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Terms for the Claim Help Service

By ClaimMyBonds Editorial TeamChecked November 12, 20268 min read

Last updated November 12, 2026

These terms apply when you send the ClaimMyBonds savings bond help request form and when we call or email you back about it.

Sending the form is free, asks for no payment and does not commit you to anything. The form covers 4 situations, from lost bonds to bonds a state holds, and asks for 5 details.

ClaimMyBonds is a private, independent company that writes about US savings bonds. It is not the government, Treasury, TreasuryDirect or a state. Claiming from Treasury and from state programs costs nothing, and the forms are free.

Our paid help covers the paperwork, tracing and follow-up, for a flat fee plus a success fee, both invoiced only after you have been paid; the amounts are on request. These terms belong to an independent guide to US savings bonds.

What These Terms Cover

These terms cover 2 things: the help request form and the callback that follows it.

Paid help with a case starts only if you later accept a separate written agreement that states both fees and what is included. That agreement governs the paid work, while these terms keep applying to the form and the callback. Reading the guides on this site needs no account and no acceptance of anything.

The Free Route: What Costs Nothing

You can do everything our help covers yourself: Treasury, the banks that cash savings bonds and state unclaimed-property programs charge nothing to redeem or claim them, and the forms are free. We explain that free route first in every callback.

The table lists the 4 situations on our form and the free route for each.

Situation Free route Who charges nothing Guide
My own savings bonds are lost, stolen or destroyed claim replacement or payment with FS Form 1048 (Rev. March 2026) Treasury lists no fees; the form is free FS Form 1048
A relative died and left savings bonds the heir route depends on how the bond is registered and the estate; an estate of $100,000 or less (redemption value at the date of death) with no administration can use FS Form 5336 (Rev. April 2026) (note 1) Treasury lists no fees; the forms are free savings bonds after death
I found paper savings bonds cash them at a bank that cashes savings bonds, or by mail with FS Form 1522 (Rev. April 2026) to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150 (note 2) Treasury lists no fees; a paying-agent bank may not charge for redeeming (31 CFR 321.23(c)) how to cash savings bonds
A state holds my bonds or wrote to me about them claim directly with the state's unclaimed-property program searching and claiming through the official state program costs nothing (NAUPA) unclaimed savings bonds

The free route for each situation on the ClaimMyBonds help request form (as of November 11, 2026). Sources: TreasuryDirect forms and contact page; 31 CFR 321.23(c); state unclaimed-property programs (NAUPA).

  1. FS Form 5336 fits only when no person named on the bond is living and no state small-estate procedure was used (31 CFR 353.71(e)).
  2. Banks may not pay Series F, G, H, HH, J or K bonds; those go to Treasury by mail (31 CFR 321.7(a), 321.9(b)).

Treasury Retail Securities Services, the Treasury office that handles paper bonds by mail, lists "no fees" on the TreasuryDirect contact page (as of November 11, 2026).

A bank that redeems bonds for Treasury "shall not make any charge whatever" for redeeming them (31 CFR 321.23(c)). Banks may still decline to cash paper bonds (FS Publication 0022, Rev. October 2022). A notary or postage can still cost you money.

What Happens After You Send the Help Request Form

Sending the form starts one thing only: we contact you by phone or email about your request. The 5 steps below show the whole process, from the form to your decision.

  1. Send the form: your situation, series and approximate issue years if known, state, contact details and consent.
  2. Get a call or email from us.
  3. Hear the free route for your situation first.
  4. Ask for our flat fee and success fee amounts if you want our help.
  5. Decide, with no deadline and no obligation.

You find the savings bond help request form on its own page. The help request form never asks for your Social Security number, bond serial numbers, scans or photos of bonds, ID documents or payment details.

Do not send them by email either. How we handle what you do send is set out in our Privacy Notice.

Our Fees: A Flat Fee Plus a Success Fee, Invoiced After You Are Paid

ClaimMyBonds charges a flat fee for the paperwork plus a success fee, invoices both only after you have been paid, and never takes payment on this website. The amounts are given on request, in the callback; there is no price list or fee calculator.

We send the invoice for both fees no earlier than the eighth business day after the money from Treasury, the bank or the state reaches you. If you are not paid, you owe us nothing. We take no card details, deposits or advance payments when you sign up.

