<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by DOC 2 BE:
Always buy your bonds on the last day of the month as they earn interest from the 1st of the month. The converse is true when redeeming them -- redeem then on the fist day of the month.</font>
This is good advice except - on the Savings Bond website it said that Feb 27 is the last day for purchase for a date of Feb 1.
The best thing is to buy toward end of month, but AFTER closing date on your credit card (assuming you aren't getting the 0% interest on Hhonors Visa). Depending on your card, you could then pay it off about 1.5 months later, or about 2.5 months after issue date (1st of the month) - this nearly wipes out the 3 month early redemption penalty if you cash out in less than 5 years.
Current interest rate on I Bonds is 4.4%