How to Cash Savings Bonds: At a Bank, by Mail With FS Form 1522, or Online for Electronic Bonds

US savings bonds are cashed in 3 ways: paper bonds at a bank that offers the service or by mail to Treasury with FS Form 1522, and electronic bonds online in a TreasuryDirect account.

Treasury charges no fee and the forms are free, and a bank that cashes your bond may not charge you either (31 CFR 321.23(c)).

You receive the bond's current redemption value, meaning the purchase price plus the interest it has built up (for Series H and HH, the face value), for the month you cash it.

Banks may cash paper bonds, but they are not required to, so the mail route is the fallback that always stays open. ClaimMyBonds is a private guide, not Treasury, TreasuryDirect or a bank, and every rule below carries its source and date. The same 3 routes cover all paper and electronic US savings bonds.

3 Ways to Cash Savings Bonds and Which One Fits Your Bond

The easiest way to cash a savings bond depends on 2 facts: whether the bond is paper or electronic, and which series it is. Electronic bonds are cashed only in TreasuryDirect, Treasury's website for holding savings bonds.

"Redeem" means the same as "cash": the regulations treat payment of a bond as its redemption (31 CFR 353.2(h)). The table below compares the 3 routes on 7 points.

Source: 31 CFR 321; FS Publication 0022; FS Form 1522; TreasuryDirect, as of November 11, 2026.

Paper or Electronic, and Who Can Cash the Bond

A paper savings bond is a printed certificate; an electronic bond exists only in a TreasuryDirect account and is never printed. Paper Series EE bonds carry issue dates from January 1980 to December 2011, because paper sales at banks ended on January 1, 2012 (76 FR 66855).

Paper Series I bonds were also issued with federal tax refunds until that option ended on January 1, 2025. Every new savings bond since then is electronic.

The owner or a co-owner cashes the bond. A co-owner is the second person joined to the owner by "OR", and either co-owner can cash the bond alone (31 CFR 353.37 for Series EE).

A POD beneficiary, the person named after "P.O.D." (payable on death), has no right to cash it while the owner lives (353.38). Other signers follow the special situations further down.

Which Savings Bond Series a Bank Can Cash, and Which Go to Treasury

A bank can cash paper Series E, EE and I bonds and Savings Notes, but never Series F, G, H, J, K or HH, which only Treasury cashes by mail. Both lists come from 31 CFR 321.7(a) and 321.9(b) (eCFR as of November 6, 2026).

Every Series HH bond reached final maturity, the date its interest stops, by August 1, 2024. HH bonds pay their face value, the amount printed on the bond, and only by direct deposit.

Series A to D bonds (1935 to 1941) are a special case: 321.7(a) still lists them for banks, but TreasuryDirect tells owners to cash them by mail. Savings Notes, also called Freedom Shares, were sold with Series E bonds.

Patriot Bonds are Series EE and war bonds are Series E, so they cash the same way. The table below sorts all nine groups of bonds by route; the guide to types of US savings bonds gives each series' terms.

Notes: (1) December 1996 issues stop earning on December 1, 2026. (2) G: face plus $1.25 per $100; K: face plus $6.90 per $500 (31 CFR 315.35). Source: 31 CFR 321.7(a), 321.9(b); TreasuryDirect, as of November 11, 2026.

How to Cash Paper Savings Bonds at a Bank

Yes, you can cash paper savings bonds at a bank, but only at a bank that is a qualified paying agent and agrees to cash them for you.

A paying agent is a financial institution Treasury has qualified to pay savings bonds. TreasuryDirect advises asking your bank 3 questions first: whether it cashes savings bonds, how much at one time, and what ID it needs. The 5 steps below follow Treasury's guidance for cashing at a bank.

1. Ask your bank those 3 questions.
2. Check the series in the table above: no H, HH, F, G, J or K at a bank.
3. Bring the bonds unsigned and a valid photo ID.
4. Sign each bond in front of the teller.
5. Keep the receipt and the 1099-INT for your tax return.

What to Bring to the Bank to Cash Savings Bonds

Bring the paper bonds and a valid photo ID; the bank may also require that you hold an established account there (FS Publication 0022). FS Publication 0022 (Rev.

October 2022), Treasury's guide for paying agents, lets a bank identify you in 3 ways: as an established customer, by being identified by a customer or a person the bank knows well, or by an identification document.

