How to Redeem a Patriot Bond: Bank, Mail, or Electronic

To redeem a Patriot Bond, take the paper certificate and a government-issued photo ID to a bank or credit union where you have an account, mail the bond with FS Form 1522 to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, or — if you hold it electronically — sign in to TreasuryDirect and redeem it online. Patriot Bonds are Series EE savings bonds sold between December 2001 and December 2011 with a “Patriot Bond” inscription, and they follow the same redemption rules as any other Series EE bond.¹ Which path makes sense depends on whether your bond is paper or electronic, how much it’s worth, and whether your bank still cashes savings bonds.

Check the Bond’s Current Value First

Before you go anywhere, look up what the bond is actually worth. The Treasury’s free Savings Bond Calculator at TreasuryDirect.gov returns the current redemption value, interest rate, and next accrual date once you enter the series (EE), denomination, and issue date printed in the upper-right corner of the certificate.² Knowing the number in advance lets you confirm the teller pays the right amount and tells you whether your redemption will cross the $1,000 threshold that triggers extra paperwork for mail-in requests.

One date matters for timing: every Patriot Bond stops earning interest 30 years after its issue date.³ The earliest Patriot Bonds hit that cutoff in December 2031; the last ones sold keep earning through December 2041. After the 30-year mark there’s no financial reason to hold the bond, and you may owe tax on the accumulated interest whether you cash it or not.

What to Bring and What Not to Do

Whoever processes the redemption has to verify your identity, so bring a valid government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license or passport, along with your Social Security number.⁴

Do not sign the bond before you arrive. Paper bonds have a “Request for Payment” section on the back where you write your current address and sign, but the signature has to be witnessed by the teller or certifying officer.⁴ Signing at the kitchen table can invalidate the request.

If you’re mailing the bond instead of walking it into a bank, you also need FS Form 1522, the Special Form of Request for Payment.⁵ When the total value of the bonds you’re cashing exceeds $1,000, your signature on that form has to be certified by an authorized certifying officer at a bank or credit union, or by a notary public.⁶ A certifying officer stamps the form with the institution’s official seal; a plain address stamp does not count.

Cashing a Paper Bond at a Bank

A bank branch is usually the fastest option. Bring the unsigned bond and your ID, and the teller will verify the certificate, witness your signature, and pay you the current redemption value in cash or as a deposit.

A few things to check before you go:

Most banks only cash savings bonds for their own customers. If you don’t have an account there, call first and ask whether they’ll help.
Each bank sets its own per-visit limit, and some no longer cash savings bonds at all. Ask about the policy before you drive over.⁶
A paper bond has to be cashed for its full value. You can’t redeem part of one and hold onto the rest.⁶

Cashing a Paper Bond by Mail

If no local bank will process the bond, or you’d rather skip the trip, send it to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service directly:

Fill out FS Form 1522 with the bond serial numbers, your Social Security number, and your bank’s routing and account numbers so the Treasury can deposit the proceeds electronically.⁵
If the combined redemption value is over $1,000, have your signature certified by a bank officer or notary before mailing.⁶
Send the completed form and the unsigned bonds to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150, using a trackable method such as registered or certified mail.⁵

The Treasury estimates at least six weeks of processing time for mail-in redemptions before the funds land in your account.⁷

Redeeming an Electronic Patriot Bond

If you already hold electronic Patriot Bonds in TreasuryDirect, log in, go to ManageDirect, and select “Redeem securities” under Manage My Securities.⁶ Pick the bonds you want to cash, and the money moves to your linked bank account.

Electronic bonds allow partial redemptions. You can cash any amount of $25 or more, as long as at least $25 remains in the bond if you aren’t cashing it entirely.⁶ There’s no cap on the total value or number of bonds you can redeem in one session.

Taxes You Should Expect

Interest on Patriot Bonds is subject to federal income tax but exempt from state and local income taxes.⁸ Most owners defer reporting until they actually cash the bond or it reaches final maturity at 30 years. The Treasury sends a Form 1099-INT for the year you receive the interest; for electronic bonds, it’s available in your TreasuryDirect account by January 31 of the following year.

