Using Treasury Hunt to find forgotten Savings Bonds
Friday, May 19th, 2006
Categorized as: Inheriting and bequeathing US Savings Bonds • Lost or stolen US Savings Bonds
The Treasury has an online system called Treasury Hunt that allows you to search for Savings Bonds that you may have forgotten about or that were lost in the mail.
However, the system has important limits. It contains only:
- most of the $13 billion worth of outstanding stinker bonds – but not the oldest ones
- undeliverable bonds returned by the Post Office since 1996 (at the rate of about 15,000 bonds a year)
- in addition to Savings Bonds, the system includes marketable Treasury securities and interest checks (25,000 a year) returned by the Post Office
If a security is still earning interest and wasn’t returned to the Treasury by the Post Office, it won’t be in Treasury Hunt, even if you don’t know where it is.
If you are the Executor of an estate, it makes sense to enter the decedent’s Social Secuity Number in the system to see if anything turns up.
And that’s all there is to it. Ready? Here’s the link to Treasury Hunt.
(Average rating: 2.22 stars)
Loading...16 Comments
Comments Closed
After six years, over 400 posts, 3,680 real comments, and over 90,000 spam comments (thank you, Akismet, for making managing a blog with comments possible), I am closing public comments on Savings-Bond-Advisor.com. I will contine to update the main articles on this site, but not the comments.
Virtually every question about Savings Bonds has been asked and answered on this site multiple times. Use the search feature (see the box in the gray area near the top of this page) or the detailed menu on the lower part of the home page to find the information you're looking for. If you have a copy of Savings Bond Advisor, you can ask me a question here.
Tom Adams
if my grandma died and she had bonds for me with mine and her name on them. now my aunt wont give them to me. Dose she have to or can she spend them or how do i get them back?
How can my husband find out if his parents, who both died in 1991, left any US Savings Bonds no one found when we cleared out their house?
David and Colleen – on this page, scroll up and look on the right for a link that says “Ask the Treasury”. Click it and send a note directly to the Savings Bonds team at the Treasury, who will tell you how to get started.
Tom Adams
David you do the same. I encountered a simular problem. The treasury may be able to reissue the bonds to you at another address. Are you of legal age?Sometimes people keep the bonds until you reach a certain age. For example my youngest daughter is too young to hold onto her bonds so they are kept safe until she is of a responsible nature. But again, direct your concerns to the treasury. Best wishes everyone.
How do I find if I still have savings bonds?And how do i find out how to get them or what they are worth?
Lana – the info you’re looking for is here.
i bought bonds in 1972 in the us marines corps, don”t know where they are at.my ssn.is XXX-XX-XXXX could you let me know if they are still on file.
thanks, ronnie burris from south carolina.
Ronnie – The information you need is here.
Tom Adams
My father purchased four $1000 saving bonds many years ago and someone stole them from my home. I dont know when the bond were purchase and they were purchase under my maiden name.
Kristi – the information you’re looking for is here.
Tom Adams
my husband and i are getting a divorce. many bonds were bought over the years with joint money. the names on the bonds may have my husbands name on it only or both names (mine & his). I have the total that the bonds were worth (2 years ago) and wrote this down but I did not record the serial numbers or exact amounts. How do I find out about our bonds, whether they have been cashed or still exist, since he is trying to hide this asset.
Terrie – the information you’re looking for is here.
Tom Adams
Hello. I was given about ten or more savings bonds as a child (years 1975-1970) by different relatives. My mother lost all of these savings bonds in a move from one house to another ten years ago. Most of the relatives who gave me these savings bonds have died and I do not know their social security numbers and doubt that they knew mine when they purchased them for me. Is there any way to trace them by name or is this hopeless? Thanks.
Diana – Your last name is unusual enough that there’s a good chance the Treasury can find them by name alone. Follow the process outlined on my page about having lost bonds reissued.
Tom Adams
My Father died in 1992 left a $50 Savings Bond that
we just came across. My Mother died in 2006, now
what do I need to do to cash this Bond in?
Thanks
Sue – If your parents’ estates weren’t handled by a probate court, you can use this form, but you’ll have to split the money with your siblings.
Tom Adams