How to Cash Savings Bonds in an Emergency
When you are scraping the bottom of your pocketbook to make ends meet, you may try unconventional methods of coming up with the funds needed to pay bills. A savings bond is a note that is purchased typically through a bank and is given a maturity date at which time it reaches its full potential. But when money is tight, sometimes you make decisions to cash savings bonds in an emergency.
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Instructions
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1
Determine how much your savings bond is worth today. If you are cashing in your savings bond in an emergency, you may be cashing it in before it reaches its maturity date. Use a savings bond calculator (see Resources below) to determine how much your savings bond is worth today. Enter the month and year in the form mm/yyyy in the box where it says "Value as of". Select the type of bond you have from the pull-down menu. Select the denomination of the savings bond from the "Denomination" pull-down menu. Enter the Serial Number and the Issue Date of the bond. This information is located on your savings bond note. You can easily find a diagram of a savings bond (see Resources below) if you have difficulty locating these numbers.
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2
Take your savings bonds to a bank, preferably one where you have an account. If you do not cash your savings bonds at a bank where you have an account, you are limited to cashing in up to $1,000 in savings bonds per day. If you cash in your savings bonds at a bank where you do have an account, you may cash in an unlimited amount. Remember that if you are cashing in your savings bonds prior to their maturity dates, you will only receive back the amount you computed in Step 1.
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3
Tell a banking representative you want to cash in your savings bonds. Endorse the back of each of your savings bonds with your signature.
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4
Show the representative your driver's license as identification. Some banks may ask you for further proof of identity.
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5
Accept the cash from the bank representative.
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