Investors can buy bonds from brokers, banks, or directly from certain issuers.
Newly issued bonds and those trading in the secondary market are available from stockbrokers and from some banks. Treasurys, though, are sold at issue directly to investors without any intermediary or any commission. The Federal Reserve Banks handle transactions in new Treasury issues bonds, bills and notes. To buy and sell through the Federal Reserve, you establish a Treasury Direct account which keeps records of the transactions and pays interest directly into your bank account. When the Treasury issue is held to maturity, the par value is repaid directly as well.