Savings Bonds for Financial Institutions
The following resources provide detailed operational guidelines for paying agents of U.S. Savings Bonds, including:
Guide to Cashing Savings Bonds
The Guide to Cashing Savings Bonds (FS P 0022) outlines your responsibilities and liability as a qualified agent for redeeming savings bonds. The guide includes the three basic types of identification you can request from customers redeeming savings bonds, as well as examples of acceptable identification.
Using the guide in conjunction with Savings Bond Pro® software will help you avoid errors and potential financial loss for your institution.
Circular 888 Stamp
The Circular 888 stamp helps you provide fast service to customers who redeem large quantities of savings bonds. Instead of the customer signing each savings bond, your institution stamps the back of each bond with the Circular 888 stamp.
Circular 888 stamps are available only to qualified paying agents. The first stamp is available at no charge. If you are interested, please contact the Minneapolis Treasury Retail Securities site.
Savings Bond Academy Online Training Tool
Have questions about cashing savings bonds? Use the new Savings Bond Academy (Off-site) online training tool to refresh your knowledge and help onboard new employees. Created for individuals responsible for cashing savings bonds for customers, the tool uses scenario-based instructions and is useful for assisting customers with answers to their specific questions.
Interest Rates and Savings Bond Pricing Tools
Find rates for Series EE/E savings bonds (Off-site) and Series I savings bonds (Off-site).
Additionally, the U.S. Department of the Treasury offers tools to help customers with pricing bonds.
Savings Bond Valuation and Verification (SBVV) Tool
The Savings Bond Valuation and Verification (SBVV) tool (Off-site) enables paying agent institutions to quickly calculate a savings bond’s total value and verify a savings bond’s validity. With the SBVV tool, your customer-facing staff are able to:
- Automatically populate a bond’s serial number via a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) check reader
- Instantly view the value and interest of a bond
- Accurately tally the sum of multiple bonds that are eligible to be cashed
- Quickly identify invalid bonds that need further research
Savings Bond Redemption Tables
The Savings Bond Redemption Tables (Off-site) may also be used to find the values and interest earned for EE/E Bonds, I Bonds, and Savings Notes.
Forms
Download forms (Off-site)
For your convenience, the majority of the forms are fillable. You may complete the form on your screen, print it and give it to your customer to sign and submit. Using online forms provides instant access to the forms you need, ensures you always have the most current forms on hand and eliminates the hassle of maintaining a file drawer of forms.
Packets
The following packets should be used by a financial institution when they cannot complete a customer transaction and must forward it to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service for processing. Use these packets when instructed by the Treasury Retail Securities site.
- Savings Bond Claim Packet (Off-site)
- Savings Bond Power of Attorney Packet (Off-site)
- Savings Bond Trust Packet (Off-site)
Frequently Asked Questions
Federal Reserve Financial Services is committed to providing the answers and information you need. Answers to many of our customers most frequently asked questions can be found using the links below.