And it will be mandatory after October 28
By David Enna, Tipswatch.com
Over the weekend, TreasuryDirect began sending out emails alerting investors it is changing its login system to ID.me, a government-verified but somewhat controversial identity provider.
The new system will go live September 13 and will become mandatory October 28. This gives users 2 1/2 months to get set up on ID.me, a process that can be tedious, difficult and honestly, a little scary.
- Here is the news release that includes the TreasuryDirect email.
- Here is TreasuryDirect FAQ on this change.
Some Tipswatch readers and Boglehead forum users are incensed by this change and some are threatening to withdraw all investments from TreasuryDirect, a process that would launch a time-consuming process for traditional Treasury investments and a nasty potential tax hit for redeemed savings bonds. Here are some of the comments, for and against:
Biometric data/facial recognition/fingerprint ID, whatever, stored in corporate or government computers, gives me the creeps. An invasion of privacy, and my wife and I have studiously avoided it. … If this is the going to be the only way to do online business with TreasuryDirect, we’re going to have to reconsider whether to remain I Bond customers.
I think this mandate may cause many savings bond holders to exit savings bonds. It could be TD’s intent to get rid of savings bonds.
To me, this will be a simpler login process that is more consistent with other Agencies. Most Agencies are moving to this.
I use login.gov for Social Security. I started setting up an ID.me for the IRS but I stopped when I realized what the process involved.
I’ve had it. I will be cashing out my I bonds.
I’m actually looking forward to the change because, currently, TD (Treasury Direct) has a less convenient login system than virtually every other website I use. TD forces you to check your email for a one-time code that needs to be copy-pasted every time you want to log in, which no other website does.
If you ever logged into the Social Security web site, IRS.GOV, or EFTPS then you would likely already have an ID.ME account. It’s not a big deal.
I too am livid about this. Neither my spouse nor I were ever able to get ID.me to work.
Why the controversy?
ID.me is a private corporation focusing on identify verification but has a sideline in offering shopping deals. The company was founded in 2010 as TroopSwap, a daily deal website with a focus on the American military. In 2013, the company rebranded as ID.me with the goal of providing a secure identity verification network.
The U.S. government also uses its own system, login.gov, for verification. But it has been expanding use of ID.me for sites like the Social Security Administration, Veterans Administration and the IRS. From the ID.me Wikipedia page:
As part of its identification system, the company collects a wide range of personal information, including photographs and identification documents. The company verifies information by sending it to a number of “government agencies, telecommunications networks, financial institutions” and other companies which the company trusts and considers reliable.
The Wiki reference to “companies which the company trusts and considers reliable,” could be outdated. I could not find further information.
The IRS converted to ID.me for logins in 2022. This is from the ID.me help page:
Taxpayers and tax professionals will be able to prove their identity with ID.me by uploading government documents, taking a video selfie, and filling out personal information. Once complete, taxpayers can access the IRS application for which they verified.
Uploading government documents? Photos of your passport or driver’s license? Video selfie? Personal information? All going to a private company that possibly shares information with companies “which the company trusts and considers reliable”?
That’s the core point of the criticism: ID.me is a private company collecting your personal data, including your image. And it has a shopping service on the side?
The ACLU has been campaigning against use of ID.me on essential government sites, saying, “Forcing people to use private ID-verification to access tax accounts or other government services raises serious privacy and equity issues.”
The ACLU in 2022 published “Three Key Problems with the Government’s Use of a Flawed Facial Recognition Service.” It includes:
Even if you do have reliable internet access, that’s no guarantee that the ID.me system will work. ID.me appears to be nearly universally reviled by users for its poor service and difficult verification process. …
ID.me collects a rich stew of highly sensitive personal information about millions of Americans, including biometric data (face and voice prints), government documents, and things like your social security number, military service record, and data from “telecommunications networks, credit card bureaus, [and] financial institutions.”
Overreaction?
TreasuryDirect gives us the positive spin:
The new login process, ID.me, is a more standardized, secure way of logging in. It uses a government-verified method to verify your identity, which protects your sensitive personal and financial information from identity theft and unauthorized access. By using ID.me, you gain a trusted, convenient, and highly secure digital credential that allows you to safely access multiple government services without needing separate accounts.
