South Carolina unclaimed savings bonds are claimed free in 2 ways: from the State Treasurer when the state holds the paper bond, or from Treasury with FS Form 1048 when it does not.
S.C. Code 27-18-75 and 27-18-76 (2015 Act No. 81, effective June 11, 2015) set the state's escheat rules, and escheat means a state takes ownership of unclaimed property.
The federal suit Loftis v. United States ended on November 30, 2020. The Treasurer's own "Search for Uncashed Savings Bonds" link leads to Treasury Hunt, which closed in 2025. We checked every South Carolina fact below on November 11, 2026.
ClaimMyBonds is a private, independent guide, not the State Treasurer, Treasury, TreasuryDirect or Treasury Hunt, and we cannot search their records for you. Both routes below are free. Our hub on savings bonds and state unclaimed property offices shows how other states compare.
Does South Carolina Hold Unclaimed Savings Bonds?
South Carolina can hold paper savings bonds, mainly bonds banks turn over from abandoned safe deposit boxes, but it runs no separate savings bond search. A bond the state holds appears only in the State Treasurer's general unclaimed property search, under the owner's name.
The program works under the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (1981), S.C. Code Title 27, Chapter 18, and the State Treasurer is the administrator. The table below sums up the South Carolina picture (as of November 11, 2026).
| Attribute | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Program | Office of the State Treasurer, Unclaimed Property Program (treasurer.sc.gov) | State Treasurer |
| General statute | Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (1981), S.C. Code Title 27, Ch. 18; administrator: the State Treasurer | scstatehouse.gov |
| Savings bond search | None separate; the "Search for Uncashed Savings Bonds" link leads to the closed Treasury Hunt | State Treasurer; TreasuryDirect |
| Safe deposit box bonds | Reported and remitted even if the state declines the rest of the box (27-18-75(A)) | scstatehouse.gov |
| Claim rule | Form prescribed by the Treasurer and verified by the claimant; considered within 90 days (27-18-250) | scstatehouse.gov |
| Cost | Free | Owner rule |
| Savings bond statutes | 27-18-75, 27-18-76; 2015 Act No. 81, effective June 11, 2015; listed among 2015 enactments (80 FR 80259) | scstatehouse.gov; Federal Register |
| Presumption | Five years after final maturity | 27-18-75(A) |
| Court named in the statute | Court of common pleas, Richland County | 27-18-75(C) |
| Federal case | Loftis v. United States, No. 16-451C, dismissed November 30, 2020 | Court of Federal Claims |
| Amicus briefs | Estes (2016) and LaTurner (2019), for the states | Court records |
| Agreement with Treasury for bond records | None publicly known | No state or Treasury source (checked November 11, 2026) |
A state returns, or is paid for, only a paper bond it holds. Missouri runs the only verified live state bond name search, so never assume South Carolina lists bonds. No national name search exists for unclaimed savings bonds either.
Safe Deposit Box Bonds: Reported and Remitted Under S.C. Code 27-18-75
S.C. Code 27-18-75(A) requires a holder to "report and remit the savings bond to the administrator whether or not the administrator chooses to accept the other contents of the safe deposit box".
A bank holding an abandoned box must therefore send any savings bond to the State Treasurer, even when the state leaves the rest of the box alone.
The bond keeps its printed registration, meaning the owner, co-owner or POD (payable on death) beneficiary named on it, so a claim follows those names. Only a name search shows whether the state holds a given bond.
How to Search South Carolina Unclaimed Property for a Savings Bond
Search South Carolina unclaimed property for a savings bond by entering the owner's name in the State Treasurer's search, opened from treasurer.sc.gov, and claim any bond listed for free. The 4 steps are below. A "Mini Bonds Redemption" page on the Treasurer's site concerns state-issued mini-bonds, not US savings bonds.
- Open the program page yourself, never through a letter, text, ad or look-alike "official records" site.
- Search the name exactly as printed on the bond, plus former and married names; how to read a paper savings bond shows where the name sits.
