The I Bond Thread

[happycampr]

Well, I just tried to open up a TD account for me and for my wife. My account - no problem. Her account (even though I entered everything correctly) came back with the dreaded "We can't verify your information..snail mail us this wonderful FS Form 5444 AFTER you get an official signature confirmation from a Bank or similar entity") error.

Anyone know a way around this, like trying to register a different way?

Frustrating, as there's likely no way this will get processed in time for us to buy iBonds for her account in calendar year 2021..UGH.

I had the same issue when attempting to open an account for DH. Was able to buy an I bond in his name as a gift in my account. Once his account was finally approved, I transferred the gift bond to his account. Hope this helps.

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah, mine went through just fine. Linked to my checking account. H'mmmm, that means my spending went down 10 grand -

 

[Mulligan]

I Bond rate 11/2021

Yeah, mine went through just fine. Linked to my checking account. H'mmmm, that means my spending went down 10 grand -

Nah, Robbie, you are thinking the wrong way. You just “blowed that dough” on IBonds. Your now just blowing the dough on something that earns you even more dough!

 

[Delawaredave5]

I Bond newbie. Went to treasurydirect.com set up account.

Do I want "I Bonds" or "I Securities" ? Or doesn't matter ?

Thanks !

 

[mystang52]

I Bond newbie. Went to treasurydirect.com set up account.

Do I want "I Bonds" or "I Securities" ? Or doesn't matter ?

Thanks !

I Bonds. Hurry, if you do it today it should register by tomorrow and count towards the 2021 max.

 

[Delawaredave5]

Thanks.

Rats - just looked - I put in for "I Securities".

Maybe I can/should buy $10k of I Bonds this afternoon - and the I Securities doesn't count against max ?

And I can sell I Security without much cost/hassle ?

Thanks !!!

 

[Delawaredave5]

Here's comparison, over my head....

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/products/prod_tipsvsibonds.htm

 

[24601NoMore]

When I bought mine the other day, I thought they were "Series I Bonds" - but don't quote me on that..

I did do a Google search to make sure I was buying the right thing, however..

 

[steelyman]

Remember you won’t be able to redeem an I Bond for a year. I don’t think that’s a problem for most here.

 

[clifp]

Has anyone changed their banking information on their Treasury Direct account, or deleted their account and tried to open a second one?

My older sister is going nuts trying to care for her husband with Parkinson, and dementia, so I am helping her with financial stuff.

I tried to setup up a treasury direct account, linked her Schwab account. Unfortunately the routing # on the Schwab site was for incoming wires/transfers not outgoing, so we got a notice from Treasury Direct, saying there was a problem when she tried to buy $10K worth of iBonds.

I figured no problem, I'll just go and edit her banking information. Boy was I wrong.
Trying to edit the banking info I got this message.


As part of our efforts to provide additional security for your investments, you must complete and mail a Bank Change Request Form FS 5512 E to add a new bank or edit an existing bank.

You must sign the form in the presence of an authorized certifying official available at a bank, trust company, or credit union and mail it to us for processing. Certification by a Notary Public is not acceptable.

Your request will not be processed until we receive and approve your form with any necessary supporting documentation. We will notify you by e-mail when your transaction has been completed.

If you have questions, please contact us at (844) 284-2676.

Form 5512, is more or less written English. But it is not clear who a certifying officer needs to be. They say three times that notary public is not acceptable. I called Schwab, and they said they could provide something on letterhead, but it is clear my sister has to sign in the presence of the certifying officer.

Now pre-Covid, I think we could go to the Schwab office and get this resolved, but of course in the days of Covid, Schwab folks are working remotely (at least last I checked.)

I really just want to delete her account and start over, but I can't seem to find that option.

 

[rodi]

Has anyone changed their banking information on their Treasury Direct account, or deleted their account and tried to open a second one?

My older sister is going nuts trying to care for her husband with Parkinson, and dementia, so I am helping her with financial stuff.

I tried to setup up a treasury direct account, linked her Schwab account. Unfortunately the routing # on the Schwab site was for incoming wires/transfers not outgoing, so we got a notice from Treasury Direct, saying there was a problem when she tried to buy $10K worth of iBonds.

I figured no problem, I'll just go and edit her banking information. Boy was I wrong.
Trying to edit the banking info I got this message.


