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Purchased EE bonds rather than I Bonds-fix?

Yesterday, I purchased EE bonds rather than I bonds. Just hit the wrong button to indicate which bonds to purchase. Is there any easy fix. I already sent an email to TreasuryDirect, but have not received an answer. The purchase amount would be the same for the I bonds, so a simple transfer seems simple, but I know nothing is simple anymore. TIA

Comments

  • edited September 2021
    I think you will have to sell out of (liquidate / withdraw) EEs and buy IBonds. Check if there are any early withdrawal penalties that are onerous. Hopefully not.
  • msf
    edited September 2021
    Like series I savings bonds, series EE savings bonds cannot be redeemed until a year after purchase. Between one and five years, you lose the last three months of interest if you cash out. No penalty after five years.
    https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ebonds/res_e_bonds_eeredeem.htm#when

    With EE series savings bonds, there's another implicit penalty. For savings bonds held 20 years, the value of the bond is adjusted to twice its purchase price. Using the rule of 72, that's an annual rate of approximately 72/20 = 3.6%.

    But if you cash out earlier, you'll earn just the stated rate on the savings bonds. For newly purchased EE savings bonds, that's a piddly 0.10%. So you "lose" 3.5% in interest annually if you sell before waiting 20 years.
    https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ebonds/res_e_bonds_eeratesandterms_eebondsissued052005andafer.htm#buy
  • UPDATE: We were able to get the TreasuryDirect site to help us get the purchase reversed. The money came back into our account two days ago, and we just finished purchasing the I bonds that we should have done the first time. TreasuryDirect gave us back the entire principle, so we lost nothing in our error. We were just patient enough to follow each directive that the site asked us to do. The only thing that seemed wierd to us was that we twice contacted them (TreasuryDirect) via what we would call internal email (through the email provided in our account) and twice they responded back to us via our regular email address (external email).

    But bottom line, they fixed our problem and we are thankful for that!
  • That is very good news. Seems like the federal Treasury provides better customer service than Goldman Sachs Bank. Them sending emails to your external personal email is proper. This email is in your contact information. I am glad everything worked out.
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