October 28 is the last chance for investors to buy I Bonds, which earn an interest rate of 9.62%. However, increased demand for inflation-adjusted bonds overwhelmed TreasuryDirect and the Treasury Department. said it could not guarantee that orders would be completed on time.
Many investors have been able to beat the clock and technology issues. As of 12:00 a.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, approximately 82,000 accounts were created in the I Bond sales, amounting to approximately $750 million. That brought this week’s I Bond sales to about $3.2 billion so far, the Treasury said.
Michael Erat and his wife Linda Erat were among the thousands who succeeded.
After eight hours of struggling with the TreasuryDirect website, Mr. Erat received $10,000 of Bond I.
“It was an eight-hour struggle,” said Mr. Erat, who lived in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Erat was able to make this purchase for about half of her husband’s.
Others are still unable to access TreasuryDirect or access their accounts to purchase I Bonds.
good bye inflation-adjusted Series I savings bonds Do not take too much in the focus of investment in many years. They became the stars of 2022 inflation reached its highest level in four decadesmarkets crashed and investors looked for a safe place to stash their money.
As the deadline to get the 9.62% rate approaches this week, the Govt TreasuryDirect websiteThe only place investors can buy directly I Bonds, one of the most visited federal websites, the official said, and experienced intermittent outages for several days this week.
Still, many investors continue to experience difficulties accessing and accessing the site.
Todd Miller of Camarillo, California was unable to open a TreasuryDirect account. He has been trying to get help for several days, calling the site’s helpline and waiting for more than two hours. On Friday, he was told by a customer service representative that due to a system outage, he would not be able to open his account in time to get the 9.62% I Bond rate.
“I think the government should extend the deadline for this sale,” said Mr. Miller.
“We’ve tripled TreasuryDirect’s capacity in the last day and continue to see customers successfully set up accounts and purchase bonds at record levels. Any additional updates to TreasuryDirect in the final days of the rate window, such as a delay to November 1. A change of 1 degree can create a significant risk to the operational integrity of the system,” said the Treasury spokesman.
“Due to unprecedented requests for new accounts, we cannot guarantee that customers will be able to complete the purchase at the current rate of 9.62% by October. 28 deadline. The TreasuryDirect system has processed and continues to process completed payments,” the spokesperson said.
When the customer receives confirmation that their purchase has been made or completed by October. 28 at 11:59:59 PM ET, then the payment will be processed, the spokesperson said.
Users regularly take to social media to complain about the TreasuryDirect website, and sometimes take the high road Making I Bond purchases.
“The TreasuryDirect website is not known for being user-friendly,” said Elliot Pepper, a financial planner in Baltimore.
It’s not just people trying to buy I Bonds who are frustrated by the site outage.
Investors may not purchase or redeem T-Bonds, Treasury notes or T-bills through TreasuryDirect if they are unable or unable to access the site due to high demand.
Write to Veronica Dagher Veronica.Dagher@wsj.com
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