As part of our efforts to provide additional security for your investments, you must complete and mail a Bank Change Request Form FS 5512 E to add a new bank or edit an existing bank.

You must sign the form in the presence of an authorized certifying official available at a bank, trust company, or credit union and mail it to us for processing. Certification by a Notary Public is not acceptable.

Your request will not be processed until we receive and approve your form with any necessary supporting documentation. We will notify you by e-mail when your transaction has been completed.

If you have questions, please contact us at (844) 284-2676.

Form 5512, is more or less written English. But it is not clear who a certifying officer needs to be. They say three times that notary public is not acceptable. I called Schwab, and they said they could provide something on letterhead, but it is clear my sister has to sign in the presence of the certifying officer.

Now pre-Covid, I think we could go to the Schwab office and get this resolved, but of course in the days of Covid, Schwab folks are working remotely (at least last I checked.)

I really just want to delete her account and start over, but I can't seem to find that option.

You might need a medallion signature. My husband has been trying to get authorization to cash some old paper bonds my mother in law has. He has full guardianship. He has spent countless hours on hold to speak to a person to get the information. He did get the medallion signature after he opened an account at Citi, waited 60 days for the account to be less new, then the branch VP was willing to do it. (We have credit union and schwab, neither offer medallion.) He's got about 4 months into the process and still hasn't been able to cash a single bond.

 

[Dash man]

Has anyone changed their banking information on their Treasury Direct account, or deleted their account and tried to open a second one?

My older sister is going nuts trying to care for her husband with Parkinson, and dementia, so I am helping her with financial stuff.

I tried to setup up a treasury direct account, linked her Schwab account. Unfortunately the routing # on the Schwab site was for incoming wires/transfers not outgoing, so we got a notice from Treasury Direct, saying there was a problem when she tried to buy $10K worth of iBonds.

I figured no problem, I'll just go and edit her banking information. Boy was I wrong.
Trying to edit the banking info I got this message.


As part of our efforts to provide additional security for your investments, you must complete and mail a Bank Change Request Form FS 5512 E to add a new bank or edit an existing bank.

You must sign the form in the presence of an authorized certifying official available at a bank, trust company, or credit union and mail it to us for processing. Certification by a Notary Public is not acceptable.

Your request will not be processed until we receive and approve your form with any necessary supporting documentation. We will notify you by e-mail when your transaction has been completed.

If you have questions, please contact us at (844) 284-2676.

Form 5512, is more or less written English. But it is not clear who a certifying officer needs to be. They say three times that notary public is not acceptable. I called Schwab, and they said they could provide something on letterhead, but it is clear my sister has to sign in the presence of the certifying officer.

Now pre-Covid, I think we could go to the Schwab office and get this resolved, but of course in the days of Covid, Schwab folks are working remotely (at least last I checked.)

I really just want to delete her account and start over, but I can't seem to find that option.

Can you just try opening a new account without deleting the old one? I don’t know if you can, but worth a try.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

Has anyone changed their banking information on their Treasury Direct account, or deleted their account and tried to open a second one?

My older sister is going nuts trying to care for her husband with Parkinson, and dementia, so I am helping her with financial stuff.

I tried to setup up a treasury direct account, linked her Schwab account. Unfortunately the routing # on the Schwab site was for incoming wires/transfers not outgoing, so we got a notice from Treasury Direct, saying there was a problem when she tried to buy $10K worth of iBonds.

I figured no problem, I'll just go and edit her banking information. Boy was I wrong.
Trying to edit the banking info I got this message.


As part of our efforts to provide additional security for your investments, you must complete and mail a Bank Change Request Form FS 5512 E to add a new bank or edit an existing bank.

You must sign the form in the presence of an authorized certifying official available at a bank, trust company, or credit union and mail it to us for processing. Certification by a Notary Public is not acceptable.

Your request will not be processed until we receive and approve your form with any necessary supporting documentation. We will notify you by e-mail when your transaction has been completed.

If you have questions, please contact us at (844) 284-2676.

Form 5512, is more or less written English. But it is not clear who a certifying officer needs to be. They say three times that notary public is not acceptable. I called Schwab, and they said they could provide something on letterhead, but it is clear my sister has to sign in the presence of the certifying officer.

