Equity Trust Company Reviews 844

They will hold your precious metals just fine but heaven help you if you try to get out of their clutches. They will never sell your items to give you your money. Only approved companies can, they have a list but won't tell you honestly who does what so you have to contact the entire list asking if they can help you. Equity has TERRIBLE customer service! They are of no help if you want to close your account! I have been trying to get this resolved for months to no avail.

I phoned Equity Trust Company last year to find out how much was the transport cost for three or four of my coins to be sent to my home. I was told I could not obtain such information without first filling out a request to withdraw the said three or four coins, and only then would I be given the information. Would it cost me $100 to transport $100's worth of precious metals? Mechanical repetition of the same answer was given me: withdraw funds first and then we'll let you know.

This year I did not receive my 1099-R form from Equity. I phoned to ask for it. The phone system at Equity Trust is like a giant octopus -- "Press 1 for XXS," "Press 2 for XYZ," etc. I chose the appropriate number and was told he/she could not give me that information. I would need to be transferred to the tax department. The customer rep pressed a button to transfer me, and an anonymous phonemail message stated, "Please leave a message."

I phoned Equity Trust four times, and never got to speak with a human being at all who might aid me. I tried to make an appointment with a customer service rep for another day and time and the Equity calendar was booked up for the week! I would have to wait more than a week to seek an answer as to where my 1099-R form is.

I even went onto the Equity Trust's website called "MyEquity," and under Account was a tab called "Tax Forms," but there were no tax forms listed or linked whatsoever.

There is no point in being a customer of Equity Trust Company. It is not friendly. It is not customer-service oriented. It is not helpful, and it's website is all the above, including, like its phone system, complicated. Find another company to put your precious metals.

Amateur Hour! These people are clueless. Are they hiring High School kids? Don't entrust your money to them!

Don't be a fool and have anything to do with this terrible criminal enterprise. This third party company is supposed to manage your investments. You purchase precious metals (gold silver) from a precious metals dealer. You send your hard earned dollars to purchase gold. The dealer(Oxford Gold) supposedly purchases the gold and then stores the product. Working together ETC. and OGG pretend that gold was purchased and Equity sends statements out Quarterly showing your account balance and along with that your maintenance fees. Only problem YOUR GOLD WAS NEVER PURCHASED. Your ETC. statements for months and months, in my case years show your gold is there, in a depository. IT ISN'T! Your money is gone and ETC. was complicit and equally involved in the scheme to defraud and ROB people of their life savings. ETC. now facing hundreds of Criminal and Civil lawsuits. People read the reviews. STAY AWAY!!

My late husband "invested" in Warrior Golf and the investments/reporting were through Equity Trust Co.
I never understood why through the years invested, no growth was seen in the account. Eventually the company has gone out of business, but ETC still sends information that he has money in the account. There were only two RMDs made . After his death, I have tried to retrieve the remainder of the money (according to the paper work received from Equity Trust. I have sent in death certificate and other documentation, but the money has never come. I have received notice about the Warrior Golf bankruptcy action and have no hope of getting any of the money back. ETC certainly doesn't live up to the "trust" in their name. Now they want me to pay for them to file Form 990-T. Stay away from this terrible company.

I have been with ET since previous 401k company in Utah went bankrupt in mid 2000's. Unfortunately, few other options since properties were in my portfolio. I have had NOTHING but PROBLEMS with them-from coordinating with TD/Schwab for money transfers and reports to purchasing property in my LLC to getting $$ out of Mutual funds to getting $$ for mortgage or transferred to stock account. I am moving all but properties out and they are SO BAD-unorganized-that it has taken over a YEAR to transfer CASH and TD/Schwab acct to Charles Schwab IRA!! GET OUT of Equity Trust ASAP or NEVER START with them-Horrible experience.

Really poor service, no people can not found during the working hours. Only courtesy response. My fund can not be used for over 2 weeks, and the problem still cannot be solved.

What a mistake I made doing business with EquityTrust. Their customer service is totally incompetent. The individual I spoke with was useless and unable to answer any of my questions. All she would say is she will send out an email and have someone call me. But was unable to tell if when that would actually happen. I am regretting doing any business with this company. I strongly suggest that you avoid doing any business with EquityTrust.

NEVER will use this company again. They only care about FEE GENERATION, and nothing about thier clients and the assets we are using their services to invest in. I am using ETC to invest in commercial real estate LP's from my Fidelity Investments Traditional IRA account. Mind you, this is a non-taxable account, yet every year, they charge a $75 'non-compliance' fee, only to require you to fight thru their system to submit a '990-T Filing Not Required' form, for an IRA account!!??!! The people they have working there have no concept of LP investments. I can only immagine the brain damage if you are attempting to purchase single asset real property, or precious metals, or Joint Venture investments. I could go on about the recent (2nd) LP investment and the troubles i had getting this funded with MY $ in this account, which required wiring in money to cover the investmen. No problem sending them and their acceptance of funds.....but try to get it sent out is a nightmare. Now i am waiting for proceeds to be wired/sent back to my Fidelity account....and wiating.....and waiting. Do anything you can to avoid using Equity Trust unless you thrive on frustration & incompetance. I'm sure ETC will try to figure out a way to charge my account for writing this review. DANGER WILL ROBINSON, DANGER!!!!!!!

