TreasuryDirect now requires ID.me: what works without it, and fixes

TreasuryDirect, the Treasury’s own website for savings bonds and marketable securities, has retired the login it used for years. Since October 28, 2026, the only way to sign in online is through ID.me, the private identity-verification company that also handles sign-in for the IRS and many state agencies. If the old account number and password stopped working, that is why: as the site’s home page puts it, “On October 28, 2026, ID.me replaced the traditional TreasuryDirect login!”

The deadline has passed, and it was not a cliff. This page answers the questions that matter to anyone who cannot, will not or has not yet finished the switch: what keeps running on its own, what stops, which paper forms still move money, and what to do when ID.me itself is the problem.

The timeline, from TreasuryDirect’s own FAQ

TreasuryDirect opened ID.me sign-up on September 13, 2026. From that date, account holders were prompted to use ID.me, but the traditional login, with its account number, password and security image, kept working. The FAQ is now written in the past tense: ID.me “became available for logging into TreasuryDirect on September 13, 2026 and replaced traditional TreasuryDirect login on October 28, 2026.”

Missing the date is not permanent. In TreasuryDirect’s words, “you can easily restore online access at any time by completing the ID.me set up process and linking to your TreasuryDirect account(s).” The FAQ also answers the question behind most of the anxiety around this change directly: “your funds are not permanently frozen or seized.”

Setup itself is described as a 5- to 10-minute process. A new ID.me Wallet requires a Social Security number and a government-issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license, state ID, passport or passport card, and usually a selfie taken with a phone camera. Anyone without a smartphone can verify instead through a live video call with an ID.me “Trusted Referee” on any computer with an internet connection. Once the account is linked, you sign in through the “Secure Sign In” button; typing the old TreasuryDirect credentials after linking produces an error.

What stops, and what keeps running without ID.me

TreasuryDirect’s FAQ, read on October 24 and again on November 2, adds up to this:

The second-to-last row is the one with a sting in it. Reinvestments already scheduled keep rolling, which protects anyone running a Treasury bill ladder through the auto-roll feature. But the FAQ also says you “will not be able to log in to view, edit, or cancel these pending transactions” until you verify through ID.me, and it lists no paper alternative for editing or cancelling a scheduled reinvestment. If you intended to stop a roll and take the cash at the next maturity, that decision now requires a working ID.me login before the reinvestment’s cutoff.

The paper route: which forms still work

When we read the FAQ on October 24, it said that without an ID.me Wallet “you will still be able to manage your account by submitting paper forms.” That sentence no longer appears in the version we read on November 2, and TreasuryDirect has not said why. The forms themselves are still published, but if you are relying on one, it is worth confirming at 844-284-2676 before you make the trip to a bank. The FAQ never listed which forms it meant, so here is how the Treasury’s own forms, all revised in March or April 2026, map onto the tasks people most often need. Each is mailed to Treasury Retail Securities Services, PO Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150.

Two practical points follow from that table. First, the forms that move money out of an online account, 5511 and 5512, and the offline-change form 5446 all refuse a notary, so the paper route means a trip to a bank or credit union that will certify the signature, not the UPS store; the notary-versus-certifying-officer table covers the details form by form. Second, there is no paper way to sell a Treasury bill before it matures, because TreasuryDirect never sells securities on your behalf. The exit is FS Form 5511 to a brokerage account, followed by a sale there, the same route described in selling a T-bill before maturity. For savings bonds, FS Form 5512 is the paper counterpart of the online redemption screen, with the usual rules intact: no redemption in the first 12 months, and a three-month interest penalty before five years, which makes the timing of a redemption worth checking first.

If ID.me is the part that fails

The new login runs into problems TreasuryDirect says it cannot solve, so it matters which door you knock on first. “ID.me is a separate company, so TreasuryDirect cannot fix ID.me login or verification issues.”

The FAQ also warns about impostors, a real risk with a change this widely publicized: ID.me “will not charge you or ask for a credit card to help with setting up or linking your ID.me account.” Anyone asking for payment is not ID.me. ID.me’s own help article on identifying its communications, which TreasuryDirect links from its home page, adds four checks: real ID.me emails come from an @id.me address (such as [email protected]), and senders using look-alike .com domains like @idme.com should be treated as suspect; the only website is www.id.me, never a .com; if ID.me support calls you, it is a live person, not a recording; and ID.me “will never ask for your password or MFA information,” meaning the one-time codes sent to your phone.

