The regulations in this part establish a procedure under which qualified paying agents may specially endorse definitive United States Savings Bonds of certain series and United States Savings Notes (Freedom Shares), and either redeem the securities so endorsed, or forward them to a TRS Site for redemption, with or without the owner's signature to the request for payment.

As used in this part:

Definitive security means a Treasury security held in paper form.

Federal Reserve Processing Site means a Federal Reserve Bank (including any Branch or office thereof, as appropriate) referred to in 31 CFR part 321, to which the paying agent, or institution acting on its behalf, is instructed to transmit redeemed securities for payment pursuant to the Federal Reserve Operating Circular.

Federal Reserve Treasury Retail Securities Site or TRS Site means a Federal Reserve Bank (including any Branch or office thereof, as appropriate) referred to in 31 CFR part 321, that is authorized to qualify paying agents, provide customer service, and provide other fiscal agency services under the provisions of this part. See § 330.9.

Owner(s) means the person(s) named as registered owner or coowners on a bond or note, or as the designated beneficiary who has succeeded to ownership of the bond or note upon the death of the owner. For the purposes of special endorsement, but not payment, by a qualified agent, the term may also include fiduciaries, corporations, partnerships, associations, and other entities named on a security, where such registration is authorized.

Paying agent(s) or agent(s) refers to an eligible financial institution qualified under the provisions of this part to specially endorse securities and qualified, under the provisions of Department of the Treasury Circular No. 750, current revision (31 CFR part 321), to redeem eligible savings bonds and notes. The term includes the branches of a qualified agent that redeem bonds and notes and are themselves directly accountable for such redemptions.

Redemption and payment are used interchangeably for payment of a bond or note in accordance with the terms of its offering and the regulations governing it, and include redemption-exchange.

Redemption-exchange means any authorized redemption of eligible securities for the purpose of applying the proceeds in payment for other securities offered in exchange by the Treasury.

Savings bond(s) or bond(s) means a definitive United States Savings Bond of Series A, B, C, D, E, EE, or I.

Savings notes(s) or notes(s) means a United States Savings Note (Freedom Share).

Security or securities means a savings bond or savings note, as defined in paragraphs (h) and (i) of this section.

Special endorsement means a procedure under which a security is redeemed by an agent, qualified under the provisions of this part, for cash or on redemption-exchange (or forwarded for redemption to a TRS Site), utilizing a special stamp placed on the security in lieu of a request for payment signed by the owner.

(a) Application for authority. Any financial institution qualified as a paying agent of savings bonds and notes under the provisions of Department of the Treasury Circular No. 750, current revision, may establish its eligibility to employ the special endorsement procedure by executing and submitting the appropriate application-agreement form to the designated Federal Reserve Bank. In executing the form, the agent certifies that, by duly executed resolution of its governing board or committee, it has been authorized to apply for the privilege of paying and processing securities in accordance with the provisions and conditions of this part (Circular No. 888, including all supplements, amendments, and revisions, and any related instructions). If the application is approved, the designated Federal Reserve Bank will issue a certificate of qualification.

(b) Agents previously qualified. Paying agents qualified under previous revisions of this part are authorized to continue to act without requalification. They shall, however, be subject to the terms and conditions of the previously executed application and these regulations in the same manner and to the same extent as though they had requalified hereunder.

(c) Termination of qualification. The Secretary of the Treasury reserves the right to withdraw the special endorsement authority from any paying agent at any time. Such authority will also be terminated at any time at the request of the paying agent. In either event, formal notice of the termination shall be given to the agent in writing by the designated Federal Reserve Bank.

(a) Form of endorsement. Each security processed under the provisions of this part shall bear the following endorsement:

(b) Endorsement stamps. Endorsement stamps may be obtained from a TRS Site or, with its approval, purchased by the agent. Requests for stamps to be furnished or approved by a TRS Site must be made in writing by an officer of the paying agent. Stamps procured by an agent may not exceed a space bounded by 1 3/4 inches vertically and 3 inches horizontally. They must follow exactly the wording prescribed. They may also include space for the transaction date and the initials or signature of the officer or employee authorized to approve the transaction.

(c) Securities registered in coownership or beneficiary form. In the case of securities registered in coownership or beneficiary form, the agent shall indicate which person, whose name is inscribed thereon, requested payment or exchange by encircling in black or other dark-colored ink the name of that person (or both coowners, if the request is joint) in the inscription on the face of the securities.

(d) Restrictions. Under no circumstances shall the special endorsement procedure be used to give effect to a transfer, hypothecation or pledge of a security, or to permit payment to any person other than the owner, coowner, or, where appropriate, beneficiary. Violation of these provisions will be cause for withdrawal of an agent's authority to process securities under the special endorsement procedure, and may involve additional penalties if the circumstances warrant such action.

