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Treasury to stop paying savings bond fees in April

WASHINGTON (2/22/12)--Having discontinued over-the-counter sales of U.S. savings bonds earlier this year, the U.S. Treasury Department now has announced it will discontinue paying fees to credit unions, banks and all U.S. Savings Bond agents for redeeming savings bonds as of April 11.

Savings Bond agents are currently paid 30 cents for each redeemed savings bond they submit.

The Treasury is shifting redeemed bond processing from the EZ Clear Program to image-enabled bond processing on April 16, and the EZ Clear Program will be decommissioned following the transition, Treasury said.

Series EE and I savings bonds are currently available for purchase through the Treasury's online purchase platform, TreasuryDirect.com. Consumers can also use the Treasury's online platform to convert existing paper bonds into electronic bonds and to purchase savings bonds via a payroll savings plan.

Treasury estimates that the move from paper to electronic bonds will save $70 million in taxpayer funds over five years.

The Treasury estimated that 679 million paper bonds worth $180 billion remain in circulation, and paper savings bonds will still be accepted, Treasury said.

For the full Treasury release, use the resource link.
 
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