The drop in the limit on I-Bond purchases to $5000 was to encourage the small investor who may have only 50 or 100 dollars to invest. The 50 and 100 dollar denominations were in place before the drop in the limit and they're still there now. So what did the change bring in that regard?

When I look at what my $10,000 I-bonds have done in the past 8 years I think I can see the real answer to the limit change. The interest rates were great!

The Bush government runs on credit and it has no problem using the Treasury to bail out big business (and big campaign contributors) with liberal credit. I guess we live in an age when saving isn't cool. But it sure is nice to know about those 10K I-Bonds being secure when I see the stock market dropping, overextended mortages resulting in defaults, credit card debt soaring, and credit bubbles bursting as though it's Saturday night with Lawrence Welk!

I long for the old days when I could purchase a $10,000 paper I-Bond online using my cash-back credit card. Those were the days!

Tom Adams

Hello Scott,

Effective January 1, 2008, the annual (calendar year) purchase limit applying to Series EE and Series I savings bonds is $5,000, issue price, for each series. The limit is applied per Social Security Number (SSN) or Employer Identification Number (EIN). Individuals or entities may purchase up to $5,000 worth of each series in paper form. In addition, individuals can buy up to the same amount of each series in TreasuryDirect online accounts, or a total of $20,000 (issue price) in sole or primary ownership form per calendar year.

Unfortunately, the TreasuryDirect system does not stop the account owner from purchasing over the limit. You can keep the bonds purchased in March even though it is over the limitation as you were not aware of the limitation when you purchased the bonds. Future excess purchases may result in a refund of the money and possible closure of the account if there are repeated violations.

There was a temporary problem with the "Contact Us" link but it has now been fixed. We're sorry for any problems this may have caused you.

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SECOND REPLY:

Hi,

As the excess purchase of electronic bonds was not intentional, it will be forgiven. You need to do nothing further regarding the purchase. However, please note that future excess purchases may result in a refund of the excess and possible closure of the account if there are repeated violations.

The TreasuryDirect system will not allow a purchase of more than $5,000 at one time. If you purchase over $5,000 in total, the system will send you a message to that effect.

Effective January 1, 2008, the annual (calendar year) purchase limit applying to Series EE and Series I savings bonds is $5,000, issue price, for each series. The limit is applied per Social Security Number (SSN) or Employer Identification Number (EIN). Individuals or entities may purchase up to $5,000 worth of each series in paper form. In addition, individuals can buy up to the same amount of each series in TreasuryDirect online accounts, or a total of $20,000 (issue price) in sole or primary ownership form per calendar year.

There was a temporary problem with the Contact Us link but it has since been resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience.

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So basically, they let it slide…. I assume if I were over the 10k total limit for I-Bonds, they might have refunded it, but know way to know for sure.

Tom Adams

I tried to email them using the contact us link that is on the page after you log in, which of course does not work! So I found another link, and emailed them. Since it was a Friday night, I'll have to wait until next week for a reply (hopefully)….

The other thing I do not understand is why is the limit 5k online and 5k paper for each bond type? What is the point of that??? I converted all my paper bonds so I would not have to deal with them anymore, and now in order to purchase more than 5k I have to buy them again? To probably only convert them later???? WHAT IS THE POINT????

Anyway, I will follow up with a post once I get a reply from them. I am hoping since I didn't exceed the overall limit of 10k for the year ($8300 so far), they let this slide…..