The saga continues.. Company Refuses to payout distributions.. request was made on 12/16 it has been more than a month ACH deburisments only take 3 days... called chief financial officer and administration of operations Beth Jendonek on 1/16 and was told she would call me back IN 24HRS and my call was very important to her... it is now 1/22 and still no call back or resolve and no you not allowed to talk to her ... speed of the team is the speed of the lead... this message is more than a complaint it is a WARNING.. as most of you reading are asking is this the company for me will i be protected and will i be treated well... well from a marines point of view yes if you enjoy heartache and disappointment and treated like a POW... a truly rotten company with no way to address recourse and very rude... it is important to explain this to consumers like yourself so you don't fall into the same trap... people who generally dealing with this company are older looking to get there RMD to enjoy their retirement.. not spend the days on end fighting for what is rightfully their's ... if your having problems with this company ring the alarm bell here at Trustpilot to alert your fellow neighbor and call South Dakota Division of Banking and file a complaint... if your not dealing with this company yet count your blessing and find another...

This is not a very organized company and it is highly recommended you stay away from them.

I joined in 2024 and have regretted it to the point that I closed the accounts. I am waiting to receive my funds.

I was improperly charged fees, had an account opened I didn’t need and then to close the account had to pay more than the annual fee. I also had to pay taxes.

This company never made the charges right even after speaking with a senior executive at the company who assured me they would fix it. Numerous emails, time lost and the death of my father and still this company just takes and never delivers on any promises they make. Stay away!

I was American Heartford Gold customer. Equity Trust is the company they use. I had a problem getting my RMD for 2023 and again on 2024 so I decided to liquidate my account. In doing so I lost more $10,000. Equity Trust is a terrible company. I still haven't gotten my money and I have been trying since October and now is the end of December. I will now have to pay the IRS a penalty. Do not at all costs choose Equity Trust. They lie and their employees are don't know what they are doing.

I have received different answers depending on who I talk to for various things that come up. It seems everything is a challenge. I would never go with them knowing what I know now. Fees are also high compared to other companies. Also, you need to title property in your name or account number which opens you to issues having that kind of information on public record. No other SD IRA company requires that. Find another company!

Well, it appears that my original post from May 31, 2024 has been taken down, so I'll repost it again.
My issue and requests still haven't been resolved to date.
Repost:
"Very disappointed with their service.
#1- They gladly swipe their fees off the top on day one and then dropped
the ball in getting my second account transferred over. Spent over 4
hours of MY time doing someone else's job to reverse engineer THEIR
mistakes (faxing to wrong #, etc.).
#2- Faulty Doc-U-Sign template sent to me by Equity which did not auto
date my signature on the document itself, which caused more delay in
transferring my account over. (3 hours of my time spent figuring that
problem out)
#3- When I uploaded my docs on their site, it ended up blank on their
end with no explanation given.
#4 - STILL locked out of my online account access due to someone on
their end doing something. Was told I "downloaded Opti-something or
other" of which I never did and don't even know what that is in the first
place.
STILL haven't got to the bottom of what happened and why, after
escalating this up 2x's and only being offered to "reset my password" as
a solution. I NEVER CHANGED MY PASSWORD.
WHO HACKED INTO MY ACCOUNT ???
Nothing but crickets from their IT dept.
I have 4 hours of MY billable time, doing someone else's job, that I am
back-charging them for and need to know to whom do I address my
invoice to?
I will be looking for another trustee company to handle my business.
RUN AWAY from this company .... FAR AWAY."

Compare their fees. My experience - very high. Customer service pleasant.

Avoid this company at all costs. Seriously... run, you will find nothing but a web of frustrating emails and phone calls. Nobody at this company knows what anyone else is doing. As soon as you fund your account the customer service stops. Frankly it's a wonder they manage to stay in business, I can't imagine allowing them to manage any of my assets. I have been waiting for a disbursement for over three weeks. Where's my money? Also, the employees should really learn the difference between a subscription agreement and a stock purchase agreement. Its honestly pathetic that I had to explain it to them.

I tried distributing cash out of my Equity Trust online account called myEquity.com which apparently uses a 3rd party service from Plaid. After stepping through an online distribution wizard the Plaid service takes over. Once authenticated to my personal bank through Plaid I get errors about my identity even though I've already authenticated myself. Trying to get help through Equity Trust Customer Service was no help whatsoever. They couldn't even provide a phone number or email to contact the Plaid service. Very disappointing.

My initial review had 1 star. And it took a bad review to get a response. Jamie Marsh from AHG (American Hartford Gold), responded and personally contacted me on my issues. He went above and beyond any of my expectations ! Because of Jamie's response I have revised my rating to a 5, with 1 suggestion, No matter who you deal with, get a declaration of all expense before agreeing to any transaction.

I'm not sure how this company is still in business. Please do not waste your time reading reviews. There is no way any positive review is legit. As Father God as my witness, this company is 100% a scam. May He have mercy on anyone who works there.

I had the worst experience with this company. They are very incompetent and not the best company to use nowadays. You would end up facing a difficult at one time. I have moved my retirement funds over to-Many ways llc.I have really made so much more in returns over the months. I would recommend.