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 
For the rest of you: if you’re old enough to use TreasuryDirect, you probably need to log in to Social Security anyway. You should, right now, sign up with ID.me on Social Security just so you have the skidway greased.
Cheers!
Just noting that Social Security also uses Login.gov.
ID.me and October 2026 deadline:
What if I never received an email from Treasury Direct notifying me of the change?
I have an entity that is a holder. How can I use picture IDs to verify?
The Treasury FAQs address entities:
I manage an entity account, such as a corporation, trust, or estate. How will ID.me verification work for entity account managers?
For entity accounts like businesses or trusts, ID.me verifies the individual account manager (using their government-issued information) rather than the entity itself. The person in charge of the entity (such as the POA, manager or trustee) must verify their personal identity through ID.me first. While your personal details will be kept safe, private, locked, and managed by ID.me, the business or trust details can still be updated with help from TreasuryDirect Customer Support.
These do not address what happens to an account and its access upon a death of the account manager, a trust that is not funded except upon death of an account holder and other changes.
Verifying identity for a login would seem to be an inherently governmental function that should be done in-house, not contracted out. The id.me mechanism is unstable, because what if the contract moves elsewhere in the future? I’m assuming the Treasury Department is paying for id.me to provide verification (and it’d probably be against the Antideficiency Act if id.me was doing it for free). Coupled with the OMB link someone posted, this seems like a hot mess. Also worth noting is that if id.me is doing this under contract, it’s the same as if the federal government is doing it. So if id.me sells your info to commercial sites for advertising–that’s an issue.
I had trouble getting my account set up on login.gov, too–it took numerous tries to get it to accept my ID photos and facial picture. It would seem that login.gov will have to be accepted in the future, but in the meantime, there’ll be no access if someone doesn’t set up id.me.
This may be worth pinging Congressional district offices over–they can usually get a fairly rapid response regarding issues like this (though not necessarily favorable action).
Here’s the relevant part of the FAR:
https://www.acquisition.gov/far/subpart-7.5
7.503 Policy.
(a) Contracts shall not be used for the performance of inherently governmental functions.
Re: “I’m assuming the Treasury Department is paying for id.me to provide verification . . .”
You assume correctly. Paying, and paying handsomely.
https://www.govconwire.com/articles/idme-bpa-irs-award-digital-identity
https://www.biometricupdate.com/202601/us-treasury-awards-id-me-1b-five-year-contract
I can’t help but wonder how much it would have cost to just overhaul TreasuryDirect’s own log-in system in whatever way was thought necessary, instead of opening a potential can of worms by using an outside contractor in business to profit. The Treasury, a federal agency, is at least nominally responsible to the public. (Whether they do a good job of that is a separate question.) Who’s going to keep tabs on ID.me?
Write the TD IG!
Re: “Write the TD IG!”
As a number of other posters here have suggested. The implied faith is touching.
But one of the trademarks of this pathologically anti-regulatory administration has been the firing of inspectors general and other monitors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_dismissals_of_U.S._inspectors_general
https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2025/10/trump-fires-another-inspector-general-raising-fears-about-oversight-independence/408950/
https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/trump-administrations-undercutting-of-oversight-hurts-taxpayers-and
And the position of Inspector General for the Treasury Department is currently listed as “Vacant.”
https://oig.treasury.gov/about
Loren Sciurba serves as the Deputy Inspector General, exercising the delegated duties of the Treasury Inspector General position for the U.S. Department of the Treasury. [1]
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) oversees all Treasury programs and operations—with specific exclusions like the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which falls under the separate Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).
I ran across this the other day seems our government is trying to force login.gov onto multiple agencies. Maybe there’s hope for TD after all.
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/technology-main/2026/08/omb-lays-out-two-year-move-to-single-sign-on-using-login-gov/
This is a very odd twist to the story.
It’s a classic case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. The ramifications of this new edict remain unclear as it relates to TD’s ID.me’s exclusive and mandated account migration. Privacy and security concerns aside, the timing couldn’t be worse from TD’s perspective given their now contradictory announcement just weeks earlier. For end users like us, it creates even more confusion and uncertainty. Will the migration stubbornly proceed as scheduled (likely yes knowing the snail’s pace of such a process)? Will it be undone down the line (to be determined)? Does it make the Bureau of the Fiscal Service and the Department of the Treasury look even worse (I didn’t think it was possible but it does)?
Rather than left hand/right hand, this unresolved issue with Login.gov may be why it is not being implemented by TD at the present time. Even if they intend to implement Login.gov in the future, it would not be smart to announce it, as the timing is uncertain.
https://legis1.com/news/logingov-technical-issues-gsas-platform-lacks
Not to beat a dead horse, or imply that ID.me was involved in this particular breach, but this is the kind of thing that makes me very wary of giving scans of official documents or biometrics to anyone I don’t have to.
https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/09/my-drivers-license-is-one-of-153-million-for-sale-on-a-new-dark-website/
Still planning to cash out my bonds and take the taxable hit in October when last year’s purchase is available for liquidation. Luckily that’s only about $5k for me.
I’m cashing in my T-BILLS until I can trust TD again.
Will probably just purchase them from my brokage account.
Tipswatch, I know it should be $10,552 which is what my 1/1/25 I-Bond value is in my other account. But the one in the account that I want to redeem is $10,476 which is July 26 value not June 26 value. I even went to far as to redeem it to see if the value would change BEFORE I hit the SUBMT button, but I canceled it because it still said $10,476. I’ll wait a few days and then maybe call TD if it doesn’t change.
