Update 8/21/25: For the past bunch of weeks, many are getting verification errors when adding various banks and get prompted to submit Form 5512 which is a process. And so, don’t rely on Treasury Direct for meeting direct deposit requirements.
Original Post 3/3/23, entitled U.S. Treasury Direct Makes It Easy To Add & Change Bank Accounts:
U.S. Treasury Direct made it easier to add and change bank accounts as a funding source for your account. Previously they required a paper form with bank notary in order to change your bank. Now, you can easily change banks or even save multiple banks to the same login.
A lot of us hold I Bonds in a Treasury Direct account, and some people buy Treasury Bills there too (though most prefer doing T-Bills through a brokerage).
The change took place a few months back, but it still comes up in discussion periodically and we’ve never spelled this out, so I thought it worth a mention. I’ve even used Treasury Direct as a way of meeting a direct deposit requirement for a bank bonus.
🙁
I have used TD for DDs. But my TD account got locked, and I just don’t feel like printing out paperwork, explaining the whole situation to the bank, having it stamped by said bank, and then mailing it out. Done it once, and won’t do it again.
My account was locked due to entering the wrong login once. I’m quite sure I entered the right info, because I literally wrote it down. But it was locked anyway. I went to Chase Bank, and they printed the documents and notarized it with a stamp. I then sent it out to TD, and it was unlocked after about a week.
Same thing happened again. I just don’t have the will to do this whole process all over again, just because I allegedly “entered the wrong password”.
Oh. Did you try calling them? Seems kinda ridiculous to require a form for a login error…
I have nothing on the account, and I feel like I’ve been through enough with TD. I’d rather not call them. lol
Not sure how it could have happened in a week… but sure. Maybe “incorrect password” locks are easier to clear than “fraudulent bank info” locks.
Maybe someone else locked it by trying the password at the same time you were trying?
I am hearing 2 week – 3 month timeframes to get unlocked… That’s after you get the email that says they got our form, which took a week for me.
But, anyway, if you don’t care, nobody else is going to care. They aren’t going to chase you down.
Until they fix the linking issue (which they don’t seem to even know there is an issue if you talk to a rep), it’s kind of dead to me too. Any securities I had in process were already set up to deposit where I wanted them.
Anything is possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if TD has some security issues. The website seems like it’s from the 90s.
I have nothing on that account, so it doesn’t matter to me.
Maybe they’ll start caring as more and more people run into linking issues or getting locked out of their accounts? Then again, it is the government, so maybe they won’t care.
You don’t have to take it to “said bank”… just needs a notary to verify you are you. It was really only one page. I faxed mine. Yes, Fax still exists.
Where did you find a notary outside of a bank?
I’ve never used a fax machine before, nor ever owned one. It’s before my time.
Other people in the “community” have reasons to be notary’s. I happen to know one. Ask your city library, city hall, or neighborly office worker types.
And, up until a month ago, I had a landline w/ multifunction printer/fax combo. Now I am forced to use online fax services as the landline no longer in use and the number has been ported to a “spare cell” on Helium Free. $0/month.
That’s too complicated haha. I’d rather just let Chase bank figure out how to fill out the paperwork and notary, and I’ll send it to TD by mail.
Form 5444 is literally just your contact info, SSN, and account number…
For me on the medical field faxes are an every day thing. But going to a brick and mortar bank? That is dead to me and before my time. They are literally never open and I can get everything else I need done online. IMHO only old people go to banks.
Last night (8/20/25) I was adding some accounts to TD. I use Fidelity CMA as my primary, wanted to add another Fidelity CMA and received a verification error. Thought it was peculiar after the second try, didn’t want to freeze my account so I backed out and added a Chase checking without issue.
What are the issues?
It was easy to add bank accounts for 2+ years. Now it isn’t.
Thanks all, I’ll add a note
I have an update to #2099068 . I haven’t logged into my BMO account for a long time but logged in today to see if the DD from TrD arrived as scheduled. It did but that’s not why I am writing this comment.
I noticed something very interesting. There were 5 “PRENOTE ACCOUNT VERFICATION – DDA CREDIT” entries on the same day in July in my BMO ledger. This just happened to be the same day that I received an automated email from TrD letting me know that my docs had been scanned into the system.
There was 1 “PRENOTE ACCOUNT VERFICATION – DDA DEBIT” entry 4 days later in the ledger. My BMO account was added to TrD 1 day before this prenote debit occurred, which is also interesting.
I’m wondering if this is what they do when they receive Form 5512 to verify accounts rather than someone calling the other FI like the rep told me happens.
