Treasury Direct - I bonds

Submitted by great9904 t3_yewew4 in personalfinance

I was trying to buy I bonds but my Treasury Direct account needs to be verified via filling out FS Form 5444.

Does anyone know if I mail that in on Monday will my account be verified before the end of the year? If so I’ll have my husband buy me a $10k gift now and gift it before the end of the year and another one for 2023. But if the account won’t be verified in time I’ll just do the one gift for 2023 (don’t want to be stuck having to give the other in 2024 if it couldn’t be gifted in 2022).

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nothlit t1_iu0a0ij wrote

They say it can take up to 13 weeks, but many people have reported it taking less time than that. I'd say you have a chance of getting it done this year, but no guarantee.

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great9904 OP t1_iu0bpp5 wrote

Yeah I saw it could take up to 13 weeks, but I wasn’t sure if that’s just something they say in case it takes that long or if generally people were getting it done in less time than that. Guess I’ll roll the dice and buy the gift now hoping it will be verified before the end of the year

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limitless__ t1_iu0gekn wrote

I'm sure it'll be verified by end of year but the rate changes from 9% to 6% tomorrow so just be aware of that.

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great9904 OP t1_iu0i6ui wrote

Yeah I saw the rate change, I figured if we can lock the 9% for the next 6 months we’re in better shape than what the money was getting in our savings account. It’s our house reno fund, so we still have probably 1.5-2 years until we need access to it

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lart2150 t1_iu0pe1j wrote

They also sell some bills they sell about every week for different lengths that are not as good as ibonds now but still gonna be better then savings or a cd.

edit: with the website being so broken right now I think this is the same data https://home.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/TextView?type=daily_treasury_yield_curve&field_tdr_date_value_month=202210

edit2: https://web.archive.org/web/20221023230928/https://www.treasurydirect.gov/marketable-securities/treasury-bills/

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DamoclesV3 t1_iu0q532 wrote

The website is apparently down and there’s reports that orders won’t get filled before the rates reset. Something to look into

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great9904 OP t1_iu0ts9u wrote

Well that would be a bummer. All my orders are in, so hopefully they get filled before the rate change

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WhileNotLurking t1_iu0awp3 wrote

Edit: I'm an idiot. By the end of the year it should be fine. Just not before the rates change.

It's not going to happen that fast. Even if you priority overnighted the form it would be own to two business days before the cut off - and there are likely hundreds of others in front of you.

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great9904 OP t1_iu0bism wrote

Okay thanks! Yeah I know it won’t happen before the rate changes. The plan was to buy $10k for each of us and then each buy a $10k gift for 2023, but my account didn’t get verified so I was hoping we could at least have my husband gift me $10k this year (buying it now with the rate now) and then he’ll also gift me $10k in 2023

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PattyRain t1_iu0uaqr wrote

My memory is not great on details. We opened accounts in April, but I don't remember the FS Form 5444 thing. How do I know if I actually did that or not?

I'm also a little confused - if my son opens an account today, but it isn't verified for another week does that mean he gets the 6% instead of the 9?

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great9904 OP t1_iu1q71k wrote

It’s possible you didn’t have to do that form, my husband didn’t but for some reason my account couldn’t be verified.

And based on my understanding if your son isn’t able to purchase the bonds now because his account isn’t verified then he would not get the 9% interest. What I did is have my husband buy the bond for me as a gift and once my account is verified he will gift it to me (which hopefully is before the end of the year so it can count towards my 2022 limit).

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