I’ve got way too many I-Bonds. Ignore my prior post of my 1/1/25 I-Bond. After looking at my 3 spreadsheets of I-Bonds with a closer eye the 1/1/25 I-Bond, it was bought in March of 25, not January. My apologies for not double checking my records. I now have a little more faith in TD than I did this morning. And 3 less I-Bonds to keep track of.
I’m going to close out all my ibonds and take the tax hit. Unfortunately I won’t be able to liquidate my 2026 ibonds for my spouse and myself without going through the paper process and waiting who knows how long before my funds are returned and Treasury direct not paying any interest on them in the wait time. This is really unfair with them not extending the deadline to April 2027.
i will just let the notes play out but won’t be purchasing anymore.
Eddie, have you considered…asking a relative who has an existing ID.me account to be a new co-owner? For example, can one owner delete the joint/spouse and add a new co-owner relative? Then when the one year hold expires (from original issue) that co-owner can use their existing ID.me and request (probably have to have transaction rights?) a full redemption….putting aside any tax implications. What do you think? I don’t know whether the paper redemption will/may be working…TD is not disclosing the material facts and I don’t trust them. TD also does not disclose how having a third id account is going to access the books and records at TD???? What’s the code for that???? Nothing said.
I was okay with the old login requirements but I don’t want the hassle dealing with the new ID.me requirements.
I’ll just invest my money elsewhere.
I-Bonds add interest at the beginning of each month. If you click Redeem in TreasuryDirect on Aug. 31, it schedules the redemption for Sep. 2. So, you’ll get the September interest payment (or, if the bond is less than 5 years old, you’ll get the June interest payment, forfeiting July, August, and September). I spot-compared redemption amounts with data from eyebonds.info (thanks, https://tipswatch.com/2023/02/21/i-bonds-heres-a-simple-way-to-track-current-value/ ) and they matched.
Note that the Redemption Value shown after you click Redeem isn’t the same as the Current Value shown in your holdings if there is an interest payment between now and the scheduled redemption date.
I do plan to redeem some of my collection of 2001 I Bonds on September 1. I figured I could wait one more day, to be safe.
I went to TD this morning (9/1/26) to redeem 3 I-Bonds. 2 showed the price with 3 months of interest lost which is correct. 1 of the I-Bonds issued on 1/1/25 showed 5 months of interest lost which was incorrect. I went ahead and redeemed the 2 bonds but will wait and see if the other one updates to the correct amount. Has anyone experienced this problem with their I-Bonds?
The correct amount on a $10,000 purchase for a Jan 2025 I Bond should be $10,552 for a September redemption. What were you seeing?
What’s the point? TD works fine now. Leave it alone.
I am blind when I take off my glasses. The ID.me video face verification tells me to take off my glasses, then displays instructions on the screen – which I cannot see!
I guess i am stuck!
All of these substantive comments are the reason to collect them (if one is so concerned, ie not a petition) and send to TD IG. Further having lead time to implement by Federal Register notice and comment period would normally brought out these/those concerns in beta test. This is straight up improper under the deal/terms that old bonds were issued and to be locked out by an arbitrary 12 month hold period is unconscionable. And Bogel, tipswatch host and Foance Buff should have provided their constructive input (by now) to the IG!
For my dad, I had cashed out of I Bonds earlier this year anyway but will just be downloading the record of cash out in lieu of the 1099. I’ll just be reporting that. I recognize that some people e-file and have to enter the EIN, but I have always paper filed for my parents (since they normally owe) and I don’t need to see a 1099 to know that I have to report interest earned. My parents will not be moving forward with Treasury Direct, although the only reason they had an account in the first place was to cash out paper savings bonds the bank wouldn’t cash out, and take advantage of the brief window of 8+% rates a few years ago.
David, thanks for providing a forum for discussion here (the prissy Bogleheads mods won’t allow it). This change has made me rethink ibonds and Treasury Direct and I’m leaning towards eliminating my entire position in the next few years.
The main problem is, why would one let the government be a custodian of one’s assets? They just don’t care if something goes wrong. It’s bad enough we have to rely on them for Medicare, Social Security and other entitlements. These programs aren’t assets, though. Governments aren’t normally in the banking business for good reason. It seems foolish to trust them to safely handle your funds going forward.
Furthermore, I’ve soured on ibonds in general. I’m tired of holding these 0% fixed rate notes. The last few years have shown the folly of hoping CPI would match actual, real-world inflation. If I want “CPI protection” (not inflation protection), I’ll just buy tips in an IRA.
Best of luck to everyone here.
That’s why Treasury Direct had all that security in the first place, including the mixed up keyboard. They didn’t want to take the same liabilities that a bank or brokerage would normally have.
Your points about govt really miss the mark.
Govt doesn’t care? Most govt employees do care, and want to do the right thing. My experiences are that they are very helpful and usually very knowledgeable. Staff and train govt employees adequately and they do a pretty good job. They aren’t in charge of policy, however and they don’t make the laws. And the sea change we are undergoing may mean their caring or helpfulness might be a thing of the past.
You are not obligated to rely on the govt for medicare and social security. You are free to buy your own health insurance and fund your own retirement. You have now been freed from that concern. My experience so far with medicare (not advantage) is it seems to work much better than private health insurance.
Governments absolutely have been in the banking business. Search on countries that have or are running postal banking systems (honestly, something the US ought to do: a low cost banking service that is not trying to fee you to death would be welcome).
CPI is an imperfect measure; everybody’s inflation is different. The great thing is people can adapt by changing what they buy. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is hard.
The good news about all this login change is if you want to exit I Bonds, TIPS with higher real yields are readily available.
You may think we are not “obliged” to rely on the government for social security and Medicare, but we are forced to pay for them, so those of us who do not have money to burn are stuck with them.
