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Here's another story along the same lines, triggered by your statement about banks. In 2002 I went to a bank to cash a about a thousand bucks worth of $200 EE savings bonds I had purchased in 1992. I was told the bank would not cash them because I did not have an account there.

I called my credit union to see if they would cash the bonds. They said, "No, but what was the bank where you tried to cash them?" I said, "PNC." The guy at the CU said, "We get this from people all the time. Go back to the bank and tell them they're a Federal Reserve Bank, and they're required by law to liquidate US instruments."

I went back to the bank, I told them what the guy at the CU said. The clerk said, "No we aren't." I asked for the floor manager, who said, "Yes, we are. We'll give you a receipt and you can come back in 10 business days for your money." Bottom line: Federal employees and their various running dogs will make it as inconvenient as possible for you to use their financial services.

Gentlemen...

I noticed one can get the same treatment when cashing savings bonds even with an account! It is true that savings bonds can be cashed anywhere, but they don’t like it because of the time involved even if you have an account. Even if not a customer, they are probably compensated tho not much, by Treasury or something. They are required yes, tho a stack of bonds can take a half hour? It’s nice to call them ahead of time, too - even tho I had an account (checking) it was still a hassle with all that. And paper bonds have no longer been issued it’s electronic ledger book entries only. It can only get worse as time goes by and they are less common. In order to purchase bonds (and notes and bills and other things like TIPS) one has to open a Treasury account. And then you can head back to your friendly bank, because it has to be done in person iirc!

The teller even put a one day hold before the deposit could be transferred to another named account? Get this, I had cash in hand, and if I had thought of it at the time I would have re-deposited some of the cash directly into the account! I was pondering a 1 day hold on Savings Bonds, I guess.

Pretty much all banks and institutions are not keen on doing anything financial unless one is a customer i.e. has an account. That’s not news.

So, what federal employee is involved in the decision by the bank to cash your bonds? The law allows them a certain amount of time to verify that they are legitimate, and to go through the process of matching them up with the rates over the various periods.

Do you imagine the federal employees ~ whoever they are in this ~ which isn't clear at all ~ should CRUSH THE BANKS under their jack boot heels and make the bank do it instantly?

Seriously, are your rights to take precedence over that of the bank, or the other way around?