Savings Bond Savvy people...

[wcchick712]

So my dear grandpa bought me a 50 dollars savings bond in Sept of 1987 for my first christmas but forgot to give it to me. He recently just died and my dad & grandma we cleaning out his safty deposit box when they found it and will be sending it to me.
I have a few questions!


My Maiden name will be on this bond, what problems will this create?

because I don't belong to a physical bank, can I just join a bank and have it cashed or should I stick to just sending it into USAA? (if they even do that via webscans/mail!)
I don't have intentions of using a bank besides USAA.


How much interest has that little thing conjured in the last 21 years?



Anyone's knowledge would be helpful!

[imjustme]

I had the same problem a while back. It depends on what type of bond it is. There are different types with different interest rates, etc. Also, my maiden name was on mine, my SSN was listed also though so I just took my SS card with me (along with picture ID) to the bank so that they could see that even though the last name was different, it was me, same SSN.

Here is a website I used to help figure out what kind of bond I had, and how much it was worth now. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/tools.htm

Not sure about if USAA handles cashing them, etc. I do know that if you are a member of a regular bank, you can walk in and have it cashed. So that would be an option if USAA doesn't deal with bonds.

Good luck! It can be confusing for sure, but you'll get it all figured out.

[wcchick712]

When my mom called, she said it was to my maiden name at my grand parents address OR my dad's name. so I'm going to have him cash it I believe.

also that calculator shows that it can mature until 2017! dang!

[rosebud*]

you can cash it with your marriage license and a form of ID with your married name on it. I've done it that way before. Also you can take it to any FDIC bank that you DON'T have an account with and they will cash it for you. You don't need a bank account to do that. Something I have done before as well. There should never be a fee to cash it. If its an EE bond then yeah you can cash it, but you probably won't get the full 50 dollars. I'd just hold on to it.

[sailornwife]

if its a maturing bond don't cash it. its money you didn't know you had. look up and try to find the interest rate. Bonds are the safe form of stock. Depending on the type and the rate who knows what the money could be. It all depends on where he decided to have the bond set up for. Rich should be able to help you out if he hops on but we just when threw this. We have a grow with me bond for my 8 month old daughter and at 16 it is in her name. However we are not going to tell he about it and when college comes or something else that we need the money for it will come in handy. we put in 50$ a month and when she is 16 it should have grown to over 17000$ and keep going as long as its un-touched.


edit: i forgot to add that depending on how big the bond got when he finished paying on it. there may not be much. I would set up a meeting with an adviser who can access stuff for you and look at it from there.

[His*PITA*]

Originally Posted by wcchick712 When my mom called, she said it was to my maiden name at my grand parents address OR my dad's name. so I'm going to have him cash it I believe. also that calculator shows that it can mature until 2017! dang!

Yea... mine are the same way... they take a LONG time to mature and what not... i would jsut hold onto it and pretend like you dont have it... wait until it is an emergency or until its worth its full value