I have accounts with login.gov, which can be used on the Medicare site, and ID.me, which is needed to make and track estimated tax payments to the IRS. As I recall, I spent weeks fussing over creation of the ID.me account, uploading personal information and having the process fail. The “video selfie” seemed to be a particular problem. My wife had similar problems.
At the time, I wasn’t paying much attention to the fact that ID.me is a private company with military connections and expanding government contracts.
I will warn everyone: If you want to continue to use TreasuryDirect and don’t have an ID.me account, begin setting that up quickly. It might work easily for you; it might not. October 28 is 2 1/2 months away.
Am I thinking of withdrawing all my money from TreasuryDirect because of this changeover? No. At this point, I can use ID.me successfully to log into the IRS site, so I will probably be fine — with the process. Not so fine with a private contractor having access to all this information, including my TreasuryDirect login.
Unless you are prepared for a withering tax hit, don’t suddenly redeem all your I Bonds from TreasuryDirect. All interest will be taxable in 2026. And if you are holding other longer-term Treasurys there, moving those investments is going to take months.
Plus: If you redeem I Bonds, you will need to log into TreasuryDirect in late January to retrieve your 1099s. You will need an ID.me account to get those 1099s, because TreasuryDirect will not be mailing them to you.
What comes next?
TreasuryDirect says this:
- Ensure that you have two government-issued forms of identity ready when signing up for ID.me. This can be your SSN and a valid government-issued photo ID, such as driver’s license, state ID, passport or passport card. You may also be asked for photo verification using your cell phone’s camera. Note that if you already have an ID.me account, you may be asked to complete additional identity verification to meet security requirements before you can use it to access TreasuryDirect.
- Set up your ID.me digital “Wallet” once you have an ID.me account. Your wallet securely stores your verified identity information and will make logging in quicker going forward.
Additional information, including required actions and key dates, will be provided before the transition begins.
I am a troubled by this statement: “Note that if you already have an ID.me account, you may be asked to complete additional identity verification to meet security requirements before you can use it to access TreasuryDirect.”
Really? Additional identity verification?
Also, I wonder what will happen at households with two accounts (husband/wife, for example) and potentially additional trust accounts. Will all these have to be verified separately?
Under TreasuryDirect’s current system, I can log into both of our accounts since the verification code is sent to my email address. That might not be possible with ID.me stepping into the middle of the login process. And it also means your partner may need to set up an ID.me account in the next two months.
I see many, many problems coming for TreasuryDirect users. Let’s face it: Tipswatch readers and Bogleheads are very tuned-in investors. A huge number of TreasuryDirect users are likely to go the site on or after October 28 to find they are locked out until they get ID.me set up.
The ID.me change could be the first of a series of long-rumored “upgrades” to TreasuryDirect. Get ready for a rough ride.
What do you think? Will you truly close out your account at TreasuryDirect? Have you successfully created an ID.me account? Or have you failed? Tell us in the comments section below.
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Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities 
I already have an ID.me account to log in to some other government system. I’m ok using it to log in at Treasury Direct as long as it works reliably.
One nice feature about ID.me is it enables two factor authentication with a security key. This tends to be more secure than an email or SMS message.
I encourage readers to contact their US senators and representatives to express their displeasure with how the Treasury has handled this change, and to request they use their influence to persuade the Treasury to at least include Login.gov as an (ideally default) login option and ID.me only if they feel they must. Who knows, maybe Treasury will eventually relent and allow Login.gov for the IRS website too. (A taxpayer can dream.)
I’ve been dreading something like this since I lost my irs.gov account years ago when I refused to comply with the id.me terms and conditions or replace the VOIP phone number I have been using for decades. When ssa.gov disabled the login I’d been using there, I was eventually able to successfully reestablish access to it through login.gov, though doing so with my VOIP number took reasearch into the individual employees at the GSA (which operates login.gov) who might have authority to do something and emailing them directly and repeatedly. I was finally able to “verify” myself by showing my ID at the local post office despite my VOIP number though I think they may have done this as a one-off patch to the website just to get me off their backs. While I’d reluctantly accept having to use login.gov for TD as I do for SSA (at least it’s controlled by us taxpayers rather than some nebulous consortium of vulture capitalists and, at least in my case, responsive to sufficient nagging), id.me is not acceptable.
