You know grandpa had a few old savings bonds stashed away somewhere, but did he cash them in before he passed away?

Now you can find out, if he used his social security number on the bonds, the bonds are no longer earning interest, and you have access to the social security number -- or if it's your own social security number, and you want to see if you've cashed a bond you bought years before.

The Department of the Treasury runs the service, which you can access here. Click on the start search link, and you'll be asked to enter a social security number. Note the following:

* This system won’t help you search for savings bonds you've lost.
* Savings bonds returned to Treasury as undeliverable since 1996 can be found by searching this system.
* Information about savings bonds no longer earning interest is updated often, but is incomplete, because data on older bonds is stored on microfilm instead of computers. Since you may have savings bonds that aren’t listed in Treasury Hunt, be sure to look through your belongings.
* Most records for registered Treasury notes and bonds can be searched through this system.