Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) and colleagues in reintroducing the Unclaimed Savings Bond Act of 2021 to help Americans claim more than $26 billion in unredeemed savings bonds, including $1.4 billion that belong to the people of Florida.
“The federal government is sitting on billions of dollars in unredeemed savings bonds, including at least $1.4 billion belonging to Floridians,” Rubio said. “This legislation would help the State of Florida to identify bond owners, so that these funds can be returned to their rightful owners.”
“The Treasury is sitting on billions of dollars that should be in Americans’ pockets—including more than $300 million that belong to Louisianians,” Kennedy said. “Louisianians pay their taxes faithfully, and Washington needs to pay out these savings bonds. The Unclaimed Savings Bond Act would make sure states have what they need to get this money to its rightful owners—so they can invest it in what matters most to their families.”
Click here for a full list of cosponsors and quotes.
Background:
The U.S. Treasury Department is currently holding more than $26 billion in matured, unredeemed U.S. Savings Bonds, most of which the Treasury deems lost, stolen, destroyed or “unclaimed.” Many of these bonds were issued more than 70 years ago and have matured—meaning they no longer earn interest for bondholders.
In cases in which bonds are not physically possessed by their rightful holders, only the Treasury has the names and addresses of the original bond owners. The Treasury also has the serial numbers needed to claim the bond proceeds.
The Treasury has not taken any significant actions to proactively reunite bonds with their rightful owners despite its relaunch of Treasury Hunt, an online search tool that allows bond owners to locate bond information. Individual states, however, conduct programs that reconnect citizens with unclaimed property.
The bill would require the Treasury to provide states information about matured and unclaimed bonds so these states can use unclaimed property programs to help find the original owners (or heirs of those original owners) of these bonds. This provision would only apply to unredeemed bonds that matured before 2018.
Bill text of the Unclaimed Savings Bond Act of 2021 is available here.