American Bullion, Inc. states that they are one of the most trusted leaders in precious metals IRAs and the pioneers of seamless gold IRA processing, which they are able to accomplish with the help of its highly experienced staff.
In fact, they have their own trained, in-house IRA staff that specializes in retirement account rollovers to help make it easier for customers to convert their current plan into an American Bullion IRA.
Our feedback on American Bullion in a few words
Company name: American Bullion
BBB grade: A+
Summary: American Bullion is a real company that sells real precious metals to add to your IRA or to simply acquire and have delivered to your door. They also have their own highly experienced and dedicated IRA staff to assist you with your retirement plan rollover to their precious metals IRA for added ease and protection against taxes and penalties.
They also have hundreds of satisfied customer reviews to vouch for their quality service. However, they also have a few complaints concerning their pricing, so we recommend you proceed with caution if you choose to work with them.
Our score: 4/5
Should you work with American Bullion in 2023?
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Clients Benefit From Various Sources of Information
They also state that because it is important to them that their members make the most informed investment choices for their IRA account, their highly knowledgeable staff is also ready to explain the history of gold and how it has remained a stable asset for investment portfolios for many years.
There are also various educational resources available on their site, including articles, blogs, and investment guides on IRS-approved precious metals, retirement accounts, and more, to also help make the process of purchasing physical gold and silver for your retirement account much simpler.
They Offer Both Historic and Modern Gold and Silver Products
The company also boasts that they provide a wide range of coins, including U.S. coins minted before 1933, as well as newly minted silver and gold bullion for their users to choose from.
Your IRA Precious Metals are Securely Stored in the Delaware Depository
American Bullion works with the Delaware Depository to safely store your precious metals for your IRA.
The Delaware Depository is an IRS-approved storage facility that is renowned for its maximum security measures, which include high-tech systems for inventory management and reporting, a highly-trained security staff, and 24-hour video recording of all vault activity.
They also have $1 billion all-risk insurance coverage through Lloyd's of London to further protect your gold, silver, and more.
The depository's location is also far from the effects of large government and financial institutions' policies and more.
Pros about American Bullion:
You Can Choose Between Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Palladium IRAs
As an American Bullion applicant, not only can you choose a gold IRA for its many benefits, including it provides a good hedge against inflation and has value in and of itself, thus making it a great trading tool during economic crises, but you can also choose a silver IRA, platinum IRA, or palladium IRA, which provide many of the same benefits.
For instance, silver is increasing in demand for its industrial use, among many other uses, which makes it valuable even in bear markets.
The same is true for platinum and palladium, so many people are also opting for silver, platinum, and palladium IRAs or to simply include them as part of their gold IRA for the additional inflation protection they provide.
Meanwhile, all of them have an innate beauty that also makes them great heirlooms to be passed down through your family for ages.
The company also specializes in a wide range of precious metals for non-IRA investors to have delivered to their homes.
They Partner With Self-Directed IRA Services as Your Custodian
Self-Directed IRA Services is the preferred custodian for American Bullion.
As your custodian, the company will hold your alternative assets for your self-directed IRA and ensure their secure shipment to the depository.
Once your rare resources are at the depository, the company will also oversee your account and handle all administrative tasks associated with it to ensure it remains compliant with IRS.
They will also provide you with copies of all paperwork and, in some cases, even provide you with an online account to keep track of your assets.
The custodian will also serve as the intermediary between you and the depository when you are ready to take physical possession of your assets and more.
Their fees include:
- There is a $25 cost for the precious metals IRA account setup.
- Members will also be charged a $160 annual account fee.
- However, if the amount invested exceeds $100,000 or if the precious metals are stored in a segregated storage facility, then the costs may vary.
- In the meantime, the firm requires a minimum investment of $10,000 for a rollover, which they state is to cover any costs incurred during the transaction.
You Can View Your IRA Investments In-Person
According to them, when you store your precious metals with Delaware Depository, you can physically visit the location and view them for your IRA in storage.
Simply let your custodian know that you would like to visit the facility, and they will have the depository contact you to set up an appointment at the Delaware Depository in Wilmington.
