Sen. Moran works to reunite Kansans with $209 million in unclaimed savings bonds

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Senator Jerry Moran is working to reunite Kansans with over $209 million in unclaimed savings bonds.

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) says he joined Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) to introduce the Unclaimed Savings Bond Act, which would help Americans claim over $26 billion in unredeemed savings bonds, including $209 million that belongs to Kansans.

“Americans are owed billions of dollars by the federal government for unclaimed, matured savings bonds,” said Sen. Moran. “This sensible legislation requires the U.S. Treasury to provide states, including Kansas, with the necessary records to locate the rightful owners and heirs of these matured bonds.”

Moran said the U.S. Treasury Dept. currently holds over $26 billion in matured, unredeemed U.S. savings bonds, most of which have been deemed lost, stolen, destroyed or unclaimed. Many of which were issued over seven decades ago and have matured, which means they no longer earn interest for bondholders.

In cases where bonds are not physically possessed by their rightful owners, Moran said 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.

According to Moran, the Treasury has not taken any significant action to proactively reunite bonds with their rightful owners despite the relaunch of Treasury Hunt, an online search tool that allows bond owners to find bond information. Individual states, however, conduct programs that reconnect residents with unclaimed property.

Moran said the Unclaimed Savings Bond Act would require the Treasury to provide states information about matured and unclaimed bonds so they can use unclaimed property programs to help find the original owners or heirs of the bonds. The provision would only apply to unredeemed bonds that matured before 2018.

“There are currently nearly $30 billion in matured savings bonds with lost owners, with over $200 million of that owed to Kansans,” said Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Rogers. “I applaud Senator Moran, along with members of the Kansas Congressional Delegation, for continuing to work on getting this bipartisan matter resolved once and for all. This is money that should be reunited with its rightful owners here in Kansas.”

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and James Risch (R-Idaho) cosponsored the legislation.

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