So, I just wrote my Congressman complaining about the 1. post-purchase changes of the terms and conditions of my I-bonds since I can’t transfer them out intact, 2. insufficient time given to transfer my other TD-held securities out given the warnings about ridiculously long lead times for such transactions on the TD website, and 3. inability to accurately prepare my federal or state tax returns unless Treasury begins sending out paper 1099s for those whose access to their TD accounts is set to be revoked on Oct 29. Will be doing the same for both Senators and compose a op-ed for my local paper as well.
Hopefully if enough of us do that and/or add or threaten to add a deluge to their already backed up transfer out queue, maybe somebody will wake up!
I have an ID.me account that I opened years ago to access the IRS payment system (the process seemed creepy and very intrusive, took quite a while). My husband has a login.gov account but refuses to get ID.me so his TD account will be closed, I guess? Hopefully we can keep the trust account open but if not we‘ll transfer our T-bills to Fidelity and cash in the I-bonds (even those held less than one year)? Also we gift our three nephews I-bonds from time to time but I‘m sure they’ll also now close their TD accounts.
I hope that someone will sue to stop the requirement that a private, for profit company that can use personal information for commercial purposes be used to access an official U.S. government website.
I will email TD and ask them to consider allowing the use of login.gov as well as ID.me.
I’m in the same boat as you. They should waive the 12 month requirement for those who want to exit Treasury Direct because of the ID.me requirement. Good Luck! Let us know if you get a reply from TD.
I don’t understand how id.me is supposed to handle bonds held by trusts, which it’s my understanding a lot of people have set up in order to get around purchase limitations. Can you association one id.me account with multiple Treasurydirect accounts? and if so, doesn’t that make it less secure? Glad to hear it’s possible to assign transaction rights to one’s spouse or whoever else should be able to access them, but will that carry over when id.me hits?
Regarding “Alternatively we can mail in form FS 5512 to redeem them.”: How do we know that TD won’t ditch the paper form in the name of cost savings? How do we know that they won’t make it very difficult to redeem bonds from accounts that aren’t linked to ID.me, perhaps calling such accounts “abandoned”?
It’s particularly outrageous that existing users have ZERO opportunity to close accounts before this invasive new system takes effect, since they are holding this year’s 1099s hostage.
Is this even legal? (That’s a serious question, not a rhetorical one.) Even TSA allows flyers to opt out of biometrics collection. This really deserves press coverage.
I agree 100%! Also I bonds and series ee bonds have to be held 12 months before they can be redeemed, I have a $10,000 I bond I purchased Jan. 2026 that I will not be able to redeem until Jan. 2027. They should either waive the requirement to hold for 12 months during this log in transition period or extend the Oct. 28th date to sometime in 2027.
There seems to be an overreaction to the improvements offered by ID.me as a more secure method for ensuring a safer means of accessing financial assets. To begin with the US is far behind most of the world in using biometric data to verify a person’s identity. Almost every European and major Asian nation has implemented ID systems that require the same type of information as required by ID.me. Biometric data and blockchain technology are both far more secure than the current id verification methods of passwords and two-factor verification codes. Phone systems are particularly vulnerable to hackers and scammers who are stealing from Americans because they don’t upgrade their security protocols.
The information collected by ID.me is little different from the information that most Americans already share if they own a cell phone or a vehicle manufactured in the last 5 years. You are already sharing with private companies your location, personal data, contacts, shopping habits, and much more, simply by using your devices and associated apps. I gave up my freedom to drive anywhere I wanted to when I accepted the rules of the road to stop at red lights and stay on the right side of the road. I will give up my fingerprint and eye scan to prevent someone else from using my credit card and savings account
Joel if you would like to give up your privacy for the illusion of security to predatory corporations and their government enablers pushing a survellience state while posing as benign actors concerned about our welfare (which they prove otherwise everyday), go for it!
But it should not be forced upon everyone else who has learned from history the dangers of too much power and control in the hands of powerful corporations and their captured governmental enablers.