Ann, you should read up on how much money the social security taxes bring in and how much the annual deficit in the program is. Even if SS goes away, the tax will not, because doing so would increase the deficit significantly.
You should also read up on what the cost of health care is for someone in their 60s before medicare. That small payroll tax and the monthly medicare premiums won’t begin to pay for the actual healthcare cost.
If you don’t have money to burn, you should be very happy to have both programs.
Rocky, I am very happy, that was my point. You seemed to be suggesting that I buy my own coverage after I paid into these programs for years.
Treasury Direct has been so insecure that using it was inadvisable, this solves that. The transition brings ID proofing and much more secure 2FA. Complaints about the upgrade are ill-advised
Not a single person in this thread has opposed upgrading login security. Rather, the complaints are specifically about ID.me as the ill-considered “solution,” which in reality will not only create a host of new login problems, but at the same time will actually decrease users’ personal security by irrevocably providing biometric data to a highly questionable private company. Furthermore, even if you’re fine with that, surely you can acknowledge that this haphazard, rushed rollout is not the way to implement it.
A consise statement of the situation. Well said. Thanks.
A classic case of a solution searching for a problem.
I suggest that holder of Ibonds may want to read the Regulatory Rules of the Road for same, including use of power of attorneys, changing a co-owner, liability of TD, etc. The basics start at… https://www.treasurydirect.gov/laws-and-regulations/
Thanks for sharing this link.The regulations here do not seem to allow for 3rd Party account creation:
§ 363.10 What is a TreasuryDirect ® account?
A TreasuryDirect account is an online account maintained by us solely in your name in which you may hold and conduct transactions in eligible book-entry Treasury securities
It says “the account is an online account MAINTAINED BY US…”
And this part of the regulation indicates only verification of identity may be done by a verification service, not account creation:
§ 363.14 How will you verify my identity?
(a) Individual. When you establish an account, we may use a verification service to verify your identity using information you provide about yourself on the online application. At our option, we may require offline verification
Can one change a current co-owner to any individual/family member that has an account with TD/ID.me and thus no need for new registration for original owner? Can one issue a power of attorney to spouse or… and then submit the properly executed poa to TD and “demand” paper redemption w/o TD/ID.me registration? A lot of ways may be potentially suggested by reading the regs! And your counsel says “what?”
Note, “when you establish an account…” It does say “at any time” (perhaps someplace else?) Regs are tricky!
I have used ID.me with no problems on IRS, Medicare, SS and found it easy to sign up. Yes, I’ll do this early in case there are additional requirements. I can’t imagine that being much of a problem though. I chuckle a bit about concern that a private company is involved with your data vice Uncle Sam. Contractors are probably more involved in your data than you might think. And then there are the private credit bureaus.
Perhaps this is a good example of why you should be careful for what you ask for. TD sees this as upgrading its logon process. I’ve read many complaints about the TD website although I’ve had no problems for the years I’ve used it. I actually like the lack of too many bells and whistles and have no trouble buying I-bonds and checking my balances. But then I’ve never tried to change my primary banking information. It’s easy to add a secondary though. Have I just been lucky?
I had to create an ID.me account a few years ago. I believe it was to make estimated federal income tax payments through the IRS website. I don’t recall any problems signing up, I did have to provide the documentation discussed here. I haven’t used ID.me much recently, as I haven’t had to make estimated tax payments and I think I used login.gov for the Social Security website. I just tried accessing IRS.gov and SSA.gov using Id.me and had no issues. I’m not a supporter of ID.me nor do I know much about it except as a mechanism to access certain federal govt websites. I think the timing of the requirement is too short and could cause real issues for some people. Since I already have an account, I plan to take a wait and see approach.
Have an ID.ME due to USPTO from a couple of years ago. Logged in and found a bunch of ads for services I do not want. Then I ended up scrolling though endless tiles for services and connection I do not want or need. THen found the USPTO, to just test this out. Fail! Needed to install one of three authentication apps. Whoa! Of, so I recognized one of them; OKTA used for DoD stuff recently. Ok, tried and it failed. Spend 2 hours fumpling around in a death loop of log in fail (how come it worked 2 years ago?). The I decided to install OKTA on my Macbook using the apple store download…MAGIC! logged in without any authentication effort of MFA…REALLY? IS this actually a reliable way to use a website with financial information and equity??? Completely opaque. Next move: Divested everything from TD. Done. Cheers, -Cyborg
The one positive I see is it simplifies my decision between TIPs & iBonds. TIPs it is.
Absolutely agree. I’ll be buying TIPS; I can do this in an IRA. Right now, TIPS held in an IRA are better than i-bonds.
If I were to keep my ibonds then not only would I have to set up an ID.me account (sharing personal data and biometrics with a questionable corporation), if something happened to me, people who are beneficiaries on my ibonds would likely have to as well.
So I’d be forcing them to share their personal data and biometrics with a questionable corporation.
No thank you. Luckily I haven’t purchased any ibonds in the past year.
Treasury Direct’s paper form 5512 may be a way around ME having to set up an ID.me account to sell ibonds but I wouldn’t be able to purchase more. Pointless to hold on to the small amount I own. I had intended to purchase more.
I’m not making any moves right away; I’m hoping Congress hears about this (call your representatives and senators) and forces Treasury Direct to at least have a longer transition period, if not completely re-think this. With a longer transition period, one of my i-bonds might hit 5 years, and I wouldn’t be sacrificing 3 months of interest.
August 17 notice with October 28 switch is short notice. Since they hold iBonds for a year before you can redeem, they need to provide at least a year’s notice, plus time to access 1099.
I really hate this. I had to setup an ID.me account a little over three years ago because an online account that I had with an insurance company (not a government agency) required it for access. It was a royal pain.
