasury Retail Securities Services in Minneapolis. All bonds in the estate must be submitted in one transaction. The representative can request cash, distribution to heirs, or a combination.¹¹ If the estate exceeds $100,000 or goes through probate, different procedures and court-appointed documentation apply.

If the Bond Is Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed

A missing paper bond is not lost money. Treasury can replace it with either an electronic bond in your TreasuryDirect account or a cash payment.¹²

File a claim on FS Form 1048. If you know the bond’s serial number, use the standard version. If you don’t, the Treasury Hunt tool at TreasuryDirect.gov can search for the bond with other identifying information and generate a version of the form carrying a reference number so the Bureau can process it without the serial number. Sign the form in front of a notary or certifying officer and mail it to the address printed on the form.¹² If the original later turns up after Treasury has replaced or paid it, the certificate belongs to the government; send it to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150.

1
TreasuryDirect. Timeline of U.S. Savings Bonds
2
TreasuryDirect. Paper Savings Bond Calculator
3
eCFR. 31 CFR Part 351 Subpart B – Maturities, Redemption Values, and Investment Yields of Series EE Savings Bonds
4
TreasuryDirect. Tax Information for EE and I Bonds
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eCFR. 31 CFR Part 353 – Regulations Governing Definitive United States Savings Bonds, Series EE and HH
6
Department of the Treasury | Bureau of the Fiscal Service. FS Form 1522 – Special Form of Request for Payment of United States Savings and Retirement Securities
7
TreasuryDirect. Cashing EE or I Savings Bonds
8
TreasuryDirect. Contact Us
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 135 – Income From United States Savings Bonds Used to Pay Higher Education Tuition and Fees
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TreasuryDirect. Cashing Paper Bonds for a Young Child
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TreasuryDirect. Non-Administered Estates
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TreasuryDirect. Get Help for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Savings Bond