The 15 Questions Every Investor Should Ask Before Opening a Gold IRA

The Better Business Bureau is the most accessible public record for consumer complaints against financial services companies. Look for two things: the letter grade (A+ is the highest available) and the complaint history over the past 36 months.

A grade below A indicates either unresolved complaints or a pattern the BBB considers serious enough to lower the score. Zero complaints on an A+ profile is a meaningful differentiator, not just a marketing claim, because BBB verifies complaints before posting them and requires companies to respond within a defined window. A company that has received 40 complaints and resolved all of them is substantially different from a company with zero complaints on the same A+ profile.

Verify this directly at bbb.org, not from the company’s own marketing materials. Any company that claims an A+ rating should have no objection to you looking it up yourself.

Gold IRAs are long-term commitments. Your metals may be held for 10, 15, or 20 years before you take distributions. A company that opened 18 months ago has no track record of handling distributions, resolving custody disputes, responding to regulatory changes, or supporting customers through the kind of market events that stress-test operational systems.

Five years is a reasonable minimum. Companies that have been operating for 10 or more years have at least one full market cycle of data behind them. The company should state its founding year clearly on its website, and you should verify that claim against its BBB accreditation date and state business registration records. A three-year gap between a claimed founding year and the actual BBB accreditation date warrants a direct question.

State business registrations are public records. In most states, you can search the Secretary of State’s business entity database at no cost. The registration date, registered agent, and any name changes are all visible.

The compensation structure of the person advising you is a material fact, not a detail. A commissioned salesperson earns more when you invest more and potentially when you choose higher-margin products. That creates a structural incentive that may not align with your interests. A salaried educator earns the same regardless of whether you invest $50,000 or $500,000, and regardless of whether you choose standard bullion or premium products.

Some companies state this explicitly on their websites as a differentiator. When you speak with a company representative, ask directly: “Are your advisors or educators salaried, or do they earn commissions on accounts opened?” A company that is confident in its answer will respond immediately and without deflection. Evasive or conditional answers to this specific question are worth noting.

A gold IRA involves multiple fee layers: setup fees charged by the dealer, annual custodian maintenance fees, storage fees (often differentiated between segregated and commingled storage), and potentially transaction fees on purchases and sales. The total annual cost on a $100,000 account can range from under $200 to over $500 per year depending on the provider and storage choice.

You should receive a complete written fee schedule before signing any document. “We’ll go over fees during the onboarding process” is not acceptable. If a company cannot or will not provide a written fee schedule in advance, that is a meaningful red flag. Fee complexity designed to be disclosed after commitment is a documented tactic in FTC enforcement actions against precious metals dealers.

Under IRS rules, a self-directed IRA, including a gold IRA, must be held by a qualified trustee or custodian. This is specified in IRS Publication 590-A. You, as the account owner, cannot take personal possession of the metals while they remain in the IRA without triggering a distribution event with the associated tax consequences.

The company you work with for purchasing metals is a dealer. The custodian is a separate entity, typically a trust company or IRS-approved bank, that holds the IRA in your name. Before you sign, the dealer should name the specific custodian they work with. You should then verify the custodian independently: confirm they are a real, licensed financial institution and not a subsidiary or affiliated entity of the dealer itself.

IRS rules require that metals held in a gold IRA be stored at an approved depository. This is not optional or interpretable. Storing metals in your personal safe deposit box, home safe, or any other personal location while claiming them as IRA assets constitutes a prohibited transaction under IRS Publication 590-A. Investors who have done this without knowing it have faced treatment of those assets as a distribution, triggering income tax and potentially a 10% early withdrawal penalty.

The dealer should name the specific depository before you sign. Recognized IRS-approved depositories include Delaware Depository, Brink’s Global Services, Texas Precious Metals Depository, and International Depository Services, among others. If a company describes storage as a “secure, insured facility” without naming it, press for the specific name.

At some point, you will sell your metals, whether at retirement, for an RMD, or before. A buyback policy should be stated publicly and in writing, not disclosed only when you ask repeatedly late in the sales process. The key questions: does the company commit to buying back metals from its own customers? At what price (spot price minus a spread, or a fixed fee per transaction)? How long does the process take from request to payment?

Some companies offer guaranteed buyback programs with defined pricing. Others operate on a best-efforts basis at current market rates. Both can be legitimate, but you should know which one you are entering before you commit. A company that will not put its buyback terms in writing is asking you to rely on their word at precisely the moment when you may be most financially vulnerable.

Some gold IRA companies share different information through affiliate marketing channels, private partner portals, and internal sales documents than what appears on their public-facing website. If the research that led you to this company came primarily from materials that are not publicly accessible, including affiliate training documents, private educational series, or information shared only “for prospective account holders,” you may be evaluating claims the company itself has not chosen to make publicly.