There should definitely at least be an option for those unwilling to go peacefully down that road to corporate tyranny to opt out of ID.me Inc. and continue using the current public system that works well.
My 2 cents
I agree, Lorax, but it seems like just a few years ago that federal retirees were forced to transition from “servicesonline…” to “login.gov” and I fear that we will soon be required to use ID.me to access our civil service retirement accounts. In that case my efforts to avoid it now will be for naught. Very disturbing.
Regarding your comment that you “will give up [your] fingerprint and eye scan to prevent someone else from using [your] credit card and savings account,” this is a deeply flawed analogy because any time a bank or credit card company changes account terms, customers are given the opportunity to close their accounts rather than accept the new terms. Whether or not someone else considers it an “overreaction,” as you put it, is irrelevant; individuals have the right to disagree and walk away. TreasuryDirect, by contrast, is holding people’s 1099s hostage to force acceptance of this change, which should be concerning even to those who consider biometric data collection to be “progress.”
On a more directly financial note, it also exhibits a culture of disregard for previous norms that calls into question their trustworthiness for calculating inflation. And since ultimately what they’re selling is trustworthiness, that’s a real problem.
After reading yesterday’s Tipswatch article, I immediately became concerned.
I not only have privacy concerns about the use of biometric data but also have a long history of my biometrics being unreadable by almost any machine that is supposed to read them. Given this, I decided to jump the gun on TD and set up an ID.me account now to access IRS as a practice log in. The process was indeed “clunky” to say the least. As expected, the software couldn’t read my face against my driver license. Long story short, this led to a video call with a human being on Google Meet that resulted in the successful verification that my face matches my three-week old driver license.
With ID.me finally set up, I was able to successfully sign in to IRS yesterday. This morning, I tried ID.me with Social Security. I was able to login to the second agency without providing any additional documents or face verification. Both login.gov and ID.me require two-step verification when signing on (passkeys, text message, authenticator, etc.) This may be the “additional verification” that will be requested.
As several others here have mentioned, I am very concerned regarding ID.me and any system that requires biometric data, especially one that offers shopping deals on the side. As I recall, I did not have to provide biometric data to login.gov. I believe that would have been a better choice.
I have a large number of I-Bonds, feel they are an excellent tax-deferred hedge against inflation for the “safe” part of my portfolio, and have no plans to close my TD account.
Given my unfortunate biometric history, however, I do have concerns that someday I will be prevented from engaging in certain activities because a machine can’t read my body parts. Fortunately, I’m old. 😊
I don’t have id.me and probably not interested in setting it up. I will just sit on my electronic ibonds because redemption generates a tax hit I don’t want. But, I actually want to convert from personal to titled in living trust. I know that process requires paper form and takes months to complete. I should be able to go online normally and create the new trust account, and then submit the paperwork before the September/October deadline, right?
My understanding is that the retitling only needed the paper form and no other online action was required (other than set up new trust account first). I believe there will be some email notifications, but no other online interactions required. During months long wait, I should be able to talk to Treasury Direct and get answers and updates by phone – as long as I know my security questions. Anyone see any obstacles to my plan?
Then I’ll just plan to interact with Treasury Direct by phone or paper form until better alternatives than id.me exist.
WOW! I’m absolutely livid to learn about this terrible news. I DESPISE IDme, the company and its founders.
This DESPICABLE company exploited Americans during the pandemic when millions were out of a job and trying to apply for unemployment benefits. I remember reading HORRIBLE stories about the NASTY set up process and the mental anguish it caused so many of our fellow Americans (google it). There was an abundance of news coverage about this DESPICABLE company and the pain and suffering it caused Americans.
All my investments at TD are short term T-Bills. The current login process is EFFICIENT and works FLAWLESSLY. In over ten (10) years as an active TD investor, I have NEVER experienced a single issue logging-in and I NEVER had to call customer service for support.
I would support login.gov as an option, same as provided by Social Security Administration. However, I will NEVER be okay with using the DESPICABLE company IDme. I plan on calling my Senators to voice my STRONG opposition to this HORRIFIC news.
WTF?