You can instead elect to report interest each year as it accrues, but if you switch to annual reporting you have to report all previously unreported interest in the first year of the change, and you won’t get a 1099-INT until the bond is finally cashed or matures.⁸

One timing trap: if a bond reaches its 30-year final maturity and you haven’t cashed it, the IRS treats the interest as received in that year anyway.⁸ If you’re holding a stack of Patriot Bonds that will all mature the same year, cashing them across multiple tax years before that point can spread the income and reduce the total bite.

If you use the proceeds for qualified higher education expenses for yourself, your spouse, or a dependent — including a contribution to a 529 plan — you may be able to exclude some or all of the interest from federal tax under 26 U.S.C. § 135. The bond must have been issued to someone who was at least 24 at the time of purchase, married couples must file jointly, and the exclusion phases out at higher incomes. For 2026, the phase-out begins at $101,800 of modified AGI for single filers and $152,650 for joint filers, and disappears at $116,800 and $182,650. If proceeds exceed qualifying expenses, only a proportional share of the interest is excludable.⁹

Worth noting: the three-month early-redemption interest penalty that normally applies to Series EE bonds cashed within five years no longer affects any Patriot Bond, because the last ones were issued in December 2011.¹⁰ Every Patriot Bond pays out its full accumulated interest whenever you cash it.

Cashing a Patriot Bond Registered to a Child

A parent can cash a bond registered in a child’s name at a bank if three conditions are met: the child is too young to understand the transaction, the person cashing it is the child’s parent, and the child either lives with that parent or the parent has legal custody.¹¹

On the back of the bond, the parent writes a certification that includes the child’s name, age, and Social Security number, a statement that the child lives with them or that they have custody, and a statement that the child is not old enough to request payment. The parent then signs on behalf of the child as a minor. Without that written statement the bank won’t process the transaction.

Redeeming a Bond After the Owner Has Died

If the bond names a living co-owner or beneficiary, that person can cash it the same way the original owner would, and the bond does not become part of the deceased owner’s estate.¹²

If no living person is named, the estate handles it. When the total value of the decedent’s Treasury securities is $100,000 or less as of the date of death and the estate isn’t going through formal probate, a close family member can act as a “voluntary representative.” The representative must be at least 18, and eligibility follows a priority order starting with the surviving spouse, then blood relatives, then legally adopted children, then next of kin.¹²

The voluntary representative fills out FS Form 5336, signing it in the presence of a certifying officer, gathers a certified copy of the death certificate for each deceased person named on the bonds, and mails everything, together with the unsigned bonds, to Treasury Retail Securities Services in Minneapolis. All bonds in the estate have to be submitted in a single transaction, and the representative can request cash, distribution to heirs, or a combination.¹² Estates above the $100,000 threshold, or ones going through probate, require court-appointed documentation instead.

If the Paper Bond Is Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed

A missing certificate doesn’t mean the money is gone. The Treasury will replace a lost, stolen, or destroyed bond with either an electronic bond in your TreasuryDirect account or a cash payment.¹³

File a claim on FS Form 1048. If you know the serial number, use the standard version. If you don’t, the Treasury Hunt tool at TreasuryDirect.gov can search using other identifying information and generate a version of the form with a reference number so the Bureau can process it without a serial number. Sign the completed form in front of a notary or certifying officer and mail it to the address on the form.¹³ If you find the original after the Treasury has already paid or replaced it, that certificate belongs to the government; mail it to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150.

1
TreasuryDirect. Timeline of U.S. Savings Bonds
2
TreasuryDirect. Paper Savings Bond Calculator
3
eCFR. 31 CFR Part 351 Subpart B – Maturities, Redemption Values, and Investment Yields of Series EE Savings Bonds
4
eCFR. 31 CFR Part 353 – Regulations Governing Definitive United States Savings Bonds, Series EE and HH
5
Department of the Treasury | Bureau of the Fiscal Service. FS Form 1522 – Special Form of Request for Payment of United States Savings and Retirement Securities
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TreasuryDirect. Cashing EE or I Savings Bonds
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TreasuryDirect. Contact Us
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TreasuryDirect. Tax Information for EE and I Bonds
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 135 – Income From United States Savings Bonds Used to Pay Higher Education Tuition and Fees
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U.S. Department of the Treasury. Treasury Department To Offer Patriot Bonds
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TreasuryDirect. Cashing Paper Bonds for a Young Child
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TreasuryDirect. Non-Administered Estates
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TreasuryDirect. Get Help for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Savings Bond