How Much Is My Savings Bond Worth, and How Do I Cash It?

A savings bond is worth what was paid for it plus the interest it has earned, so the answer depends on its series and the month it was issued. A $50 EE bond bought in January 1990 for $25 is worth $103.68. A $25 E bond bought in January 1965 for $18.75 is worth $234.11. Neither will grow any more, because both are past the age when savings bonds stop earning interest.

Every paper savings bond can still be cashed, at a bank that will take it or by mail to the Treasury, and none of them expire (opens in a new tab). In a 2021 count (opens in a new tab), Treasury found about 80 million bonds worth $29 billion that had stopped earning interest and hadn’t been cashed.

How much is my savings bond worth?

Look it up in Treasury’s free Savings Bond Calculator (opens in a new tab). Enter the series, the face value and the issue date printed on the bond, and it shows what the bond is worth this month, how much interest it has earned and when it stops earning. It works for paper EE, E and I bonds and for savings notes.

For an electronic bond, log in to TreasuryDirect and look under Current Holdings instead.

What old savings bonds are worth now

These are the calculator’s values for October 2026. A $100 EE bond issued in the same month is worth exactly twice the $50 figure, and a $1,000 bond 20 times as much.

The I bond from 2000 is worth nearly five times what it cost. I bonds earn a fixed rate, set when they’re bought, plus an inflation rate that resets every six months. The ones sold from November 1999 to April 2000 carry a fixed rate of 3.40% (opens in a new tab) on top of inflation for their whole 30 years.

The number on the bond isn’t what it’s worth

The amount printed on a paper bond is its face value, which usually isn’t what the bond is worth. Paper EE bonds were sold for half their face value (opens in a new tab), so a $50 bond cost $25. E bonds cost 75% of face value, and I bonds were sold at face value.

So a newer EE bond can be worth less than the number on it. Treasury guarantees that an EE bond bought in June 2003 or later will be worth at least double its price after 20 years. The $50 bond from 2010, worth $30.62 now, will be worth at least $50 in January 2030.

H and HH bonds are the exception. Each one is worth its face value (opens in a new tab), because it paid its interest out every six months.

When does a savings bond stop earning interest?

EE and I bonds earn interest for 30 years from their issue date, and HH bonds for 20. After that, the value never changes. Every Series E, H and HH bond has already stopped, along with any EE bond issued more than 30 years ago. The oldest I bonds, from 1998, stop in 2028.

E bonds issued before December 1965 earned interest for 40 years, and the rest for 30, according to Treasury’s history of retired bonds (opens in a new tab). Every bond in Series A, B, C, D, F, G, J and K has stopped too (opens in a new tab), and so has every savings note.

EE bonds were sold on paper until 2012, according to IRS Publication 550 (opens in a new tab), and I bonds until the end of 2024. New ones are sold only as electronic bonds, through a TreasuryDirect account.

Is it worth holding a bond that has stopped earning?

No. A bond that has stopped earning is worth the same next year as it is now, while prices keep going up, so it buys a little less every year it stays in the drawer. Treasury pays nothing extra for waiting, and the tax on the interest was due in the year the bond stopped anyway.

Take the $50 EE bond from January 1990. It stopped at $103.68 in January 2020. Since then, the Consumer Price Index (opens in a new tab) has gone from 257.971 to 336.940 (September 2026), a rise of about 31%. So that $103.68 now buys about what $79 bought when the bond stopped growing.

A paper EE bond issued in June 2003 or later is different until it turns 20. It’s still short of its doubling guarantee, and Treasury adds the difference in one adjustment on its 20th anniversary. Cash the 2010 bond from the table now and you get $30.62. Wait until January 2030 and you get at least $50.

How do I cash old savings bonds?

Take paper EE, E and I bonds to a bank where you have an account, if that bank cashes savings bonds, or mail them to the Treasury with FS Form 1522. Treasury has no limit on how much you cash at once and pays by direct deposit. You don’t need a TreasuryDirect account to cash paper bonds.

At your bank

Banks decide for themselves whether they cash savings bonds, how much they’ll pay out at once and what ID they want, so call before you go. Treasury lets them limit cashing to established customers as a guard against fraud. By September 2024, it had identified at least $50 million in savings bond fraud, according to its report to Congress (opens in a new tab). A bank where you already have an account is the place to start.

