TreasuryDirect allows you to open linked accounts that sit under your main account but keep their holdings separate. They’re useful for a few different situations: saving on a child’s behalf, setting money aside for a specific goal, or moving old paper bonds into electronic form. You still access everything through your regular TreasuryDirect login — the separation is just organizational.
There are three kinds.
A Minor account is a custodial account for children under 18. You, as the custodian (a parent, natural guardian, or whoever is primarily responsible for the child financially), are the only person who can actually do anything in the account. Purchases, redemptions, gift deliveries — all of it runs through you.
When the child turns 18 and sets up their own TreasuryDirect account, you can de-link the Minor account, which moves its securities over to their new primary account. At that point the Minor account is permanently shut down. If you’d prefer not to de-link it, you can leave it open, though you’ll be limited to just purchasing new securities in it.
Minor linked accounts are only available to individual TreasuryDirect account holders, not entity accounts.
Bank information: To add a bank account to a Minor account, go into ManageDirect from within the Minor account and select Update my Bank Information. If you need to change which bank is set as the primary, you’ll have to call TreasuryDirect at (844) 284-2676 to do that.
A Custom account is a named sub-account you can create for whatever savings purpose you want — a vacation fund, a home project, an emergency reserve. You pick the name, and it works just like your main TreasuryDirect account with the same functionality.
Bank information: Same process as the Minor account. Go to ManageDirect inside the Custom account and select Update my Bank Information to add a bank or link a new one. Changing the primary bank requires a phone call to (844) 284-2676.
A Conversion account has one job: converting paper Series EE or Series I Savings Bonds into electronic securities. Once converted, those bonds live in your TreasuryDirect account alongside everything else, which makes tracking them considerably easier.
One thing worth knowing — if a paper bond you’re converting has already hit its final maturity date, TreasuryDirect will redeem it automatically and put the proceeds into a Zero-Percent Certificate of Indebtedness (C of I), which gets deposited into your primary account.
IRS Form 1099 substitutes are available online for your primary account and each linked account individually, so tax reporting stays sorted no matter how many accounts you’re running.