An ID document alone is enough only for payments of $1,000 or less. The line is current value, not face value: a $500 Series EE bond issued in January 1990 is worth $1,036.80 in November 2026.

That bond stopped earning interest at final maturity in January 2020. A 12-month customer history is a Secret Service recommendation, not a Treasury rule.

Sign each bond in front of the teller (31 CFR 321.11(e)). A surviving co-owner or a POD beneficiary also brings a certified copy of the death certificate. Paying them is up to the bank (321.10(a)).

Can You Deposit a Paper Savings Bond by Mobile App or ATM?

No: a bank may not accept a photo, scan or other copy of a paper savings bond, so mobile and ATM deposit are not possible (31 CFR 321.25). "Depositing" a savings bond means cashing it at the counter, with the money credited to your account. The bank cannot cash part of a bond either: each paper bond is paid whole (321.9(l)).

Why a Bank May Refuse to Cash Your Savings Bonds

A bank may refuse because cashing savings bonds for people who are not established customers is optional under current Treasury guidance. 31 CFR 321.10(a) (eCFR as of November 6, 2026) still requires paying agents to pay owners "whether or not" they are customers, and it has not been amended since 2012.

FS Publication 0022 and a Federal Reserve update posted December 21, 2021, however, make cashing for non-customers and new customers optional for the bank.

Banks also gain little by saying yes. Treasury stopped paying banks a fee for cashing bonds on April 11, 2012 (77 FR 20123). A bank is liable for a wrong payment unless it was free of fault or negligence (31 U.S.C. 3126(a); 321.15), and a bank can ask to end its paying agent status (321.5(b)).

Treasury publishes no list of paying agents. Do banks still cash out savings bonds? Those that choose to do, as the guide to what banks cash savings bonds shows bank by bank.

If the Bank Refuses: Cash the Bonds by Mail Instead

When a bank refuses, mail the bonds to Treasury with FS Form 1522: Treasury cashes every paper series, sets no limit on the value or number of bonds and charges no fee.

FS Publication 0022 tells a bank that chooses not to cash a bond to refer the customer to TreasuryDirect's instructions for cashing by mail.

The other option is a different bank where you hold an established account. The trade-off is time: cashing by mail in your own name takes three months or longer (TreasuryDirect, as of November 11, 2026), while a bank pays at the counter.

How to Cash Paper Savings Bonds by Mail to Treasury Retail Securities Services

To cash paper savings bonds by mail, send the bonds with a completed FS Form 1522 to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150.

Treasury Retail Securities Services is the office that processes mailed savings bond requests, run for Treasury by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. The current form (PDF, TreasuryDirect) is Revised April 2026, has 4 pages and takes about 15 minutes to complete.

The FS Form 1522 guide goes through the form item by item; the 5 steps below are the short version.

1. Print FS Form 1522 from TreasuryDirect.
2. Describe each bond by issue date and serial number.
3. Enter your direct deposit details.
4. Sign the form, with certification if the total is above $1,000.
5. Mail the form and the bonds to P.O. Box 9150.

By mail, you need a notary or a certifying officer (a bank officer or other person authorized to certify signatures) only when the bonds' total current redemption value is more than $1,000.

At $1,000 or less, a copy of your driver's license, passport, state ID or military ID is enough. The January 1990 bond worth $1,036.80 needs certification on its own.

The owner bears the cost and risk of mailing (31 CFR 353.39(b)), and Treasury refuses a stale signature (353.39(c)). Questions go to 844-284-2676, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm ET.

Use the current form (Revised April 2026) from TreasuryDirect; older copies show superseded addresses and signature rules. The 4 mistakes below delay or block a mailed request.

• Old address: P.O. Box 214 or 2186 from superseded copies.
• Missing certification above a $1,000 total.
• Stale signature: more than six months old on arrival.
• Wrong routing number: not nine digits beginning 0, 1, 2 or 3.

How to Cash Electronic Savings Bonds Online in TreasuryDirect

Electronic savings bonds are cashed online in the owner's TreasuryDirect account, under ManageDirect, then Redeem securities.

You can cash a whole bond or part of one: any amount of $25 or more, to the cent, as long as at least $25 stays in a partly cashed bond (31 CFR 363.54, 363.57). This is also how to cash I bonds bought online.