Really PISSED off,
-Mo
That’s a great idea: Write your senators and representative and complain like Hell!
At TD I have:
If I never sign up for ID.me, and I stop rolling the Short Term Treasuries over, will US Treasury re-deposit the principle amounts back in the account that it is currently depositing the interest?
2. Five year Tips that Mature in sping 2027
If I never sign up for ID.me, will US Treasury re-deposit the final value at maturity back in the account that the original principal was drawn from?
3. I bonds purchased in 2022
Is it correct that filing a paper FS 5512 can be done to redeem them, now or in the future? I think waiting 5 years minimum from purchase date means no penalty if I remember correctly.
thank you!
Lorax, you can go into TreasuryDirect right now and check which bank/brokerage account the proceeds will get directed to. Make sure it is the one you want. You should be OK, except for getting the 1099s for those TIPS and T-bills.
Thank you
Is there an alternative way to get the 1099’s?
The short transition window after which the existing accounts will no longer enable you to log in is extremely problematic. I. Assuming they rejected October 28th because they wanted the new security in place prior to the November 1 I Bind rate change.
TD did not consider someone who:
Has a TreasuryDirect account today.
Doesn’t want to create an ID.me account.
Decides to close the TreasuryDirect account before October 28.
Has taxable Treasury activity during 2026.
Needs the 2026 1099 in January 2027.
The FAQ lacks this question and answer.
There are a number of ways this could’ve been done in a more customer friendly manner.
I did not even receive the email yet. They could’ve held the public announcement until account holders were all notified.
They could’ve transitioned to the new system with new account creation only.
They could’ve chosen a date after next year’s 1099s are posted up to April 15 to cut off the current log in accounts.
They could have maintained an exception for elderly account holders.
And lastly, what does it mean when they say You may also be asked for photo verification using your cell phone’s camera.?
May?
Send them that message via their Contact Link at the top of the page!
I have a prediction: ID.me will indeed go live on Sept. 13 as an option, but the full changeover on Oct. 28 will end up getting delayed, possibly into 2027. Let’s see. (I am actually fine with the current system.)
I pray that you are right. Meanwhile I will be strongly encouraging my grandsons to set up their accounts prior to September 13 so that I can transfer their gift ibonds. With four grandchildren, we have learned that giving them investments does not produce the results we hoped for.
I’m also fine with the current system. Never had any purchase or redemption go wrong, never been locked out of our accounts. It ain’t the last word in beauty of website design, but it works.
The thing we are not fine with is the extraordinary wait time for any TreasuryDirect action requiring assistance from human beings, a situation made steadily worse by what I’m sure is behind-the-scenes evisceration of TreasuryDirect staffing levels. When I call TD to check on the status of our requests, I’m always courteous and cheerful to the person taking the call, because I know the understaffing and resulting backlog aren’t their fault, and I imagine their work lives are not very pleasant these days.
Yes, I expect it to be delayed. I think that there’s also a chance that the next administration pushes the agencies to allow login.gov.
Since the circumstances you list probably describe most or at least a large minority of their customers, I think it’s safe to say that they did consider this. This looks a lot like the next move toward abolishing savings bonds entirely. First they forced almost everyone onto TD, then they abolished the paper I bond tax refund option, then the gift box uncertainty, and now the government-corporate surveillance and theft partnership gets its turn. I assume people are not generally stupid and therefore they do know their customers (lenders) pretty well and probably anticipate losing as much as a third of their lending this year and perhaps half in 2027 when the people who ignored this try to get their tax forms.
There is no other way to assess this: they don’t want to keep issuing savings bonds. They probably consider the expenses associated with providing customer service to be too high, despite the very low interest rates they pay (both EE and I bonds pay much less than their marketable counterparts, even accounting for the embedded put option). This is especially obnoxious in that when savings bonds were paper, banks handled nearly all issuance and redemption and the costs to Treasury were negligible. I would expect very long (6+ months) waits for Form 5512 redemptions next year, then some additional change to the savings bond program that will make them even less attractive, maybe abolishing the gift box and/or changing how interest rates are set. Then in a few years they will cancel it altogether, claiming (accurately!) that demand is too low to continue it. On the plus side, TIPS yields are great right now, so at least there’s a good place to put the cash from I bond redemptions.
