What are my Savings Bonds worth?

Wednesday, June 30th, 2004
Categorized as: Current value of a US Savings Bond

My wife has some Series E savings bonds that were issued between 1970-1978 and given to her by her grandfather. She has 8 $25 and 1 $50 bonds. What are they really worth today?

Tom’s response

All Series E (and EE and I, as well) Savings Bonds that are still earning interest will stop paying interest 30 years from the issue date. This means that some of the bonds you have have stopped earning interest and should be redeemed. You can also redeem all of them - you don’t have to hold them the full 30 years.

You can use the Savings Bond Calculator on our web site to find out their current values.

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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:

17 Comments

On October 23rd, 2009 Maggie Grantham said:

I have entered a $5000.00 face value EE savings bond for 1990. For the last 6 months it is reading the same interest and no change. Why does it not change and it says my bond is making 4% interest. Can you explain why your online calculator is doing this?
I am Maggie

On October 26th, 2009 Tom Adams said:

Maggie - For Savings Bonds issued before May 1997, interest is added to the redemption value of the bond every six months. You’ll see your redemption value go up in the month your bond was issued and the month that’s six months later.

Tom Adams

On November 8th, 2009 roseamary davis said:

while going through some old papers i found of my parents i foud 2 “postal Savings System” bonds issued in 1949 each are for $1.00 each..are thet worth anything??

On November 9th, 2009 Tom Adams said:

Rosemary - the info you’re looking for is here.

Tom Adams

On November 19th, 2009 Dennis Kunze said:

When I use the bond calculator on the US Bonds web site it gives me an interest rate of 5.09% for a $500 I bond issued 11/2001. For a $1000 I bond issue in 10/2001 it still shows 0% interest. This seems odd. When will the new rates that are effective now be shown for this $1000 bond? Thanks

On November 19th, 2009 Tom Adams said:

Dennis - see how I bond interest rates work and pay particular attention to the section called Understanding Rate Periods.

Tom Adams

On November 19th, 2009 Dennis Kunze said:

Thank you Tom, finally a clear answer after several failed tries with the OFFICIAL savings bond contact site. Nice work.

On November 21st, 2009 Marcia Busse said:

I was told at the bank when I went to purchase a savings bond for my grandchild that the government was not paying interest on that bond for six months. Is this true?

On November 23rd, 2009 Tom Adams said:

Marcia - If you were trying to buy Series I bonds, that was true from May to October 2009, but it’s not true now.

If you were trying to buy Series EE bonds, it was never true.

Tom Adams

On January 10th, 2010 bertha james said:

I have a bunch of EE bonds that will expire in MAY 2010 and a short while afterwards. Is there a free calculator so I can determine their value and determine when I should cash them?

On January 11th, 2010 Tom Adams said:

Bertha - you should cash them at the beginning of the month in which they were issued. So if the bond was issued in March 1980, cash it at the beginning of March 2010. There’s a calculator at the top of this page that will tell you what the bonds are worth this month. Or you can use the Treasury’s Savings Bond Calculator or Savings Bond Wizard.

Tom Adams

On January 14th, 2010 Michelle said:

I live in Scotland and I have some US Savings Bonds, do you know where I should go to cash them in?

Thanks
Mchelle

On January 14th, 2010 Tom Adams said:

Michelle - the information you’re looking for is here.

Tom Adams

On February 8th, 2010 kriste said:

On Jan 11, you advised Bertha to cash in bonds at the beginning of th month in which they were issued. Why?

On February 8th, 2010 Tom Adams said:

Kriste - because that’s when Bertha’s bonds stop earning interest. It doesn’t make any sense to hold them longer, and it doesn’t make any sense to cash them sooner.

Tom Adams

On April 30th, 2010 deborah louis said:

i just need imformation about a bond that was bought in 1970? i am trying to find out if it is worth anything its face value is $100.00 I need to know if i should look for it. if it worth the time.

On May 3rd, 2010 Tom Adams said:

Deborah - you can use the calculator at the top of this page to figure out its approximate value. It would be a series E bond.

Tom Adams

Comments Closed

June 1, 2010

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.

Tom Adams

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