First I Bond Purchase

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BeaverFood
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Joined: Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:29 pm

First I Bond Purchase

Post by BeaverFood »

I'm going to make our first I Bond purchase by year end. Can someone please talk me through the timing of how long the process takes as I know I'm supposed to purchase at month's end?

The money is sitting in checking now.

Can I merely log into Treasure Direct on the 30th and make my purchase then, or do I need to transfer the funds into my account prior to purchasing the bonds?

Is there a lag between my purchase request and it being fulfilled? If so, how long does this take?
johnz1001
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Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by johnz1001 »

I purchased them for the first time this year, and I believe it took a day or so to complete. I'm working from memory here, and I believe it took the next business day before the transaction was completed. I wouldn't get started the last day but would set up the account several days beforehand and make the purchase. There could be a technical glitch which could throw you off at the last minute. But overall, contrary to some people's experiences purchasing I-bonds, it was relatively straightforward and easy to set up the account and to make the purchase.
Carl53
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Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by Carl53 »

With 5 year tips likely to go for north of 0.3% real and Ibonds at 0.0% real, I decided to go with todays tips auction.
Gill
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Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by Gill »

You had better set up the account now if you haven't already.
Gill
Cost basis is redundant. One has a basis in an investment | One advises and gives advice | One should follow the principle of investing one's principal
asif408
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Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by asif408 »

Gill wrote:You had better set up the account now if you haven't already.
Gill
+1. I think it took a day or two to get my bank account linked when I set it up. Once you have it set up buying them is fairly straightforward and quick. Once you have your account linked, the amount that you buy is simply deducted from your linked account.

Similar to johnz1001, I think mine took until the next business day before the transaction was completed. I suggest buying them a few days before the end of the month just to be sure there are no issues and you get the interest for December. I've never had an issue but others here have had issues getting their accounts linked I believe.
neo
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Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2014 8:22 pm

Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by neo »

I just came across this issue a week ago. If you enter wrong bank info, it will probably take more time.

I had an issue with my routing number , it appears to be changed with my bank and treasury rejected it. And now i need to mail them a form to update my bank account after getting notarized with public notary and you cannot update your bank account online once you enter it intially (:

So i suggest to open a head at least 15 days.
Last edited by neo on Thu Dec 18, 2014 8:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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BL
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Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by BL »

Yes, do it ASAP in case you have problems.
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tipswatcher
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Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by tipswatcher »

With 5 year tips likely to go for north of 0.3% real and Ibonds at 0.0% real, I decided to go with todays tips auction.
I am also buying this TIPS at auction today. Short-term yields for TIPS have 'skyrocketed' ... well, for TIPS anyway.

This same TIPS reopened in an August auction with a yield of -0.281% and might go off today at 0.36% ... that's a swing of 64 basis points. Even if inflation averages 1.5% over the next five years, this TIPS will outperform a traditional 5-year Treasury or most 5-year bank CDs. Some recent 5-year auction history:

Image
TIPS: Perfect investment for imperfect times?
Call_Me_Op
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Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by Call_Me_Op »

Carl53 wrote:With 5 year tips likely to go for north of 0.3% real and Ibonds at 0.0% real, I decided to go with todays tips auction.
You are really comparing apples to oranges. Is this for a taxable account?
Best regards, -Op | | "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." Einstein
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Flobes
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Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by Flobes »

Step One: Open your Treasury Direct account. This is not an "instant" process. Start immediately.

Step Two: Link your checking account.
You can link more than one institution.
In the future, you can change or add to your list by submitting paperwork (which requires Signature Guarantee).

Step Three: Buy IBonds.
You can set your purchase for immediate or a date in the future.

If your money is just sitting in a checking account earning little or no interest, just get it done.

I handled mine Monday. Logged in, declared where to draw the money from, and set a future date later this month.
N52570
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Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by N52570 »

While I agree you should get started now in case there are problems. I just opened an account and purchased some I bonds last weekend, the whole process took a total of 15-20 minutes tops. They never even sent any verifying deposit to my bank account! I opened the TD account on the weekend, the money was transferred from the bank Monday, the I bonds posted in TD account Tuesday. I don't know if that's good or bad.
"Nobody knows nothing"! Raymond
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gardemanger
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Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by gardemanger »

The Treasury Direct site has become *slightly* less involved than it used to be. Although I have a sentimental fondness for the Super Secret Squirrel code decoder card you used to have to use to log on.
MarginalCost
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Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by MarginalCost »

I'll second those recommending you set the account up ASAP. I added my treasury direct account this year, and it ended up being a bit of a process.

As best as I can tell, the site gives you two chances to enter your bank information correctly. But if it doesn't like you information, it won't tell you where the problem is. I swear I entered everything correctly, but it still had a problem somewhere. (Maybe due to whether or not I entered my middle name? I really have no idea. Other Bogleheads have reported similarly inexplicable problems.) When it gets finicky like this, you have to get a form filled out with a "medallion signature guarantee" only some bank branches are able to do this, and is is NOT the same thing as a notary as a poster above mentioned (the form specifically says you can't use a notary.)

I ended up going to three separate branches of my bank to get the stamp. Branch A couldn't do a medallion guarantee, but directed me to two nearby ones, B & C, who could. Branch B had their manager out for the day, and told me to come back the next week. I was about to go to C when someone who worked in B just happened to know that C's license to give a medallion signature guarantee had expired. They called around, and I got to Branch D 15 minutes before closing time. Once you find someone it's simple, and took me no more than 10 minutes.

Then you have to mail it in (no scan) and wait for it to be processed. I forget how long this took. 1 week?

So I recommend you get started now, and plan to be able to get around during bank hours in within the next week if you want to be sure you can make a purchase in 2014.
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gardemanger
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Re: First I Bond Purchase

Post by gardemanger »

Here's a previous thread on the thorny road to getting a medallion signature:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=146329
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