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When it comes to planning your financial future, it is imperative that you work with trusted partners who will treat you honestly and fairly. That’s especially true when you invest in a Gold IRA, given the checkered history of precious metal scams that we alluded to in our previous article.
A solid gold IRA company will sell you quality merchandise at a fair price and carefully safeguard your property in an insured depository.
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A fraudulent gold dealer will gouge you with ridiculous markups, bait you with bullion prices and then switch you to high-priced numismatic coins, and may or may not actually apply your money toward the purchase of physical metal. You will want to conduct your own gold IRA company reviews, and research gold dealers before moving forward with any specific company.
We have reviewed all of the major gold dealers and are proud of the gold IRA companies endorsed on our website. We associate ourselves only with trusted retailers, which means that you can be confident your Gold IRA transactions will all be honest, fair and above-board.
In addition, there are several sources of dispassionate information concerning gold dealers that will help you determine which ones are respected within the industry.
Independent Resources for Gold IRA Company Reviews Include:
TrustLink:
The brainchild of the Better Business Bureau, TrustLink was founded in 2008, went online in 2010 and rapidly became one of the country’s most popular rating sites.
The site serves as a forum for consumer experiences, using redundant fact-verification mechanisms that result in dependable ratings and reviews. Businesses are prohibited from posting their own reviews or paying for high ratings.
The open, no-entry-fee structure of TrustLink allows consumers to register, read and write reviews, and communicate with one another and with businesses, all without any membership fees.
Companies can buy additional services, such as enhanced storefront construction and mediation services, that in no way affect the ratings they receive. TrustLink was spun-off by the BBB in 2012 as an independent entity, and now features almost 100,000 posted reviews.
Reviews labeled “TrustLink Verified Review” denote that the customer had participated in some kind of business transaction with the company, and that TrustLink has verified that the transaction occurred. TrustLink is an excellent source for conducting your gold IRA company reviews.
The Business Consumer Alliance:
The non-profit BCA has been in operation since 1928, originally as the BBB of the Southland. It acquired its current name in 2013 to signify that it served all of North America.
The mission of BCA is to promote the self-regulation of business. It performs this task by helping consumers resolve complaints and by forecasting business reliability based upon customer complaints and reviews.
BCA developed an advanced algorithm to help evaluate several different facets of a company’s behavior. The algorithm allows BCA to assign grades from AAA to F to help differentiate good companies from bad.
BCA makes every effort to identify ethical, trustworthy companies and protect consumers from fraud and poor service or shoddy products. Your gold IRA company review is not complete without referencing the BCA.
Related: Physical Gold vs Paper Gold - Which Should You Buy?
National Ethics Association:
Known popularly as ethics.net, the NEA has, since 2001, been helping business owners create a foundation of ethics, trust and best practices.
The Association provides educational resources to assist businesses to act ethically and give consumers a basis for performing due diligence on businesses. The NEA started off as the National Verification Agency.
It requires a criminal background check for all prospective member companies. In 2005 it introduced professional profiles and certificates of approval in order to enhance a business’ credibility. Consumers can receive background checks to help them choose a trustworthy financial advisor while avoiding scams.
The NEA belongs to the National Association of Professional Background Screeners. It sponsors Errors and Omissions Insurance programs to reduce risks for companies and consumers alike.
Better Business Bureau:
The BBB and its governing Council foster responsive and honest relationships between consumers and businesses. The Council, or CBBB, is composed of about 200 national partners and 111 independent, local BBBs located throughout North America. The organization works with a number of other consumer agencies, including:
- Association of National Advertisers
- American Association of Advertising Agencies
- American Advertising Federation
- Direct Marketing Association
- Electronic Retailing Association
- Interactive Advertising Bureau
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The BBB provides ratings, reviews and dispute resolution services for companies throughout North America, and has been doing so for almost a century.
It’s Scam Stopper Program issues scam alerts and warnings. Consumers can file complaints with the BBB, look up company ratings and check inquiry/complaint statistics.
The BBB promotes trust, ethical standards, legal and regulatory compliance, honest advertising, and safeguarding of privacy and data.
The BBB Mark of Accreditation confers a century’s worth of goodwill and trust to companies doing business in all forms of commerce. The BBB should always be on your short list of sites to for your gold IRA company reviews. Do not contact a gold dealer without first researching what the BBB has on file.
TrustPilot
TrustPilot is a consumer review website which hosts reviews of businesses worldwide. With an email address or active facebook account, anyone can log onto TrustPilot and rate their experience with companies.
TrustPilot allows businesses to collect and respond to their client reviews. Companies can take this feedback and use it to make improvements, but also flag reviews they believe "fake" or in violation of TrustPilot's guidelines.
This collaboration between TrustPilot, consumers, and companies, together work to make TrustPilot a resource you can trust.
Related: Augusta Precious Metals Review - Is Augusta PM a Reputable Firm?
Looking For a Gold IRA Company? Honesty Above All Else
In addition to ratings from independent reviewers, consumers should also look for a few other indicators of trustworthiness in researching gold IRA company reviews:
- Named and dated customer testimonials. When a site names the consumer, it’s usually a good sign that the testimonial is real, not cooked up by the company itself.
- Money-back guarantees
- Referrals from trustworthy industry related websites. We perform due diligence on every one of the gold & silver companies we recommend, because we know that setting up a Gold IRA is an important step in the financial well-being of many households.
As we have discussed, Gold IRAs provide a range of benefits that can potentially help lower your overall financial risk and increase your potential return on investments.
Diversifying in precious metals can provide peace of mind during good times and bad, and they offer important tax benefits. Gold, like all investments also carry risks and are not guaranteed to increase in value. Make sure you understand all investment before making any purchases. Our website remains dedicated to identifying the most trustworthy precious metals retailers and honest Gold IRA providers.
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