How to get your money back on chain letter Savings Bonds

Monday, March 26th, 2007
Categorized as: Cashing in US Savings Bonds

In 1976, a friend told me about a chain letter savings bond pyramid scheme. Suppposedly, if I purchased a $25 Series E savings bond for the next person on the list (which I did…) and mailed it to that person, I would receive X number of bonds from others. I got sucked in just enough to buy the bond. The bond lists the person, their address at the time, and MY social security number. I thought twice about getting involved and never mailed it. I have kept it all this time. Is this a lost cause, or will I be able to redeem it?

Tom’s response

The good news is that the Treasury has a form you can use to get your money back, but the bad news is they won’t give you the $117 in interest the bond has earned.

Here’s a link to the form you need to get your money back on a Savings Bond purchased for chain mail.

The form includes complete instructions.

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FDIC Insured Certificates of Deposit can pay 1 or 2% more than savings bonds when held for a similar length of time. See top CD Rates Below:

One Comment

On March 27th, 2007 Ethan said:

What a great service you provide, Tom.

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