How to Cash In EE Savings Bonds at a Bank or Online

To cash in EE savings bonds, take paper certificates to a bank where you hold an account, or log in to TreasuryDirect to redeem electronic bonds directly to your linked checking account. If no local bank will handle your paper bonds, you can mail them to the Treasury with FS Form 1522. Before you do any of this, check two things: whether you have held the bond for at least 12 months (required), and whether you have held it for at least five years (or you lose the last three months of interest).¹

When You’re Allowed to Cash an EE Bond

You cannot redeem an EE bond during the first 12 months after its issue date. The only exception is a Treasury waiver when a disaster caused you to lose the bond.²

Cash a bond between year one and year five and you forfeit the last three months of interest.³ A bond with 18 months of accrued interest pays out 15 months’ worth. After year five, no penalty applies.

The 20-Year Doubling Point

EE bonds issued after May 2005 carry a Treasury guarantee that the bond will be worth at least double its purchase price at the 20-year mark, regardless of the stated fixed rate.⁴ If the fixed rate alone hasn’t produced that doubling, Treasury makes a one-time value adjustment at year 20. Cash the bond even a month before that date and you get only what the fixed rate has produced. For bonds close to 20 years old, waiting can matter.

The 30-Year Stop

EE bonds stop earning interest 30 years after issue.⁵ There is no reason to keep one past that point. You’ll owe federal income tax on the accumulated interest whether you cash it or not, and the value has stopped growing.

Look Up the Current Value First

For paper bonds, the free Savings Bond Calculator on TreasuryDirect will tell you the current value and total interest earned once you enter the series, denomination, and issue date.⁶ For electronic bonds, log in to your TreasuryDirect account and the current holdings page shows the value of each one.

Cashing Paper Bonds at a Bank

A local bank or credit union is usually the easiest route for paper bonds. Call ahead. Many banks only cash bonds for existing customers, and some require that the account be at least a year old. If the bonds you want to cash total more than $1,000 and you aren’t an established customer, the bank may refuse and send you to the mail-in process.⁷

Bring current government-issued photo ID (driver’s license or passport) and the bond certificates. Do not sign the back of the bond in advance. You sign at the counter in front of the bank employee, who witnesses the signature.⁸ The teller verifies your ID, processes the redemption, and either deposits the proceeds or pays you in cash.

If two people are listed as co-owners on a bond, either can cash it alone. No signature or permission from the other owner is needed.¹

Cashing Electronic Bonds Through TreasuryDirect

Electronic bonds are redeemed inside your TreasuryDirect account. You’ll need a Social Security number, a U.S. address, and a linked checking or savings account to receive the payment.⁹ Go to your current holdings, choose the bond, confirm the transaction, and the funds move to your linked bank.

Electronic bonds allow partial redemption. You can cash as little as $25 from a single bond, provided at least $25 in value stays in the bond.¹ The remainder keeps earning interest.

Mailing Paper Bonds to the Treasury

If no bank will cash your bonds, you send them directly to the Treasury. Three steps:

Complete FS Form 1522. Enter the serial number, issue date, and registered name for each bond, plus the routing and account numbers for the bank account that should receive the payment.¹⁰
Get your signature certified if the total redemption value is more than $1,000. A notary public or a bank or credit union officer can do this. Judges, U.S. court clerks, U.S. Armed Forces commissioned or warrant officers (for military members and their families), and U.S. diplomatic or consular officials abroad also qualify. Notary fees typically run $5 to $15.¹¹¹
Mail the completed form and the original bonds to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150. Use registered or certified mail. These certificates cannot be replaced casually if lost in transit.¹⁰

After Treasury receives and verifies your package, the payment lands in the bank account you listed.

If the Bonds Are Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed

You can still get paid on a missing or damaged paper bond. Treasury will either replace it with an electronic bond in a TreasuryDirect account or redeem it. The starting point is FS Form 1048.² If you don’t know the serial numbers and the bond was issued in 1974 or later, the Treasury Hunt tool on TreasuryDirect can locate it. A separate version of Form 1048 exists for pre-1974 bonds without serial numbers. If the original later turns up after replacement, you must return it to the Minneapolis address.

