I Bond purchase limit exceeded

[DEC-1982]

It slipped my mind that there was a $10,000 limit on the purchase of I Bonds in any one year. I made three purchases of $5,000 on different dates this year, and didn't realize my mistake till the Treasury Dept sent me an e-mail very recently pointing out my mistake.

When I browsed the Treasury.gov website, I didn't see a way to sell (or in some way retract) my last purchase. Does anyone here know how to do this? Or does the Treasury Dept just send back the money at some point to me, without any action on my part?

 

[Jerry1]

I wonder why the email didn’t explain what will happen or what you need to do. No link?

My guess is that it will default to a non-I.Bond or you’ll get whatever the I-Bond gets as standard interest with no inflation, which I’d guess would be close to a standard bond. How long out did you buy?

 

[DEC-1982]

The message is a little abrupt.

"Your purchase exceeds the annual savings bond purchase limitation. Please be
advised the limit is $10,000 per series and TIN per calendar year. Repeated
violations mayresult in an action by this office; for example, a refund of
account holdings and/or account closure may occur.

Thank you for using TreasuryDirect."

 

[DEC-1982]

How long out did you buy?

I bonds are 30 year bonds, inflation adjusted every 6 months but redeemable after 1 year with a 3 month interest penalty or redeemable after 5 years without penalty.

 

[USGrant1962]

As I understand it from a post a while ago on Bogleheads, nothing happens. You get to keep the extra bond. The stern warning sort of implies that by saying "refund of account holdings" may occur after further violations.

 

[Gill]

Yes, nothing happens with the first violation.
Gill

 

[steelyman]

Helpful post and replies. I’ve made a $10K purchase this month but never thought about what happens if you exceed the annual limit.

I’ve gotten over the loss of the Savings Bond Wizard too!

 

[imoldernu]

We were lucky, and jeanie and I bought I bonds a long time ago, between 2000 and 2003, when the restrictions were lower. Here's a bit from a post about IBonds, that mirrors our own experience.

https://retireby40.org/what-are-ibonds-why-im-buying/

davidmichael
June 29, 2013, 10:32 am
I am coming into this discussion from a different viewpoint, namely, that of a 76 old who has made lots of money and also lost a fair amount due to the ups and downs of the stock market.

When I first retired, we shifted $60,000 into I-Bonds ($30,000 each), in 2001 when they paid 3% fixed rate plus variable inflation rate. To make a long story short, they recently doubled, so they are now worth $120,000. I know that a lot of people will say…”That’s not enough.” Well, here’s the deal. There was no risk, and there was no worry. My only regret is that we didn’t buy I-Bonds for several years before (or after) and place our entire retirement cache into this safe investment. They have become our Security Bucket for our last decade of life. Hopefully, we’ll have enough time for them to double again to $240,000 over the next 12 years.

Couldn't have said it better...

 

[DEC-1982]

As I understand it from a post a while ago on Bogleheads, nothing happens. You get to keep the extra bond. The stern warning sort of implies that by saying "refund of account holdings" may occur after further violations.

Yes, nothing happens with the first violation.
Gill

Thanks for your posts; that is useful information. Unless I hear back again, I won't chase this any more.

 

[DEC-1982]

We were lucky, and jeanie and I bought I bonds a long time ago, between 2000 and 2003, when the restrictions were lower. Here's a bit from a post about IBonds, that mirrors our own experience.

https://retireby40.org/what-are-ibonds-why-im-buying/



Couldn't have said it better...

The fixed interest rate is only 0.5% now but like you said it is a super safe investment, currently delivering 2.83% annually.