My wife also has a Treasury Direct account and will need to set up an ID.Me account. I thought about just cashing in the limited number of I Bonds she has in her account but that still would not resolve the problem with receiving the tax documents in January.
I am also about 4 months into the process (Treasury Direct says on it can take 10 months or longer on it’s website) of having some I Bonds transferred out of a trust that my deceased mother owned into my name. These I Bonds date back to 2001-2003 and pay a really good rate of interest but will need to be cashed in over a number of years to avoid a really nasty tax hit.
Dealing with Treasury Direct and an estate is way too complicated and takes way too long.
So, it looks like I am stuck with Treasury Direct for several more years at least. I really need to get away from them.
You can file your taxes without the 1099. You just need to report the amount of interest earned from the ibonds sold on your taxes.
We are preparing our estate plans. We each have separate I Bond accounts, naming each other as beneficiary. In case we were to meet our demise simultaneously we wanted to add a secondary beneficiary for each of us. I had called TD and asked if each of us could add a secondary beneficiary and we were informed it is not permissible.
I was informed I would select Beneficiary add my name as owner of the bond and I could add only one beneficiary. TD also stated each bond may have a different beneficiary. If true, this is unfortunate as the I Bonds would go to probate.
Can you kindly share your thoughts?
Thank you,
Ed
Honestly, I would try to set up a plan to sell all I Bonds before the 2nd person’s death and let that person or the estate pay the taxes. This is especially true for early-year I Bonds with high inflation accruals. But I am NOT a tax expert.
Thanks so much, I am just over Tier 3 IRMA no headroom for me to see now. I appreciate the help!
We had the same issues and decided to put our I-Bonds in our living trust account. The trust has a secession of alternate trustees to step in and administer the trust should we both meet our demise at the same time. In effect it will provide you to name as many beneficiaries as you want.
Hi Doug:
Thanks so much for your help regarding my I Bond query and offering me a solution.
All the best!
Ed
As I’ve mentioned in other comments here on the Tipswatch site, my wife and I have multiple TreasuryDirect accounts in order to increase the dollar amount of I Bonds we can purchase in years when rates are appealing and we have the inclination and funds to do so.
In May 2025 we filed, by postal mail, TreasuryDirect’s form, medallion signatures guaranteed, to transfer I Bonds from our individual trust accounts to the joint revocable trust account which is our main estate planning vehicle and the ultimate holding place for all our I Bonds, regardless of which TD account originally purchased them.
May 2025. And, as of last week, 15 months had passed and the transfers still hadn’t occured. I would call TreasuryDirect occasionally to ask if anything was wrong, and the answer was always: No. We have your paperwork. It’s just waiting for an examiner. And actions involving trusts take even longer than usual.
The last time I called, I asked: “Imagine that we were both dead, and our successor trustee needed to redeem the holdings of our joint trust as part of the estate settlement. Would that kind of action, with two dead account holders, a trustee with the documented necessary authority, and a total liquidation of the holdings, go any faster than this transfer request has gone?” Answer: No. About the same.
So: holding bonds in a living trust may be a good idea from the standpoint of estate planning, but expect the usual extraordinary wait time, and the resulting delay in estate settlement, for any future action requiring the involvement of human employees at understaffed TreasuryDirect.
P.S.: 15 months having passed, and then receiving this week’s announcement about ID.me, we decided “the hell with it” and redeemed the individual trust I Bonds we’d been trying to transfer. If an “examiner” ever gets to the transfer paperwork, he ro she will now find the accounts empty. Between now and the ID.me deadline, we’ll also be redeeming our other I Bond holdings. As I mentioned elsewhere, I Bonds represent a really attractive security, backed by really appalling behind-the-scenes administrative practices. So TIPS in a brokerage IRA look better than ever.
Look at form 5336 for small estates up to $100K.
All, this not about a new log in system for TD. TD will NOT have a log in system! It’s being oursourced AND the most important part that is NOT being disclosed and/or explained is how the private entity is going to communicate with TD? If the assets are on the books of TD, how is the oursourced firm communicating with TD????
David, as probably the most influential commenter and thought leader on I-Bonds, I urge you to consider bearing whatever influence you have to forestall the ID.me fiasco at TD. You may want to consider this activism even from the purely personal reason that you will lose a significant portion of your readership if they liquidate their I-Bond holdings, as I plan to do.
I emailed TD about trust accounts, and the possibility of using login.gov, but only received an automated response:
Thank you for your inquiry.
After October 28, 2026, TreasuryDirect will require customers to use ID.me to access TreasuryDirect. Between September 13, 2026, when ID.me goes live on TreasuryDirect, and until October 28, 2026, you can continue to use your traditional TreasuryDirect login while you set up your ID.me account. After October 28, 2026, you will no longer be able to use your traditional TreasuryDirect login and ID.me will be the required method for logging into TreasuryDirect. Additional information, including required actions and key dates, will be provided before the transition begins.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please call Treasury Retail Securities Services at 844-284-2676 to speak to a customer service representative. Our hours are between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.
Thank you,
Treasury Services
Toll Free: 844-284-2676
Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST (Mon-Fri)
I received a similar response to a similar request.
There is no action required on your part today. We will provide more information on how to login to your account using ID.me account on September 13, 2026. Please be prepared to create a ID.me account, as this will be the only method available to log in to TreasuryDirect starting on October 28, 2026.
The new login process, ID.me, is a more standardized and secure way of logging in. ID.me uses a government-verified method to verify your identity to prevent unauthorized access to your TreasuryDirect account. ID.me allows you to safely access multiple government services without needing separate accounts.
Additional information, including required actions and key dates, will be provided before the transition begins.
I don’t like the idea.
