Inflation hedge Series I savings bonds paying 9.62% unleashed a flood of buyers to the Treasury Department website on Wednesday, crashing the website ahead of a Friday deadline to receive the guaranteed 9.62% interest rate.
What Happened: "Due to exceptionally high traffic, the TreasuryDirect website has experienced intermittent slowdowns today," a Treasury Department spokesman said Wednesday. "We are in the process of adding to the system's service capacity and taking other steps in the hopes of resolving the issues quickly."
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Customers have been informed by the Treasury Department that they have until Friday at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern time to complete their transaction and lock in the rate.
The Treasury issued $1.95 billion in I Bonds in just the final week of October, exceeding the figure for the entire fiscal year 2021, as the interest rate on I Bonds is anticipated to decrease to approximately 6.47% on Nov. 1.
More than 3.7 million new accounts were made in a single year, surpassing the 2.4 million accounts made in the previous 10 years put together, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
With inflation hitting 40-year highs, prospective savers flocked to the TreasuryDirect website to buy the Series I Savings Bond, which offers both a fixed rate of interest and an inflation-linked rate of interest.
The website has previously crashed due to the announcement of high rates. Buyers swarmed to the website earlier in May when a 9.62% rate was announced.
At the beginning of May and November, the Treasury Department releases the fixed rate of return and the semiannual inflation rate. The inflation rate changes every six months, but the fixed rate remains constant for the duration of the 30-year bond..
Why It Matters: Series I Savings Bond buyers may purchase up to $10,000 in I bonds each year. There are ways to boost that sum, such as purchasing an additional $5,000 worth of paper I bonds with your federal tax refund.
If you intend to buy, exercise caution to ensure that you make the appropriate choice because overage purchases will result in refunds, which could take up to 16 weeks to process.
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