Every day, someone is griping about the high cost of something. Every day, many people have absolutely no idea how they'll cover the next $400 emergency. And yet, a pile of cash for savings bonds just sits in Washington basically missing in action.
It's unconscionable, especially during what's become a budget-busted economy for many, that far more isn't being accomplished to connect those who need extra cash to some $39 billion in matured, unredeemed U.S. Savings Bonds.
Michigan savers alone are owed roughly $773 million in lost or unredeemed savings bonds, based on a 2022 estimate reported by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.
It's ridiculous that long-term savers and their heirs find it so burdensome to get money that Grandma
or Grandpa set aside for them decades ago.
It takes 30 years for a savings bond to reach full maturity and stop earning more interest.
Right now, it can take 11 months or longer for processing requests to locate lost, stolen, or missing savings bonds, according to information provided to the Detroit Free Press by a spokesperson for the Bureau of Fiscal Service.
No one expects a one-day turnaround, given that the government must guarantee that fraudsters don't claim billions of dollars that are tied up in unredeemed savings bonds.
But waiting 11 months or more for processing a claim?
We're not just talking about a few savings bonds here or there for birthday gifts.
In some cases, individuals who worked in the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s dedicated part of their paychecks to buy paper savings bonds through payroll deduction. Maybe now, some cannot find those bonds or they forgot about them.
It's cash that they could spend, if they had it on hand.
Putting states in the hot seat
For months, savers have experienced a runaround.
In my column published online Thursday July 23, Itook Treasury to task for providing dubious directions for finding your lost savings bonds online.
If you searched for Treasury Hunt then, you were shocked to discover that the Bureau of Fiscal Services stated online that "inquiries about unclaimed Treasury securities are now handled through individual states’ unclaimed property programs."
But no states currently have data sharing with the Department of Treasury Bureau of Fiscal Service in place that are publicly posting mature, unredeemed savings bonds on their unclaimed property sites.
The Michigan Department of Treasury's Unclaimed Property site, for example, states online that the "U.S. Department of the Treasury recently retired its Treasury Hunt tool and is directing people to their resident state’s unclaimed property office to locate and claim unredeemed savings bonds."
"This guidance is incorrect," the Michigan Unclaimed Property site notes.
"Michigan Unclaimed Property does not have access to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s database of unredeemed savings bonds or the funds associated with them."
It has been a difficult journey in the past few years when it comes to establishing a safe, reliable system for providing information about U.S. Savings Bonds to state officials who manage unclaimed property sites.
Shaun Snyder, CEO of the National Association of State Treasurers in Washington, DC, told the Detroit Free Press earlier that his group's members continue working with the U.S. Treasury Department to establish the data sharing protocol that will allow states to put the savings bond information on their searchable websites.
Yet, I've spotted a lot of squabbling — and sadly, some misdirection plays online.
I'm thankful to report that since my column ran online July 23, the Bureau of Fiscal Service is no longer giving savers the runaround by misdirecting them to unclaimed property sites. You won't see the same incorrect guidance any longer.
If you believe you have lost bonds, you must fill out a detailed form called a "Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds" or FS Form 1048. You'd mail that form to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150.
Individuals seeking help with completing Form 1048 may reach out to Treasury Retail Securities Services at 844-284-2676.
A $39 billion treasure hunt
Savings bonds — with the exception of the I Bond sizzle in 2022 after a spike in inflation — typically are seen as sensible, not sexy. Kids wanted Pokémon cards, not paper bonds with President John Adams on the front.
More buzz has been building, though, to find a home for some of those lost savings bonds.
On July 9, Treasury officials and others from 24 states sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to issue an Executive Order to help "reunite Americans and their heirs with matured, unredeemed United States Savings Bonds."
The letter was signed by a coalition of state officials from mostly Republican strongholds and a few states led by Democratic governors. It takes aim at the Biden administration for adding what these officials claim are regulatory barriers to "federal-state cooperation, particularly those governing state escheatment."
The letter talks of a "bureaucratic catch-22 that prevents states from exercising the very authority Congress intended them to use to reunite Americans with their property."
Michigan officials did not sign the letter; Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague did, as did Indiana Treasurer Dan Elliott and Indiana Comptroller Elise Nieshalla and Wisconsin Treasurer John Leiber.
The letter credits Treasury for undertaking "substantial digitization efforts, modernized records, expanded owner-search tools, and improved outreach."
The letter highlights that Trump signed an executive order promoting the redemption of savings bonds in December 2020, when he was then nearing the end of his first term as president.
"By law, savings bonds never expire, and there is no deadline for owners to redeem them," the 2020 executive order indicated.