This will just be more for the hackers to steal whenever they get into the ID.me database and then they’ll have your government ID picture to go along with all the numbers they steal.
Already nearly 100% of all SS numbers are on the dark web from the big data heist about two years ago.
There is no privacy in the USA anymore. Just an illusion of privacy.
That’s why we need to fight for it. Like all the people fighting Flock Surveillance right now.
Is there an FAQ about what to do with trust accounts? How is that supposed to work?
This is the only TD FAQ about the ID.me migration:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/help-center/faqs/idme-faq/
it omits a lot of logical Q & As including your issue.
It’s going to be interesting as well with sole proprietorship accounts. Many individuals may have multiple TD accounts.
I’m not going to weigh in on this change at Treasury Direct, but did want to point out what I thought was a recent interesting Wall Street Journal podcast episode “How to Make Inflation Work for Your Portfolio.” Discussion between WSJ reporters and an academic (Jill Cetina, Texas A&M) who previously worked at both the Fed and Treasury Department. This particular academic believes that the Fed is looking at re-tooling how CPI-U is calculated.
https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/take-on-the-week/how-to-make-inflation-work-for-your-portfolio/FD41FE06-4D0B-44E9-9892-DAF5729392B4
DW,
Just weighing in to really thank you for linking this podcast (also available as a YouTube video). Whether or not you’re currently bullish for TIPS and/or I-Bonds given the looming ID.Me boondoggle, this is 35 minutes well-spent and chock full of very informative insights on bond markets, inflation and broader US economy.
DRG
Reminder that the Federal Reserve does not set CPI policy, or collect the data, or change the weightings, or calculate anything. That is the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Fed generally uses core PCE to guide its interest-rate decisions. It is looking at other measures to guide those decisions, but anything they do will not affect official non-seasonally-adjusted CPI-U, which is used for I Bonds and TIPS.
The WSJ also had this article, which stated (among other things):
Starting with the August data, to be published in September, the BEA is taking a new approach to measuring inflation in three categories: computer software, legal fees and investment advice. Two of those categories—computer software and investment advice—have shown steep price increases over the past year, which some economists say have artificially boosted the overall inflation number.
Even after the revision, inflation is likely to be well above the Fed’s 2% target.
it’s around the 18 minute mark of that podcast where she talks about how one of the task forces appointed by the new Fed Chair to look at macroeconomic data could take another look at CPI methodology and potentially discuss their findings with the “statistical agencies that are involved in CPI computation.” Thanks for the correction regarding the Fed not having the authority to retool CPI.
was there really anything wrong with having paper bonds and keeping them in your safe for 20 years? Lol…Thank you Uncle Sam 🤡
I guess the operative principle is, If it ain’t broke . . . break it.
I Bonds are the strange combination of a really attractive security combined with really appalling behind-the-scenes administrative practices.
I recall many years ago reading the issue with paper savings bonds was counterfeiting. Apparently, it is not difficult to recreate bonds using today’s tech. Many banks don’t or won’t cash them anymore.
Last year I cashed a paper bond I got in 1995 at the Wells Fargo bank, where I have an account. They didn’t want to do it but after determining the accrued value was about $160 and verifying my account balance was significantly higher than that, they relented.
I was unaware of the counterfeiting issue, although I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a certain number of miscreants might be drawn out of the financial woodwork.
In reading your comment, however, what immediately occurred to me is that counterfeiting would represent a threat to the government’s monopoly over security issuance and, very indirectly, to all of us as taxpayers.
But loss of biometric privacy to a company like ID.me, or the escape of one’s personal information onto the Internet, without one’s permission or control and maybe even without one’s knowledge, would, on the other hand, represent a direct injury to the individual customer.
My paper I Bonds always came in the mail directly from Treasury Retail Securities, so I could be certain “beyond reasonable doubt” that they weren’t fake. Faced with a choice about who might be seriously inconvenienced by things gone wrong, I’d have put the burden on the government and the banking industry to take responsibility for hunting down any counterfeiters (as they already do for regular U.S. currency) instead of using random counterfeiting as an excuse (if in fact that’s what they did) to indiscriminately and completely terminate the availability of paper bonds.
Addendum to my comment a few minutes ago:
And, of course, another feature of paper I Bonds was that Treasury guaranteed their replacement if they were lost or stolen, but Treasury makes no such guarantee for electronic holdings.
I do not expect Treasury to delay the transition. While some will have challenges setting up ID.me, most likely will not. I doubt Treasury leadership cares about a program that is a rounding error in government funding and is thought to primarily be used by those not in the top 10%.
Treasury has replied to me that those without ID.me accounts will still be able to redeem securities and get 1099s using forms, email and phone calls. I have asked for clarification whether email and phone calls are allowed for redemptions or only to get 1099s as their response did not differentiate, and how long it would take for redemptions done using forms.
I suspect the answer will be redemptions by form, 1099s by emails or calls.
Timing is interesting in that almost all I bonds outstanding can be replaced with similar maturity TIPS at a higher real yield. The exception being the 3.0%+ I bonds maturing 2028-2031, which could be replaced with real yields of 2.0%. If you look at it on a portfolio basis, though, you might still come out ahead with TIPS even if you have 3%+ I bonds.
Taxes are a consideration, of course, but paying taxes now and not having a larger tax payment in a few years is a tradeoff that may or may not fit into your tax situation or plan. For marrieds, paying now removes the risk that you might be in a single tax bracket when the I bonds mature, a risk many don’t even think about.
There is also the benefit of estate simplification should you sell all and thus have no TD account for your heirs to deal with.
I AM STUCK ! I would gladly empty the account today based on this change. Unfortunately , my wife and I purchased $20,000 in ibonds January 2026. At this point if I want my $20k, We need to have ID me accounts to redeem the ibonds in january 2027.