By all means do complain (I will), but don’t expect anything to change. IT conversions like this take many months to a year or two, which means contracts were let long ago and most of the work is already done. They won’t be reversing course, even if they really do want the savings bond program to succeed.
I tried to setup an ID.ME account only to discover that I had previously setup an account (in november 2023). I have used Login.gov to access MyHealtheVet. I could not remember the password for access and had to reset it. But, no problem.
As of yet, there is no mention of accessing my TD account. So, I may not be done but so far so good.
All so maddening! I regret moving my paper I bonds to TD just last year. The processing time is abysmal.
Since I’ll have to bite the tax bullet by 2031, I’d consider ripping the band aid off now. As for the 1099, the interest reported would seem to be straightforward to calculate without the 1099: the difference between the purchase amount and the redemption amount. Am I missing anything?
Yes, the I Bond interest would be the amount of the payout over the original purchase price. Straightforward. Not for me, however, since I am still rolling over 8-week T-bills and have a few aging TIPS at TreasuryDirect. That part of the 1099 is complicated.
Would the information be on Manage Direct – Taxable Transactions? It isn’t summarized but is the information there to do it?
If, as currently contemplated, my wife and I clean out our multiple TreasuryDirect accounts before ID.me becomes mandatory in late October (I Bonds are our only holdings at TD), we won’t be able to access our 2026 forms 1099-INT online.
Whenever we’ve redeemed one or more I Bonds, in any year, we’ve always made screen shots of TD’s Redemption Confirmation webpages for the various transactions, which show the total redemption proceeds of each and the dollar amounts attributable to taxable interest and non-taxable return of principal. Then, when the year-end 1099s are posted on the TD site, we’ve compared the 1099 amount of taxable interest TD reported to IRS with the total of all interest amounts shown on our transaction screen shots, to make sure the two totals match.
We’ll do the same this year with our assorted screen shots, although in the absence of ID.me long-in, we won’t have downloaded 1099s to compare. We’ll have to *assume* that the figure we honestly compute matches whatever amounts were shown on the 2026 forms 1099 that we were unable to see and print. (I will call TreasuryDirect early next year to ask whether, in the absence of an ID.me account, our 2026 forms 1099 can just be sent to us by postal mail. I suspect I already know the answer, but I’ll try anyway.)
Since all we have there are some EE bonds that we plan to redeem after they reach 20 years, we have no need to access accounts for about the next 6.5 years.
My plan is to do nothing now, then in 2032 I will look into reestablishing online access. Alternatively we can mail in form FS 5512 to redeem them.
I have authority to view and transact my spouse’s holdings and we now plan to establish her ability to do that with mine. That way only one of us will need to successfully establish access by whatever means exist in 2032.
I urge everyone who has a TreasuryDirect account to log into their account and send a message to TreasuryDirect (via the Contact Us link at the top of the page) requesting that they leave well enough alone and allow existing account holders to continue to use the current login system, which works just fine.
I purchase 4-week T-bills every week in my own and my wife’s TreasuryDirect accounts. TreasuryDirect deposits the proceeds from mature bills on the settlement date (Tuesdays for 4-week bills) and they withdraw the cash for new purchases the next day. However, if I purchase 4-week bills through my brokerage (Schwab), they will sequester the cash the moment I place the order, which means it’s dead money for a week. Therefore, I want to continue to use TreasuryDirect for T-bills.
Good idea. Let them know! (Everyone thinks they follow my Tipswatch advice. They don’t!)
You’re too modest…quit reading your own press clippings! 😀
I can’t speak for Schwab, but I can tell you that Fidelity works the same way, though it’s not usually a week (for 4-week bills it’s Tuesday to Thursday, 2 days). From the time the auction is concluded until the securities are issued, there is an unsettled debit. This is just like an unsettled debit for any other trade, except that nearly all securities are now settled T+1 while Treasury auctions are anywhere from T+2 to T+15. All that said, it’s not “dead money”; at least Fidelity leaves it in the sweep account until it settles, which means it continues to earn interest or whatever your sweep account does (in my case, it remains in the money market fund and accumulates dividends). This may not be absolutely ideal but it seems fair and reasonable to me, and certainly hasn’t stopped me participating in auctions — including 30-year TIPS auctions that don’t settle for 2 weeks. If Fidelity pocketed the interest, that would be a different story.
