Savings Bond Changes
Effective January 1, 2012, paper savings bonds will no longer be sold through financial institutions.
The U.S. Treasury Department is leading the way in a government-wide effort to go green by significantly increasing the number of paperless transactions with the public and automating internal paper-based processes. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, these changes will save taxpayers more than $500 million over the next five years.
As part of this initiative, Treasury is eliminating the sale of paper U.S. savings bonds to individuals purchased through financial institutions on January 1, 2012, and encouraging purchases of electronic savings bonds online through TreasuryDirect.gov.
Treasury Direct® is a system that offers electronic savings bonds and other Treasury securities in an online account maintained by the U.S. Treasury. The account is free and offers automatic recurring purchases along with the opportunity to buy gift savings bonds. Account owners may also establish linked accounts for minors and custom accounts for specific financial goals.
Owners of paper savings bonds may hold their bonds to final maturity, which is 30 years from the bond's issue date, or redeem them after the first year at their local financial institution. Owners may also convert their paper bonds to electronic bonds in their TreasuryDirect account at no charge and without losing a day's interest.