If ID.me stays out of reach, nothing is lost in the meantime: maturities and interest keep paying, and the paper forms above remain published. New purchases are what wait. With the I bond now at 5.51 percent, including a 1.40 percent fixed rate, that matters most to anyone who wants this window’s fixed rate, because it applies to bonds issued through April 30, 2027.

Special cases the FAQ settles

Children’s accounts. A child does not need an ID.me Wallet. The parent or guardian verifies their own identity and manages the minor account through that login. When the child turns 18, TreasuryDirect says the minor account is “temporarily put on hold” until the parent delivers it to the new adult, who has to open their own TreasuryDirect account and verify through ID.me before taking control.

Trusts, estates and businesses. ID.me verifies the individual account manager, such as the trustee, the person holding power of attorney or the business manager, not the entity. The manager verifies personally, and the entity’s details can still be updated through TreasuryDirect Customer Support.

Spouses. Each person needs their own ID.me Wallet tied to their own e-mail address. A couple cannot share a wallet or an e-mail address, “even if you share a household or bank account.”

Names that do not match. If the name on your TreasuryDirect account differs from the name in your ID.me Wallet, for a nickname, a middle initial or a suffix, TreasuryDirect changes the account name automatically to match ID.me once you link the two. Anyone whose bond registrations use a different form of their name should keep that in mind before mailing a paper form signed under the old one.

Living abroad. ID.me accepts international verification and a non-U.S. phone number, but TreasuryDirect accounts require a U.S. address of record, so the address in the ID.me Wallet must be a U.S. address to log in.

A previously locked account. If you were locked out after too many failed login attempts, the FAQ says that “logging in successfully through ID.me will automatically unlock your account.” It does not say whether that also clears an account placed in Hardlock status, the condition FS Form 5444 addresses with its “Check to remove Hardlock” box, so anyone in that position should confirm with Customer Support before mailing the form.

An existing ID.me Wallet from the IRS or another agency. It can be used, but it may sit at a lower security level than TreasuryDirect requires, in which case ID.me asks for additional verification during the first TreasuryDirect sign-in. Login.gov, the government’s other sign-in service, cannot be used.

Changing your phone number later. This is the gotcha most people will discover too late. ID.me treats the phone number as part of the identity evidence and offers no self-service way to change it. Updating it means closing the ID.me Wallet, waiting “at least 7 days” before a new one can be created, and verifying again from scratch. Name changes can be made in the wallet directly, and address changes go through ID.me support with a proof-of-address document.

Who to call when something breaks

Failed verification, missing security codes and photo-upload errors go to the ID.me Help Center. TreasuryDirect Customer Support, at 844-284-2676, remains the contact for the account itself, including mailed copies of Form 1099 after they become available in January. For the 2026 tax year, that means anyone without ID.me who redeemed savings bonds or held bills that matured in 2026 will be requesting the form by phone during tax season rather than downloading it.

On privacy, the FAQ says ID.me passes your full name, Social Security number, date of birth, mailing address, e-mail and phone number to TreasuryDirect, and that ID.me has no access to account balances, transaction history or linked bank details. ID.me supports hardware security keys such as YubiKeys for anyone who prefers not to receive codes by phone.

Sources

• TreasuryDirect — FAQs about ID.me, read November 2, 2026: timeline, what changes without an ID.me Wallet, setup requirements, troubleshooting, special cases and support contacts.
• ID.me Help Center — Identifying communications from ID.me, read November 3, 2026
• TreasuryDirect home page notices, read November 2, 2026: ID.me replaced the traditional login on October 28, 2026; current I bond rate for bonds issued November 1, 2026, to April 30, 2027.
• Bureau of the Fiscal Service forms, March–April 2026 revisions: FS Form 5512, FS Form 5511, FS Form 5446 and FS Form 5444, for each form’s purpose, certification rule and mailing address.