Oct. 28 is the last chance for investors to buy I Bonds that earn an interest rate of 9.62%. However, a surge in demand for inflation-adjusted bonds has overwhelmed the TreasureDirect site and the Treasury Department. said that it cannot guarantee that the orders will be completed on time.
Many investors managed to beat the clock and the technological problems. As of 12:00 p.m. ET, about 52,000 accounts had been created and more than $500 million in I bonds had been purchased on Friday alone, the Treasury said. On Thursday, about 82,000 accounts were created totaling about $750 million in I Bond sales. That brings I Bond sales this week to about $3.2 billion so far, the Treasury said. Five thousand new accounts were created per hour on Friday, Treasury said
Michael Erat and his wife, Linda Erat, were among the thousands of successful people.
After eight hours of wrestling with the TreasureDirect website, Mr. Erat purchased his $10,000 I bond allotment.
“It was an eight-hour fight,” said Mr. Erat, who lives in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Erat managed to make the purchase in about half the time of her husband.
Others have not yet been able to access the TreasuryDirect site or log into their account to purchase I Bonds.
sure, serious Series I inflation-adjusted savings bonds it doesn’t capture much of the investment attention in most years. They became breakout stars of 2022 as Inflation hit a four-decade highmarkets crashed and investors looked for a safe place to park their money.
As the deadline to obtain the 9.62% rate approached this week, the government TreasuryDirect SiteThe only place where investors can buy I bonds directly, it has become one of the most visited federal websites, officials said, and has experienced intermittent outages for several days this week.
Still, many investors continue to have difficulty accessing and logging into the site.
Todd Miller, who lives in Camarillo, California, has been unable to unlock his TreasureDirect account. He has been trying to get help for several days, calling the site’s help number and waiting more than two hours. On Friday, a customer service representative told him that, due to system outages, he would not be able to unlock his account in time to get the 9.62% Bonus I rate.
“I think the government should extend the timeframe for this sale,” Mr. Molinero said.
“We have tripled TreasuryDirect capacity in the last day and continue to see customers create accounts and successfully purchase bonds at record levels. Any additional updates from TreasuryDirect during the last days of the rate window, such as a delay until November 1. 1 rate change, would pose a significant risk to the operational integrity of the system,” a Treasury spokesman said.
“Due to unprecedented requests for new accounts, we cannot guarantee that customers will be able to complete a purchase at the current rate of 9.62% before October 1. 28 deadline. The TreasuryDirect system has been and continues to process payments that have been completed,” a spokesperson said.
If a customer receives a confirmation that their purchase has been made or completed before October 1. 28 11:59:59 pm ET, then the payment will be processed, a spokesman said.
Users regularly take to social media to complain about the TreasuryDirect website and sometimes They make every effort to make your purchases of Bonds I.
“The TreasureDirect website is not known for its ease of use,” said Elliot Pepper, a financial planner in Baltimore.
It’s not just people trying to buy I Bonds who are frustrated with site outages.
Investors cannot buy or redeem Treasury Bonds, Treasury Notes, or Treasury Bills through TreasuryDirect if they are unable to access the site or log in due to high demand.
Write Veronica Dagher at Veronica.Dagher@wsj.com
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