Though it pales in comparison with the money the federal government is spending to bail us out of the current subprime mortgage/auto industry/recession mess, to most people, $16 billion is a lot of money,. The best part? It’s money the Treasury wants to give to individuals, not corporations.

I’m not talking free handout or tax rebate. This is money that Americans legitimately earned. It represents Series E Savings Bonds that were purchased more than 30 years ago and have now matured. The bonds aren’t earning any more interest. Their value is simply reflected as an I.O.U. on the government’s balance sheet.

In all, there are about 41 million individual securities -- some dating back to WW II -- waiting to be cashed in. The smallest denomination is $25. Unfortunately, the government didn’t start keeping track of savings-bond owners until 1974 when the buyer’s Social Security number was registered.

However, according to Steve Meyerhardt, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Public Debt, “Most of the money is in bonds issued from 1970 through 1978.” That’s good news because the purchaser might still be alive and just forgot about them.

Even if the owner has died, the more recent the bond, the better your chance of locating a receipt or other record of purchase. Check out dresser drawers, safe deposit boxes, shoe boxes, the coffee can buried in the backyard, etc.

It’s not up to the government to notify the owner of a Savings Bond. You’re supposed to keep track of when it matures and then collect your money. To make a claim, you’ve got to prove that you’re the legal owner, or at least the heir of the legal owner.

You can go to www.TreasuryHunt.gov to search for mature bonds that you or a relative might own, but you’ve got to enter the buyer’s Social Security number; their last name won’t help. Again, only bonds bought since 1974 are in the system.

If you think you or a relative purchased Series E Savings Bonds prior to 1974 and can’t find any documentation, you can print out a claim form from the same Web site. This is then sent to the Records Office at the Department of Public Debt where real people sort through mountains of paperwork to try to verify your claim.

For this reason, Meyerhardt doesn’t encourage “fishing expeditions.” He says “people should only request a search if they have reason to believe the bonds are out there.”

To take this route you’ll have to provide the “inscription information” (name or names of individuals registered as the owner/s) as well as potential dates on which the bond was issued. If you’re the heir (as opposed to the original owner) you’ll also have to prove you’re legally entitled to the money by including documentation such as the death certificate of the buyer and a copy of their will.

$16 billion could be just the tip of the iceberg. Because the Treasury was selling bonds for decades without recording the buyer’s information, Meyerhardt says, “There’s no way to know the real value of bonds that are still in the hands of their owners or their heirs that could be cashed.”