Cashing in Series EE Bonds after maturity – new 2023 rule

Terry, we were listening to you today driving back from Starved Rock on WGN and it hit me that I should just ask you a question I have been wrestling with recently. We have matured Series EE Savings Bonds (in paper not electronic) for two of our adult children and they both need to (required now that they are matured) and would like to cash them in. These are $1000 bonds purchased in the late 80’s/early 90’s for $500 by grandpa and grandma when the kids were born or for early birthdays and I am also named on the bonds with them. When we went to our Chase branch like we had done for our other kids at maturity to cash them in, Chase informed us that starting early 2023, bonds with maturity values over $200 needed to be cashed in via Treasury Direct and mailed into them. We also understand that this now takes a prolonged time to get the proceeds, but that is another topic.

I called Treasury Direct and was unable to speak to a person or get a clear idea from the website of exactly what we need to do to cash these in. It appears we need to fill out a Form 1522 for each of the two kids and mail it in with the Bonds (unsigned). I can do all of this, but I am not confident I have the whole picture. Is there any place where I can see exactly what we need to do so I don’t miss a step or send these physical bonds in and have the process stall or the bonds lost because I did not comply with some aspect of the submittal requirements? If you can provide us specific detailed instructions, or point me to someone or somewhere where I can see all the requirements in one place and be confident I am doing it correctly, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks for all the knowledge you share with us interested listeners each week. Also, both Nancy and I agree with you that Biden’s speech today was a solid game changer for the upcoming political dialogue.