Now pre-Covid, I think we could go to the Schwab office and get this resolved, but of course in the days of Covid, Schwab folks are working remotely (at least last I checked.)

I really just want to delete her account and start over, but I can't seem to find that option.

Unfortunately, you have stumbled across the current process to add or change the linked banks to the TD account. There’s been a lot of discussion on this in other forums. I don’t know if deleting and starting over is an option. I doubt it.

 

[pdxgal]

Well, I just tried to open up a TD account for me and for my wife. My account - no problem. Her account (even though I entered everything correctly) came back with the dreaded "We can't verify your information..snail mail us this wonderful FS Form 5444 AFTER you get an official signature confirmation from a Bank or similar entity") error.

Anyone know a way around this, like trying to register a different way?

Frustrating, as there's likely no way this will get processed in time for us to buy iBonds for her account in calendar year 2021..UGH.

Just had the same frustrating experience, except I didn't see any instructions about next steps to take if one's info can't be verified.
View attachment TD screenshot.pdf

24601NoMore, where did you see the info about the form 5444?

Hard to believe there's such poor usability in this day and age. I think I created my TD account about 18 years ago. My bank has changed since then. My address may have changed, and maybe my driver's license info. Why on earth would they use such variable data elements for verification? Surely there's a better way to do it.

 

[pdxgal]

Can you just try opening a new account without deleting the old one? I don’t know if you can, but worth a try.

Nope. Didn't work for me anyway. Probably they use SSN as a primary key. Got a message about "An account already exists..."

 

[pdxgal]

Emojis offer a tiny bit of catharsis...

BTW, I'm increasingly finding that this forum is one of the best sources for financial advice and wisdom on the internet! When I got stuck on the TD site I immediately looked here for more info.

 

[pdxgal]

At least losing one's TD account/login info isn't as dire as losing one's Bitcoin key!

 

[Montecfo]

I set up TD accounts for both of us and got $20K funded 2 days ago. Will add another $20k in a few days.

Easy online process. No snags.

 

[pb4uski]

I set up TD accounts for both of us and got $20K funded 2 days ago. Will add another $20k in a few days.

Easy online process. No snags.

IIRC as long as you add the additional $20k sometime in January 2022 then you will get i-bond interest from January 1, 2022.... so if you fund the $20k the last week of January then you'll get i-bond interest for all of January 2022.

Not that it makes a huge difference but just that there is no need to rush it.

 

[Montecfo]

IIRC as long as you add the additional $20k sometime in January 2022 then you will get i-bond interest from January 1, 2022.... so if you fund the $20k the last week of January then you'll get i-bond interest for all of January 2022.

Not that it makes a huge difference but just that there is no need to rush it.

Yes. Aware. And that's nice to know. Thanks.

 

[skyking1]

We don't really have the cash on hand ATM for 2022, for a change. Being here has been great for that, our cash has plummeted and that is a good thing!
The new property is going to vacuum it up right up until we sell this place.

 

[Spanky]

Just had the same frustrating experience, except I didn't see any instructions about next steps to take if one's info can't be verified.
View attachment 41327

24601NoMore, where did you see the info about the form 5444?

Hard to believe there's such poor usability in this day and age. I think I created my TD account about 18 years ago. My bank has changed since then. My address may have changed, and maybe my driver's license info. Why on earth would they use such variable data elements for verification? Surely there's a better way to do it.

It is such a big inconvenience to fill out the form and have it certified at the bank. The wait is usually really long at the bank unless you make an appointment in advance.

 

[RetiriusMinimus]

I was surprised how easy it was to sign up, set up bank transfer, and buy earlier this week. even my 23 y/o did it with ease.

so squeezed in a buy fr 2021,and will buy more in a few days...

 

[skyking1]

+1
between that and the roths it is a great path forward for young folks. Do equities in the roths and balance that with the I bonds.

 

[Fermion]

We don't really have the cash on hand ATM for 2022, for a change. Being here has been great for that, our cash has plummeted and that is a good thing!
The new property is going to vacuum it up right up until we sell this place.

Heh, you better get some cash on hand if you are planning to build on that nice new property (btw I love that area, we wanted to buy there because of the rain shadow and proximity to the Sound but it was a tad expensive).