- Repeat the search for each co-owner or POD beneficiary named on the bond, and for a deceased owner.
- File a claim for each match and keep a copy.
How to Claim a Savings Bond From the South Carolina State Treasurer
A South Carolina claim is filed with the State Treasurer "on a form prescribed by him and verified by the claimant", and the Treasurer considers it within 90 days (S.C. Code 27-18-250). Verified means the claimant confirms the facts on the form under oath or affirmation, as the form directs.
The claim costs nothing. Palmetto Payback is the Treasurer's automatic-payment initiative for qualified property, not the name of the program, and we found nothing saying it covers savings bonds. Ask the Treasurer's office before you send any original bond. The contact details are below.
South Carolina Office of the State Treasurer, Unclaimed Property Program
Program page: treasurer.sc.gov/what-we-do/for-citizens/unclaimed-property-program/
1200 Senate Street, Suite 214, Wade Hampton Building, Columbia, SC 29201
Unclaimed Property phone: (803) 734-2683 (NAUPA South Carolina page)
Treasurer's office phone: 803.734.2101 (treasurer.sc.gov)
Source: South Carolina State Treasurer and the NAUPA South Carolina page, checked November 12, 2026. ClaimMyBonds is not affiliated with the State Treasurer.
Cashing a Savings Bond South Carolina Returns to You
Cash a paper savings bond South Carolina returns like any other paper bond: at a bank that offers the service, or by mail to Treasury with FS Form 1522 (Rev. April 2026). Our guide on how to cash savings bonds covers both routes.
Banks may cash paper bonds but are not required to (FS Publication 0022, Rev. October 2022), and Series HH bonds go to Treasury only. FS Form 1522 needs a certified signature, from a notary or certifying officer, only when the bonds' total current redemption value is more than $1,000.
If the Treasurer has already redeemed an escheated bond, you can claim the proceeds, and the Treasurer may approve the claim on sufficient proof (27-18-76). South Carolina does not set the value. Series and issue date do, and our calculator, built on Treasury's published value files, prices them.
If South Carolina Does Not Hold Your Savings Bond: Claim From Treasury With FS Form 1048
Claim a bond South Carolina does not hold from Treasury with FS Form 1048 (Rev. March 2026): Treasury searches its own records for lost, stolen or destroyed paper bonds, and the form is free.
Mail the form to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150. A claim filed 6 years or more after final maturity, the date a bond stops earning interest, needs the bond's serial number, the number printed on the bond (31 CFR 315.29(c), 353.29(c)). That covers every lost Series E bond.
Owners and heirs both use the form, and the FS Form 1048 claim for lost savings bonds guide walks through each item.
Why the Treasurer's "Search for Uncashed Savings Bonds" Link Finds Nothing
The "Search for Uncashed Savings Bonds" link on the State Treasurer's program page points to Treasury's Treasury Hunt page, which says: "As of September 30, 2025, the Treasury Hunt® tool is no longer available." No online search replaced it, and Treasury published no reason for the closure. We saw the link on November 11, 2026.
No state searches Treasury's savings bond records for you. 31 CFR 323.11 gives a state only owner names and addresses, under a signed agreement, to locate owners, and no state is publicly known to have signed one.
S.C. Code 27-18-75: South Carolina's Savings Bond Escheat Law
S.C. Code 27-18-75 presumes a US savings bond abandoned "five years after the bond reaches final maturity and no longer earns interest" when the State Treasurer holds it or it is registered to a person with a last known South Carolina address, "including a bond that is lost, stolen, or destroyed".
The statute defines a definitive bond as one in paper form, and final maturity as "the date a United States savings bond ceases to earn interest".
