How to Find Savings Bond Serial Numbers if Bonds Have Been Destroyed

The U.S. Treasury can reissue savings bonds that were destroyed.

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Savings bonds provide a low-risk way to save money, but if you keep all of your bonds as paper bond certificates instead of digital bonds, there is a chance your bonds could get lost or destroyed. You won't lose your investment, however, and you can request new bond certificates from the U.S. Treasury. Ideally your request will include the serial numbers of the bonds, but if you don't remember the numbers, the Treasury can look them up using other information you provide.

Step 1

Navigate to the U.S. Treasury's TreasuryDirect website in your preferred browser. You cannot buy paper savings bonds from this website. It hosts the forms needed to request a reissue of lost or destroyed bond certificates.

Step 2

Click the "Forms" button on the TreasuryDirect menu bar. Click the "Savings Bond Forms" option in the navigation menu of the forms page.

Step 3

Locate Form PD F 1048, "Claim for Lost, Stolen or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds" in the "Claims Forms" category. Click the PDF link to access a PDF copy of the form.

Step 4

Fill out the form in your browser and print it out or print out a blank copy and fill it in by hand. Include all of the information you have on the bond such as your Social Security number, full name, the amount of the bond and the issue date if you know it. The Treasury can look up the bond number using this information.

Step 5

Mail the completed form to the address listed near the end of the instructions on the form. As of August 2012, there were separate addresses for HH or H savings bonds and E, EE or I savings bonds. If any pieces of the original bond certificates remain, include them in the envelope with the form.

Step 6

Wait while the Bureau of the Public Debt confirms the information on the form and looks up the information on your destroyed bonds. Once the bonds have been confirmed, new bond certificates with the same serial numbers and issue dates will be printed and mailed to you.