I had a heavy heart when years ago, our granddaughter Aleksis said her U.S. Savings Bonds that she received as a baby, were irretrievable. We checked around and were basically told good luck trying to replace a lost, destroyed or stolen savings bond, so any hope was just tossed aside. If you’re in a similar rabbit hole, there’s encouraging news at the end of the burrow.

There’s a bipartisan – yes, can you believe it, a bipartisan effort – in Congress to make it much simpler to pick up where you left off and re-establish you with those savings bonds that vanished. The Unclaimed Savings Bond Act would direct the Treasury Department to supply state governments with all the data, documentation and figures to help dig up the payee.

The Massachusetts State Treasury has an excellent division that connects citizens with their old savings bonds, bank accounts, uncashed checks, stocks, dividends, insurance policies, the contents of safe deposit boxes, jewelry and abandoned property.

Once Congress passes this added legislation, a few things will materialize. The Unclaimed Savings Bond Act will see to it that states are given what they need to get $29 billion in unredeemed U.S. Savings Bond money to its rightful owner. States like Massachusetts are much better equipped, as opposed to a bloated and complex federal government, to locate local residents of the Bay State.

I’ll keep you posted right here on any future turn of events on this legislation. In the meantime, are you sure there’s nothing in between the mattresses?