However, they also have a location in Boulder City, Nevada, that you can also choose.
During your visit, you will also be permitted to take pictures of your inventory as proof.
They Will Work With You to Sell Your Gold
Whether you have reached retirement age and are ready to take your distribution from your IRA, or you just want to make an early withdrawal from your account, American Bullion states that it will walk you through the process of selling your assets.
In fact, they boast that their more than 10 years of experience as a third-party dealer has more than equipped them to help their clients quickly liquidate their assets.
Their IRA specialists will also help you complete the necessary paperwork required by your custodian to complete your full or partial withdrawal from your account for a smooth process.
Just note that if you take an early withdrawal, meaning you take a disbursement or physical possession of your precious metals from your IRA before the age of 59 1/2, taxes and a 10 % early withdrawal fee will apply.
They Also Offer Customer Incentives
Their members also have various opportunities to help cut their IRA costs and earn complimentary investment resources via their customer incentives.
For instance, applicants can have the first year of custodian and storage fees waived when they open a new account with the company or transfer or rollover their Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), 401(k), Roth IRA, 403(b), SEP, or another retirement plan into their gold IRA.
This equates to a yearly savings of over $300. However, for a retirement plan rollover to qualify, it must be at least a $50,000 minimum funds transfer.
They also offer a gold IRA guide that helps you understand the difference that owning precious metals as part of your retirement portfolio compared to stock and other risky traditional investments makes.
It also provides you with tips to help prepare you to make the best precious metal acquisitions for your account, as well as governmental factors that cause their prices to rise and fall, and more.
You will also learn which gold, silver, etc., qualify for your IRA to help you make the most effective choices.
American Bullion is Also a U.S. State Mint Listed Dealer and Royal Canadian Mint Registered Bullion DNA Dealer
The United States Mint is where bullion coins are originally produced; however, they do not actually sell them to the public themselves. Instead, they distribute them through authorized purchasers, such as American Bullion, who acquire and trade them to private investors and more.
The organization is also a Royal Canadian Mint Registered Bullion DNA dealer, which means they are one of few dealers that are registered to utilize the mint's anti-counterfeiting technology and more.
They are also members of the Industry Council for Tangible Assets (ITCA) and the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and authorized dealers and members of the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and the National Guaranty Corporation (NGC).
They also Provide a Precious Metals Historical Pricing Chart on Their Site
In order to know what amount for silver, gold, platinum, and palladium is a good one to invest at, it helps if you can view a snapshot of their cost activities throughout history.
This way, you can see their various high and low to determine which direction the price might go next. Knowing their high and low also gives you a general idea of what's a good low entry point to invest so that the asset has sufficient room to increase in value.
The chart also enables you to track their valuations all the way back to 1968 on up until between 2021 and 2022 for the best analyses possible.
The company also enables you to check the latest values for gold and silver right on their website. There is also a live ticker for the Dow, so you can keep track of the latest market fluctuations to also help you time your investments.
Cons:
The Company Does Not Provide a Full List of Their Fees
Though their company website provides some of their service fees here and there, it'd be nice if they had a full list of their costs to make it easier to know if they are the best precious metals company for you.
Self-Directed IRA Services (SDIRA)
The jury's still out on how we feel about Self-Directed IRA Services since we have researched, what appears to be the company's page, and felt questionable about it based on its lack of professional appearance and a non-working fee schedule link.
We are also confused as to if the custodian company has since been renamed STRATA Trust Company based on further research that seems to suggest it may have. This could be a positive thing since just like Equity Trust, STRATA is a one of the most well known self-directed custodian in the country.
So when you contact the company, be sure to inquire more about Self-Directed IRA Services so that you know exactly who they are and what they offer and to get a feel for their professionalism for yourself.
Is American Bullion a Scam?
According to the BBB site, American bullion is a BBB-accredited company with an A grade; hence, chances are, it is a real company and not a scam. Learn more about gold IRA scams here.
After looking on the Consumer Affairs site, Trustlink site, and Trustpilot site, we also found no testimonies stating it is a fake company.