The executive order issued nearly six years ago estimated that more than 75 million matured savings bonds remained unredeemed, including some issued as far back as 1935, when the savings bond program began. The 2020 executive order put the total value of these unredeemed savings bonds at about $27 billion.
In 2026, we've seen that estimate jump by nearly 45% to $39 billion in unredeemed savings bonds.
The $39 billion estimate is the number quoted in the July 9 letter sent to the president by state treasurers, comptrollers, auditors, and other financial officers representing the various states.
The $39 billion figure reflects an estimate that had been posted earlier on the U.S. Treasury Direct website. The tally, which I saw on Friday July 24, was off to the side of the screen as part of an older effort online called Treasury Hunt. For years, Treasury Hunt helped savers research whether they had lost or unredeemed bonds in the system.
What happened to the popular Treasury Hunt tool?
Nearly a year ago, the Treasury quietly retired Treasury Hunt and the tool stopped being available on Sept. 30, 2025.
Oddly enough, I imagined I struck gold a few weeks ago on July 24 when I tried to track the source of that $39 billion figure listed in the letter sent by officials from various states.
I used a link provided in a footnote in the July 9 letter that provided a reference for the $39 billion estimate. When I used that Treasury link on July 24, I spotted online that the Treasury Hunt Search tool at TreasuryDirect.gov was suddenly working again.
Really? How could that be?
I tested it out and asked friends to do the same. The URL that ended with a "dot-gov" worked. Was TreasuryHunt suddenly put back online?
Sadly, no. I had high hopes of seeing the tool in use again, but a spokesperson for the Bureau of Fiscal Service later indicated that currently no plans exist to restart the Treasury Hunt tool on TreasuryDirect.gov.
One guess is that this odd link — which was not connected to the "public-facing pages" — might have been an old stray link that no one had taken down. Yet, I was not given any specific explanation for it.
After my inquiry on Friday, July 24, Treasury later changed information on that link entirely. And as of Monday, July 27, anyone who went to that specific link no longer saw how Treasury Hunt worked. Instead, the site gave the following information:
"As of September 30, 2025, the Treasury Hunt tool is no longer available. If you suspect you have an unredeemed lost, stolen, or destroyed United States Savings Bond, please visit https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/forms/for guidance on how to submit a claim.”
TreasuryDirect also, thankfully, ditched comments that appeared elsewhere on the site about directing lost savers to state unclaimed property sites — which currently do not offer help tracking down unredeemed bonds.
Many, like Michigan's unclaimed property program, can connect you with lost savings bonds in some cases if the bonds were in a safe deposit box along with other contents that become abandoned and those contents get reported to the unclaimed property program by financial institutions.
If you search for Treasury Hunt now, you'll also be provided with a link to Trump's 2020 executive order relating to savings bonds and another link to a 2024 report to Congress made by the Bureau of Fiscal Service, as required under the Secure 2.0 Act of 2022. Both sites offer some insights into the challenges ahead.
I'll provide another link to my column that ran in July about the savings bond squabble on Freep.com. Search freep.com/business/Susan-Tompor for a list of my most recent columns, including one on savings bonds and another on a brand new savings option for children called Trump Accounts.
Interestingly enough, Trump once appeared to support the Treasury Hunt tool. In his 2020 executive order, for example, he noted that the department in "2019 released an online tool known as 'Treasury Hunt' to help individuals determine if they are the owners of matured unredeemed savings bonds. This order is the next step in ensuring that owners of matured savings bonds have a full opportunity to redeem their bonds."
The initial version of the Treasury Hunt online tool actually first went live in February 2001. It had been revised a few times along the way and it had been offered online at TreasuryDirect.gov until September 2025.
How to figure out how much your savings bonds are worth
TreasuryDirect.gov remains the go-to spot for buying Series I inflation-adjusted savings bonds, which do well during high inflation, and Series EE savings bonds. Both types of savings bonds must be bought online now and held in online accounts. Paper savings bonds are no longer issued.
TreasuryDirect.gov also offers a worthwhile calculator for figuring out the value of your individual paper savings bonds.
Some big dollar amounts will surprise you. A $50 Series I paper savings bond, issued in May 2000, for example, was worth $250.08 as of July 30 before its next interest accrual in August.
For this one savings bond, the TreasuryDirect calculator lists $200.08 in interest, which would be taxable at the federal level. Interest earned from Series EE and Series I savings bonds is exempt from state and local income taxes. That May 2000 I Bond reaches final maturity in May 2030.
If you happen to find those paper savings bonds you received 20 years ago or 30 years ago as a birthday gift, you can go online to figure out the value of the paper bonds today. If you don't know where they are, keep looking. It's real money.
Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompor: stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on X @tompor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why $39B in U.S. savings bonds sits as consumers feel the squeeze
