How to Cash Savings Bonds
To cash a savings bond, visit the US Treasury Department's website and use their bond value calculator to find out how much your bond is worth. Next, go to any bank that cashes savings bonds and follow their process to complete the transaction. Alternatively, you can open a TreasuryDirect account with the US Treasury Department and convert your paper bonds into electronic securities with the SMART Exchange program. The value of the bonds will be deposited directly into your bank account.
Find out the value of the bond. Visit the savings bond value calculator of the US Treasury Department at www.treasury.gov/BC/SBCPrice. Enter all of the requested information about your bond, and it will tell you how much the bond is worth today. You can enter multiple bonds and create an inventory of bonds. Enter today's date in the “Value as of” field. To find the value of the bond in past or future months, enter the desired date in this field instead of today's date. In the “Series” field, select the type of bond you have. Paper bonds are either E Bonds, EE Bonds, I Bonds or Savings Notes. This information can be found in the top right corner of the bond. Select the denomination in the “Denomination” field. This can be found in the top left corner of the bond. Enter the bond's serial number. It is located in the bottom right corner of the bond. Enter the issue date. This is located in the top right corner, under the Series. Click “Calculate” to learn the value of the bond as of today. To build an inventory of bonds, continue adding information for multiple bonds in the same fashion. The calculator will keep track of all your bonds, displaying the last one entered at the top of the list. Use your browser's built in saving function to save your inventory. Click “view/print/save list.” When the list appears, click “file/save as,” name your inventory and save it as an HTML file. Use the inventory to update your bond values quickly and easily. Go to any bank that accepts and cashes savings bonds. Contact the financial institution ahead of time to verify that they cash paper savings bonds. Also, find out if they have a limit on how much you can cash at one time. Finally, find out what identification they require you to produce. If you are already a customer, the bank may waive the identification requirements if you have been a customer for at least six months. If you go to a bank where you are not a customer, the bank may refuse to cash the bond if you do not have the proper identification, usually a driver's license. Also, they may limit the monetary amount you can cash to $1,000. Convert paper bonds to electronic securities. You can open a TreasuryDirect account with the US Treasury Department and convert your paper bonds into electronic securities with the SMART Exchange program. This gives you greater flexibility in managing your savings bonds. You can redeem your savings bond any time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The funds get deposited into a savings or checking account that you link to your TreasuryDirect account. Complete instructions on how to redeem an electronic bond are provided in the next section. Open a Treasury Direct Account at www.treasurydirect.gov/RS/UN-AccountCreate.do. Once your account is open, log in and go to the Manage My Linked Accounts Menu. Select "Manage Direct," then select "Establish a Conversion Linked Account" and then click “Create Account.” Enter the account information for the savings or checking account you want to link to your TreasuryDirect account. To enter the information about your paper bonds, go to the Manage My Conversions menu. Click on "Manage Direct," then select "How to Convert My Paper Bonds.” Follow the directions to enter the information about your paper bond. Pay your taxes. The income from your savings bond is subject to federal income tax. Ask for a form 1099-INT from the bank. This form is a statement of all of the interest you earned from the bond. You will need it when you file your federal income tax return. Some banks will provide this immediately, and others will mail you the form at the end of the year. You will need to pay taxes on any interest income you earn from the bonds. Create a TreasuryDirect account. If you don't already have an account, you will have to create a new one. Go to the website www.treasurydirect.gov. On the right hand side in the orange “Account Login” area, click on the “open an account” link. On the next page, select TreasuryDirect, which is the first option under Individual/Personal accounts. Follow the three steps to create your account. Select the kind of account you are opening (i.e. individual or entity). Provide your personal information, including you Social Security number, email address and your bank account and routing number. Create your security features. Choose your password and password reminder, choose your personalized image and caption and create your security questions. Login to your TreasuryDirect account. Go to the website www.treasurydirect.gov. On the right hand side, find the orange Account Login area. Select TreasuryDirect from the drop down menu and click on the orange Login button. You will be taken to the “Access Your Account” page. Enter your account number in the box. It will always be 10 characters and begin with a letter. Click “Submit.” You will be taken to a page where you must enter your one-time passcode. You will see the word “Attention” in big letters. Get your one-time passcode (OTP). This is the website's way of identifying you and your computer. It is not the same as the account password you created when you opened your TreasuryDirect account. The one-time passcode is sent to the email address you provided when you created your TreasuryDirect account. Go to your email account, open the email that was sent to you and find the OPT number. Enter it into the “enter your OTP box.” The OTP is case sensitive, and it only works for 24 hours. Click the box next to “Register Your Computer.” This allows the website to put cookies on your computer so it will be recognized the next time you log in to your account. This way you'll be able to skip the OTP step. Click on the blue “Submit” button. You will be taken to the page where you enter your account password. Use the virtual keyboard to enter the password you created when you opened the account. Click the blue “submit” button. If you haven't already chosen a personalized image and caption, you will be prompted to do so now. This is another security feature. Choose an image and enter a caption. Remember the caption because you will have to enter it every time you log in to the account from now on. You will now reach your Account Summary page. This is where you can buy and manage your U.S. securities online. Set up an account on TreasuryDirect.gov. If you don't already have one, you'll need an account there to redeem your bonds electronically. Fill in