ID Me has zero customer service people on phones. you can only use. the live chat. I waited an hour for them to fix a 4 minute problem this week.
Having the Treasury direct customer service added to the ID Me service makes me want out today.
I went to my TD account today and terminated all of my recurring T-bill purchases set to mature after 10/28. The small amount in I-bonds and notes I will just leave there until maturation in the next 5 to 20 years. I also set my main bank to a new savings account that exists only for the trickle of coupon payments and removed my main bill pay and income account. To hell with these knobs. Easy enough to do trading through my brokerage which is how I will manage moving forward.
Based on https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/i-bonds/ , it looks like I bonds mature after 30 years. Have you not purchased any since 2016?
If you don’t log in, do you have an accurate way to get the amount of interest on each bond for tax purposes?
I bonds are still difficult to replace with anything available at a brokerage. Nothing on the market is tax deferred, redeemable at book value any time after one year, and inflation indexed. TIPS are close, but they have interest rate risk, which matters to me because I use I bonds as an emergency fund.
I meant to type 5-30 years. But as I-bonds can be redeemed penalty-free after 5 years that was what I was implying. Taxes on I-bond interest will be due the year of redemption, and my hope is that in the long road ahead there will be another way to log in that is not a 3rd party provider.
The coupon interest is simple to calculate as the only deposits to this dedicated bank account will be the semi annual payments from the small amount of notes and bonds I have in TD.
And lastly yes, retreating from I-bond investment is what grinds at me the most. TD is and has been a great place for me to manage my near and longer term cash yield needs. Now that will have to be done through a brokerage, which is not quite as good at purchase/settlement timing, nor give the same advantages as I-bonds which you have defined.
But are having I-bonds worth me giving my privacy away? No. We can all decide what it is worth for ourselves, and if it makes the difference of a small reduction in my net worth that is a no-brainer.
So many great responses, so will not echo but what do we do?? I can struggle thru it and help my husband, who does not use a smartphone. My 94 year mother, who also does not use a cell and lives in florida is going to be an other matter. Can only imagine what cashing in ibonds if they do not expire before she does is going to be like. I did ibonds for simplicity and security. So much for that..
My prediction is that TreasuryDirect is going to proceed full speed ahead regardless of the consequences, and will only consider how to clean up the mess when the media start running stories about 94 year olds like your mother who can’t access their own life savings. That’s a pretty straightforward narrative for the local TV station — people should start calling news tip lines to suggest it!
excellent suggestion. just started my email campaign, hope others do the same.
I *HATE* everything about this change! We tried ID.ME for my wife a couple years back and it failed miserably with the picture upload. Total fail. Fell back to login.gov.
IRS 1040ES payments still support the ancient EFTPS site and login,gov, last I checked earlier this year. Works great! So up until now, I have not been required to use ID.ME for the IRS, Social Security, or Medicare. The quick rollout is ridiculous, and handing over all this data to a private sketchy provider is terrible.
I signed up for the Social Security login at MySocialSecurity.gov in 2023. It was not an easy process. Only after the fact did I learn that Social Security, as a “favor,” had discontinued mailing me my COLA and tax return statement. But it claimed that the ID and password would be used to sign in most anywhere in the government. Wrong!
I learned that this year after I filed a paper IRS return (I do not like having my tax data out there in the ether and stored in all sorts of clouds.) I was due a substantial return. But the IRS would not mail it to me because I had not provided my banking information, which obviously would not have been needed if they had simply mailed the check. I had to sign up with ID.me.
Talk about ONEROUS!!! Besides having to provide all sorts of data, you have to take pictures of yourself and of your driver license. ID.me processes photos on a different system from the application, which may or may not interface with each other well. In my case, I was applying on a PC, and my only online capable camera is my I-phone. So I had to do a dance between my PC and I-phone. It took some fiddling to get the ID.me phone software to actually fix on its target (my face.) Eventually it all worked out, and the bank promptly received my money. However, the government now has more of my personal data than even my passport.
Yet to be determined is whether it allows me to log in next Spring or if I have to set it all up again.
Social Security now accepts ID.me as well.
AI has probably hacked the system already…
Received the IRS ltr too. Waited and got the paper refund check!
Hi David:
As you are already using ID.me, can you tell us what the usual log in experience is like? Specifically, is there a facial recognition step sometimes or even every time, which requires you to have access to a phone or computer camera?
Thanks.
I’m not David, but I’ll give you my experiences with it.
My wife & I have had ID.me accounts since the pandemic, when we needed them for the special unemployment benefits offered then. It was a bit of a hassle to get the accounts set up – we had to do video interviews because some of the automated stuff didn’t work for us. The initial setup was the only time we ever had to provide images of documents, photos/face videos, etc. (Other than when I added my DD214 later for a veteran-related matter).
I’ve used it to log into several government-related sites for awhile now. It is what I’d call a normal login – User ID, Password, and Multi-Factor Authentication (of your choice) at the ID.me site, then you are redirected to the site you are trying to access. No facial recognition step or access to a camera is needed, unless you pick a Passkey w/ facial recognition as your MFA option.
Bottom line to me: getting it set up can be a bit of a hassle, but after that it is not a big deal to use.
Hope this helps.
Very helpful, thanks!
if you care about this issue, don’t forget to sign and share the petition:
https://c.org/PBvXk9Fngt
Done. My plan is to wait for my ibonds to mature (soonest ones are 7 years), taking care not to close the bank account into which the proceeds are paid. I will also be sure the Cusips and principle amounts are recorded in my personal records so the taxable portion can be determined. And, if the grandsons don’t open their accounts soon to receive their gift bonds, their money may be tied up indefinitely. BTW, what happens if the giftee refuses the gift bond? Surely that has happened!
