Converting I-Bonds

[lawman]

I have a Treasury Direct account with several bonds that are on-line only and I also have some older paper I-bonds. I want to convert my paper bonds to my Treasury Direct account..I have created a linked account and created a manifest showing the information for each paper bond I hold..I printed out the manifest and may send it in along with my paper bonds..I'm very nervous that this will get screwed up or lost..Has anyone here done this? Did it go smoothly? Should I send it through registered mail? Most importantly how difficult will it be to get my bonds replaced in the event they are lost?

Any and all comments are appreciated...Thanks!

 

[Dash man]

I did it years ago and it was no problem. I believe I used Priority Mail. It was no more than two weeks for them to show up in the linked account. A few months later I imported them into my primary account so I didn’t have to deal with two accounts.
I’ve never lost a bond, but I did keep a record of them in case they got lost.

 

[lawman]

I did it years ago and it was no problem. I believe I used Priority Mail. It was no more than two weeks for them to show up in the linked account. A few months later I imported them into my primary account so I didn’t have to deal with two accounts.
I’ve never lost a bond, but I did keep a record of them in case they got lost.

How did you import them from the linked account?

 

[JARON46]

I converted my paper savings bonds to Treasury Direct years ago, everything went smoothly.
They will show up on your Treasury Direct account as converted bonds, then at some point you can move them to your regular Treasury Direct account.

 

[Dash man]

How did you import them from the linked account?

It’s been a long time, but under ManageDirect, then Manage My Securities, there is a link to Transfer Securities.

 

[RunningBum]

I don't recall the process or source, but when I was considering whether to trust the mail to deliver my paper bond for my tax refund it looked pretty simple to replace if it got lost. Or maybe I found a post somewhere from someone who had gone through it successfully.

 

[mystang52]

I had a large number of individual paper bonds. Several years ago I converted them to electronic. Same as Dash Man, the process went smoothly and was completed in about 2 weeks, and yes they recorded all of the bonds.
Note, after it is completed: when you go into TD you will see 2 categories: "Electronic" and "Converted." So, you have to click on each, separately, to view your Bonds.

 

[Sunset]

I'd take photos of them before sending, in case you need information from them that you haven't recorded, plus it's easy to take a photo.

 

[rodi]

I was nervous the first time I did the manifest/mail thing. But it's worked perfectly every time.

I strongly urge you to convert to electronic so you can avoid what my husband is going through. His mom loved bonds. Bought stacks and stacks of $200 savings bonds. They went back many decades. Then she got dementia... DH became her guardian. Treasury Direct does not do telephone well... Nor do they make it easy for a guardian to cash or convert bonds. Medallion signatures were involved. He had to get our congressional rep to intervene to have a person from treasury direct call him to walk him through the process, acknowledge they'd received the medallion signature, and acknowledge they were ready to receive the paper bonds. (He'd spent probably 40 hours on hold with treasury before taking this step.) He just converted $80k of bonds that were no longer earning interest after 6 months of trying to do this. Once converted he was able to sell them. If they'd been electronic - it would have been easier. Local banks wanted nothing to do with it.

 

[lawman]

I was nervous the first time I did the manifest/mail thing. But it's worked perfectly every time.

I strongly urge you to convert to electronic so you can avoid what my husband is going through. His mom loved bonds. Bought stacks and stacks of $200 savings bonds. They went back many decades. Then she got dementia... DH became her guardian. Treasury Direct does not do telephone well... Nor do they make it easy for a guardian to cash or convert bonds. Medallion signatures were involved. He had to get our congressional rep to intervene to have a person from treasury direct call him to walk him through the process, acknowledge they'd received the medallion signature, and acknowledge they were ready to receive the paper bonds. (He'd spent probably 40 hours on hold with treasury before taking this step.) He just converted $80k of bonds that were no longer earning interest after 6 months of trying to do this. Once converted he was able to sell them. If they'd been electronic - it would have been easier. Local banks wanted nothing to do with it.

That's exactly what I want to avoid! I've already made copies and I'll send the bonds off tomorrow..Thanks!!

 

[Sunset]

...... His mom loved bonds. Bought stacks and stacks of $200 savings bonds. They went back many decades. ...... He just converted $80k of bonds that were no longer earning interest after 6 months of trying to do this. Once converted he was able to sell them. If they'd been electronic - it would have been easier. Local banks wanted nothing to do with it.

We have not had a problem cashing in EE Bonds at the bank.
Do you think your local banks didn't want to do it because it was a LOT of bonds ? or just because they were I-bonds ?

Wondering if later we will have problems with income tax refund I-bonds.

 

[lawman]

Sent my bonds off today. Hoping for the best..
On a related note when redeeming bonds on Treasury Direct how long does it take for the funds to hit my bank and will I receive a statement from the Treasury I can use for tax purposes? And do they withhold for taxes?

 

[mystang52]

Sent my bonds off today. Hoping for the best..
On a related note when redeeming bonds on Treasury Direct how long does it take for the funds to hit my bank and will I receive a statement from the Treasury I can use for tax purposes? And do they withhold for taxes?

The redemption thru TD is one business day, in my experience. I've had a few bonds mature each year, and pretty darned certain I never got a statement. Rather, you access your account and there's a Tab, "Manage Direct" and from there you have to click on "Manage My Taxes" to see your 1099 for redeemed/matured Bonds.
Even better you have to do this twice: once for your "Primary Account" and once for "Converted Bonds."

