Have you ever received a savings bond as a gift? In my family, that was what you received as a gift for most birthdays and holidays. My parents always gave savings bonds even to their grandchildren. It was a big thing in my family.
The US Treasury began issuing saving bonds back in the 30’s. Now, many of those bonds have stopped earning interest. If you remember receiving these as a child, you should locate them and cash them in. You may have been too young to remember receiving a bond as a gift when you were a child, so check with your parents and family members to see if they remember.
If you have the physical bond(s), you can look up the current value with the serial number. If you are not sure, you can check if you have a bond by going to Treasury Hunt at http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/tools_treasuryhunt.htm. You will look up bonds by your social security number. Back in the day when I was younger, my savings bonds were purchased with the purchaser’s social security number, so you may need to know their social security number to check. You may need several family members to check their social security numbers to check for unclaimed bonds.
For more information, you can contact the US Treasury by calling 800-722-2678 or through the website www.trasurydirect.gov. Also, paper savings bonds will not be issued anymore (as of January 1, 2012).
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