Series E Savings Bonds (1941 to 1980): Final Maturity, Value and How to Cash

Series E savings bonds were issued from May 1941 to June 1980, sold at 75% of face value, and every one stopped earning interest by June 2010. A $100 Series E bond is worth a frozen $362.36 to $936.44 in November 2026, depending on its issue month. Its final value no longer changes.

No deadline to cash a Series E bond exists. You can cash one at a bank that cashes savings bonds or mail it with FS Form 1522 to Treasury, which charges no fee.

ClaimMyBonds is an independent private guide, not the government. This page covers what an E bond is worth, when it stopped earning and how owners and heirs cash paper US savings bonds of this series.

What Are Series E Savings Bonds?

A Series E savings bond is a paper US savings bond sold at 75% of face value that grew in value until final maturity and pays its interest only when cashed (31 CFR 315.30; part 316). Face value is the amount printed on the bond; final maturity is the date it stops earning interest.

Treasury first sold Series E on May 1, 1941. The 1941 terms were 10 years at 2.9% compounded semiannually, according to Treasury's 1991 savings bond history, and those terms were later extended.

Over-the-counter sales ended December 31, 1979, and sales through payroll and employee plans ended June 30, 1980 (31 CFR 316.1). The table below sums up the series.

Source: TreasuryDirect historical and retired bonds page; eCFR 31 CFR 316; Fiscal Data Savings Bonds Value Files (November 2026).

Series E was sold as the Defense Savings Bond in 1941 and as the War Savings Bond from 1942 to 1945. A war bond is worth exactly what any Series E bond of the same issue month and face value is worth. Treasury pays no collector premium for WWII war bonds.

Series E sales peaked in 1944 at $12,380 million. From September 1962, taxpayers could take Series E bonds in place of a cash tax refund. A Bicentennial design was issued from May 1, 1975, until December 1976 (TreasuryDirect timeline).

Series E or Series EE? How to Tell Them Apart

A paper bond dated May 1941 to June 1980 and marked "Series E" is an E bond. Series EE began in January 1980, so a bond dated 1955 cannot be an EE bond.

The series letter sits in the upper right of the bond face. January to June 1980 is the only six-month overlap, when both series were issued, so read the letter on any 1980 bond. The table below sets the two paper series side by side.

Note: owners of EE bonds can check the rules for Series EE savings bonds. Source: eCFR 31 CFR 316 and 351.40; TreasuryDirect, as of November 11, 2026.

A $25 paper bond cannot be Series EE or I, because paper EE and I bonds start at $50. A $25 bond dated May 1941 to June 1980 and marked "Series E" is an E bond, priced with E values.

A "1955 EE bond" in an online question is not an EE bond; check the letter, since most such bonds are Series E.

Series E Denominations and Issue Prices

Series E came in 8 face values from $25 to $10,000 under 31 CFR 316.2(b), each sold at 75% of face, and Treasury's calculator also prices a $10 bond. A $100,000 bond existed for trustees of employee savings plans only (316.2(b)).

The $25, $50, $100, $500 and $1,000 bonds were sold from May 1941. Treasury's Savings Bond Calculator accepts the $200 from October 1945, the $10,000 from May 1952 and the $75 from May 1964. It prices a $10 bond only for issue dates June 1944 to March 1950.

Treasury's 1991 history says the $10 bond was offered to the armed forces. It names the $200 a memorial to President Roosevelt (1945) and the $75 a memorial to President Kennedy (1964). The table below lists each face value with its price, issue window and value range.

Notes: (1) Lowest values: May 1941 issues; for $75, $200 and $10,000, May 1978 issues; for $10, June to October 1944 issues. Highest values: December 1964 and January 1965 issues; for $10, December 1949 to March 1950 issues. (2) Issue dates for the $100,000 bond are not published. Source: 31 CFR 316.2(b); TreasuryDirect calculator windows (checked November 11, 2026); Fiscal Data Savings Bonds Value Files, November 2026.

Treasury's calculator does not accept a $5,000 Series E bond. A $100,000 E bond is worth 10 times the $10,000 bond with the same issue date (31 CFR 316.10(a)), and it is not in Treasury's calculator.

When Did Series E Bonds Stop Earning Interest? Final Maturity at 40 or 30 Years

Series E bonds stopped earning interest 40 years after issue for May 1941 to November 1965 issues and 30 years after issue for December 1965 to June 1980 issues. The last ones stopped on June 1, 2010 (31 CFR 316.8(b)). The table below gives the seven bands of the schedule.

