How to Reissue U.S. Savings Bonds

Treasury forms can be downloaded or filled out online for printing.

Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

If a savings bond is lost, damaged or destroyed, you can have it replaced by the U.S. Treasury. The replacement bond contains the same registration and issue date as the original. You can also have a bond reissued if you need to make changes to the registration. Although similar to replacing bonds, the reissue uses different forms depending on the specific change being made.

Reissuing Bonds

Step 1

Determine the form you need to fill out for your bond reissue. If you want to change the bond owner, add a co-owner or remove a co-owner, you need form PD 4000. If you want to change the registration of the bond to reflect court-ordered changes or the appointment of a legal estate representative after the original bond owner's death, you need form PD F 1455. If you need the bond reissued in the name of a trustee or personal trust estate, you need form PD F 1851.

Step 2

Navigate to the forms-ordering page at the TreasuryDirect website. Scroll down the page to the "List of Available Forms" section and find the form you need by form number. Forms PD 4000 and PD F 1851 are in the "Reissue Forms" section, while form PD F 1455 is in the section called "Owner Deceased -- With (or After) Administration Forms."

Step 3

Click the "PDF" link to the right of the form description to open a copy of the form in your browser or PDF reader. You may also right-click the link to open a context menu and select "Save Target As" or a similar option to save a copy of the form to your computer's hard drive to open later.

Step 4

Fill out the form, providing all required information about the savings bonds you need reissued and any changes. You will need to provide the issue date, registration name, face amount and bond number for the bonds, as well as personal, trust or court-supplied information for the changes. Print the form and take it to a notary public or similar certifying officer before signing it, so your signature can be legally certified. This is required regardless of the form you use.

Step 5

Mail the certified form to the Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Public Debt, at the address provided on the final page of the form. There are multiple P.O. boxes listed for different circumstances so make sure you select the address that matches your situation. In most cases, you will use either the address for "definitive (paper) savings bonds" if you have paper bonds or the address listed for "book-entry savings bonds and marketable securities held in TreasuryDirect" if your bonds were purchased electronically through the website.

Replacing Bonds

Step 1

Navigate to the TreasuryDirect.gov forms-ordering page and locate form PD F 1048 in the available forms list. Click "PDF" to access the form.

Step 2

Fill out as much information as you have available about the lost, damaged or destroyed bonds, including their issue dates, bond numbers, face amounts and purchaser's Social Security number. If you do not have all of this information, the Treasury asks that you provide as much information as you can and estimate issue dates as closely as possible.

Step 3

Provide required information about the circumstances under which any bonds were lost, including when you discovered they were missing, who had access to them and whether any other items such as identifying documents are missing. This information helps the Treasury identify potential fraudulent use of stolen bonds.

Step 4

Fill in the rest of the form, providing contact information, marking that you would like the bonds replaced and providing a delivery address for the replacements. Print the form and take it to a notary public or similar certifying officer to have your signature certified.

Step 5

Mail the form to the appropriate address listed on the last page. The P.O. box differs depending on the type of savings bond you want to replace.