On a paper Series EE savings bond, the serial number is printed in the lower right corner of the certificate, an alphanumeric code that identifies the denomination, the individual bond, and the series.1TreasuryDirect. Savings Bond Calculator – Detailed Instructions On an electronic bond, it lives inside your TreasuryDirect account. If the paper bond itself is missing, you don’t strictly need the serial number to file a claim: the Bureau of the Fiscal Service can search its records using your Social Security Number and other identifying details.
Reading the Number Off a Paper Certificate
Paper EE bonds were issued from 1980 through 2012. Turn the certificate face-up and look at the lower right corner. The code you see there is the serial number. Write it down and keep the record somewhere other than with the bond itself. If the paper is ever lost, stolen, or destroyed, having the serial number in a separate place makes the replacement claim dramatically faster.
One point of confusion worth clearing up: you do not need the serial number to check what the bond is worth. The Treasury’s Savings Bond Calculator asks only for the series, denomination, and issue date to return a current value.2TreasuryDirect. Paper Savings Bond Calculator The serial number is what you use to tell your bonds apart when you own several, and it’s what speeds up a replacement claim. It isn’t the key to the dollar figure.
Finding the Number in TreasuryDirect
Every new EE bond issued since 2012 is electronic-only.3TreasuryDirect. EE Bonds There is no certificate to pull out of a drawer. To see the serial number, log into TreasuryDirect and open Current Holdings. Click into an individual bond and the detail view lists the serial number alongside the issue date, current value, and interest rate.
Forgotten credentials aren’t a barrier to your bonds. The site has a recovery process that verifies your identity through your linked email and personal information, and the bonds themselves stay in your account whether or not you can log in today.
If the Bond Is Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed
Replacement claims go through FS Form 1048, “Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds.”4TreasuryDirect. Manage Bonds – Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Bonds It’s the same form whether or not you know the serial number.
The form asks for your Social Security Number, the names exactly as they appeared on the bond (including any co-owner or beneficiary), an approximate issue date, and the denomination. Rough estimates are enough to work with. If you bought a $100 bond at a bank sometime in the late 1990s, say so. A serial number, if you have it, speeds processing considerably, but the form works without one.
You must sign the completed form in front of a notary public or an authorized certifying officer.4TreasuryDirect. Manage Bonds – Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Bonds An officer at most banks and credit unions qualifies as a certifying officer under federal regulations, and they typically provide the service to account holders at no charge.5eCFR. 31 CFR 315.55 – Individuals Authorized to Certify A notary works too, though notary fees vary by state, generally $2 to $25 per signature.
Mail the signed form to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150.6TreasuryDirect. FS Form 1048 – Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds If the Bureau verifies your claim, the lost paper bond will be reissued as an electronic bond in a TreasuryDirect account. The Treasury no longer prints paper replacements.4TreasuryDirect. Manage Bonds – Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Bonds If you don’t already have an account, the Bureau will contact you with setup instructions.
Searching Without a Serial Number
The recovery path splits based on when the bond was issued.
Bonds Issued Before 1974
The Bureau provides a version of FS Form 1048 designed for claims without serial numbers. Fill out everything you do know, get the signature certified, and mail it in. The Bureau searches its records using your identifying information.4TreasuryDirect. Manage Bonds – Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Bonds
Bonds Issued 1974 or Later
This part changed recently. Until September 30, 2025, the Treasury’s Treasury Hunt tool let you look up bonds by Social Security Number. That tool is gone. Under Section 122 of the SECURE 2.0 Act, the Treasury has been transferring unclaimed bond data to state governments, and individual states’ unclaimed property programs now handle these searches.7TreasuryDirect. Treasury Hunt
Start at unclaimed.org, the resource maintained by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, and select your state. MissingMoney.com searches multiple state databases at once. You’ll generally need the bond owner’s full legal name and state of residence at the time of purchase. If the state locates the bond, it walks you through the claim.
If the bond hasn’t matured yet and hasn’t been transferred to a state program, you can still send FS Form 1048 to the Bureau directly. Provide every detail you have. The Bureau maintains records indexed by Social Security Number and can trace bonds that way. Expect the search to take longer without a serial number to anchor it.
Cost and Timing
The Bureau does not charge a fee to search for or replace a lost savings bond.6TreasuryDirect. FS Form 1048 – Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds The only out-of-pocket cost is signature certification, and that’s often free if your bank handles it as a customer courtesy.
Timing is another matter. Requests to search for lost or missing bonds take at least seven months to process.8TreasuryDirect. TreasuryDirect Home Claims that include the serial number move faster than those requiring a full records search, which is one more reason to record the number somewhere safe while you still have the paper in hand.
Check Whether the Bond Is Still Earning Interest
Before you commit to a months-long recovery, confirm the bond is still growing. Every Series EE bond reaches final maturity 30 years after its issue date and stops accruing interest at that point.9eCFR. 31 CFR Part 351 Subpart B – Maturities, Redemption Values, and Investment Yields of Series EE Savings Bonds A paper EE issued before May 1995 has already stopped. It’s not growing in a drawer, and delaying redemption doesn’t defer the tax bill in any useful way: federal income tax on the accumulated interest is owed in the year you cash it, whether that’s now or years from now.10TreasuryDirect. Changing Information About EE or I Savings Bonds (Reissuing) If the bond you’re hunting for has already matured, that doesn’t change the recovery process, but it does change how urgent the next step feels.