A paper bond has to be cashed for its full value. The bank gives you a 1099-INT for the interest, either when you cash it or the following January.

By mail to the Treasury

If your bank won’t cash them, or you’d rather not carry them in, send them to the Treasury:

1. Fill out FS Form 1522 (opens in a new tab). List each bond’s issue date and serial number, and the bank account for the deposit.
2. Add up the bonds’ current value with the calculator. If the total is $1,000 or less, sign the form and enclose a copy of your driver’s license, passport, state ID or military ID.
3. If the total is more than $1,000, sign the form in front of a notary or a certifying officer. Banks and credit unions have certifying officers.
4. Mail the form and the bonds to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150.

Treasury mails your 1099-INT the following January.

HH bonds and electronic bonds

Banks can’t cash HH bonds, so they always go to the Treasury with FS Form 1522, the same way. Old H bonds are cashed that way too.

Electronic bonds are cashed online, in TreasuryDirect under ManageDirect, then Redeem securities. When an electronic EE or I bond reaches 30 years, Treasury cashes it automatically and deposits the money in your bank account.

What if the bond is in someone else’s name?

You can cash a bond only if you own it or co-own it, or if you have documents showing you’re entitled to the money.

A young child’s bonds

A parent can cash a bond for a child under 18 who is too young to understand the request, if the child lives with that parent or the parent has legal custody. The parent writes a statement Treasury provides (opens in a new tab) on the back of the bond, with the child’s age and Social Security number, and signs on the child’s behalf.

Bonds a parent or relative left you

If your name is on the bond as co-owner or beneficiary, the bond is yours when the other person dies, and it doesn’t go through their estate. You can cash it. If it’s still earning, you can also keep it, or have it reissued in your name alone. Ask the bank what ID and documents to bring.

If no one named on the bond is still living, it belongs to the estate of the owner or, if two people are named, of the one who died last. A court has to handle the estate if its Treasury securities total more than $100,000. At $100,000 or less, with no court case, the heirs can claim the bonds with FS Form 5336 (opens in a new tab). Our guide to what happens to a bank account when someone dies covers the rest of the estate.

What if I can’t find the bond?

File a claim on FS Form 1048 (opens in a new tab). Treasury replaces lost, stolen and destroyed paper bonds, and it can cash them instead. Its Treasury Hunt search, which looked up forgotten bonds by Social Security number, closed on September 30, 2025 (opens in a new tab), so the form is now the way to claim a bond you can’t find.

On the form, list what you know about each bond: the issue date (an exact month, or a range of dates), the face value, the serial number, and the Social Security number, names and address printed on it. For a bond you got as a gift, give the buyer’s Social Security number. Then sign the form in front of a notary or a certifying officer.

A replacement EE or I bond comes as an electronic bond in TreasuryDirect. If the paper bond turns up after Treasury has replaced or paid it, it belongs to the government, and you mail it back to the Minneapolis address above.

If you have a bond’s serial number but don’t know whether it was ever cashed, ask your bank. If it can’t tell you, write to Treasury at the same address, include the serial number and sign the letter, but don’t send the bond.

Do you owe tax when you cash a savings bond?

Yes, on the interest. It’s subject to federal income tax but not to state or local income tax. Most people report it in the year they cash the bond, from the 1099-INT the bank or Treasury sends them. Old bonds come with a catch, though. Interest you put off reporting is taxable in the year the bond stops earning, even if the bond never leaves the drawer.

IRS Publication 550 (opens in a new tab) lets you put off reporting the interest until the year you cash the bond or the year it matures, whichever comes first. So unless the owner reported it year by year, the interest on the 1990 bond in the table belonged on a 2020 tax return. When you finally cash a bond like that, the 1099-INT you get shows all of the interest it ever earned. If a bond stopped earning years ago and nobody reported the interest, ask a tax preparer how to handle it before you file.

The owner owes the tax. If two co-owners are named, whoever paid for the bond does. On a bond bought in a child’s name, the interest is the child’s income, not the buyer’s, according to TreasuryDirect (opens in a new tab).

Where to put the money after you cash it

Once you’ve cashed the bond, you can move the money into a savings account that pays interest, or buy new EE or I bonds online through TreasuryDirect.

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This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Values change monthly for bonds that are still earning, so check yours in Treasury’s calculator before you rely on a number here.