The only other FI that I’ve noticed display these prenotes is BluPeak.
BTW, I received an automated email from TrD notifying me that my 2nd Form 5512 was scanned over a week ago but that account still has not been added to TrD. There is also no prenotes in the transaction history for that FI.
That could mean that TrD is behind like I speculated to
An a couple of days ago. It could mean that they sent the prenotes but that FI doesn’t show it like BMO and BluPeak do. It could mean that something went wrong with my docs. Or it could mean something else entirely!
I think the title of this post needs to be updated. Not too easy nowadays. Has anyone had luck connecting anything lately? I think we can rule out this being an issue with specific institutions.
Using Treasury Direct feel like stepping back into 1997.
For those that had to submit Form 5444 to unlock the Treasury Direct account, how long did it take to get unlocked?
PaulinTexas 
favo🔗
And, did you get notice of the unlocking? Or, just periodically try to log in?
I have no faith in them, since they didn’t bother to tell me it was locked and instead sent me an email about Form 5512 to add a new account.
Faxed my form 5444 today. Fax number: (612) 629-4285
Trying to add/link different accounts, Veridian, Netspend, TBK, etc.
Got an email:
“We are having difficulty verifying the bank information you provided.” Mentions Form 5512.
As shown on screen, or in the FAQ, I emailed Treasury Direct:
“Please delete the Pathward linked account requiring L01 verification. Thank you.”
Next day, they email me:
“Per your request, we removed the Pathward bank on 8/12/2025.
You should receive a confirmation email regarding the update.”
And, then discovered I was no longer able to log in.
My form 5444 lock late last year took a total of 92 days.
This is scary. I got the “on hold” message for T-B-K and decided to abandon it instead of dealing with Form 5512,. Now I wonder if it’s a ticking time bomb.
Were you making multiple attempts with the others too, or just with Pathward?
I wonder whether limiting attempts to just once per FI would be safer, or whether to just lay low for awhile.
I’ve had 0% success in the past month vs 100% success on linking ~50 accounts over the previous 2 years. Not sure it’s even worth trying anymore anyway.
I tried that too after I saw your comments, but I think I’m going to stop poking the bear.
I also tried twice in the same session with the first few FIs. Recently I’ve only been trying once per FI per session.
The only one that got locked, shows “L1”, and appears on the list was weird. That was T-B-K. I’m 99.9% positive I only tried it twice.
But I had just tried AZ Financial once. It failed. Then, instead of retrying, I tried T-B-K twice. It got locked on the 2nd try. It looks like 1 AZF + 2 T-B-K locked T-B-K. I did not select “add another bank” between the 2 FIs. Maybe I should have.
I was able to try AZ Financial again a few days later (still unable to connect, but not locked out). So it seems (1+2) tries locked the 2nd bank but not the first.
There’s still a minuscule chance I zoned out and submitted T-B-K a 3rd time by mistake. I don’t think so but I’m not going to try replicating it.
I’m almost certain it just puts the hold on whatever you enter on the 3rd failed attempt since it’s unlikely that it distinguishes if you’re attempting to add a different bank or correcting typos for the same bank.
Occam’s razor says you’re right. The chances of that many typos just happening to spell the name of a different bank with plausible routing and account numbers are vanishingly small. It would not happen within the age of the universe.
But common sense is inapplicable to algorithms and seldom occurs to coders.
I think Pathward was the only one I tried multiple times in the same session, because it was hard to tell if anything happens when you hit submit. It was the only one that shows “L1” and stuck on the list.
But, I am pretty sure I had tried others a single time in the same session, on other days.
And, yes, I agree… I had changed accounts in the past numerous times and never had any issues.
That’s some BS about the lock. Were you rapidly adding accounts?
I probably hit the “submit” button more than once on the 2nd account I was trying to add, because once you get the first error message, it was impossible to tell it was actually submitted.
I appreciate you responding about the chex dispute on the other thread, so I’m returning the favor here.
If you get a hard lock, you will get notified via email to send in form 5444.
It took 3 full months to remove the hard lock, YMMV.
I called, and was informed to send Form 5444. Nothing in my email about it.
But, sounds like typical govt. red tape otherwise.
Based on some internet sleuthing and a DP from
favo🔗, they will send out an email confirming receipt of the form, and a timeframe to expect unlocking. Then, about a two-week wait, and might have to call to follow-up. Of course, YMMV.
Until they fix the account linking issues, it’s pretty much dead to me anyway. Any T-bills I had were set to go back into the account they were funded from, and I have a $0 C of I balance.