Cashing a Bond After the Owner Dies

Who redeems the bond depends on how it was registered and whether the estate is going through probate.

A surviving co-owner or a named beneficiary redeems the bond under the standard process, adding a certified copy of the death certificate to the paperwork at the bank or in the mail-in package.

Non-Administered Estates

If no person named on the bond is still living, the estate wasn’t formally administered by a court, and the total value of the decedent’s savings bonds and Treasury securities was $100,000 or less as of the date of death, the estate qualifies as non-administered for savings bond purposes.¹² A “voluntary representative” (typically the surviving spouse, blood relative, or next of kin who is at least 18) can cash the bonds by filing FS Form 5336 with a certified death certificate for each person named on the bonds and the unsigned bonds themselves, mailed to Treasury Retail Securities Services.

Administered Estates

If a court is handling the estate, the executor or administrator redeems the bonds by attaching proof of court appointment dated within one year of submission. If the estate has already been settled, the person entitled to the bonds submits a certified copy of the court-approved final accounting or decree of distribution.

Taxes on the Interest

EE bond interest is subject to federal income tax but exempt from state and local income tax.¹³ What you originally paid for the bond isn’t taxed, only the interest.

When a bank cashes your bond, it sends you a Form 1099-INT either shortly after redemption or by January 31 of the following year. If you redeem through TreasuryDirect, the 1099-INT appears in your online account by January 31. The form reports total interest earned over the bond’s entire life, not just the current year, since most owners defer reporting until redemption. It appears in Box 3, the line for U.S. Savings Bond and Treasury interest.¹⁴

You can elect to report interest each year as it accrues instead of waiting until redemption. The election applies to all your savings bonds and any you buy later, and switching from deferred to annual reporting means including all previously unreported interest in that year’s income.

When the owner dies, the accumulated interest that was never reported must eventually be reported for federal income tax. The executor can include it on the decedent’s final return or leave it for whoever inherits or cashes the bond. EE bond interest is also subject to federal estate tax and state inheritance tax.¹³

Using the Proceeds for College

You may be able to exclude the interest from federal tax entirely if you use the redemption proceeds for qualified higher education expenses in the same year you cash the bonds.¹⁵ The rules are strict: the bond must have been issued after December 31, 1989; you must have been at least 24 before the issue date; the bond must be registered in the parent’s name, not the child’s;¹⁶ and qualified expenses are limited to tuition, required fees, 529 plan contributions, and Coverdell ESA contributions. Room and board don’t qualify.¹⁷ The exclusion phases out at higher income levels; for tax year 2026 it disappears entirely at modified adjusted gross income of $182,650 for joint filers and $116,800 for others.¹⁸ Claim the exclusion by filing IRS Form 8815 with your return.

1
TreasuryDirect. Cashing EE or I Savings Bonds
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TreasuryDirect. Get Help for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Savings Bond
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eCFR. Subpart B – Maturities, Redemption Values, and Investment Yields of Series EE Savings Bonds
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TreasuryDirect. About U.S. Savings Bonds
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eCFR. 31 CFR 351.5 – What Is the Maturity Period of a Series EE Savings Bond
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TreasuryDirect. Savings Bond Calculator – Detailed Instructions
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TreasuryDirect. The Guide to Cashing Savings Bonds – FS Publication 0022
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Federal Reserve Financial Services. Savings Bond Redemptions Frequently Asked Questions
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TreasuryDirect. Open an Account
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Department of the Treasury. Special Form of Request for Payment of United States Savings and Retirement Securities – FS Form 1522
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TreasuryDirect. Forms Signature Certification
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TreasuryDirect. Non-Administered Estates
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TreasuryDirect. Tax Information for EE and I Bonds
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 1099-INT
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 135 – Income From United States Savings Bonds Used to Pay Higher Education Tuition and Fees
16
TreasuryDirect. Using Bonds for Higher Education
17
Internal Revenue Service. Exclusion of Interest From Series EE and I U.S. Savings Bonds Issued After 1989 – Form 8815
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Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Adjusted Items