Nothing happens. It’s an irrevocable gift attached to their SSNs. The I Bonds stay in limbo earning their deferred interest until they claim them sometime in the future. At some point, they will realize it’s real money, create their accounts, log in, and accept the gifts.
Thanks for signing the petition.please share it with others if you can which is the only way it will gain enough traction to matter.
That’s great. Thanks for sharing he link. My wife and I been investing in i-bonds for 7 years but I am cashing out today.
We have 108 signers in less than a week. Keep signing and sharing the petition link TipsWatchers.
I like the existing system. I feel it’s secure and easy with a pc. Even so, I copy and print my treasury direct holdings pages just in case of identity theft or if my account “disappears.” I believe that this will be especially necessary with ID.me.
I can’t help thinking that the Trump family gets a cut or kickback from the IDme contract and that is what this is really about.
Well, they did “donate” $100,000 for his inauguration party:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25498471-idme-inauguration-donation/
So IRS requires ID.me, and only ID.me, for access to its main site? If that precedent has been established, I don’t know how anyone thinks we are going to prevent TreasuryDirect from following it. If you own only I-Bonds in TD, you can sell now, record your gains, and forego your tax reporting form next year and avoid ID.me entirely. Or you can keep them, never log in to TD, and wait for them to mature and pay out to your bank. Again, you would have to track your gains and forego the tax reporting form, or make registration for ID.me your final act of submission to the surveillance state.
That is true, but it’s not the way to run a henhouse when the henhouse is the federal government’s online system for transacting treasuries and savings bonds.
But IRS allows several alternatives to filing returns, third party software, professional preparers, even, for now, paper returns. None of these require ID me. As a couple of posters well stated, Treasury Direct will be holding the 1099s hostage, as well as your ability to conduct transactions, with ID me.
The work arounds you mention aren’t good solutions. But your point is valid about whether there is anything to do to stop it.
I have Bill Bernstein’s voice in my head that despite Treasury Direct being a little inconvenient to log into “zero is better than six basis points” with an ETF like VBIL.
With ID.me, treasury direct is no longer fee-free.
Selling our biometric data, SSNs, and personal info to a private company is incredibly valuable, and can never be recovered back.
great point! Even with a 3 month penalty, I’ve decided to liquidate I bonds first of October or maybe September and get some higher yielding TIPS. Other option was to take a selfie with fake beard, but realized my wife won’t get away with that even if I could.
I found an article that the US Treasury awarded a $1.1 billion contract to ID me in January of this year.
https://www.biometricupdate.com/202601/us-treasury-awards-id-me-1b-five-year-contract
This TD development must be one of the deliverables under that contract.
As presently viewed, the webpage article linked by Robt shows a photo of a smart phone displaying an ID.me webpage bearing the slogan “Take control of your digital identity.”
Which, in my opinion is absolutely (although, considering the way corporations use language, not surprisingly) Orwellian, since it is loss of control of their digital identity–or, more broadly their identity and privacy in general–which has so many people riled up about this situation.
2 years ago I tried to set up an ID.me account and was not able to, kept getting error messages possibly because my NEW drivers license is very faded. I needed my SS 1099 as it was not sent automatically as it always has been for the previous 60+ years. So I now call my local SS office and they send it to me. I have I-Bonds with TD and don’t know what to do. It is my life’s savings. I am 80. The privacy policy of ID.me is a joke. They state they can delete my account for no reason. WTF.
In my experience, most privacy policies are a joke, or at best (choose your metaphor) a sieve, or a poorly constructed building with [loop]holes big enough to drive trucks through.
If a company really wants to protect its customers, it doesn’t take multiple pages of Legalese to say: We will require exactly the bare minimum of information necessary to do business with you and not one byte more. Outside of a court order forcing us to do so, we won’t share your personal information with anybody. Not no way, not no how, not ever.
I don’t like this at all. I don’t want to give biometric data to a privately held, for-profit data-scraping company. And it’s extremely slimy of the Treasure Dept. to give such short notice on this, and to hold the 1099s hostage for existing bond holders.
You succinctly said exactly what I feel
Interesting that “customer satisfaction” as reported by users on the existing TD website is rated 72% excellent, 20% good, 4% fair and 4% poor. I personally like protocols as they exist on the TD website. Logging on is quick and navigating on the site is easy….and there are no middlemen. TD is ignoring its own data about customers/investors’ preferences in this regard.
It’s probably worth noting the following from AI queries …
ID.me faced major scrutiny over an internal security problem involving the improper use of Slack. [1]
An investigative report revealed that during the company’s rapid pandemic growth, customer support workers routinely bypassed security protocols by sharing unredacted consumer data inside corporate communication channels. [1, 2]
🚨 The Core Issue: Sensitive Data on Slack
According to internal whistleblower reports and a Business Insider investigation, ID.me customer service agents regularly uploaded highly sensitive documents into internal Slack channels. [1]
🏛 Political and Regulatory Backlash
The revelation that a primary government identity contractor was managing data via Slack sparked widespread alarm. [1]
🏢 The Company’s Response
ID.me’s leadership defended its overall security posture, stating that security is their top priority and pointing to their independent federal certifications. However, the incident highlighted the structural issues of a private contractor scaling up too quickly to meet government demands (like processing millions of IRS and state unemployment claims), leading to severe internal governance and training lapses. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Also
Is it safe? From a technical standpoint, ID.me is legitimate and heavily regulated. It uses AES 256-bit military-grade encryption and is federally accredited to meet rigorous consumer authentication frameworks. [1, 2, 3]
However, because the company holds high-value identity data, it is a frequent target for phishing scams. Attackers regularly create fake login portals pretending to be ID.me to steal user credentials. Always verify that you are logging into the exact official
id.medomain. [1, 2]And,
Despite its wide usage, ID.me has faced prominent scrutiny from privacy advocates and politicians: [1, 2]
Looks like there are about 4 million TD users, what could possibly go wrong trying to force this into a 6 week period.
