Comments on: Series I Bonds Look Attractive Right Now

By: Allen

Allen — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:53:27 +0000

According to the treasury direct website:

http://www.savingsbonds.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ibonds/res_ibonds_iratesandterms.htm

the new fixed rate as of May 1 is 0.0%, which means that you will basically just get the inflation rate, which is 2.42% semi-annually (~4.8% APR), which is still pretty good deal, just not as good.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:57:22 +0000

Am I too late? What’s the difference in getting them now as opposed to before May 1st? Thanks in advance.

By: jim

jim — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:39:34 +0000

From the TreasuryDirect site, it says that "Interest is compounded semiannually."

By: Linda

Linda — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:42:52 +0000

Does the interest compound? If so, how often — I could not see anything about compounding on their website’s description of rates and terms.

Thanks – Linda

By: Avonelle Lovhaug

Avonelle Lovhaug — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:33:27 +0000

I’ve had a treasury direct account for quite a while, but I stopped using it after the first time.

I don’t know if the access card makes things better (I’m betting it doesn’t), but I think that the site is one of the most unusable I have ever seen. The ridiculous virtual keyboard that generates a random order for the keys to prevent a key logger from stealing my passwords is a lot of overkill, as far as I’m concerned. I would have been willing to put up with it, however, if they would send a paper version of the savings bond to the nieces and nephews I purchase bonds for. Instead, apparently, I was supposed to convince their parents to create accounts on Treasury Direct also. The site is hard enough to use for a person comfortable with technology – no way was I going to subject my non-technical relatives to it!

When I got the email about the new access card, I tried to post some feedback on their site about the crappy user experience. Of course, that was also a pain because comments could only be 1000 characters long, but the site doesn’t mention this (and in fact, even the error message just tells you that the text is too long, not by how much). Ugh. The response I got from them was equally unhelpful. They basically told me it was for my “protection” and to pound sand. Not that I really expected anything better from the government, but I was slightly hopeful that they would tell me that the access card would make things easier. Since they didn’t say that, I’m assuming it just makes things more complicated.

Anyone have any suggestions for how to purchase savings bonds more easily? Standing in line at my bank is what I do these days, but I inevitably get the teller who has no savings bond experience so it can be a real pain.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:52:12 +0000

It was easy to set up a Treasury Direct account, however you have to wait 7 to 10 days to get the access card via the mail before you can purchase on-line. So no quick purchases, unless you have your access card.

By: ebow

ebow — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 21:49:55 +0000

I set up a Treasury Direct account on Thursday evening, and hit a roadblock–they had trouble verifying the information I provided, probably for my joint ING account. So now I have to fill out an Account Authorization form (a paper form) which needs to be signed by “acceptable certifying individuals includ[ing] authorized employees of insured depository institutions and corporate central credit unions.” And the right person at my credit union was not in on Friday, so I’ll have to wait until Monday, then drop it in the mail, and wait well past this April opportunity to get access to my account.

So I would say that the account setup process has gotten a little more complicated. ;^) Be sure to leave yourself plenty of time if you haven’t set up an account yet!