My oldest daughter just turned 11 a month ago. When she was born in 1997, my grandfather, her great grandfather was still living. As a gift he purchased her a $50 Series EE Savings Bond.
For those of you who don't know. These bonds are purchased at half the face value. In this case he paid $25.00. The bond accumulates interest every 6 months for 30 years, when it will mature to a total value of $50.00.
The bond is payable to her in her correct name. It was intended to list me as the recipient in case of my daughters death. It has the correct last name, but the nickname of my sister when she was growing up!
I tried once soon after the gift was received to cash it in for the current face value...which would have been $25.00. I was going to then put the cash in her UTMA account. The person who handled these was out to lunch...and I never made it back.
So, today I find the bond when looking for other papers. I decide to check out the treasury departments website to determine how much it is worth. Can anyone guess? It's not $50, but $38.08.
Seems pretty good for only accumulating interest for 11 years! I know, I know, it would have earned so much more in that mutual fund.
So, do I help my daughter get it cashed? She has no id. My name technically isn't on the bond. I also don't have a local bank. All our banking is done online, so I don't have a bank that "knows" me.
It's probably worth emailing my bank. Any banking people that might have some insight?
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April 24th, 2008 at 07:13 pm
April 24th, 2008 at 07:54 pm 1209066860
When I opened my daughters accounts, I had to have their social security card and birth certificate to show I was their mother. When we moved here, all I needed was their social security number, so different banks have different policies.
When I was in school our local bank at that time would also accept a grade card as a form of ID--in fact, the bank gave us $1 for every A on our card.
Once she has an account in her name, it should be much easier to cash in the bond.
Also, on a childs account, it is sometimes necessary to update their signature card as they grow. My daughters signed their first one by printing their name and last initial. The bank has them update it every couple years as part of their fraud protection program.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:45 pm 1209080721
April 25th, 2008 at 03:11 am 1209093081