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Per the TreasuryDirect website –
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/idme-one-month/
ID.me will replace your TreasuryDirect traditional login and will be required after October 28, 2026.
As was noted today on the Boglehead’s Forum if you have holdings directly with the US Treasury and decide to and are able to sell all such holdings before the login change over you would still need to be able to login in 2027 to get your 2026 tax documents like 1099-Int., etc.
If you currently have a Treasury Direct account it is my understanding that they are sending out email notifications that started today 8/15/2026.
Could this ID.me outrage and threatened exit of Treasury Direct (TD) be exactly what the government wants? Think about it. Get people upset, push people away – that’s fewer customers to support. Want a Tbill? Go get it at your brokerage. Don’t come to TD.
Eliminating paper savings bonds sure made it less desirable to gift one to a kid at a milestone life event. Look at the hassles of an electronic savings bond for a new $50 gift. That’s fewer customers for TD.
Maybe Treasury Direct is effectively saying they just want everyone to get their treasury securities at their brokerage, not at TD. And you ask, what about ibonds? Suppose TD says just buy TIPS, we’re getting rid of ibonds.
Many people think savings bonds are archaic and serve little purpose in a modern world. But I think they were a pretty good teacher to help develop a savings habit for a nation. Eliminating paper savings bonds killed a valuable tool in teaching people (young and old) to save which can lead to overall financial responsibility. Its too bad the government doesn’t see a role to make saving and conservative investing easily assessable to its citizens (young and old).
This is a welcome change for me. Last time I was able to get into my Treasury Direct account was April 2024. It’s been locked since then. I had a whopping $54.70 in there last time I checked, so calling them (the only option) to fix my account access wasn’t even worth the hassle.
I wonder if your money will eventually go to an unclaimed funds account? And if so, where as these are in states as far as I know.
Why is everyone afraid of an id.me account? I’ve had one for years. It’s easy to get assuming you provide correct info and it works.
Agree with you 100%, I too have had ID.me and it has worked fine. Virtually all of the .GOV sites (SSA, Medicare, IRS, TTS, etc.) are now using either Login.Gov or ID.me. With ID.me, takes a bit of work initially to validate but all good once you get past this.
Ugh. Can I redeem my one I-Bond (purchased 2022) now and declare taxes on the difference in buy/sell. I do not want a third party ID.ME account.
Yes, but the difference is interest, taxed at ordinary income rates. And you will lose 3 months’ interest for redeeming prior to 5 years after purchase. If you redeem on October 1st you should get interest through July.
Agree and I would note that the 3 month interest penalty is already excluded in the amount shown in the detailed “current value” column when you look at the Current Holdings Summary.
Thanks for this important update.
I’m not interested in getting id.me. I guess my reluctance to convert my old paper ibonds to electronic finally paid off. I can just go to the bank and redeem when I want. easy peasy!
But my electronic ibonds……..hmmm? I’ll probably wait and hope for something besides id.me.
I actually tried redeeming my U.S. EE Savings Bonds at several local banks two years ago. None of them will accept them anymore. They all referred me back to Treasury Direct as the only option. I still haven’t completed that conversion process.
In the county I live in there recently has been just two smaller local financial institutions who still redeemed US government paper savings bonds. Both financial institutions (one a bank with a state charter, one a credit union) has limited that service strictly for their own account holders whose banking accounts are with long term customers with active accounts.
With all of the changes currently occurring at Treasury Direct my expectation is the number of financial institutions redeeming old paper savings bonds for customers will soon be zero. Over the counter sales of paper savings bonds ended in 2012 and the purchase of paper savings Bonds using overpayment of taxes (which next to no one did) ended in 2025.
If you own paper US Bonds you are likely doing your heirs a favor by redeeming them sooner rather than later.
Bill,
Thanks again for this information. My wife and I created ID.me accounts a few years ago and it was a painful process. I guess I didn’t notice it was a private company.
What do you, or other commenters, think about I bonds held in the TD Gift Box. I started buying some for my 4 grandsons, but now I’m not sure it is wise to keep this going. The 4 grandsons are all minors – 13 to 4 years old. Am I gifting them, or their parents, a future headache?
Hello Rick,
I have not used the gift box but read a good amount about them before any changes from the soon to be effective ID.me requirements kick in.
My understanding of current rules and thoughts-
When you made each purchase of I Bonds for your grandchildren in your Treasury Direct (TD) gift box those I Bonds are then owned by the recipient (your grandchild) at the moment of purchase. This gift is a completed present interest gift for tax purposes at the moment of purchase even though the gift has not been delivered from your gift box. As such you are not able to sell the I Bond and all you are able to do with bonds in the TD gift box is to deliver to a separate TD account for your grandchild.
Typically only a parent can establish a TD account for the minor child with exceptions when the parent is not the financially responsible adult for that minor. Further, to open a TD minor account, the parent must have their own TD account to then link the minor’s account before you can deliver the I Bonds you hold in your gift box.
I have no idea how this will work when the ID.me login rules become effective and I assume such rules may very well change over the 30 year life of any given I bond.
I think if I was in your situation the course I would follow is to ask your adult children with a grandchild for whom I have bought I Bonds to open their own TD account and then add a “minor-linked account” and then deliver the I bonds to your grandchildren’s TD accounts with all actions before the ID.me login mandate becomes effective. A very short time frame.