As I said, at Schwab the money is sequestered the moment I enter the order. On a 4-week bill, I enter the order on Wednesday for the Thursday auction. It settles on the following Tuesday. Therefore, I can’t touch the money for six+ days: late Wednesday through Tuesday morning.
Fortunately, Schwab allows me to place the order with zero cash as long as I have sufficient funds in my money market account, but I have to be sure to sell enough money market on the following Monday to cover the Tuesday settlement. (When Federal holidays fall on a Monday, then I have to sell the money market the previous Friday, one day after the auction.)
Thanks, I didn’t realize there was a message system with the account and sent a message from the general site yesterday. I have now sent one from my account.
BTW, you can now do autoroll at Schwab without the one week gap: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8667369#p8667369
I don’t do rollovers because I frequently have to change the purchase amounts, but thanks anyway for the info.
Sounds like we need an ID.me rebellion.
Here is an inspiring story about the Flock Camera Rebellion:
https://www.salon.com/2026/08/14/the-flock-uprising-is-just-the-beginning/
You can’t withdraw current short term holdings b/c the 12 month period hasn’t expired…no reason for TD to lock one out in transition! Going to IG at TD for this retroactive folly!
Strategy:
For those that redeemed low/zero fixed rate component Ibonds over the last 3 years AND then used the gift box to aggressively purchase replacements, the tax hit for those newer bonds would be relatively mild if all redeemed NOW. As to those less than the 1 year hold period, redemption next year by paper using 5336 is an avenue.
One could then see how the roll out of this scam log on system goes (and if favorable in your eyes) and then buy aggressively using the gift box to reload!
Lesson(?):
“Never” trust the gov’t too much. Manage income/taxes/expenses for a targeted tax bracket given the gov’t noncompliance in whatever area of endeavor that is important
Form 5512
Last year my wife and I signed up for medicare. We needed to get vetted through One of the two identification portals and ID.me was the one we chose as easiest. This turned into a complete nightmare that took months to resolve. We live off grid. We do not have utility bills, we do not have a mortgage, no car loan. I was using a single tracfone. (not accepted) my wife does not own a phone. We do not work at a regular job. My wife didn’t have her social security card. We did have drivers licenses and tax documents ( not accepted). In the end we had to drive an hour to the social security administration where my wife got her card. I then went out and got cell phones and registered them in our names. ( more cost to me) the whole thing was ridiculous and mentally taxing. In the end we were never able to satisfy them with whatever documents we had and had to have an in person from ID.me zoom call with with us to get verified. Over the top nonsense. I have to assume this is all so some immigrant can’t possibly get on the system, really beyond me.
I’ve been using ID.me for years to authenticate electronic prescriptions for narcotics. It’s much easier to use than the current system on Treasury Direct. It’s a major step forward to make the process to log in and verify your identity simpler and easier. No more getting codes sent to your email that you have to copy and paste, in a multistep process to finally log in. A simple push notification on your phone and you’re in. Sometimes change is for the better.
I responded to TD message with this message:
You may be excited about this, but I and many others are not:
“Uploading government documents? Photos of your passport or driver’s license? Video selfie? Personal information? All going to a private company that possibly shares information with companies “which the company trusts and considers reliable”?”
Many of us will withdraw from Treasury Direct, and this will be another unfortunate hit to US financial solvency.
wonderfully stated. I will write something similar.
What about the 91 year old with no cell phone? Per CharGPT the Treasury basically says to bad .. find somebody to help. Or use their new paper form form redeeming assets with no way to get a 1099. Another thoughtless rodeo for many people. Really tiring.
Has anyone transferred TIPS from TreasuryDirect to a brokerage? Do I have to launch that request from TD or can I launch the request from the brokerage side? This move by TD is identity theft waiting to happen once the private company gets hacked (and it will at some point).
I did. At the time it required paper forms, a medallion signature, and months of waiting.
