Do you have US Savings bonds lurking in a drawer or safe deposit box? Not sure what they are worth or what to do with them?
The US Department of Treasury has a website that will provide you with a wealth of information. The site is Treasury Direct,www.treasurydirect.gov. You can also purchase US Savings Bonds directly on the site.
If you own US Savings Bonds, You should review your savings bonds periodically to make sure that the bonds are still accruing interest. The Treasury Direct website has a chart which shows maturity dates of US Saving Bonds.
If you want to know how much your bonds are worth, you can use the “Savings Bond Calculator.” You will need the year the bond was purchased, the face value, and the bond number. It’s a bit tricky to find the calculator, so here’s the link – http://www.treasurydirect.gov/BC/SBCPrice.
Have you lost your US Savings Bonds? If so, you can do search known as a “Treasury Hunt.” Here’s the link – http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/tools_treasuryhunt.htm
Most all banks will cash US savings bonds for you right at the counter, although the Series I bonds need to be handled differently. Expect to get a 1099INT form because the interest on the bonds is generally taxable. In some circumstance at some income levels, the interest from US Savings Bonds can be tax-exempt if used to pay for college tuition.
As always, if you have any questions or need any additional information, please feel free to contact me, Liz Crystal. You can learn more about my company, the LC Group, a personal bookkeeping and daily money management firm, atwww.thelcgroup.net. We welcome your feedback, comments, and questions.