Have you read through all that yourself first, and is it both accurate and insightful?
I’m skeptical about whether reading a long text that an LLM spat out over the course of several seconds is worthwhile.
Write your representatives and senators. With enough outcry, they may delay implementation or allow Login.gov as a substitute.
I’ve been using ID.me for the past year or so to access my IRS and Social Security accounts and I like it. To me, it makes sense to add TreasuryDirect to it. You can request income tax transcripts, Social Security statements or replacement SS and Medicare cards easily. You sit at your laptop and talk online to a representative and as I recall upload your identification information. Once you set it up, I think it works great.
Let’s really test the reach of our community. Here is my official Change.org petition on the matter.
https://c.org/PBvXk9Fngt
Thank you. Signed.
Thank you, and please share the link. I’m curious to see if this can gain momentum and get TD’s attention on top of individual feedback.
Thanks for this post. If login.gov is not added as an option, I will be cashing out all my bonds. I will have to wait until April 2027, and use form 5512 for the bonds purchased this year. Very disappointing.
The TD website is definitely in need of an upgrade. It appears to be the same vintage as the FCC site, which has so many patches and workarounds that it is almost unusable. But Id.me is not a good solution.
Glad Montenegro makes a few bucks off this. They are a US ally, right?
I’ve been to Montenegro twice, brief visits. Nice country, nice people. It was created from the remains of Communist Yugoslavia. There could be a bit of organized crime there … but that is everywhere. President Trump in 2018 warned that Montenegrins are “very aggressive people” and could cause World War III. This shocked Montenegro, a tiny country with only 650,000 people, fewer than in Charlotte.
I wrote a few paragraphs to send to my Senators and Congressman. I don’t know how good it is or if it covers every pertinent issue but I can post it on this thread if anyone is interested to save some time. If anyone has any suggestions I can incorporate those.
My suggestion is to start with the IG for TD…give “them” a chance, first. Perhaps a cc to that IG letter going to representatives…republicans and democrats.
Content of letter could be that the outsourcing is violation of the deal (terms and conditions) for purchase (and NO right/consideration to amend same), contravenes the 4th amendment and statutory privacy aspects by, in part, having a non-government entity being the ONLY gatekeeper (no recourse if BK by that entity and sale of private info!) on a retroactive basis, no notice and opportunity for comment as required by due process clause, being locked out of redeeming any Ibonds within one year of issue date, no indication on how an external gatekeeper is going to facilitate/transmit an “ok” to those transactions to the security holder, ie TD, not all account holders are being notified of this, and the potential use of the claims court for reimbursement to any/all customers for all other securities issued by Treasury, etc
Just some thoughts for your consideration
Are you willing to share your letter as a sample?
I don’t see the need for the 1099 because all of the interest and principal data should be known and available on TD at the time of sale. I plan to sell out before this requirement is in place and not worry about the id.me requirement.
I’m not liking this at all, the current system is a bit cumbersome but works well. I would be fine with a login.gov option.
I won’t be making an ID.me account. I have T-bills on auto-redeem through around March. My I-bond’s function as an emergency fund is negated if I have to file FS Form 5512 to redeem, as I imagine it takes a while to process. And if I withdraw using the 5512 form does the tax form also get mailed or do I need to file some else to get that?
Guess I’ll fill out the online contact form and scream into the void.
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?
I use the same email account to log in to all my trust accounts. Hopefully there’s no issue doing the same thing with ID.me, but I don’t know.
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.
In the case of Europe, where I have traveled twice this year: The new biometric system for passing airport security is a total disaster, causing 2-hour waits in line. There are kiosks, which fail every time (at least for Americans) and it’s the same at multiple airports. The system was rolled out too early with not enough preparation. It’s a mess. TreasuryDirect should study up on that fiasco.
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.)
You got it right. This information they provide when you redeem an I-bond is a match with the 1099. I have verified it and it is accurate.
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.
This is exactly the situation my Father is in – he lives in assisted living, has no cell phone, no driving license, or other government ID that has not expired and his mail goes to a PO box. I am at a loss what to do except stop using TD.
We invest in up to 2 year notes in TD and he has some I bonds. I can recreate a 1099 by getting the security history for 2026 (that will be a task as we have 14 or so bills that roll or mature monthly) and we can request payout on the I bonds.
This truly stinks and reeks of government “efficiency”.
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.
yes, couple years ago….paper form and medallion stamp front bank….it was quick…about three weeks in on
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. “
Short notice period? Everyone is overdramatizing this. I opened an ID.ME account 2 or 3 years ago. It was not big deal. took about 20 minutes.
Right! And before all the recent employee changes! But seriously, if one is “opened” at ID.me, how does that get you and/or ID.me into your accounts at TD? Where and how does the interface work between them? Why does ID.me get into your records? It’s not like a new access by/through/at TD but through a third party to TD with no explanation of the process and safeguards!
It is short notice for this who do not want to accept the new terms, and wish to withdraw their funds, as detailed in the many comments below.
No Chris, we are not “over dramatizing” this. Just because you personally are not effected by something does not mean there could not be problems for others — especially those living off grid, without a smart phone, or a phone in their name, etc.
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.
I was glad to see that new FAQs on TD website now say that Zero % C of I is/will be eliminated as a payment destination as of August 24, 2026.
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/cofi/FAQ/
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