I do own some I Bonds that I have mentally earmarked for a grandchild (I legally own them) and plan to deal with my gift later. Like you and many others I have had other life events that have previously compelled me to establish a ID.me account. I have not yet decided if I will continue buying I bonds. I make better decisions when I have had time to take a few walks, think and read.
There is of course many other savings options such as to use 529 education accounts, the new 530A accounts or establishing a separate traditional IRA or Roth IRA account for your grandchildren if the choices for beneficiary under your broker rules permits allowing the naming of different beneficiaries for the same type of account. My broker currently does not.
Five years ago my son-in-law opened a highly rated 529 plan for my grandson that my son-in-law controls and I make a small monthly gift through the Ugift program and hopefully I will not have any future responsibility for the account which likely will be paid out after I am no longer around. I also hope my grandson has some nice thoughts about me when he is walking to his first college class.
I hope my thoughts helps.
Best, Bill
Bill,
As always thanks for the great information. My research matches with yours about the I bonds in the Gift Box. I will have to encourage my sons to create their TD accounts (if they haven’t yet) and then transfer the gifted bonds.
We also have used the UGift program for our grandson’s 529. Maybe just focus on that.
This weekend we were in Cooperstown, NY at a baseball tournament for our oldest grandson. At dinner the last night he convinced me to invest in a “Mystery Pack” of baseball cards. I happily forked over a few crisp $20s. I guess they are more tangible than a Treasury Direct gift announcement email.
Cheers, Rick
This is very bad news. ID.me is a private company that collects and stores biometric data. We will not provide our biometric data to this privately owned company.
We use LogIn.gov for access to our online Social Security accounts. I did once start the process of creating an ID.me but when I realized what was required I quickly exited.
I am not going to go all political here but let’s just say that it is best to keep a low online profile: no social media accounts, no online storage, stay anonymous as much as possible, log-in only when required, … and a lot of other measures.
Giving up our biometric identities to access our I-bonds is beyond the pale.
We will redeem all of our I-bonds rather than create ID.me log-in’s.
But, we bought $20,000 in I-bonds earlier this year and will not be able to redeem them before the October 28, 2026 deadline. And there is also the problem of access to the 1099 at the end of the year.
We could do nothing. We have not redeemed anything this year so there would not be any 1099 for 2026. Perhaps wait until the last I-bond is redeemable and hope there will be some method available to close everything out then.
But do we continue to count our I-bonds in our stable value assets if we cannot access them?
There does not appear to be a good alternative currently. It could be that doing nothing may be a valid choice.
Having an IRS.gov account can be reassuring (if not completely necessary), and that requires an ID.me sign-in. I like checking that tax forms are processed and for any signs of fraud.
Establishing my ID.me account was difficult, as I do not have a cell phone. The procedure required scheduling a video meeting, uploading documents, and showing the same documents to the camera during the video call. The entire (frustrating) process took several weeks.
Dave Enna at Tipswatch.com has promised more on this on Tuesday. He is my go to for TIPS/I bonds and Treasury Direct. My current strategy is to wind down my I Bond holdings at Treasury Direct. They do not give me confidence that my heirs could sort through the maze. I keep my TIPS in brokerage accounts. I have ID.me already through SS.
This is the latest from Dave Enna on this change.
TreasuryDirect is launching a controversial login system | Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities
An excellent, as usual, article by David Enna that was published this morning.
There is a great comment on this article from Harold which may be you that reads –
“This is not an investment structure I would force my heirs to deal with.”
I concur.
That was me.
This is very good news for a couple of reasons. First, ID.me is a sensible, easy-to-use verification system. Like the other comments note, I’ve used it for accessing IRS, TSA Precheck, and other federal data systems (especially as a former federal employee). Strongly recommend that you use the proprietary authenticator app that the system recommends. Much safer and easier to use than the text/email confirmation process.
Second, the change suggests that the Treasury will continue to modernize the TD website. The archaic interface has been updated already. Will there be more to come? And, more substantively, will the Treasury update and increase our ability to purchase bonds in higher amounts? Hoping so.
I’ve had no problems with the Microsoft Authenticator app.
That will be interesting for someone who has a Treasury Direct personal account, an account in their business name, and an account owned by their trust.
I would also love to know more about how this will work for accounts owned by a revocable trust.
With assistance from the ID.me help center screen and AI here is my layman’s understanding of the answer(s) to your question-
During life – The grantor or active trustee of a revocable living trust (RLT) verifies their own personal identity using their own Social Security number, driver’s license, or passport.
After death – The successor trustee must create or use their own personal ID.me account to verify their personal identity.
I do not currently have a RLT and if I add one in the future it will likely have the sole purpose to hold title to our home as my state does not currently allow a transfer on death provision in deeds. Currently, I expect a future sale of our home prior to the death of myself and/or spouse.
Treasury Direct has a reputation of clunky and untimely response to anything outside of routine transactions and thus I have not considered a RLT a place I would want to hold I bonds just to get a higher annual purchase limit for I bonds. I do not plan to test that reputation to find out if it is true for me. I use my broker for everything related to TIPS investments.
If you have an IRS login, it’s probably already through ID.me. Also SSA has that option.
Bill, thanks for the heads up.