Two account changes in 2026 affect cashing. TreasuryDirect login works only through ID.me since October 28, 2026, and Login.gov is not accepted.

Since August 24, 2026, the Certificate of Indebtedness, a zero-interest balance inside the account, is no longer a payment destination. Accounts for electronic savings bonds follow 31 CFR Part 363, not the paper bond rules.

An owner who cannot use the account online can cash electronic bonds by mail with FS Form 5512 (Rev. April 2026). FS Form 5512 must be signed before a certifying officer; a notary is not accepted. Treasury approves no app or third-party website for account access, and ClaimMyBonds cannot access accounts.

Can You Cash Paper Savings Bonds Online?

No: TreasuryDirect cashes only electronic bonds online, and a paper bond goes to a bank or to Treasury by mail. Converting first is not required: "You can cash paper bonds just as they are." (TreasuryDirect)

SmartExchange, the conversion tool inside TreasuryDirect, turns paper Series E, EE and I bonds of $25 or more into electronic bonds (31 CFR 363.161). Owners who still want to convert paper savings bonds to electronic use an online conversion manifest of up to 50 bonds per cart; there is no FS Form 5174.

Conversion takes nine months or longer, while cashing paper bonds in your name by mail takes three months or longer (TreasuryDirect, as of November 11, 2026). Series H and HH bonds cannot be converted, and conversion is one-way (363.164). A bond already past final maturity is redeemed when it is converted (TreasuryDirect); the tax year follows the IRC 454 rule below.

What Your Savings Bonds Are Worth When You Cash Them, and the Tax on the Interest

You receive the bond's full current redemption value for the month you cash it, and the interest in it is taxable federally but not by states.

Values can change only on the 1st of a month (31 CFR 351.3 for Series EE). Our calculator, built on Treasury's published Fiscal Data value files, shows what your savings bond is worth in the current month.

Both examples use redemption month November 2026. A $100 Series EE bond issued in December 1988 is worth $207.36; it stopped earning interest at final maturity in December 2018. A $100 Series E bond issued in December 1964 is worth $936.44, a value frozen since its final maturity in December 2004.

Treasury's values already include the early-cashing penalty. Series EE bonds issued May 1997 or later and all Series I bonds lose the last 3 months of interest if cashed before 5 years (31 CFR 351.31, 359.7).

Federal tax is due for the year you cash the bond or the year it reaches final maturity, whichever comes first, unless the owner reported the interest yearly (26 U.S.C. 454; IRS Publication 550 (2025)). For a bond that reached final maturity in an earlier year, that earlier year is the year the rule names.

States and localities do not tax the interest (31 U.S.C. 3124(a)). A bank that cashes your bond issues Form 1099-INT, the interest statement, at cashing or the next January; Treasury mails it the next January. A tax professional can apply the rules on federal tax on savings bond interest to your own return.

How Long It Takes to Cash Savings Bonds

Cashing a paper bond in your own name by mail takes three months or longer, and a request for bonds not in your name five months or longer (TreasuryDirect, as of November 11, 2026). Bonds not in your name include those of a deceased owner, a child or someone you represent.

Converting paper bonds first adds time rather than saving it. Treasury publishes no time for cashing at a bank counter or for online redemption of electronic bonds. The table below lists the published processing times that matter for cashing.

Source: TreasuryDirect Contact Us, as of November 11, 2026.

Cashing Savings Bonds in Special Situations

7 situations change who signs or what must be added to a cashing request. They are timing, a child's bond, cashing for someone else, a name change, cashing from abroad, the owner's death and a lost bond. A bank may not pay an attorney-in-fact at all, so that case always goes by mail.

A lost bond cannot go with FS Form 1522, because the form travels with the paper bond. Owners in a declared disaster area write DISASTER on the envelope and the form, and Treasury gives the request priority. The table gives each rule in one line.

Source: TreasuryDirect and FS Publication 0105, as of November 11, 2026; 31 CFR 321, 351, 353, 359. Attorney-in-fact: the person named in a power of attorney. W-8BEN: the IRS certificate of foreign status.

