A Christmas gift staple for grandparents across the country just became increasingly more difficult to buy, much to the dismay of grandparents across the country.
Beginning this year, consumers can no longer walk into a branch and pick up a savings bond for the kiddos in their lives. Nope, now people have to buy digital bonds that, by all accounts, are time consuming, difficult and frustrating to purchase.
With paper bonds, all one had to do was walk into the financial institution and purchase the bond with the recipients social security number; with this electronic process, the buyer must open an online account and the recipient must open a TreasuryDirect account. Parents even get to join in on the fun and set up TreasuryDirect minor-linked accounts for each child under 18.
This is a point of frustration for those interested in purchasing the slow-growing money option. In 2012, people purchased $1.9 billion worth of digital and paper bonds, and of that total $1.4 billion were paper bond purchases. Now paper isn’t an option.
For some the process can take up to 45 minutes and let’s not forget that the entire process is done online. Head over to USA Today to find out why what was once a trusty gift is now a headache and hassle.