The practical test is simple: everything material about the account you are about to open should be verifiable on the company’s public website. If a representative mentions a benefit, term, or feature that you cannot independently confirm via a public URL, ask for it in writing on company letterhead. If they resist, that resistance is informative.

The Federal Trade Commission requires precious metals dealers and affiliated marketers to use compliant language around risk, returns, and product performance. Legitimate companies include disclaimers like “past performance is not a guarantee of future results” when discussing historical pricing. They do not imply guaranteed returns, specific profit amounts, or present gold as a guaranteed protection against any specific economic outcome.

When reviewing a company’s website or speaking with their representatives, watch for language that makes absolute claims about future gains, creates urgency around a “limited window” to invest, or frames gold in terms of protection from a specific economic scenario like currency collapse or market crash. These patterns have appeared in FTC enforcement actions against precious metals promoters and they are not legally defensible in the US market.

A company that uses measured, careful language may seem less exciting than one making bold predictions. The measured language is the differentiating signal worth noticing. Check FINRA’s investor alert on precious metals fraud for documented examples of language that should concern you.

Gold IRA accounts involve multiple parties: the dealer, the custodian, and the depository. Once metals are purchased and transferred to the depository, reversing the transaction involves selling the metals at current spot prices, which may differ materially from what you paid, and processing the distribution. Understand the exit path before you enter.

Specific questions to ask before signing: Is there a rescission or cancellation window after the account agreement is signed? What happens if you change your mind after a rollover is initiated but before metals are purchased? What does a full liquidation cost in fees across all three parties involved? Many states have consumer protection rules around right of rescission for financial products. Ask the company to walk you through their specific cancellation process, in writing, before you sign anything.

Your metals, once at the depository, should be covered by insurance. Ask three specific questions: Who holds the insurance policy, the depository or your individual account? What is the total coverage limit? Does coverage apply per account or as a total cap across all assets stored at the depository?

The distinction matters. A depository that carries $1 billion in blanket coverage across tens of thousands of customer accounts offers meaningfully different protection than one that covers each individual account to $1 billion. Most major, established depositories carry substantial coverage and provide documentation without difficulty. If a depository representative is reluctant to share insurance documentation, that reluctance warrants attention.

The IRS sets minimum fineness standards for metals that qualify for IRA inclusion. Gold must be at least .995 fine (99.5% pure). Silver must be .999 fine. Platinum and palladium must be .9995 fine. These standards are stated in IRS Publication 590-A.

A legitimate dealer will purchase only metals that meet or exceed these standards for IRA accounts. Ask the dealer how they verify fineness before purchasing metals on your behalf. The answer should describe a documented process, whether assay reports, certified mint sourcing, or a recognized refiner certification. “We only work with approved products” is not an answer. Ask what the verification process looks like specifically.

Not all gold and silver products qualify for IRA inclusion. The IRS specifies that bullion coins and bars must meet fineness standards and, for coins, must typically be produced by a national government mint. Common qualifying products include American Eagle coins (which carry a specific IRS exemption allowing 91.67% purity gold), Canadian Maple Leaf coins, Austrian Philharmonic coins, and gold bars from recognized refiners meeting the .995 fineness threshold.

Numismatic or rare collector coins generally do not qualify for IRA inclusion and carry substantially higher dealer markups than standard bullion products. Some companies have been cited in FTC actions for steering customers toward premium numismatic coins as a primary IRA investment. Ask for the company’s approved product list in writing and verify it against IRS Publication 590-A.

Precious metals dealers are typically not FINRA-registered broker-dealers, so their individual representatives may not appear in FINRA BrokerCheck. However, if any representative is making specific investment recommendations or holding themselves out as an investment advisor, they may be required to be registered with FINRA or the SEC.

At minimum, run a search on the company through FINRA’s BrokerCheck at brokercheck.finra.org (free) and through SEC EDGAR for any enforcement actions or disciplinary history. SEC Investor.gov also provides a free investment adviser search. A company with a documented history of regulatory action in this space warrants serious scrutiny before you commit.

The company’s own testimonials page shows reviews they selected. The meaningful signal comes from independent platforms: BBB (complaint-based), Google Reviews, Trustpilot, and Consumer Affairs. Look specifically for reviews that describe concrete experiences with the fee discovery process, the rollover timeline, the buyback process, or communication during distributions. General satisfaction scores tell you less than specific process accounts.

Pay close attention to how the company responds to negative reviews. A company that responds to complaints with transparent resolution steps handles problems in a meaningfully different way than one that dismisses or ignores them. This behavior during conflict is more predictive of your future experience than any volume of five-star ratings.

Goldiew aggregates verified user reviews for gold IRA companies. You can read what actual customers report about their process experience, fees, and communication before committing. See the Augusta Precious Metals review on Goldiew as an example of the kind of user-verified data available.