The federal government stopped selling Canada Savings Bonds and Canada Premium Bonds in 2017. If you still have some, here’s how to redeem CSBs and CPBs.
Do you still have Canada Savings Bonds (CSBs) in a safety deposit box or in a drawer at home? If so, you might be wondering how much they’re worth and how to redeem them.
First issued by the Government of Canada in 1946 to help finance the country’s growth after the Second World War, Canada Savings Bonds were once very popular investments. They offered a guaranteed return and attractive interest rates. Canada Savings Bonds reached their peak in 1981, with an interest rate of 19.5%.
While sale periods changed over the years, CSBs were only issued on November 1 until 1998. In later years, they were issued over a longer period to make them more accessible. For example, between 1998 and 2009, bonds were issued from November 1 through April 1.
Below, we answer commonly asked questions about these bonds, including questions about Canada Savings Bond redemption.
The Government of Canada discontinued the sale of Canada Savings Bonds and their newer, higher-yielding cousins, Canada Premium Bonds (CPBs), in November 2017. (Go to on CPBs.)
While the bonds were an important savings vehicle for Canadians for many decades, sales had declined, partly due to the increase in more flexible and competitive alternatives. (The bonds’ disappointing rates were even lampooned on the Rick Mercer Report in 2007.) Eventually, the bond program became unsustainable, and the government cancelled it.
So, can you still buy Canada Savings Bonds? No, you can’t; however, you have plenty of other options, which we cover below.
The #Budget2017 puts an end to #CanadaSavingsBonds But there are still $5b of them out there! Do you still have some? pic.twitter.com/lluVL4lFxE
— Kevin Frankish (@KevinFrankish) March 22, 2017
Canada Savings Bond interest rates were based on multiple factors, including prevailing market conditions. For the bonds to be attractive, the government had to price them competitively with similar fixed-income investments, including guaranteed investment certificates (GICs). Policy objectives also influenced rates. Because CSBs were used to finance government spending, the government might raise rates as a way to drive more investment.
Until 2012, CSBs were issued with a 10-year term to maturity, with a guaranteed fixed rate for the first year. Over the remaining nine years, bondholders received a variable interest rate. In its 2012 Economic Action Plan, the government announced changes to CSBs and CPBs to make them more appealing to investors. It reduced the term to maturity to three years and allowed bondholders to redeem their bonds at any time of year.
For illustrative purposes, the following table shows the yearly interest rates for CSBs and CPBs issued on Jan. 12, 2010. Both series of bonds matured 10 years later, in 2020. As you can see, rates were much lower than the high of 19.5% in 1981.