It applies to bonds reaching maturity "on, before, or after" its effective date, so it reaches old bonds. Act No. 81 (H.3852) took effect on June 11, 2015, and Treasury lists South Carolina among 8 states with 2015 savings bond escheat statutes (80 FR 80259). The table below gives the steps.
| Step | What the statute says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A bond in the administrator's possession or registered to a person with a last known address in South Carolina, "including a bond that is lost, stolen, or destroyed", is presumed abandoned "five years after the bond reaches final maturity and no longer earns interest" | S.C. Code 27-18-75(A) |
| 2 | A safe deposit box bond is reported and remitted whether or not the administrator accepts the rest of the box | 27-18-75(A) |
| 3 | The administrator "may commence a civil action in the court of common pleas in Richland County"; notice runs once a week for three consecutive weeks in a Richland County newspaper | 27-18-75(C) |
| 4 | On escheat, "all property rights to the bond or proceeds from the bond, including all rights, powers, and privileges or survivorship of an owner, co-owner, or beneficiary, shall vest solely in the State" | 27-18-75(C)(1) |
| 5 | Owner or heir claims the bond or proceeds from the administrator; no court costs charged to the claimant | 27-18-76 |
| 6 | Federal limit: Treasury pays a state only for a paper bond at final maturity in its possession, title by judgment, at its discretion; title to absent bonds is preempted | 31 CFR 315.88, 353.88; LaTurner (2019) |
South Carolina's savings bond escheat law, S.C. Code 27-18-75 and 27-18-76 (2015 Act No. 81, effective June 11, 2015), with the federal limit, as of November 11, 2026.
We read the statute on the legislature's site, scstatehouse.gov. We found no Richland County judgment, case number or count of bonds, so this page states none.
Which Savings Bonds Are Past South Carolina's Five-Year Point
Every Series E bond and every paper Series EE bond issued January 1980 to November 1991 has reached South Carolina's five-year point as of November 2026. Series E bonds stopped earning interest by June 2010.
Series EE bonds reach final maturity 30 years after issue, so their point falls 35 years after the issue month, and December 1991 and later issues have not reached it yet.
The point changes nothing for a bond the state does not hold (see the federal limit below). The table below counts 143 EE issue months.
| Bonds | Final maturity | Five years after final maturity | Point reached by November 2026? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series E savings bonds, all issues (1941 to 1980) | by June 2010 | by June 2015 | Yes |
| Paper Series EE issued January 1980 to November 1991 | January 2010 to November 2021 | January 2015 to November 2026 | Yes |
| Paper Series EE issued December 1991 and later | December 2021 or later | December 2026 or later | Not yet |
Final maturity: 31 CFR 316.8(b) (Series E) and 31 CFR 351.5 (Series EE, 30 years); issue months from Fiscal Data, Savings Bonds Value Files (November 2026). The five-year point is arithmetic on S.C. Code 27-18-75(A), not a state record of any bond.
S.C. Code 27-18-76: Claiming a Bond South Carolina Has Escheated
S.C. Code 27-18-76 lets a person claim a savings bond South Carolina has escheated, or its proceeds, from the State Treasurer, and "No costs of prior court action ... may be taxed against that person."
The claim runs through the same Unclaimed Property Program and the same verified form (27-18-250). Ask a South Carolina attorney about a disputed claim.
Loftis v. United States: What Federal Courts Allow South Carolina to Do
Federal law lets South Carolina be paid only for a paper savings bond it physically holds. Treasury may, at its discretion, pay a state for a bond at final maturity in its possession whose title the state holds by court judgment (31 CFR 315.88, 353.88; 80 FR 80258, December 24, 2015).
LaTurner v. United States, 933 F.3d 1354 (Fed. Cir. August 13, 2019), held that federal law preempts, meaning overrides, state escheat of bonds the state does not hold, and that the serial numbers are required to redeem them.
South Carolina joined the amicus briefs, filed as a friend of the court, for the states in LaTurner and in Estes (D.D.C. 2016).
In Loftis v. United States, Court of Federal Claims No. 16-451C, South Carolina alleged title to "absent bonds", bonds it did not hold, through state escheat proceedings. Judge Elaine D. Kaplan dismissed the claim with prejudice on November 30, 2020, in one Opinion and Order covering 10 state suits, in accordance with LaTurner.
