Do these obligations pay a competitive return?

(I had no idea they were still issued).

Elmer the ones I have are over ten years old and they pay from 2.23 to 4.92%. The ones that were at 6% finally matured last year and were earning no interest.

wanda va that is what I have been attempting to use. If you look at how to save your inventory I use all the ones that say they are not compatible. Although it shows as being able to use Internet Explorer it also states that it may not save it correctly. I used the Wizard since it was first available but since it can no longer be updated. For some reason following the instructions when I hit "update" which is supposed to transfer the bonds only the amount of all of the bonds appear and not the listing that is supposed to be below that box.

Elmer the current interest rate is only 0.10% which is better than what BoA does 0.03% unless you keep a higher balance. For people with money they are not a good investment at the current rate. For those that have limited money to invest, want something secure, and do not intend on using it for at least 5 years it is a way to start investing.

The first rates you cite are okay, anything below 1% is not. How quickly can the money be accessed?

American Express Savings Bank is currently paying 1.90% on simple savings accounts. Ally Bank (which is a large institution, it's the former GMAC) pays 1.85%. There are others around these rates two but those are two I have.

Both are vanilla savings accounts - no minimum balances, no fees, the only restrictions being the normal bank law restrictions of no more than 6 withdrawal transactions per month. Both can be used for direct deposit, as for Social Security payments. And both are internet banks, very easy to use and essentially open 24 x 7 and transfers happen in two days or less. I have my direct deposits go into one and then transfer money to my checking account only as I need to pay bills.

I had a friend that worked for the section of the Federal Reserve that closed banks one of the things that got many banks in trouble was paying higher interest rates than the other banks to draw customers. They are insured but being cheap I will stay away from them. The third one of the group that you did not mention is having problems here with some of their practices. Will say no more than that.

I'd written out a longer response and then realized you're perhaps looking at this backwards.

Institutions get in trouble when imprudent lending practices lead to bad loans/asset losses. Customer deposits are liabilities. No institution ever got into difficulty because of its deposit practices when assets remained healthy. Not ever, never, to my recollection. I can't imagine how that could even happen.

FDIC insurance provides absolute safety to the same extent (arguably) as government bonds and securities. Insured savings accounts are zero risk items.

I thought you once said you worked in the banking industry. You're welcome to do as you prefer but to suggest there's a risk with simple savings accounts at large and insured institutions isn't very enlightened.

I use Mozilla Firefox, and it works great. I double-click on a previous listing of bonds (from File Explorer); click on "Return to Savings Bond Calculator" (in blue field in upper left); that brings up the TreasuryDirect site where you can change the date and it will update the inventory. I print a hard copy of the inventory once a year, to be safe.

I will add Firefox which will bring to a total of 5 different browsers I have on my laptop. I agree about printing the listing. I have been wondering about turning them into electronic bonds since some banks are no longer accepting and tell you to send them to Minneapolis.

Elmer the problem banks were paying out more than they had assets to cover. Remember what happened with the savings and loan problem many years ago? That was one of the things that helped push them over the edge.

I worked at several banks and although I am aware of what you just wrote people who are less knowledgeable do worry about safety and being able to quickly access their money.

My investments earn currently way more than what I can earn at the three institutions that are offering these higher interest rates so I have little interest at this time other than curiosity. I will be reviewing periodically as although these do not appear to be the bait and switch rates that I have seen in the past where financial institutions paid larger than normal interest rates for a period of time then swiftly lowered them. The planning was that most would not move their deposits and the few that did would make little difference in the banks balance sheets.