TheU.S. Department oftheTreasury has recently updated TheGuidetoCashingSavingsBonds(Off-site) inanefforttocombatSavingsBondfraud, andtoprovide more flexibility to financial institutions with respect to cashing savings bonds.
Thereis onekeychangetothisguidethat wewanttocallto yourattention. Moving forward, FIs now have the option notto cash savings bonds for both new customers, and non-customers. Prior guidance directed financial institutions to cash bonds in both situations, and the updated guide now leaves this choice up to the financial institution. Further, it is recommended that customers have an established account for 12 months prior to cashing bonds at a financial institution.
Please direct your customers to TreasuryDirect.gov (Off-site) for information about how to cash their bonds. As always, you can direct any customer or non-customer with questions directly to the Treasury via email (Off-site).