Selling Treasury Bills — TreasuryDirect (2024)

FAQs

Can you sell Treasury bills on TreasuryDirect? ›

You cannot sell a Treasury marketable security directly from your TreasuryDirect account. To sell a Treasury marketable security that is in your TreasuryDirect account, you must transfer the security to a broker/dealer account. The broker/dealer can sell the security for you.

You can sell a T-Bill before its maturity date without penalty, although you will be charged a commission. (With CDs, you pay a sizeable penalty for early withdrawals.)

For individual investors, if your application for the T-bills was successful, the T-bills holding will be reflected in your respective accounts after the issuance date. For cash applications: You can check your CDP notification statement via CDP Internet after 6pm on issuance date.

The Account Statements will be available on the 1st business day of the month no later than 1pm Eastern Time.

Treasury bonds, notes, and bills have no default risk since the U.S. government guarantees them. Investors will receive the bond's face value if they hold it to maturity. However, if sold before maturity, your gain or loss depends on the difference between the initial price and what you sold the Treasury for.

Treasury securities are considered a safe and secure investment option because the full faith and credit of the U.S. government guarantees that interest and principal payments will be paid on time. Also, most Treasury securities are liquid, which means they can easily be sold for cash.

If you buy a bond when it is issued and hold it until maturity, you generally won't have a capital gain or loss. However, if you sell the bond before its maturity date for more than you paid for it, you'll typically have a capital gain.

You can hold a bill until it matures or sell it before it matures. Note about Cash Management Bills: We also sell Cash Management Bills (CMBs) at various times and for variable terms. Cash Management Bills are only available through a bank, broker, or dealer.

The only interest payment to you occurs when your bill matures. At that time, you are paid the par amount (also called face value) of the bill. (Bills are typically sold at a discount from the par amount, and the difference between the purchase price and the par amount is your interest.)

T-bills pay a fixed rate of interest, which can provide a stable income. However, if interest rates rise, existing T-bills fall out of favor since their return is less than the market. T-bills have interest rate risk, which means there is a risk that existing bondholders might lose out on higher rates in the future.

What is the #1 benefit in purchasing a T bill? ›

While interest rates and inflation can affect Treasury bill rates, they're generally considered a lower-risk (but lower-reward) investment than other debt securities. Treasury bills are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. If held to maturity, T-bills are considered virtually risk-free.

For individual investors, if your application for the T-bills was successful, the T-bills holding will be reflected in your respective accounts after the issuance date. For cash application: You can check your CDP statement.

You just bought a security from the U.S. Treasury. Securities are generally issued to your account within two business days of the purchase date for savings bonds or within one week of the auction date for Bills, Notes, Bonds, FRNs, and TIPS.

We put a 1099 into your TreasuryDirect account if: You cash a savings bond in TreasuryDirect. (We don't provide a 1099 if you only buy or hold a savings bond.) You hold a marketable security in TreasuryDirect and the security earns interest.

Security questions are used to help us confirm your identity if you forget your account number or password. As an added security measure, TreasuryDirect may require you to answer one of your security questions when you attempt to perform certain transactions.

When the bill matures, you are paid its face value. You can hold a bill until it matures or sell it before it matures. Note about Cash Management Bills: We also sell Cash Management Bills (CMBs) at various times and for variable terms.

You can get your cash for an EE or I savings bond any time after you have owned it for 1 year. However, the longer you hold the bond, the more it earns for you (for up to 30 years for an EE or I bond). Also, if you cash in the bond in less than 5 years, you lose the last 3 months of interest.

To redeem your bill in TreasuryDirect you don't need to take action. If you do not provide instructions to deposit the security's principal into your C of I, we deposit the principal into your designated bank account. The deposit is made on the day your security matures.