TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Floridians are owed nearly $1 billion worth of unclaimed federal savings bonds, according to the state chief financial officer.
Nationally, Americans are owed $19 billion.
Often given as gifts, many people forget they have savings bonds or lose the paperwork while waiting for them to mature.
The U.S. Treasury spends little to no effort in tracking down the rightful owners, the CFO's office suing the feds last year in order to gain access to information on the bonds.
In a similar case, a federal court sided with the state of Kansas last week.
CFO spokesperson Ashley Carr says Floridians deserve to know whether or not they have an unredeemed bond.
"Right now, no one really has the information other than the original owner or who it was purchased for," Carr explained. "We are working to make sure that someone else like the states have the information so that we can serve to inform those original owners of information that they might not have."
Carr hopes soon the unclaimed U.S savings bonds can be searched for through the state's unclaimed property website.
Currently, you need either the original paper bond or serial number in order to get your money.