If times get real tough, I will start linking via Form 5512, as a notary is really easy for me (unlike the days of medallion reqs).
FYI, here is the confirmation email from Treasury Direct, it indicated the expected processing time for various cases:
Dear Customer,
This is a system generated email to communicate we received your Savings
Bonds/Treasury Marketable Securities materials.
Cases are worked in the order they are received in our office. Your request is important to us and will receive attention as soon as possible. Please be aware of our estimated processing times to process your case which are based on the case type:
If we require additional information to process your case, we will contact you. Thank you for your patience.
Please retain the Customer Number and Case Number referenced above to streamline any future actions associated with this request. Also note, you may receive multiple email notifications and Case Numbers depending on the type of transaction(s) you have requested.
If you have additional questions, please use the Contact Us link on TreasuryDirect.gov.
Received the email with my case number and form letter stating they received my “materials” and they require at least 6 weeks of processing time. I will report back when resolved. I faxed in Form 5444 on 8/13, so one week of wait so far.
Subj: Treasury Retail Securities Submission
I am new to Treasury Direct. I opened TD account about 10 days ago and transferred $1 from my 53 bank into C of I as a test after connecting 53 bank account. The $1 is now “available to redeem”, so I think 53 bank could connect to TD account fine.
I am going to buy 4-week T-bills to meet $4000 DD requirement for BMO bank bonus.
What should I do if I can’t connect new bank (BMO bank) and they tell me I need to mail in the form with notary from the bank but I don’t have the new bank locally, like online base bank? I do have BMO bank branches near me but for future reference, I would like to know what I need to do.
Also, I only have $2000 to be able to use towards BMO $4000 DD requirement (within 90 days). I was going to buy $2000 4-week T-bill and repeat the process using the same funds. (I understand it takes about 5 weeks to settle the 4-week T-bill to be available to be withdrawn to my bank.) Now, I am wondering if it’s better to buy four $500 T-bills, either on same day or every day for next 4 days.
Which method is better and why?
See #2114715
Not really sure about 2k vs 500, but some institutions might flag multiple identical transactions. I don’t think it really matters, but I would just do 2k.
The money is only gone for 28 days (or fewer for banks with early pay/deposit). You just need to put the order in by Thursday morning (auction day) to get next week’s issue.
So, if I order 4-week T-bill tonight (Wed night), the T-bill will be in my account next Thursday starting 4-week period?
I don’t know if any of my local banks would notarize for other (online) banks.
Generally, you can order weeks ahead up until 11am ET on the auction date. 4-week T-Bills are auctioned on Thursdays and issued the following Tuesday, which is when your bank is debited. The proceeds are deposited to the destination bank on the maturity date (~28 days later).
Thank you. I am guessing I can set up 2nd bank (BMO) to withdraw the T-bill later when it’s ready to be redeemed? I haven’t opened BMO account yet.
I am going to try to buy $2000 4-week T-bill now.
Changes cannot be made in the 4 business days prior to the maturity date, so you have until Tuesday night the week before to change the payment destination. You could possibly redeem the T-Bill to C of I, then redeem that at your leisure, but I don’t know if anyone’s had any issues doing that (I doubt it’s an issue).
I just bought $2000 4-week T-bill and chose to be redeemed to C of I when it matures.
My fingers are crossed that I can open BMO account fine. I read people were having some issues opening BMO accounts.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for your help! I appreciate that.
I’m not sure what happens if TD locks your account, so as a precaution, it might be better to set the payment destination to a bank account instead until BMO is all set up… assuming it will still pay to the bank upon maturity when locked.
Will do!
I agree with An. Setting C of I as your destination might give Murphy a way in.
I would set a bank account as the destination in case the T-bill goes unused. Preferably one with early DD and a high APY.
You can’t change the destination between the auction date and the issue date.
Before the auction date, the workaround is to cancel it and reorder with a different destination.
After it’s issued you’ve got a 3-week window to change the destination for a 4-week bill.
So, it’s too late for me to set a bank as how 4-week T-bill should be redeemed after matured since I bought it last night (Wed) and it’s already Friday morning? But, I can change from C of I as redemption method to a bank after T-bill matured as long as it’s within 3 weeks? Is that correct?
You can change it once it’s issued on Tuesday 8/19 up until a week before it matures, hence the 3-week window.
The last successful new account I’ve added was in mid-july (onepay). keypoint, arizona financial, and netspend all failed verification. I couldn’t even re-add one that was previously linked (legacy bank & trust).