E bonds stop earning interest after 30 years, but you can keep holding them

E bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury stop accruing interest on their 30-year anniversary. After that date, your bond's value freezes at whatever it had grown to—it will not gain a single penny more. The bond itself does not disappear or become worthless; it simply stops working as a savings vehicle.

This matters because many people hold E bonds for decades without checking their maturity date. If you have owned a bond for 30 years and did not cash it in, you are now sitting on a fixed amount that is earning nothing. The Treasury will not notify you when this happens, so the responsibility falls on you to track it.

The 30-year rule applies to all E bonds regardless of when you bought them or what interest rate they carried. A bond purchased in 1994 stopped earning in 2024. A bond purchased in 2000 will stop earning in 2030. You can look up your exact maturity date using the Treasury's online tool or by checking your purchase documentation.

Key Takeaways

  • E bonds issued after May 2003 earn interest for 30 years from the issue date, then stop accruing entirely.
  • Older E bonds issued before May 2003 had a 40-year earning period, but those have now all stopped earning.
  • You can cash in a mature E bond at any time after it stops earning, but the value will not increase while you hold it.
  • The Treasury does not automatically notify you when your bond matures, so you need to track the date yourself or check your bonds online.

How to find out when your E bond stops earning

The Treasury maintains a free online tool called TreasuryDirect where you can log in and see all your registered bonds, including their exact maturity dates. If you have a TreasuryDirect account, this is the fastest way to check. Log in, go to your holdings, and look for the "final maturity date" column.

If you do not have an online account or your bonds are in paper form, you can calculate the date yourself. Take the issue date printed on the bond and add 30 years. The issue date is usually printed near the top of the certificate. If you bought the bond in January 2010, it will mature in January 2040.

For paper bonds you no longer have physical access to, you can contact the Treasury's Savings Bond Operations office by phone at 1-800-553-2663. Have your bond's serial number ready if you have it, though the office can sometimes locate bonds using your Social Security number and the approximate purchase date.

What you should do with a mature E bond

Once your E bond has stopped earning interest, you have two realistic options: cash it in or leave it alone. Cashing it in means you receive the current value of the bond—the amount it grew to over its 30-year life. This money goes into your bank account, and you can use it however you want.

Leaving it alone means the bond sits in your account earning nothing. This is not harmful, but it is not useful either. Your money is not growing, and it is not easily accessible if you need it quickly. The only reason to leave a mature bond uncashed is if you simply have not gotten around to it yet.

If you want to move the money somewhere it can earn interest again, you can cash the bond and deposit the proceeds into a high-yield savings account, a money market account, or another savings vehicle. Interest rates on these accounts change frequently, so compare current rates before deciding where to put the money.

The difference between E bonds issued before and after May 2003

E bonds issued before May 2003 had a different earning period: they accrued interest for 40 years instead of 30. This means a bond purchased in 1990 would have stopped earning in 2030, not 2020. However, all E bonds issued before May 2003 have now reached their maturity date, so this distinction matters only if you are researching historical bonds or family holdings from decades ago.

The Treasury changed the earning period from 40 years to 30 years starting with bonds issued in May 2003. This change was made to simplify the program and encourage people to cash in bonds more regularly rather than holding them indefinitely. If you own any E bonds from before May 2003, they have already stopped earning.

How to cash in your mature E bond

If your E bond is registered in your TreasuryDirect account, you can redeem it online. Log in, select the bond, and choose the redemption option. The proceeds are deposited directly into your linked bank account, usually within one to three business days.

For paper E bonds, you have two routes. You can take the physical certificate to your bank and ask them to redeem it. Most banks will do this for customers, though some charge a small fee. Alternatively, you can mail the certificate to the Treasury's Savings Bond Operations office with a completed form. The address and form are available on the Treasury website.

When you redeem an E bond, you will owe federal income tax on the interest you earned—not on the original amount you paid, but on the growth. You can choose to report this all at once in the year you cash it in, or you can have reported it annually over the years you held the bond (though most people do not do this). The Treasury will send you a 1099-INT form showing the interest amount for tax purposes.

Why the Treasury stops paying interest after 30 years

The Treasury sets a maturity date to encourage people to reinvest their money rather than let it sit idle. If bonds earned interest forever, people could simply buy one bond and forget about it for 50 years. By ending the earning period, the Treasury pushes bond owners to make an active decision: cash it in and move the money somewhere else, or buy a new bond.

This also simplifies the Treasury's accounting. Bonds with defined maturity dates are easier to track and manage than bonds with indefinite earning periods. The 30-year period is long enough that most people who buy E bonds for retirement or education savings will have cashed them in by then, but short enough that the Treasury is not managing decades of old, inactive accounts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I extend an E bond past 30 years so it keeps earning?

No. Once an E bond reaches its 30-year maturity date, it stops earning interest permanently. You cannot extend it or restart the earning period. Your only option is to cash it in and reinvest the money elsewhere if you want it to continue growing.

What happens if I just leave a mature E bond in my TreasuryDirect account?

Nothing happens to the bond itself—it stays in your account at its final value. However, it earns no interest, so your money is not growing. You can leave it there indefinitely, but there is no financial benefit to doing so. You might as well cash it in and move the money to an account where it can earn interest.

Do I have to pay taxes when my E bond matures?

You do not pay taxes simply because the bond matured. You only owe federal income tax on the interest when you actually cash in the bond and receive the money. At that point, the Treasury sends you a 1099-INT form showing the interest earned, which you report on your tax return.

Can I find out the maturity date of an E bond I inherited?

Yes. If the bond is registered in your name in TreasuryDirect, you can log in and see the date. If it is a paper bond, you can calculate it by adding 30 years to the issue date printed on the certificate. If you do not have the certificate, contact the Treasury at 1-800-553-2663 with the deceased owner's Social Security number and the approximate purchase date.

Is there any reason to keep holding a mature E bond instead of cashing it in?

Not really. A mature E bond earns nothing, so keeping it does not benefit you financially. The only practical reasons to delay cashing it in are procrastination or not knowing where to put the money. If you are unsure what to do with the proceeds, research high-yield savings accounts or other low-risk options before you redeem it.