Treasury Department Unclaimed Bonds
Monday, October 19th, 2009 649 views
Most American families bought at least one bond during WWII and never cashed them in. These “Series E” war bonds continued to be sold by the federal government until 1980. Now more than $16 billion worth of the bonds are unclaimed and state attorney generals are suing the Treasury Department saying that they made no effort to find the people who owned the bonds for many years.
These unclaimed bonds date back to the patriotic fundraising efforts of World War II. Sparked by a huge advertising campaign to buy bonds during WWII, most families bought at least one and held on to them — the maturity date was 40 years. Many were never cashed in due to being either lost or the owner passing away.
The first Series E Bond was sold to President Franklin D. Roosevelt by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau on May 1, 1941. These were marketed first as “defense bonds”, then later as “war bonds”.
During World War II the “drive” technique used during World War I was replaced in part by a continual campaign using a payroll deduction plan. However, eight different drives were conducted during the campaign, in total raising $185.7 million from 85 million Americans, more than in any other country during the war.
