Real Estate Investor · Member since 2011 · 29 posts · 40 votes
I am looking to do a self directed IRA, i was thinking of using
the "Equity trust Company" www.trustetc.com.
Their fees seem reasonable, the service seems capable, and they
are out of Ohio which is not a hotbed of fraud unlike Florida and Nevada.
Pluses: They were recommended to me. They are a family owned private business. They have been in business for a while
Negatives: They are small $64MM assets, their CPA is a one horse shop.
As I am trusting my IRA to them, I wanted opinions. My IRA was at Merrill, and they exploded, so the big guys aren't safe.
Madoff was a family enterprise also.
The issue of who is the custodian of your money while it is in a Self Directed IRA is a big deal that people should think about. I use uDirectIRA and I have had mixed results with the service and the security of my personal information. My money though, when it is not invested in a note etc., sits in bank accounts of Amercan Estate and Trust, a Nevada company.
American Estate and Trust, unless you specifically tell them to keep the money in an FDIC insured institution account, has the right to invest that money in 'high quality' fixed income investments. There is no disclosure of what the 'high quality' fixed income investments are - no description is provided. IRA holders also receive a pittance of interest (they could pay me/you .5% while investing in 8% junk bonds and pocket the difference.) I transfer money out of my SDIRA when it is not locked up in a deal.
I think a lot of these outfits make a good deal of their funds by investing this 'float' - IRA money not invested by customers - in other debt or equity investments. SD IRA's are still lightly regulated cowboy town as far as I am concerned. Be careful especially that you understand (and can be shown) where your money is when it is not in one of your self-directed investments.
The risk is that your 'custodian' decides to buy a bond or make a loan or whatever in XYZ company (or uses your funds as collateral, etc.) and then it goes bad. There is no insurance for your deposit in this case.
Buyer beware. Don't be afraid to ask questions aggressively. You are your own best advocate and there are options, so if something smells bad, think carefully about it.
Pensco is the big outfit in San Francisco that I would qualify as blue chip and most reliable, but they also charge % of asset fees.
Horrible customer service at Equity Trust Company(ETC). My minor son and I for years had an account at American Pension Services (APS) self directed IRA company. Couple of years ago there was fraud and embezzlement in that company, it was taken over by government and our accounts (along with 5000 other accounts) were transferred to ETC after losing 10% of the assets to fraud. So I lost $15,000 of the cash balance and few hundreds lost out of my son's account. Back in Sept 2015, I filed ETC forms to transfer and close out our accounts out of ETC to a local IRA company in California. Apparently there was an 'asset' left in my son's account, it being an IOU from law suit against APS. So few weeks ago in early May 2016 I found out I can get that IOU portion out of ETC also, don't have to leave it there until it settles. ETC wants to charge me $230 to close that account lol OMG, after being victimized by $15,0000 and being forced to ETC as part of the government deal, ETC wants a piece of me to close my account there. Unbelievable. I spent so much time explaining this to their customer service and all to deaf ears. If I have to, I will escalate this matter to ETC chairman Robert Desich to expose how bad they are handling my account closure. I left a voicemail today for their VP of Marketing Michelle Lee. This should not be happening!
I used Equity Trust Co for a couple of years. I feel I received good services. I shopped around and switched to IRA Services Trust Co because of their lower fees. So far I found them excessively picky about the documents that they want. They did not accept the Assignment from Equity Trust co.
Over the phone they sound like kids that do not care about their customers. PITA.
I've used ETC for about a year and think their service has been fine. A couple of things took a little more time than I think it could have, but most requests have been handled very well.
I even had them do some tax forms for me (UBIT) and they did a nice job.
they run education programs as well for investors.
so, I like them and plan to stay with them, thus far.
Has anyone used Broad Financial to roll in to a self-directed IRA and form their LLC? They do both so it just seems easier.
Any haters? Anyone very happy with them?
Kay Dean
Elite Holdings Real Estate, LLC.
As a competitor, I'm not really in a position to say anything positive or negative about Broad Financial.
What they are doing by being in control of both the custodian and the legal/advisory component of the LLC is unique in the industry, and while it may streamline certain things, does create a potential conflict.
As a custodian Madison Trust should be entirely independent and serve your best interest. Without indicating that there is any problem with the relationship, the fact that the ownership of Broad and Madison is the same does raise the potential that Madison may act in ways that provide benefit to Broad rather than the client.
We thought about forming a custodial entity many years ago and decided it was better not to go that route for those very reasons.
It may be best to work with a LLC provider that is separate from the IRA custodian and thereby have two independent sources to work with.
Thanks. I just thought having them together would be nicer and easier. They have great reviews everywhere I look. I have been worried about keeping the distance but it seems like the benefits might be good.
I would not recommend Equity Trust. Moderately high fees from what I am seeing here, and constant delays and/or SNAFUs. Even when building in additional time to the contract they have missed deadlines. They seem to REQUIRE you to pay the expedited fees to be able to meet reasonable deadlines. This comes off as fee extortion.
I have had an account with them for about 3 years, and done several transactions. I am now looking for an alternate SDIRA custodian.
I have been using Sunwest Trust for a couple years. They are hands off, so if you need guidance you may want to utilize another company. I created an LLC and have check writing abilities. With this I am able to easily give earnest money checks and go to closing without any problems.
The struggle I had with SDIRA was finding a lender who would let me buy what I wanted. The lenders have restrictions of all sorts. So I buy with cash and have no problems. I can't use the BRRRR strategy, but I like my gamelan and I work it.