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tina2lam

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    • A warning about bank accounts on Treasury Direct: I have decided my husband and I should each invest $10,000 into our dormant Treasury Direct accounts. (We bought I-bonds online in the early 2000's and cashed the bonds out in 2019 to buy property, leaving a zero balance in each account.) When I went onto my Treasury Direct account today, it listed a bank account I closed in 2020. When I tried to update my bank account, I could not do it online. Instead, I was directed to a complicated offline process to change it. I think people who buy these bonds need to be aware of this issue.  To change bank accounts, not only do I have to download and mail a form, but I must personally go before a bank officer and get my signature certified for the new bank, with a stamp. A notary is not sufficient for this form. All my banking is online. There is no officer of a bank or institution I can appear before!   FS Form 5512 tells me that any of the following can certify my signature in person and stamp my form: "The financial institution’s official seal or stamp, including: Signature Guaranteed seal or stamp; Endorsement Guaranteed seal or stamp; Corporate seal or stamp; or Issuing or paying agent seal or stamp (including name, location, and four-digit identification number or nine-digit routing number), or the seal or stamp of Treasury-recognized Signature Guarantee Programs or other Treasury-approved Medallion Programs." I have no idea what these are, or who could certify me. If I started a new Treasury Direct account, I could input any bank info, no questions asked or signatures required. But since I already have an account under my Social Security number, I can't set up a new one. This leaves me, a financially aware and normally competent adult, in the dark about how I am to change bank accounts. TD says I can't delete an old bank account until I have a new one in place.   If someone who bought an I-bond in April or May changes banks at some point before they redeem it, they will face this problem. What's a buyer to do? If I can buy I-bonds online, why can't I change my dead bank account online? Buyers, beware, and enter more than one bank account to start. As for me, I'm stuck.  

      Post: Savings Bonds

      Link to comment from May 9, 2022

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