TreasuryDirect

They tease you with higher rates, you attempt to create an account but can't for whatever reason, so you call, and get NOWHER! 1 1/2 hours of recorded crap, then it rings, and rings, more recordings, more rings, and no one ever picks up! I hung up after 2 hours! Imagine trying to cash in a bond... Is no one trying to fix this joke of a system? Our government doesn't care about the little guy, simple as that!

Terrible. They do not answer phones, recording. Says its a two hour plus wait. After a two hour on hold, I got disconnected. They do not respond to email... I got a msg saying they will not respond unless you have a pending case! I want my account unlocked! Who can I contact? Worst service ever

I was locked out of my account and cannot get back in (my fault). No one answers phone, long, long, long, long wait to speak to someone and, in my case, never. Went to my Congressman's office (DeSalnier) and NO HELP! They have our money and won't help us. It was so simple when we had the Series E cerificates and could just go to the bank and cash them!

Two months ago I applied for an account and was given an account number but the account remains locked. I mailed the required FS5444E to treasury direct when I opened the account. I have sent four emails to inquire of the status of my account and I have received only the standard reply, not a reply that answers my question of whether the form has been received & processed. They need a new business model and staff who actually respond to inquiries.

Reading the reviews here and lamenting about my own experience, I cant help but think, Why Bother! Support is non existent. To think I should invest thousands of dollars in bonds over time then when I need them what will happen? How can we really believe that our money is safe? Hard to believe this is how Treasury Direct operates. Look for Investments elsewhere!

Cannot believe the requirements for this site. From login process (if you misspell the answer to a security question, the account locks and you spend several hours waiting on the phone for unlock).

Their proprietary keyboard is useless on a small screen.

After having spent the last 3 weeks daily attempting to reach Treasury Direct by phone, I've sat on hold for several hours at a time. No one to take my calls and my account is frozen. No instructions on how to fix it, no email help either. If you mail in a request it can take up to 13 weeks to even get an reply. This is a horrible predicament for customers.

Tried to sign up tp buy high interest I bonds. Filled in all the info correctly only to be told they needed additional verification. I filled in the form provided, mailed it to the right address and waited weeks without a response. I tried to open a ticket, got the response they only accept certain cases via an email and I needed to call. I tried to call and experienced a 4 hour wait. I then got an email from them telling me it can take up to 16 weeks to resolve issues. Shocked, I continued to wait, mailed in the form a second time (still no verification they actually received the first one) and sent return receipt, Today (24 June) I received notification my account had been taken off of hold. I logged in, found it very confusing to navigate and then tried to add a second bank account. Told I needed to fill in and get verified again (same info as first time) to add a second account. This is ancient verification process and extremely poor customer focus. My opinion at this point is they are not worthy of any business, their site design is terrible and their security is failing to provide any value. POS experience not recommended to anyone, leave this place to rot on the vine.

I think some Government employees should be fired and contractors given performance reviews. This is because assistance is way too hard to get. It seems to me like they are hiding from customers. Seems like wait times over 15 minutes is cause for performance review. I think people should write their congressmen over wait time mismanaged monstrosity.

"The new rule, found in 75 Fed. Reg. 46,783, approved on Aug. 1,2013 and effective September 3,2013 creates a Government wide repository for contractor and grantee past performance evaluations. All Past Performance Evaluations must be entered into the CPARS system. All Contracts over the threshold of $150,000 will require the Contracting Officer (CO) to make entries into this system."

Getting an account opened is hard. I had to open a new checking account with a new bank to get the Form 5444 Signature Guarantee signed since three of my existing banks refused to sign it.

The website is bizarre. Crazy colors, fonts, at least one bad link, and technical language throughout. The login process uses a on-screen virtual keyboard you click with a mouse. You can't store this password in your web browser or type in your password with your normal keyboard. You cannot even view the password before submitting it, so be super careful clicking the on-screen letters with your mouse. The site also uses a single contact method (email) for two factor authentication even when you know your password, so never lose access to the email you used for setting up your account.

The site will ask you repeatedly for your identity challenge questions even if you enter the right password. It is very important that you record the answers you gave to your challenge questions. If you get this wrong, they will lock your account and you have no way to get to your investments besides calling them. Current wait times are over 2 hours for phone assistance.

Treasury Direct worked great for about a month. Then, one day, I went to log in, and as soon as I submitted by Account Number, I got a message that my account was locked, and to call *******676. I called, mid-afternoon, and the recorded message said that their queue for calls-on-hold was so long they were not letting anyone else hold. Then it disconnected.

Coincidentally, the same day, I received an e-mail from Treasury Direct, saying that my account was locked and I had to file a form FS-5444 -- by U.S. Mail -- to get it unlocked. The form requires a SIGNATURE GUARANTY from a financial institution.

I found the form online, filled it out, got my bank to give the signature guaranty, and mailed it the next day.

They open at 8:00 a.m. EDT. I called at 8:08, and the recording said that the call volume was high, and I had a wait of approximately 2 hours. Seriously?! 8 minutes into their day they have so many calls they can't get to mine for 2 hours?!