Source: eCFR 31 CFR 316.8(b), as of November 11, 2026.

Interest stops on the 1st of the final-maturity month, and the value has been frozen since that day. A $100 E bond with a 30-year life (December 1965 to June 1980 issues) is worth $426.68 to $560.04 in November 2026.

IRS Publication 550 puts it plainly: "All Series E bonds have matured and are no longer earning interest." Stop dates for every other series are listed under final maturity by series.

Why Some Older Series E Bonds Are Worth More Than Newer Ones

Series E bonds from the 1950s and early 1960s are worth more than 1970s bonds because they earned for 40 years instead of 30. Each extension set its own yields, so the issue month decides the final value.

The 1965 cliff shows it. A $100 bond issued November 1965 earned for 40 years and is worth $736.12 in November 2026; one issued December 1965 earned for 30 years and is worth $512.48.

October and November 1965 issues both stand at $184.03 per $25 of face, so the drop falls exactly at the December 1965 line.

The extension yields came from 31 CFR 316.8. Guaranteed minimum yields were 8.5%, 7.5%, 6% and, for extensions entered on or after March 1, 1993, 4%. Bonds issued from January 1, 1951, earned a 0.5% bonus when held 11 years from a first accrual date in 1980 or later.

Bonds held at least five years from November 1, 1982, could earn a market-based yield of 85% of the average 5-year Treasury yield.

Age alone does not set the value: the May 1941 issue is the lowest $100 bond at $362.36, and December 1964 and January 1965 issues are the highest at $936.44. No current Series E rate exists.

How Much Is My Series E Bond Worth? Frozen Values by Issue Year

A $100 Series E bond is worth $362.36 to $936.44 in November 2026, and a $25 bond $90.59 to $234.11, depending on the issue month. Each value is frozen at the bond's final-maturity amount.

Two calculators price a single E bond by issue month. Our savings bond calculator is built on Treasury's published value files. TreasuryDirect's Savings Bond Calculator also lists several bonds with totals and marks E bonds "MA", meaning matured and not earning interest.

Our figures come from Treasury's Savings Bonds Value Files, last updated November 2, 2026. The table below gives the lowest and highest value for each issue year.

Table 5: Series E value by issue year, November 2026 (lowest to highest issue month)

Notes: (1) 1941 covers May to December issues; 1980 covers January to June issues. (2) January to November 1965 issues earned for 40 years; December 1965 issues earned for 30 years and stopped in December 1995. Other face values: multiply the $25 value by the number of $25 units in the face (2 for $50, 20 for $500, 40 for $1,000). Source: Fiscal Data Savings Bonds Value Files (updated November 2, 2026), redemption month November 2026; values frozen since final maturity.

All 470 Series E issue months show the same value in every redemption month of Treasury's file from the bond's final maturity through May 2027. Any Treasury value table printed since June 2010 therefore shows the same Series E values as this one, and a 2015 printout still prices your bond correctly.

Reading the Issue Date and Face Value on a Series E Bond

The issue date that prices an E bond is the month and year printed in its upper right. It is the first day of the month in which the issuing agent received payment (31 CFR 316.2(c)(2) and (d)).

The validation date in the lower right is the date the bond was inscribed, and it never sets the value. The serial number also sits in the lower right.

A Social Security number is required on E bonds issued on or after January 1, 1974 (31 CFR 316.2(c)(1)); TreasuryDirect's timeline gives October 1, 1973, for issuing agents. "OR" between two names marks a co-owner, and "P.O.D." (payable on death) marks a beneficiary with no rights while the owner lives (31 CFR 315.7).

A name after "Mail to" gives no ownership (FS Publication 0022). These markings decide who may cash the bond, the core of how to read a paper savings bond.

How to Cash Series E Savings Bonds

Series E bonds can be cashed 2 ways: at a financial institution that cashes savings bonds, or by mail with FS Form 1522 (TreasuryDirect, as of November 11, 2026).

Mailed bonds go to Treasury Retail Securities Services, the Treasury office that processes paper bonds. No E bond earns interest, so waiting gains nothing. Treasury charges no fee and the form is free. The table below compares the two routes.

Note: steps for every series are set out in how to cash savings bonds. Source: 31 CFR 315.39(a) and part 321 (eCFR as of November 6, 2026); FS Publication 0022 (Rev. October 2022); TreasuryDirect, as of November 11, 2026.