 

[lawman]

The redemption thru TD is one business day, in my experience. I've had a few bonds mature each year, and pretty darned certain I never got a statement. Rather, you access your account and there's a Tab, "Manage Direct" and from there you have to click on "Manage My Taxes" to see your 1099 for redeemed/matured Bonds.
Even better you have to do this twice: once for your "Primary Account" and once for "Converted Bonds."

Thanks

 

[COcheesehead]

I don't recall the process or source, but when I was considering whether to trust the mail to deliver my paper bond for my tax refund it looked pretty simple to replace if it got lost. Or maybe I found a post somewhere from someone who had gone through it successfully.

Why post if you don’t know?

 

[rodi]

We have not had a problem cashing in EE Bonds at the bank.
Do you think your local banks didn't want to do it because it was a LOT of bonds ? or just because they were I-bonds ?

Wondering if later we will have problems with income tax refund I-bonds.

MIL has dementia. DH is her conservator/guardian. The issue was that no local bank wanted to deal with cashing bonds to a conservator of someone with dementia. She doesn't have a local account. Communicating with her bank she has accounts with (from before the dementia) they are fine with day to day transactions done by DH. (They have a copy of the guardianship documents.) But didn't want to deal with bonds.

In other words - paper bonds worked until she could no longer bank on her own.

He finally got the medalian signature accepted by treasury direct and has been able to cash the ones no longer earning interest - and is starting the process of converting paper to electronic.

I convert my paper bonds to electronic as soon as I get them. Much easier to deal with that way - for whomever ends up cashing them if I get dementia.

 

[Chuckanut]

I sent in several I-bonds I received as part of my income tax refund to be converted to my Treasury Direct account over two weeks ago. So far I have not heard a word concerning them.

Those of you who have converted paper i-bonds to electronic form in Treasury Direct, how long did it take? Did you get any email acknowledging that the bonds were received, being processed and converted?

 

[Dash man]

I sent in several I-bonds I received as part of my income tax refund to be converted to my Treasury Direct account over two weeks ago. So far I have not heard a word concerning them.

Those of you who have converted paper i-bonds to electronic form in Treasury Direct, how long did it take? Did you get any email acknowledging that the bonds were received, being processed and converted?

It took me two weeks to see my iBonds on Treasury Direct, but that was a few years ago. I don’t recall any email or snail mail correspondence.

 

[tulak]

I got an email last Wednesday, 3/30. I mailed them on 3/17, so almost 2 weeks.

From the e-mail:

Due to the large volume of correspondence, we are experiencing, please allow 4-6 weeks to review and process your request.

Which might cause a delay?

 

[RunningBum]

I sent in several I-bonds I received as part of my income tax refund to be converted to my Treasury Direct account over two weeks ago. So far I have not heard a word concerning them.

Those of you who have converted paper i-bonds to electronic form in Treasury Direct, how long did it take? Did you get any email acknowledging that the bonds were received, being processed and converted?

I got an email 12 days after I mailed them that they were received, and it would take 4-6 weeks for them to process them before they'll show up in my account. You're about 2-3 weeks behind me, so they might be even more backed up now. But you should be getting that first email soon.

 

[Chuckanut]

I appreciate the updates from those who have sent paper I-bonds into to be converted. I'll wait a while longer.

 

[Rianne]

This topic is a thorn in my side. I do not like treasury direct, it's complicated and confusing. We have paper I Bonds from the early 2000s sitting in a lockbox. We also have a living trust and the trustee, my brother, has access to the lockbox. The problem is, that only me and DH are designated on the bonds. We want to keep them as long as we can with the interest as it is. If we die, they go to probate. Is that right? And yes, worth over the minimum probate level.

 

[RunningBum]

This topic is a thorn in my side. I do not like treasury direct, it's complicated and confusing. We have paper I Bonds from the early 2000s sitting in a lockbox. We also have a living trust and the trustee, my brother, has access to the lockbox. The problem is, that only me and DH are designated on the bonds. We want to keep them as long as we can with the interest as it is. If we die, they go to probate. Is that right? And yes, worth over the minimum probate level.

Not trying to be a smart alec, but is Treasury Direct really more complicated and confusing than holding paper bonds, especially if you die with some? You can set up a Payable on Death beneficiary at TD, which bypasses probate. That alone seems very worthwhile to me.

 

[Yoheadden]

https://thefinancebuff.com/how-to-deposit-paper-i-bonds-to-online-account.html

Here is a link that goes over all of the steps needed to convert paper to electronic.

I received my paper I Bonds on Friday from this years return and was just doing this today. I was able to get to the point of creating a manifest, when it asked me one of my 3 security questions. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of the answer, nor find any of the 3 security questions written down anywhere. After 3 attempts, I got locked out and got a message to call them. So this is what I’ll be doing tomorrow.

 

[Rianne]

https://thefinancebuff.com/how-to-deposit-paper-i-bonds-to-online-account.html

Here is a link that goes over all of the steps needed to convert paper to electronic.

I received my paper I Bonds on Friday from this years return and was just doing this today. I was able to get to the point of creating a manifest, when it asked me one of my 3 security questions. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of the answer, nor find any of the 3 security questions written down anywhere. After 3 attempts, I got locked out and got a message to call them. So this is what I’ll be doing tomorrow.

Thank you!