There were a half dozen pre-recorded messages played periodically during that 2 hour wait, one of which said that if you write to them about your problem, expect a 13-week wait before they can address your problem. So, much for rushing to send in the form FS-5444.

Finally spoke to someone who looked at my account, said it was locked with a code she did not have the authority to override, and that all she could do was forward my case to the one person with authority to override the code. Could I have a case number? No. Could I have the name and number of the person with the override authority? No.

But she said that I would receive a call back within 2 days.

I did not receive a call back within 2 days. I have not received that call and it's been nearly 3 weeks.

Every day, for a week after that, I'd try to log in, then I'd call the *******676 number as near to 8:00 a.m. as I could manage. The message always said that the estimated wait was 2 hours. One day, I waited nearly 4 hours.

When they answer, no one can help. No one can give me a case number. No one can transfer me to a supervisor. No one can give me a name or address other than the 13-week-wait address I already had. One woman just hung up on me. With one exception, they all said that my case has been forwarded and that I should wait for the call back.

When I said that the 2 days was long past, and asked what was I to do, just wait indefinitely while the Government uses my money, interest-free? I was told, "You don't have to wait indefinitely. Just until you get the call back."

The one exception: one rep said that they had just had a big conference call with Washington. They are inundated, swamped, with problems just like mine. In that conference call they were told to forward situations like mine directly to a specific number in Washington. She could not give me that number because, on their system, it is just a 4-digit code. But she transferred me.

The phone rang for the rest of the afternoon. Once it got to be past 4:30 p.m. in Washington, I assumed that no one would answer. But I thought I'd let it ring all night. Maybe the first person in, in the morning would answer. Alas, sometime after 8 p.m. someone (probably a cleaning person) picked it up and hung up.

I wrote to my congresswoman and my 2 Senators. My congresswoman said she'd look into it. My two Senators did nothing. I've been locked out for nearly 3 weeks, and my congresswoman has had this for 2 weeks, and I've gotten nothing from anyone.

I open an account about 2 months ago and I have not been able to get back into my account since. At one point after waiting for hours (which is what you have to do when you call the number that they have to call_ and I mean literally > waiting for hours!) for an answer; as soon as I got into the account and the Representative hung up the phone I was locked out Againnn. I've tried since then repeatedly to get back into my account and each time, have been locked out before accessing the information I am trying to complete. I sent an email to Treasury Direct and received a response twice th as t the site has been updated and improved for easier access_Not so!

Terrible, terrible, terrible.
When you call - the wait is over 2 hours. The wait ringing and the voice is obnoxious. Nearly unbearable.
When you send an email - it takes over 3 weeks to respond, and the response is useless (screen shot attached). The email response says they will not respond to email.
This is a complete waste of time - it took over a YEAR to get my daughter's savings bonds out. They require a "medallion" certificate... one bank wouldn't provide a "medallion" certificate... the other bank required a statement from Treasury Direct... and guess what? Treasury Direct doesn't provide statements...

This is a waste of valuable, precious time. I thought it would be a great idea to buy savings bonds for my nieces and nephews. Now it is taking me hours and hours (and taking months to resolve...) to try to get the funds out of the gift boxes back into my account so I can cash everything out and never have to deal with them again.

I've paid taxes to the US Treasury for 60+ years. I tried creating an account and they claim they have no record of me. They want me to go to bank to get a form certified then snail mail it back to them. There is no immediate internet or phone Customer Service. They reply "we're too busy to answer any questions". It would be interesting to know what they're busy doing. Maybe they should try doing their jobs. A total and complete waste of time, but typical of a gov't service - no accountability from bottom to top.

It was a rough start, hold for 6+ hours several days in a row, being told by customer service each time that despite the website saying I had to call they couldn't help. But have hope people—wonderful Bob in RM finally came to my rescue. He was a solid 20 out of ten but overall this system was the most painful experience I've ever been through.
Just have hope folks and keep calling.

If you make a mistake on your bank account number, You AreDone! Can't correct on line or over the phone. Can't get through over the even if you could change over the phone. You have to send in paperwork which they tell you can take up to 16 weeks to process and change!
ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!

Called last week and was told to hang up as it was too late in the day. So tried at 1030 ET and am still on hold. If this were a bank site the Treasury would be fining them for such poor service. My wife tried to buy I-bonds and was told there were problems. She would need to fill out form, get a signature guarantee and mail. While waiting on hold voice said it might take 13 weeks to resolve.
Why doesn't this site have zero stars for really atrocious sites?

Customer Service never has less than a 1.5 - 2 hour wait time, so you are never able to reach a person. Email responses to your questions are never answered and you are not permitted to make changes to your account information. Not sure why we have two and three-step authentication if we are not permitted to make changes to our account information once in the system AND we have to snail-mail updates, which cannot confirm or authenticate the sender. Sometimes too much security is a deterrent as well.

I opened an account today with Treasury Direct, to buy I-Bonds. It was a smooth ride. Yes it took maybe 30 minutes to open, but all seems to be fine so far. At the end of opening the account, they have a review and this was posted as of what the people have reported on this website:
Excellent 62%
Good 28%
Fair 6%
Poor 4%
I followed an online tutorial that made it pretty easy. Just check, and check and check again all your numbers. Happy investing.