U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) is asking the Treasury Department to accelerate the process of returning some $26 billion in unredeemed savings bonds to Americans.
Kennedy said the Treasury Department is holding more than $26 billion in matured, unredeemed U.S. savings bonds, most of which the Treasury deems lost, stolen, destroyed, or “unclaimed.” Many were issued more than 70 years ago and have matured, which means they no longer earn interest.
“As Louisiana’s State Treasurer for 17 years, I was frustrated and utterly perplexed when I first discovered the Treasury was holding on to billions of dollars from Americans across the country. To make matters worse, many who purchased U.S. savings bonds did so out of a patriotic sense of duty to help the nation weather financial uncertainties such as World War II. For years, Treasury refused to release bond-owner information to the states, most of which have programs in place to reunite Americans with their unclaimed property,” Kennedy wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
In 2019, the Treasury relaunched Treasury Hunt, an online search tool that allows bond owners to locate bond information. However, Kennedy says that Treasury has been slow to start digitizing the bonds so they can be searchable. They are currently in the process of hiring a vendor.
“Once Treasury selects a vendor, I ask that the department work to execute the digitization of these records swiftly and prioritize the distribution of this information to the bonds’ rightful owners. As Treasury Secretary, you are responsible for reuniting taxpayers with their investments. Each day that passes without a solution, Treasury reneges on its contract with the American people,” Kennedy added.
Kennedy introduced the Unclaimed Savings Bond Act of 2021 last September, which would require the Treasury to provide states information about matured and unclaimed bonds. This would allow individual states to use unclaimed property programs to help locate the original owners of these bonds or their heirs. This provision would only apply to unredeemed bonds that matured before 2018.
“It is long past time that Treasury keep its promise to the millions of Americans who purchased U.S. savings bonds. The American people deserve the billions of dollars that rightfully belong to them. To delay any longer is an affront to the law and to common sense,” Kennedy said.