By the act of paying or submitting to any Federal Reserve Processing Site, any TRS Site, or any Treasury office authorized to redeem securities, a security on which it has affixed the special endorsement, a paying agent shall be deemed to have:

(a) Unconditionally guaranteed to the United States the validity of the transaction, including the identification of the owner and the disposition of the proceeds or the new bonds, as the case may be, in accordance with the presenter's instruction;

(b) Assumed complete and unconditional liability to the United States for any loss which may be incurred by the United States as a result of the transaction; and

(c) Unconditionally agreed to make prompt reimbursement for the amount of any loss, upon request of the Department of the Treasury.

(a) Form of authorization. The Treasury does not prescribe the form or type of instructions an agent must obtain from each owner, co-owner or beneficiary in order to use the special endorsement procedure. In the case of eligible Series E and EE savings bonds and savings notes presented for a redemption-exchange, the owner, coowner or beneficiary authorized to request the exchange (as specified in Circular No. 750, § 321.8(b)), must sign the exchange subscription even though the eligible Series E and EE savings bonds and savings notes are specially endorsed.

(b) Securities in coownership or beneficiary form. Securities registered in coownership or beneficiary form should be accepted for special endorsement only for immediate payment or exchange. Acceptance of bonds and notes for processing at some future date should be avoided as authority to utilize such endorsement generally expires upon the death of the owner or coowner on whose behalf securities were to be paid. Requests for payment of securities present by the surviving beneficiary must be supported by a certificate of death for the owner named thereon, as required by Circular No. 750, part 321 and the appendix to that part.

(c) Record of authorization. Agents should maintain such records as may be necessary to establish the receipt of, and compliance with, instructions supporting the special endorsement. If the agent elects to make notations on the backs of the securities to serve as a record, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service will undertake to produce, on request, photocopies of such securities at any time up to ten years after the redemption date. However, the Bureau does not not assume responsibility for the adequacy of such notations, for the legibility of any photocopy, or for failure to produce a photocopy from its records.

(a) General authority. A qualified agent is authorized to affix the special endorsement to:

(1) Savings bonds of Series A, B, C, D, E, EE, and I and savings notes to be redeemed for cash; and

(2) Eligible savings bonds of Series E and EE and savings notes to be redeemed in exchange for Series HH bonds under the provisions of Circular No. 2-80 (31 CFR part 352).

(b) Securities which may not be specially endorsed. The special endorsement procedure may not be used in any case in which payment or exchange:

(1) Is requested by a parent on behalf of a minor child named on the security, or

(2) Requires documentary evidence, under regulations contained in Circulars Nos. 530 and 3-80 (31 CFR parts 315 and 353, respectively), except as indicated in § 330.5.

(c) Securities owned by nonresident aliens. As securities owned by a nonresident alien individual, or a nonresident foreign corporation, partnership, or association, may be subject to the nonresident alien withholding tax, bonds and notes held or received by an agent for the account of such owners must be forwarded to a TRS Site for redemption, even though the agent may specially endorse the securities.

Specially endorsed securities may be paid in cash or, if they are eligible Series E and EE savings bonds or savings notes, redeemed in exchange for Series HH bonds pursuant to the authority and subject, in all other respects, to the provisions of Circular No. 750, current revision (31 CFR part 321), its appendix, and any other instructions issued under its authority. Each specially endorsed bond or note paid by an agent must have the agent's payment stamp imprinted on its face and show the date and amount paid. Securities so paid should be combined with other securities paid under that Circular and presented for settlement in accordance with 31 CFR part 321.

Specially endorsed securities that an agent is not authorized to redeem for cash or on exchange should be forwarded to a TRS Site in accordance with the instructions set forth in 31 CFR part 321. The transmittals must be accompanied by appropriate instructions governing the transaction and the disposition of the redemption proceeds. The securities must be kept separate from other securities the agent has paid and must be submitted in accordance with instructions issued by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service and/or its fiscal agents.

Federal Reserve Banks (including any Branch or office thereof, as appropriate) perform services as fiscal agents of the United States. These Federal Reserve Banks shall perform such services in connection with this part as may be requested by the Secretary of the Treasury, or a designee. These Federal Reserve Banks are authorized and directed to perform such duties, including the issuance of supplemental instructions and forms, as may be necessary to fulfill the purposes and requirements of these regulations. The instructions and guidance issued pursuant to § 321.27 set forth each Federal Reserve Bank that has been designated as a Federal Reserve Processing Site or as a TRS Site by the Secretary of the Treasury, or a designee.

The provisions of this part shall be considered as amending and supplementing: Department of the Treasury Circulars Nos. 530, 653, and 750 (31 CFR parts 315, 316, and 321, respectively), and Department of the Treasury Circulars, Fiscal Service Series Nos. 1-80, 2-80, 3-80, 3-67, 1-98, and 2-98 (31 CFR parts 351, 352, 353, 342, 359, and 360 respectively), and any revisions thereof or amendments or supplements thereto, and those Circulars are hereby modified to the extent necessary to accord with the provisions of this part.

The Secretary of the Treasury may, at any time, or from time to time, revise, supplement, amend or withdraw, in whole or in part, the provisions of this part.