No fee can come out of the bond itself. Treasury pays a savings bond only to the registered owner or another person entitled to payment (31 CFR 353.39(b); also 315.39(b) and 360.39(b)). Bonds are not transferable and cannot be pledged (31 CFR 353.15, 353.16), and we never ask you to sign one over.

No Treasury regulation sets, caps or approves a private helper's fee, so the price is a private agreement between you and us.

Before you agree to pay anything, we give you in writing the flat fee and the success fee in dollars or as a percentage, what the success fee is calculated on, the total cost, what it covers and an estimate of the net amount you keep.

You may cancel the agreement at any time before you are paid, at no charge. You can still choose the free route.

On a claim a state holds, we take paid work only where that state's rules on paid helpers allow it, and its fee cap applies to both fees together; claiming from the state directly costs nothing.

What ClaimMyBonds Is Not and Cannot Do

ClaimMyBonds is a private company with no special access to Treasury, TreasuryDirect or any state, so it can do only what you could do yourself, with more time on the paperwork.

No private party holds a Treasury list of bond owners. A state that receives owners' names and addresses may not release them to any third party without Treasury's advance written approval (31 CFR 323.11(c)(3), 89 FR 102735, December 18, 2024).

ClaimMyBonds does not do these 6 things.

  • Government status: not any agency, and never contacting you claiming to be one.
  • Treasury records: no search of Treasury's savings bond records.
  • TreasuryDirect access: none; TreasuryDirect says no third-party websites are Treasury-approved for account access.
  • Your signature: no signing or certifying of forms for you.
  • Your money: Treasury pays you, never us.
  • Advice: no legal or tax advice; ask the estate's attorney or a tax professional.

Treasury Hunt, Treasury's own search tool for missing bonds, has not been available since September 30, 2025. No private service replaces it: Treasury Hunt is closed, and owners now claim through Treasury forms and state programs.

Your Decisions and Your Part

You decide whether to use our help, which route to take and when to stop, and you can stop at any time without giving a reason.

You give accurate information, keep your bonds and documents, and send nothing original to us.

You sign Treasury's forms yourself. FS Form 1522 (Rev. April 2026), used to cash paper bonds by mail, needs a notary or certifying officer only when the total redemption value (what the bonds are worth today) is over $1,000.

A certifying officer, such as a bank officer, must establish your identity. That officer may not certify a request in which they have or will acquire an interest (31 CFR 353.56, 353.57).

No Guarantee of Outcome or Timing

ClaimMyBonds does not promise any result, amount or date, because Treasury and the states decide every claim.

Treasury's processing times, as of November 11, 2026, are 3 months or longer to cash paper bonds in your name, 5 months or longer for estates and other transactions not in your name, and 11 months or longer for lost-bond searches.

Some claims depend on rules no helper can change. A lost-bond claim filed 6 years or more after final maturity (when interest stops) needs the bond's serial number (31 CFR 353.29(c); 315.29(c) for older series).

An EE or HH bond unclaimed 10 years after its recorded redemption is presumed properly paid (353.29(b)). Savings bonds never expire and have no cashing deadline (EO 13968, 85 FR 83745), so you need not decide in a hurry.

The Guides on This Site Are General Information

The guides on ClaimMyBonds are general information compiled from primary sources such as TreasuryDirect, the eCFR and the Federal Register, not advice for your case.

Every value names its redemption month and comes from Treasury's published Fiscal Data Savings Bonds Value Files. Our savings bond calculator, built on those files, does not verify who owns a bond or whether it was already cashed. How we choose sources and correct errors is set out in our editorial policy: sources and corrections.

Privacy, Questions and Contact

Your personal data from the form is handled under the ClaimMyBonds Privacy Notice, which keeps each help request for 24 months. What the form collects and how to ask for deletion are in the Privacy Notice. Questions about these terms go to editorial@claimmybonds.com, the inbox you reach when you contact ClaimMyBonds.

Changes to These Terms

ClaimMyBonds updates these terms when the form, the callback or our fees change, and the "Last updated" date shows the latest change, now November 12, 2026. A change never applies to a written agreement you already accepted.

Two related pages explain who runs ClaimMyBonds and what its help covers. A third topic, paid recovery services and their fees, concerns helpers in general.