Savings bond face value confusion

Why would I buy an EE savings bond online if I pay dollar for dollar, rather than buy a paper bond at a bank and pay only half the dollar value? Tom's response The online and paper bonds are exactly the same in terms of the amount invested and the amount earned. True, the EE bond you get at the bank has a "face value" of twice what you paid for it, but it won't actually be worth twice what you paid for it for many years. And the online bond will be worth twice what you paid for it on the same day as the paper bond. So in terms of everything but that deceptive "face value" they are exactly the same.