We also found no complaints or lawsuits filed against the company on ftc.gov, justice.gov, and cftc.gov.
A general internet search of their brand name also returned no search results for lawsuits filed against them with the Attorney General about it being a fraudulent company.
Hence, after consulting numerous reputable resources on the net, we think it's safe to say that this firm is not unreliable.
How is Their Customer Support?
American Bullion states that the professionals in their Operations Department and designated IRA department pride themselves on providing excellent customer service.
They also state that each of their employees goes above and beyond to ensure their members are completely satisfied from the beginning to the end of their transaction, whether they are setting up an IRA account or simply ordering precious metals to be delivered to their door.
The company boasts that its overall goal for doing so is to show its users that they take dealing with each of them ethically and fairly is serious to them.
What do their clients think?
So we turned to their consumer reviews to see if their clients' testimonies actually back up what the company says.
One person left a comment on Trustpilot stating how honest and helpful the company's representative was in helping them make the most informed choices for their account, while another person shares how they made the process of trading their assets easy and fast.
5-star rating on Trustlink
Since it has a 5-star rating on Trustlink, we decided to see what users there also had to say about their experience with the company.
And what we found was many of their members felt that their company's representatives truly provided them with an honest and fair user experience. Various testimonies also shared how patient, knowledgeable, and helpful their representatives were, which also made them happy with their experience.
Just a few opinions on the BBB's website
And then, though they only have a 3.67 out of 5 stars based on 3 customer reviews on the BBB site, 2 persons there shared how honest, kind, and helpful the company's staff was throughout the account setup and buying process and with assisting them in making the best decisions.
Therefore, it's safe to say that the company really does provide superior customer support overall, and they have many satisfied users to attest to it.
Has There Been Any Complaints About American Bullion?
The American Bullion Better Business Bureau's business profile shows that the company has one complaint filed against them in the last 3 years; however, it was not within the last 12 months.
The page also displays the complaint, which involved the representative of a customer of their service who felt the company extorted the said person by seriously inflating the amount above the spot price, which resulted in the said person suffering a loss on the sale as opposed to an increase in value.
However, the company has a 100% response rate on the site, so we are assuming they were responsive in resolving the issue.
3 similar complaints on Trustpilot, BBB and Yelp
We also found someone on Trustpilot that complained about being overcharged on the value of their precious metals and even feeling coaxed to acquire items they did not want.
Another person on the BBB site also shared the same complaint, as did another one on Yelp.
However, we found no complaints in Trustlink, Facebook, or Consumer Affairs, as far as we can tell.
To conclude our audit of American Bullion
So do we recommend them as a company you should work with?
Many Positive Testimonies
Let us start off by saying we love that the company has a plethora of positive comments to attest to their above-average service and customer support, which shows that they really are in business to satisfy their members.
BBB Accredited and BBB A Rating
We also like that they are accredited with the BBB and have an A rating. However, A+ is the highest one and what so many other precious metals companies have, which sort of sets the bar as the standard score for superior firms like Augusta.
Dedicated, Experienced IRA Team
Their leadership as one of, if not, the first companies to perfect the rollover IRA process into the smooth, simple process that it is today also left us smiling.
The company's own experienced and dedicated in-house IRA staff also helps provide you with another level of insight into your retirement plan by educating you on how to add precious metals to it while still benefiting from the traditional tax advantages available to you.
Mint Authorized Dealers and Reputable Coin Grading Service Members
And the fact they are authorized dealers for various mints, and members of many of the most esteemed coin-grading organizations, just made us want to grab our favorite beverage, cozy up in the house, and start investing.
Watch Out For Inflated Prices
However, we are a bit moved by the few complaints we did see on the company concerning price gauging and the rude service some people stated they received when they inquired about it. If you advertise that you provide the best costs on precious metals, and then you don't, just be readily open to be questioned about it.
So we end by saying that, overall, this organization seems like a fairly decent company to work with. However, proceed with caution.
This means be sure to inquire about their costs and how they determine the amount charged for their precious metals and more before you invest so that you understand and can proceed with confidence.
4/5