Emigrant Direct Foiled My Series I Bond Purchase!
I don’t know if TreasuryDirect changed their policy or if EmigrantDirect changed theirs, but my attempt to purchase Series I Bonds and take advantage of the potentially awesome new rates was foiled! I received the following message from TreasuryDirect:
Dear JIM,
We’re sorry, but your purchase request IAAAB was canceled. While trying to collect payment from your bank, they returned our debit. Please check the Investor InBox section of your TreasuryDirect account for more detailed information.
Thank you for using TreasuryDirect.
It was entirely my fault. It wasn’t Emigrant Direct’s fault, or the Treasury Direct’s fault, it was Jim Direct’s fault. The only linked account I had was from an Emigrant Direct savings account and I assumed it would still be valid to make another purchase. I had purchased $100 in Series I bonds a while back just to play with the system and assumed everything was still good. Unfortunately, TreasuryDirect now debits the linked account rather than a regular ACH transfer (I think) and so a savings account doesn’t debit! (The other explanation was that there were insufficient funds, but I confirmed I had enough)
So the only solution is to head over to the bank and buy a paper Series I Bond so I can still take advantage of the upcoming favorable rates. I suspect it should be pretty easy, the government always makes it easy for you to give them your money :).
10 responses to “Emigrant Direct Foiled My Series I Bond Purchase!”
CK responds:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Emigrant only allows transfers through the checking account linked to the Emigrant account. I tried transferring money to Vanguard once and Emigrant said no way. The only way in or out is through your linked account.
jim says in reply:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Must be a recent development because I bought the other $100 bond through Emigrant… oh well, I just bought a paper one at the bank. It took like five minutes.
Stephen responds:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I’ve heard of other bloggers having trouble with EmigrantDirect and TreasuryDirect recently. Haven’t heard of any other Online Savings Account having issues. Wonder what the deal is?
cheo reom responds:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
hey jim…quick question…
i also dropped by the bank today to purchase paper bonds…it was through citi and they debited my checking account…the thing is..did they give you a certificate right away? citi said they’ll mail it to you but i wasn’t sure how this normally works…it’s my first time buying paper bonds.
thanks.
jim says in reply:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
cheo reom: Yeah, they mail it in three weeks but the certificates are effective as of today. It was the first time for me and that’s how they explained it to me. It makes sense, the banks don’t have the bonds right there (plus they have to be in your name) so I expected them to mail it.
cheo reom responds:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
i see. thanks for the confirmation jim!
besides that, did you have to fill out a paper application inside the bank? i was surprised when the banker did everything electronically and just gave me the trans receipt at the end. i was hesitant but he said it was fine…hmm..
Jay responds:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Bought mine last week via an ING savings account: no problems. Wonder what’s up with Emigrant.
jim says in reply:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
cheo reom: Hmmmm, I did have to fill out an order form (PD F 5374) and it was this really old (Revised November 1998) form for ordering Series I Savings Bonds. The back of the form says processing takes three weeks, you’ll see apost up tomorrow (though it’ll only confirm your experience, minus the paperwork).
Jay: That is kind of odd then, I assumed that since it was a “debit,” it was a debit like one has a debit card linked to a checking account. Either way, I got paper bonds for the amount I wanted to put into the Savings Bonds so I’m satisfied. Thanks for sharing your experience though, certainly befuddles me even more though.
aa responds:
Posted: May 1st, 2008 at 3:52 pm
EmigrantDirect sucks. You can’t make any ACH transfers with unlinked accounts.
The current balance of that account is now $0.
Shania responds:
Posted: May 2nd, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Hey Jim,
I filled out the same Order For US Savings Bonds a few days ago. The form number was PD F 5374 but the interesting thing is it says: Revised July 2001. However, there is also a note that says: Previous Editions Usable.
Oh well, guess my bank sells more bonds than yours?
Just my 2ยข worth on the matter. . .
Shania