Cashing Series E Bonds at a Bank

A bank or credit union acting as a paying agent may cash a Series E bond for its owner or co-owner, but banks are not required to (31 CFR 321.7(a); FS Publication 0022, Rev. October 2022). A paying agent is a bank Treasury authorizes to cash savings bonds.

Bring the bond and proof of identity. A P.O.D. beneficiary also brings the owner's certified death certificate. If no Social Security number is inscribed, the person presenting the bond must write one on its face (31 CFR 315.39(a)). Banks do not handle partial redemptions or cases that need evidence.

Three bank limits apply under 31 CFR part 321. A bank may not charge you a fee (321.23(c)), may not pay an attorney-in-fact (321.9(c)) and may not accept an image or copy of the bond (321.25). Cashing for non-customers is optional, so policies differ; compare dated policies under what banks cash savings bonds.

Mail the bond to Treasury when a bank says no. The mail route stays open to every owner and costs no Treasury fee.

Cashing Series E Bonds by Mail With FS Form 1522

Mail Series E bonds with a signed FS Form 1522 (Rev. April 2026) to Treasury Retail Securities Services in Minneapolis; payment comes by direct deposit only. The address on the current form is below.

Treasury Retail Securities Services
P.O. Box 9150
Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150
Source: FS Form 1522 (Revised April 2026); TreasuryDirect, as of November 11, 2026

Sign before a notary or certifying officer when the total current redemption value (what the bonds are worth today, including interest) is more than $1,000. At $1,000 or less, sign and enclose a copy of a driver's license, passport, state ID or military ID.

Every $500, $1,000 and $10,000 Series E bond is worth more than $1,000 on its own. The lowest $500 value is $1,811.80, for May 1941 issues, in November 2026, so mailing even one such bond needs a certified signature.

The certification rules and each item of FS Form 1522 are set out on the form's own page.

TreasuryDirect quotes three months or longer to cash bonds in your name, and five months or longer for bonds not in your name (as of November 11, 2026). The form warns: "Legal evidence or documentation you submit cannot be returned."

Inherited Series E Bonds: Who Can Cash Them

A surviving co-owner or P.O.D. beneficiary cashes an inherited Series E bond with the owner's certified death certificate. When nobody named on the bond is alive, the bond is paid to whoever is entitled through the estate. The table below matches each situation to its route.

Source: TreasuryDirect death-of-owner pages; FS Forms 5336 (Rev. April 2026), 5394 (Rev. May 2026) and 4000 (Rev. April 2026); 31 CFR 315.71.

Series E bonds are paid to heirs, not reissued. FS Form 4000, the reissue form (Rev. April 2026), covers only paper EE and I bonds, and FS Form 5394 (Rev. May 2026) pays paper Series E by direct deposit only.

The estate's size decides the route: a court must administer it if the decedent's savings bonds are worth more than $100,000 in redemption value at the date of death (31 CFR 315.71(d)).

At $100,000 or less, with no administration, one voluntary representative may act through FS Form 5336 (315.71(e)). Who is entitled follows the regulation and state law; for your own case, ask the estate's attorney.

Is Series E Interest Taxable?

Series E interest is subject to federal income tax and exempt from state and local income tax (31 CFR 316.9; 31 U.S.C. 3124). The interest is the redemption value minus the issue price: for a $100 bond bought for $75, everything above $75 is interest.

Owners on the cash method could defer that interest until the earliest of final maturity, redemption or other disposition (31 CFR 316.9(b); 26 CFR 1.454-1(a)(1); 26 U.S.C. 454).

Every E bond reached final maturity between 1981 and 2010, so for an E bond cashed today the year the rule names is that earlier final-maturity year, not the year you cash it, unless the owner reported yearly or exchanged the bond into HH.

Before September 2004, E bonds could be exchanged for Series H or HH bonds with the E interest still deferred (IRS Publication 550). Reporting rules for every series are under federal tax on savings bond interest.

How the IRS treats E interest that was due at final maturity but never reported is not addressed in IRS guidance, and neither is whether a 1099-INT is issued at final maturity. Ask a tax professional about your own return.

Lost or Missing Series E Bonds and the Serial-Number Rule

A lost, stolen or destroyed Series E bond needs its serial number for a claim. 31 CFR 315.29(c) says no claim filed six years or more after final maturity will be entertained unless the claimant supplies the serial number.