After You Cash Savings Bonds: Records, Lost Bonds and Forms

After cashing, keep the bank's receipt or Treasury's payment record and the 1099-INT for your tax return. Not sure whether a bond was already cashed? The owner or co-owner can send a signed letter listing the serial numbers, without the bonds, to Treasury Retail Securities Services at P.O. Box 9150.

Treasury Hunt, Treasury's former online search, has not been available since September 30, 2025, and no online replacement exists. The steps to find lost or missing savings bonds cover the routes that remain.

Savings Bond Cashing Questions

Can you cash savings bonds at Walmart, a check casher or the post office?

No: only incorporated, supervised deposit-taking institutions such as banks and credit unions can be paying agents, so Walmart, check cashers and post offices cannot cash savings bonds (31 CFR 321.2(a)).

Can you cash savings bonds at a Federal Reserve Bank?

Not in person: Treasury Retail Securities Services offers no walk-in service for savings bonds. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis handles mailed requests for Treasury as its fiscal agent.

How much would a $100 savings bond from 1985 be worth today?

A $100 paper Series EE bond issued in any month of 1985 is worth $230.64 in November 2026. It no longer earns interest: every 1985 issue reached final maturity in 2015, so its value is frozen. Because all 12 issue months match, the 1985 Series EE savings bond value depends only on the face value.

Is it worth cashing in savings bonds?

A bond that has reached final maturity earns nothing more by waiting, and no savings bond ever expires (Executive Order 13968, 85 FR 83745). Every Series E bond has stopped earning interest.

Whether to cash a bond that still earns is your decision; the dates for when savings bonds stop earning interest show which bonds still grow.

How do you sell an I bond?

Savings bonds cannot be sold: they are not transferable and are paid only to the owner or another person entitled (31 CFR 353.15, 360.15). An electronic I bond is cashed in TreasuryDirect, as described above.

Are savings bonds FDIC insured?

TreasuryDirect describes savings bonds as backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and does not name FDIC insurance.

Does USAA cash savings bonds?

No: USAA says it is not authorized by the U.S. Treasury to redeem savings bonds in person or by mail (USAA, checked November 11, 2026). USAA members can still mail paper bonds with FS Form 1522.

How do you cash savings bonds for a deceased person?

A surviving co-owner or POD beneficiary cashes the bond with a certified death certificate; otherwise the estate's representative, or an heir using FS Form 5336 or 5394, does (31 CFR 353.70 for Series EE). FS Form 5336 serves estates of $100,000 or less that no court administers; FS Form 5394 serves state small-estate procedures and closed estates.

Can you cash savings bonds bought from someone else?

No: TreasuryDirect warns that bonds bought from someone else or at an online auction cannot be cashed. Treat any offer to sell you a bond as one of the savings bond scams.

Savings Bond Forms Used for Cashing

3 Treasury forms cover cashing: FS Form 1522 for paper bonds, FS Form 5512 for electronic bonds by mail, and FS Form 1048 for lost bonds; all are free at treasurydirect.gov/forms.

Signature rules differ by form: savings bond signature certification by a notary is accepted on FS Form 1522 above $1,000, but FS Form 5512 needs a certifying officer. Every FS form with its revision is listed in the guide to savings bond forms.

Unclaimed Savings Bonds: Matured Bonds Nobody Has Cashed

103,064,737 matured paper savings bonds were unredeemed on September 30, 2026 (Fiscal Data), counting every series.

Fiscal Service publishes this piece count, not a dollar total, for unclaimed savings bonds.

Bank-by-Bank Policies for Cashing Savings Bonds

Of 18 banks and credit unions whose own sites we checked on November 11 and 12, 2026, 3 publish a savings bond cashing policy and 2 publish that they do not cash bonds. The 3 are Bank of America (bankofamerica.com), U.S. Bank and Consumers Credit Union in Michigan, for members only (consumerscu.org).

USAA (usaa.com) does not redeem, and Capital One's article (capitalone.com, read November 12, 2026) says "that service isn't currently available at Capital One."

Chase, Wells Fargo, PNC, Citibank and 9 others publish no policy, so ask the branch before you go. Limits quoted in news stories or forums are not bank policy. The list below sums up the published policies.

• Bank of America: account required
• U.S. Bank: five-year account
• USAA: does not redeem
• Capital One: does not offer the service
• Does Chase cash savings bonds: no published policy
• Banks that cash savings bonds without an account