I Bond Buyers Irate Over Website Outages as Deadline Nears

What You Need to Know

People vented frustrations online about their efforts to log onto or navigate TreasuryDirect.gov.
Some suggested the government should extended the deadline for buying I bonds at 9.62% interest rate.

Some investors aiming to secure an attractive 9.62% interest rate on Series I Savings Bonds before a Friday purchase deadline are reporting having trouble doing business on TreasuryDirect.gov, the website where the government sells the securities.

Is It Down Right Now?, a site that monitors website status, reported Wednesday afternoon that TreasuryDirect.gov was down for at least a few minutes before going up, and then down, again.

“It is not just you. The server is not responding,” the monitoring site said.

People posted more than 100 comments on Is It Down Right Now? about their experiences trying to navigate TreasuryDirect; some go back a few weeks or longer but most were posted in the last two weeks, with more than 40 on Wednesday.

“It’s been up and down and laggy for days now. Doesn’t seem to be sized/resourced for the type of traffic it’s getting near the deadline. You’d think they would have planned….nah….it’s the government,” one poster (Chris Yarborough) commented.

“Down all morning. Cannot get anywhere past login,” another person (Bruce Lanter) reported.

“Not working Minneapolis 11:00 am Wednesday. They need to extend the Friday buying deadline,” wrote another (Laurie Rasmusson), a view that others also expressed. And another customer (Doug Glasgow) said the site “stops responding throughout transaction.”

One parent (Susan Hogan) posting last week on Is It Down Right Now? was trying to buy a gift I bond for her son. “I’ve registered him but when I try to purchase I get an error message saying I have already met the $10,000 max. He has none, only me. I thought it was $10K per person, even the recipient of a gift. … Not cool if it isn’t fixed before the 10/28 deadline.”

People took to Twitter as well to share their frustrations with the TreasuryDirect website.

Those hoping to get in on the 9.62% rate, which will apply for six months from the purchase date, must buy their I bonds and receive a confirmation email by 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern time, Oct. 28, according to TreasuryDirect.

Bonds purchased on Oct. 29 or later will receive the new interest rate covering Nov. 1, 2022, through April 30, 2023, which the Treasury Department plans to announce on Nov. 1. Rates reset every six months.

“I’ve tried for weeks to set up my account. Website is always down!!!! Help! I want the higher Ibond rate this week!! Help!!” @lizcomer tweeted today.

“I actually made it through after 2.5hrs but of course the website crashes while I am getting helped. I am now waiting for a call back,” @kpmarz tweeted this afternoon, apparently referring to TreasuryDirect’s long telephone hold times.

Another tweeter, @sujankapadia, wrote: “Trying again today – waited another 2.5 hours, still on hold. This is absolutely ridiculous. Why can’t you unlock your account online?”

“These ibond rates are juicy, but treasurydirect.gov is soooo painful to use,” twetted @IFudym.