Every E bond reached final maturity by June 2010, so every lost E bond is past that six-year point. How Treasury applies the rule when its own records hold the serial number is not published.

For paper EE and I bonds that may already have been cashed, TreasuryDirect describes a signed letter listing the serial numbers, mailed without the bonds to P.O. Box 9150.

TreasuryDirect states: "As of September 30, 2025, the Treasury Hunt® tool is no longer available." No online name search has replaced it. Because Treasury Hunt is closed, owners and heirs claim lost bonds by form.

Treasury's Fiscal Data counts 19,751,346 matured Series E bonds still unredeemed, out of 4,599,418,701 Series E bonds issued, as of September 30, 2026. Across all series, 103,064,737 matured bonds are unredeemed. Fiscal Data's count is in pieces; this guide states no dollar total.

Four items help identify a missing E bond, and they are listed below.

• Serial numbers, from old lists, photocopies or bank records
• Issue dates, by month and year
• Owner and co-owner names as printed on the bond
• Social Security number, for bonds issued on or after January 1, 1974

Claims use FS Form 1048 (Rev. March 2026), signed before a notary or certifying officer and mailed to P.O. Box 9150 in Minneapolis. TreasuryDirect quotes eleven months or longer for lost bond searches (as of November 11, 2026).

Series E and the Other Types of US Savings Bonds

Series E is one of the paper savings bond series Treasury has issued since March 1935.

Series A to D, E, F, G, H, J, K, Savings Notes and, since August 2024, Series HH no longer earn interest; banks may not pay F, G, H, J, K or HH. Every series is compared in types of US savings bonds.

Savings Notes (Freedom Shares) Sold Alongside Series E

Savings Notes were issued from May 1, 1967, to October 31, 1970, at 81% of face. A buyer could get one only together with a Series E bond of the same or greater denomination (31 CFR 342.0).

They stopped earning after 30 years, from May 1997 to October 2000, and banks may cash these Freedom Shares like E bonds.

Series H and HH: Where Exchanged Series E Bonds Went

E bonds and Savings Notes could be exchanged for Series H under 31 CFR part 339 until H sales ended December 31, 1979, with a $500 minimum. E bonds could also go into Series HH until August 31, 2004, within one year after the E final-maturity month (31 CFR 352.7).

Every HH bond reached final maturity by August 1, 2024, and banks cannot cash Series HH savings bonds. The same Treasury-only rule applies to Series H savings bonds.

Series E Savings Bond FAQ

Can You Still Buy Series E Savings Bonds?

No. Over-the-counter sales ended December 31, 1979, and payroll sales ended June 30, 1980 (31 CFR 316.1). Buying other savings bonds is outside this guide.

Are Series E Bonds Still Redeemable?

Yes. Treasury pays an E bond "at any time after two months from issue date" (31 CFR 315.35(c)), and savings bonds never expire (Executive Order 13968, 85 FR 83745). An E bond earns nothing after final maturity.

How Much Is a $25 Series E Savings Bond Worth Today?

A $25 Series E bond is worth $90.59 to $234.11 in November 2026. May 1941 issues are the lowest; December 1964 and January 1965 issues are the highest. A $25 savings bond on paper cannot be EE or I.

How Much Is a $50 War Bond Worth Today?

A $50 war bond, meaning a Series E issued May 1941 to December 1945, is worth $181.18 to $234.56 in November 2026, by issue month. Values by year are in the tables for every $50 savings bond.

What Happens to a Savings Bond When It Matures?

At final maturity a savings bond stops earning interest and keeps its value until cashed. For Series E, final maturity came between May 1981 and June 2010.

Can You Cash a Series E Bond Bought From Someone Else?

No. Savings bonds are not transferable (31 CFR 315.15). TreasuryDirect warns: "Do not buy savings bonds from someone else or in an online auction site. You cannot cash them." Such sales are a pattern among savings bond scams.

Can Series E Bonds Be Converted to Electronic Bonds?

Yes. Paper E bonds of $25 or more can be converted through SmartExchange (31 CFR 363.161), one way only. You do not need to convert paper savings bonds to electronic to cash them, and TreasuryDirect quotes nine months or longer (as of November 11, 2026).

Can Anyone Search for Series E Bonds in My Name?

No online name search exists. Treasury Hunt closed on September 30, 2025, and lost bonds are claimed with FS Form 1048. The remaining routes are set out under savings bond lookup.

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