the required personal information, including your name, mailing address and Social Security number. Provide bank account information. You can designate a checking or savings account to accept the proceeds from cashing in your savings bond. Redeem your electronic savings bonds. Once you have logged into your account, you can select the securities you want to redeem. You can choose up to 50 securities to redeem in one transaction. The funds will be deposited directly into the checking or savings account you designated when you opened your TreasuryDirect account. It takes two business days for the funds to be transferred to your account. Click the ManageDirect tab at the top of the page. Find the heading “Manage My Securities” and click “Redeem Securities.” You will be taken to the Redemption page. Here, choose the button beside the security type you want to redeem and click "Submit". You will be taken to the Summary page that lists all of your securities. Select each security you want to redeem by clicking the box next to it. You can choose up to 50 per transaction. If you chose multiple securities to redeem, you will be taken to the Multiple Redemption Request page. The full amount must be redeemed to the same financial institution. If you chose only one security, you will be taken to the Redemption Request page. Here you can choose to redeem the full or a partial amount. If you are redeeming a partial amount, you must redeem at least $25 and leave at least $25 in the security. From the drop-down box, select the destination bank account for the funds and click “Submit.” You will be taken to the Redemption Review or Multiple Redemption Review page. If you need to change anything, click "Edit" and make the changes. Otherwise, click "Submit". Finally, you will see a Redemption Confirmation or Multiple Redemption Confirmation page. Your redemption request is completed and the funds should be deposited into the account you selected within 2 business days. Pay your taxes. Just as when you redeem a paper savings bond at the bank, if you redeem an electronic savings bond online, you must pay federal income tax on any interest you earned. You need form 1099-INT which reports all of the interest income you earned when cashing your savings bonds. When you redeem you securities electronically, you can find this form on the ManageDirect tab of the TreasuryDirect website. Click on the Form 1099-INT link to download it. Redeem a paper bond from outside of the United States if you are a U.S. citizen. If you are a citizen of the United States, go to a branch of a bank that is incorporated either in the United States, a U.S. territory or possession or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This bank may be able to redeem your bonds using the methods described above.  Contact the bank ahead of time to make sure they are willing to redeem paper bonds. Bring all of the appropriate identification documentation with you. You will need you Social Security number. In addition, have photo ID with you, such as your passport and your driver's license. If you are a U.S. citizen but you can't find a bank that is authorized or willing to cash the bond, follow the procedures outlined below for non-U.S. citizens. Redeem a paper bond from outside the United States if you are not a U.S. citizen. If you are a not a citizen or if you are a citizen but can't find a bank that is authorized or willing to redeem your bonds, you must follow different procedures. You will have to sign a request for payment of the bonds. Then you will fill out paperwork and mail your request to the Treasury Retail Securities Site. Sign the request for payment for your bonds in the presence of an appropriate official. That official must certify your signature. Appropriate officials are: a U.S. diplomatic or consular representative; an officer of a foreign branch of a bank that is incorporated in the U.S., a U.S. territory or possession, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; a notary or other official authorized to administer oaths. If you are a U.S. citizen, provide their Social Security number and include a statement over your signature that you are a U.S. citizen. Non-U.S. citizens must fill out and include IRS Form W-8BEN. Send the signed and certified bonds to the Treasury Retail Securities Site, P.O. Box 214, Minneapolis, MN 55480 Redeem a child’s bond. You can redeem a child's bond if the child is too young to sign the request for payment, the child lives with you, and you are either the child's parent or have been given legal custody of the child. If the child has an electronic bond, it will be in his or her name and linked to your TreasuryDirect account. You can log in to your account, go to your child's linked account and follow the directions there to redeem the bond. To redeem a paper bond, you must take the bond to a bank. Write the following on the back of the bond: “I certify that I am the parent of [child's name]. [Child's name] resides with me / I have been granted legal custody of [child's name]. [She / he] is ___ years old and is not of sufficient understanding to make this request.” Sign the request for payment with your name “on behalf of [child's name].” Cash a deceased person’s savings bond. If the person had electronic savings bonds, contact the Bureau of Fiscal Service directly. They will give you directions about what to do. To send them a message, use their online communication form at www.treasurydirect.gov/WF/WebFeedback?site=td01&subject=eeori. To cash a paper bond, you must follow specific steps to determine who owns the bond and who pays taxes and when. If a survivor is named on the bond, the survivor can take the paper bond to a financial institution to cash it. Appropriate documentation is necessary to verify identity. If no survivor is named on the bond and no court is involved, download and fill out FS Form 5336 from www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav5336.pdf. Sign the form in the presence of a certifying official, such as a notary public. Send the form paper bond, the signed and certified FS Form 5336 and a death certificate to Treasury Retail Securities Site, PO Box 214, Minneapolis, MN 55480-0214. If the deceased had savings bonds that total more than $100,000, then the court must be involved to settle the estate and distribute the funds. Consult your tax advisor to learn about the tax implications. 
Find out the value of the bond. Go to any bank that accepts and cashes savings bonds. Convert paper bonds to electronic securities. Pay your taxes. Create a TreasuryDirect account. Login to your TreasuryDirect account. Set up an account on TreasuryDirect.gov. Redeem your electronic savings bonds. Pay your taxes. Redeem a paper bond from outside of the United States if you are a U.S. Redeem a paper bond from outside the United States if you are not a U.S. Redeem a child’s bond. Cash a deceased person’s savings bond. 