South Carolina Savings Bonds After the Owner Dies: Federal Rules Decide Who Owns Them
Federal savings bond rules decide who owns a bond after the owner dies: a surviving co-owner or POD beneficiary becomes the sole owner, and the bond is not part of the estate (31 CFR 353.70(b)(1), (c)(1)).
A will or state court order cannot defeat that result (31 CFR 353.20(a); Free v. Bland, 369 U.S. 663 (1962)). The savings bond co-owner rules apply the same way in South Carolina as elsewhere.
Section 27-18-75(C)(1) vests "all rights, powers, and privileges or survivorship of an owner, co-owner, or beneficiary" in the State on escheat. Under LaTurner and 31 CFR 315.88, Treasury recognizes a state's title only for a paper bond the state holds.
Heirs search the deceased owner's name in the Treasurer's program. A court must administer the estate if the decedent's savings bonds total more than $100,000 in redemption value at the date of death (31 CFR 353.71).
FS Form 5336 serves estates that are not administered, and FS Form 5394 (Rev. May 2026) serves closed estates and state small-estate procedures. We state no South Carolina small-estate rule here. Ask the estate's attorney about individual decisions.
Paid Helpers and Third Parties in South Carolina Claims
Treasury pays a savings bond only to its owner or the person entitled (31 CFR 353.39(b)), so a paid helper in a South Carolina claim works through the owner or heir, never in their place. We state no South Carolina fee cap; our guide to savings bond recovery services explains Treasury's side.
Other States With the Same Kind of Savings Bond Escheat Law
South Carolina is one of 8 states Treasury lists as enacting a savings bond escheat statute in 2015, and 6 sibling pages cover similar laws. Florida, Georgia, Arkansas and Ohio are 2015 enactments; South Dakota and West Virginia use a similar court-judgment escheat model.
- Georgia unclaimed savings bonds
- Florida unclaimed savings bonds
- Arkansas unclaimed savings bonds
- Ohio unclaimed savings bonds
- South Dakota unclaimed savings bonds
- West Virginia unclaimed savings bonds
More Guides for South Carolina Bond Owners and Heirs
6 related guides cover situations the South Carolina search does not.
- Savings bond lookup
- Savings bonds of a deceased parent or relative
- Found old savings bonds
- POD savings bonds
- Savings bonds in probate
- Help after a state contacts you about savings bonds
South Carolina Unclaimed Savings Bonds FAQ
Can I search for my savings bonds by name in South Carolina?
Search by name in South Carolina's program only for paper bonds the state holds; no public site searches Treasury's savings bond records by name. Missouri runs the only verified live state bond search (November 11, 2026). Why: Treasury Hunt is closed.
How long before South Carolina treats a savings bond as abandoned?
South Carolina presumes a savings bond abandoned five years after it reaches final maturity and stops earning interest (S.C. Code 27-18-75(A)). This answer covers savings bonds only; other unclaimed property follows different rules.
Does South Carolina own my savings bonds?
No, not unless South Carolina holds the paper bond: LaTurner (2019) bars a state from taking title to bonds it does not possess, and Loftis was dismissed in 2020.
Can South Carolina get savings bond records from Treasury?
No state, South Carolina included, is publicly known to have signed the information-sharing agreement that 31 CFR 323.11(b) requires before Treasury shares owner names and addresses (as of November 11, 2026). A state may use them only to locate owners (89 FR 102735, December 18, 2024). See what states can receive from Treasury.
Where can I cash a savings bond in South Carolina?
Cash a paper savings bond at a South Carolina bank that offers the service or by mail with FS Form 1522. The State Treasurer's program pays claims for property it holds. Banks may cash paper bonds but are not required to, and Series HH goes to Treasury only. See the banks that cash savings bonds.
Do savings bonds expire while South Carolina holds them?
No: savings bonds never expire and no deadline applies to cashing them (Executive Order 13968, 85 FR 83745); they stop earning interest at final maturity. See when savings bonds mature for each series.
Compiled from named primary sources; how we check every statute and docket.