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Buying Savings Bonds: Purchase Limits, Ownership, and Payment Planning

Savings-bond purchase limits depend on the owner and the bond series, which can make family purchases and gifts more complicated than one checkout transaction. Buying a bond also creates a holding period rather than instant access to cash. This guide explains the Treasury's buying process and how annual limits apply to personal purchases, children, gifts, and converted paper bonds. It helps savers decide who should own a bond before the money leaves their account.

Adapted from public-domain educational material published by U.S. Treasury. Fynoptic has organized and edited the material and added introductory and practical guidance. Sources were reviewed on October 28, 2026; original publication dates, where available, are listed below.

Buying savings bonds

We currently sell 2 types of savings bond: Series EE and Series I. You can buy them for yourself, your child, or as a gift for someone else.

This page focuses on buying for yourself or a child whose account is linked to yours. If you are planning to give a savings bond as a gift, also see our page on Giving savings bonds as gifts. You can print a certificate announcing your gift. See our selection of announcement cards.

Current Rates

Series EE Savings Bonds

2.40%

For EE bonds issued May 1, 2026 to October 31, 2026.

Series I Savings Bonds

4.26%

This includes a fixed rate of 0.90%

For I bonds issued May 1, 2026 to October 31, 2026.

Buying electronic EE or I savings bonds

TreasuryDirect is the official United States government application in which you can buy and keep savings bonds.

Learn about TreasuryDirect Open a TreasuryDirect account

To buy a savings bond in TreasuryDirect:

  1. Go to your TreasuryDirect account.
  2. Choose BuyDirect.
  3. Choose whether you want EE bonds or I bonds, and then click Submit.
  4. Fill out the rest of the information.

You can buy an electronic savings bond for any amount from $25 to $10,000 to the penny. For example, you could buy an electronic savings bond for $75.38.

In any one calendar year, you may buy up to $10,000 in Series EE electronic savings bonds AND up to $10,000 in Series I electronic savings bonds for yourself as owner of the bonds. That is in addition to the amount you can spend on buying savings bonds for a child or as gifts.

See more about how much can I spend and how much can I own.

Buying through our Payroll Savings Plan

This option will be discontinued on January 31, 2025. See our FAQ for more detail.

Registering savings bonds (Who owns them?)

Whether you buy an electronic bond or a paper bond, you must specify who owns the bond.

You may name yourself, a child, yourself and someone else (either as another owner or as the beneficiary), or indeed anyone you want to give the savings bond to as a gift.

But the person (or people) you name must meet these conditions:

  • The person must have a Social Security Number.
  • The person must also meet any one of these three conditions:
    • United States citizen, whether the person lives in the U.S. or abroad, or
    • United States resident, or
    • Civilian employee of the United States, no matter where that person lives

You may also register the bond in the name of a trust or estate. An electronic bond in TreasuryDirect also can be in the name of a corporation, partnership, or other entity.

Note: If you are thinking of using the money from savings bonds to pay for your child's college education, do NOT put the bond in the child's name. Keep the bond in your name. See

Using savings bonds for higher education

For more about who owes taxes on savings bond interest, see

Tax information for EE and I bonds

For details on what registrations are allowed and how to register your bonds, see

Registering your savings bonds (Who owns them)

Managing savings bonds for a child under 18

See the note above about using savings bonds for higher education. Whether the bonds are paper or electronic, to use them for college expenses, the bonds must be in an adult's name, not the child's!

But with that exception, you can name the child as the owner of either paper or electronic savings bonds.

If you buy savings bonds for a child, here's how that works:

The child needs a TreasuryDirect account that is linked to the account of a parent or other adult custodian. You (the parent or other adult custodian) may open a TreasuryDirect account for the child. You can then buy savings bonds or other securities, as well as conduct other transactions, for the child. Other people can buy savings bonds for the child as gifts to go into the child's linked account. See more About linked accounts

How much can I spend/own?

How much can one person or entity own in savings bonds?

There is no limit on the total amount that any person or entity can own in savings bonds.

How much can I spend each year on savings bonds?

We count the limits by the Social Security Number of the first person named on the bond or, in the case of an entity, by the Employer Identification Number or Social Security Number.

A given Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number can buy up to these amounts in savings bonds each calendar year:

  • $10,000 in electronic EE bonds
  • $10,000 in electronic I bonds

Notes:

  • Gift bonds count toward the limit of the recipient, not the giver.
  • If you have an individual account and an entity account in TreasuryDirect that use the same Social Security Number, you can purchase up to the limits in each of the 2 accounts.

What about bonds . . .

that I co-own?

If you co-own savings bonds with someone else, only the bonds for which you are the first named owner count toward your limit.

Savings bonds for which you are the second named owner do not count towards your limit. They count towards the limit of the other person – the one who is named first on the bonds.

What about bonds . . .

for my children?

Each child has their own Social Security Number. Therefore, no matter who buys bonds for the child, the amount of those bonds counts for the child's limit – not the limit of the buyer.

When you open a linked account in TreasuryDirect for a child under 18, the bonds in the child's linked account belong to the child. You do not own them. Therefore, they do not count in your limit.

Each child has the same yearly limit: $10,000 for electronic EE bonds and $10,000 for electronic I bonds.

What about bonds . . .

I give as gifts?

This is just like the situation with your children. The gift belongs to the person to whom you give the bond. Therefore, the amount counts in that person's limit, not in your limit.

The gift counts for that person's limit in the year in which they get the bond.

While the gift is sitting in your TreasuryDirect account waiting to be delivered, it is in a special "gift box." So, even then, it is not yours and does not count in your limit.

How much can I convert from paper bonds to electronic bonds?

There is no limit on the bonds you can convert. It does not impact your yearly spending limits.

You already own the bonds. Converting them only changes where they live.

Putting this into practice

Confirm the intended owner, series, calendar year, and payment source before submitting a purchase. Keep gift purchases and deliveries in your records. Money reserved for an immediate expense should not be committed without checking the bond's redemption restrictions and your remaining accessible cash.

Sources and further reading

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