<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>EX-99
<SEQUENCE>4
<FILENAME>highincome061ltr.txt
<TEXT>
October 10, 2001


To the Trustees and Shareholders of Putnam High Income Convertible and
Bond Fund:

In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of
Putnam High Income Convertible and Bond Fund for the year ended August
31, 2001, we considered its internal control, including control
activities for safeguarding securities, in order to determine our
auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our opinion on the
financial statements and to comply with the requirements of Form N-SAR,
not to provide assurance on internal control.

The management of Putnam High Income Convertible and Bond Fund is
responsible for establishing and maintaining internal control.  In
fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgments by management
are required to assess the expected benefits and related costs of
controls.  Generally, controls that are relevant to an audit pertain to
the entitys objective of preparing financial statements for external
purposes that are fairly presented in conformity with generally
accepted accounting principles.  Those controls include the
safeguarding of assets against unauthorized acquisition, use or
disposition.

Because of inherent limitations in internal control, errors or fraud
may occur and may not be detected.  Also, projection of any evaluation
of internal control to future periods is subject to the risk that
controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that
the effectiveness of the design and operation may deteriorate.

Our consideration of internal control would not necessarily disclose
all matters in internal control that might be material weaknesses under
standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants.  A material weakness is a condition in which the design or
operation of one or more of the internal control components does not
reduce to a relatively low level the risk that misstatements caused by
error or fraud in amounts that would be material in relation to the
financial statements being audited may occur and not be detected within
a timely period by employees in the normal course of performing their
assigned functions.  However, we noted no matters involving internal
control and its operation, including controls for safeguarding
securities, that we consider to be material weaknesses as defined above
as of August 31, 2001.

This report is intended solely for the information and use of
management and the Board of Trustees and the Securities and Exchange
Commission and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone
other than these specified parties.



</TEXT>
</DOCUMENT>