Seems to me the slide into a dystopian surveillance state is rapidly accelerating, and the vast majority of us beta monkeys better unite fast to stop the self-serving money and power hungry alpha monkeys from taking us over the cliff.
I suspect this is being enacted due to numerous unauthorized access incidents reported by I bond holders.
File me in the “never, not a chance” camp. What makes me especially angry is the short notice period: if this were taking effect, say, in February of next year I would be able to plan around the taxes, redeeming my bonds in a year in which my tax rate will be lower or planning to make sure that it will be lower.
The big question that isn’t answered in TD’s useless FAQ is what happens if you don’t do it. It seems clear you can’t log into TD, but what happens to your existing securities, especially those that aren’t marketable and can’t be transferred to a broker? Surely there must be some way to redeem them, perhaps by written instructions, at a time (at least within a particular year, even if there are lengthy delays and no guarantee of quick access to your money) of your choosing.
it’s way too short of notice, agreed
There is a paper form now for redeeming … from ChatGPT , he found “Treasury’s FS Form 5512 (revised April 2026) can be used to redeem electronic EE or I savings bonds held in a TreasuryDirect account. “
This is also my situation:
Under TreasuryDirect’s current system, I can log into both of our accounts since the verification code is sent to my email address. That might not be possible with ID.me stepping into the middle of the login process. And it also means your partner may need to set up an ID.me account in the next two months.
Argh!
Hi .. my solution to this problem with Passkey authentication is to use a password manager that handles passkeys – I use 1Password. Multiple authentication keys can store in the account, life goes on without SMS text messages.
Your spouse can grant you transaction rights and then you can view and transact their holdings. Look for “Assign View or Transact rights” at the “ManageDirect” tab under “Manage My Securities”.
We have set that up both ways, so that only one of us will need to successfully re-establish access, if they go ahead with this.
Thanks, I wasn’t aware of that. That will work fine for our I-Bonds.
This is good advice and today I assigned transact rights on our holdings We both already had view rights, and since we can log into either account under today’s rules, we in effect had transact rights. After the changeover, which account will the ID.me process open? Will both be possible? Will there be a second stage to place the account number? Won’t know until the first phase launches.
Good advice. I also was unaware of this feature.
I gave myself transaction rights in my wife’s TD account holdings.
The account holdings can be managed by clicking the ManageDirect tab at the top of the page. Then using Manage My Shared Securities should bring the shared securities to view.
Is there a way to do the – Look for “Assign View or Transact rights” at the “ManageDirect” tab under “Manage My Securities”. – and not do it security by security
What about the 91 year olds who don’t have a cell phone? What I get from ChatGPT is that the Treasury says they don’t care. Find somebody to help with the process and they have a mail-in form for redeeming savings bonds. No discussion of how to use the form to get a 1099. Another plan with no planning or thought.
FWIW, I’m 47 and haven’t had a cell phone in 12 years. Don’t need one, don’t want one, and certainly won’t buy one for this. Indeed, avoiding tracking and surveillance as well as corporate data leaks are my primary reasons. Of course there are also the enormous costs. If your service requires a phone, I am not your customer. Goodbye TD, borrow from someone else I guess. Maybe China?
I have an id.me account that I had to establish in order to pay VA unemployment tax for household employees. Setting it up was a chore.
My only connection with TreasuryDirect is four tranches of converted I-Bonds maturing Nov 2028 through May 2031. I have never transacted any other business on TD and never will. I will just leave the I-Bonds there until they mature.
If TD follows through with the elimination of the Zero % Certificate of Indebtedness (by August 31 as announced in July), so that my I-Bond maturity proceeds will be paid directly into my linked bank account, my need to log in will be minimal to non-existent. I know they don’t mail out 1099s, but I do my own tax returns and can easily figure out the amount of thetaxable interest paid out on maturity.
As I’ve said earlier, I am working my way out of Treasury Direct. I have I Bonds that are coming up on their 30-year maturities in the next 3 years. I have been cashing a portion each year to spread the tax hit. I do have an ID.me account that I set up for other federal access. This is not an investment structure I would force my heirs to deal with. I don’t need cryptic instructions, security concerns and bad programming. There are better choices.
I think this is a great choice