Money from Another Time

[beetiger]

I was at my safe deposit box today, pulling some papers I'll need for renewing passports in order to take a trip to Florence this summer. There was an envelope in there which I'd kinda tossed in with my important papers, after my mother had tossed it at me at my father's funeral, a decade ago.

In it are a bunch of US savings bonds, mostly dated 1968 and 1969, totalling about $1000 face value. They're E bonds, with a seven-year maturity. (There's also a EE bond I seem to have won as a prize in high school, and one someone gave me as an engagement gift I think, but I'm pretty sure those keep earning interest for 30 years and I should leave them alone.) I kind of feel like I should cash the ones from the sixties out, as I've already managed to make my way through college, and although I'm sure that in some sense this is a very secure way to keep a little financial insurance pillow, it just seems kind of silly to have them sitting there.

So, how do I do this? Can I just take them to a local bank, endorse them, and have them figure out what kind of interest there may or may not have been accruing over the last 39 years or so? Do I need to go to some government office or other? Is there any chance that these have expired and are worthless or something?

I know, I know, I could probably just google this. But I feel like talking to you.

Comments

[cowboy-r.livejournal.com]

Just take 'em to the bank, and they'll figure out the current value. I cashed an E series bond a few years ago, and was pleasantly surprised at how much more than face value it yielded.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Yup, I won a savings bond at some sort of awards ceremony my senior year of high school (1984) and my mom find it while going through some of my old stuff in the mid 90s. it was worth substantially more than that when I went to my bank to cash it. At the time, I just took it to my regular bank. They have tables where they can look up the value and simply pay you.