Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: if you have been told you need a signature guarantee for TreasuryDirect, you have been given the wrong term — and that alone sends people to banks that decline. TreasuryDirect requires signature certification by a certifying individual, which is a different thing and available in more places.
The correction, and why it matters practically
TreasuryDirect does not use the term ‘signature guarantee’ at all. That is brokerage and Medallion terminology. TreasuryDirect requires SIGNATURE CERTIFICATION by a ‘certifying individual’.
What Treasury actually requires is that “you [are required] to sign [certain forms] in the presence of a person who certifies, or verifies, your signature”
Someone searching for ‘signature guarantee’ for TreasuryDirect is searching for the wrong thing, and banks that decline to provide a Medallion guarantee may still be able to certify a signature. That distinction is verified and is the useful part.
If a bank has told you it does not offer Medallion signature guarantees, that is a true statement about a different service. Ask instead whether an officer can certify a signature using the institution’s seal or stamp.
Who can certify
- officers and employees of depository institutions such as banks, using an institutional seal or stamp
- notary publics in certain cases, with seal or stamp
- officers of credit unions, Federal Land Banks and similar entities
- US diplomatic or consular officials for signers outside the United States
Note that notaries appear on that list in certain cases. That is genuinely useful, because notarisation is far easier to obtain than a Medallion guarantee — but read the form’s own instructions, since not every form accepts every certifier.
The forms that require it
FS Form 5444 (TreasuryDirect Account Authorization) and FS Form 5512 (TreasuryDirect Redemption and/or Bank Change Request) both exist and require signature certification.
What we could not establish, and are not going to invent
We looked for official documentation of the following and did not find it:
- the documented reasons a TreasuryDirect account locks – no official page enumerating them could be found
- which single form, if any, is THE unlock form
- the step-by-step unlock process
That is an unsatisfying answer for someone locked out of an account, and it is the honest one. There are pages on the internet describing a confident step-by-step unlock process; we could not find its source on Treasury’s own site, so we are not repeating it.
What we can tell you is the part that is verified, and it happens to be the part that most often stalls people: the certification requirement, and who can satisfy it.
What to do
- Contact TreasuryDirect directly and ask which form your situation requires. Do not start by filling one in.
- Ask specifically whether the form needs signature certification. If it does, that is your gating step.
- Take it to a bank or credit union officer, unsigned, and sign it in front of them. Signing beforehand invalidates the certification.
- Use the word “certify”, not “guarantee”. This is not pedantry; it is the difference between a service the branch offers and one it does not.
- Keep a copy of everything you send.
If the account belonged to someone who has died, this is a different process again and the account gets held while Treasury determines the path. What happens then.
General information drawn from IRS, Medicare, HUD and state statute and regulation, not legal, tax or financial advice. Continuing-care law is state law and differs materially between states; every figure here is year-labelled and every source named. Fiduciary licensing, executor compensation and intestacy are STATE law and differ change. Rates and limits are year-labelled and move; verify current terms at treasurydirect.gov before acting. Nothing here is a prediction or a recommendation about any investment – it describes how these instruments work.