This checklist lists the documents and written answers to collect from a gold IRA dealer, its custodian, and its depository before you fund an account. Every item is something you can hold, read, or file — not a claim you have to take on faith. Print it and work through it on the dealer call.
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The dealer
The dealer sets the price you pay and the price you get back. Get each item below in writing, on the day of the call.
- Legal entity name as it will appear on the contract. The entity on the contract is the party you would complain about or sue, and it is often not the brand name in the advertising.
- The dealer’s BBB profile and complaints page, checked on the day. Complaint patterns change month to month, so a summary quoted on a sales call is not evidence.
- A search of the CFPB complaint database and federal court dockets for the entity name. Complaints and lawsuits are filed against the legal entity, so the brand name alone will not surface them.
- The written premium over spot for each item quoted. The premium is the largest cost on the buy side, and it is the number most often given verbally only.
- The dealer’s current bid on those same items. The gap between the ask and the bid is what an exit costs, and a verbal bid can change by the time you sell.
- The written buyback terms. A buyback promise without a price basis, spread, and timing in writing is not a term you can enforce — see how spreads and buybacks work.
- The terms of any promotion, including how bonus metal is valued. Bonus metal is only worth what it can be sold for, so the valuation method decides the offer’s real value.
- The cancellation window and how it is measured. Whether the clock runs from order, funding, or postmark decides whether you can still exit.
The custodian
The custodian holds the account; the dealer sells the metal. They are separate companies with separate fee schedules.
- The custodian’s legal name. You need it to confirm the custodian is independent of the dealer and to look up its record on your own.
- The custodian’s own current fee schedule, taken from the custodian. Dealer-quoted fee totals sometimes omit custodian charges — compare against the full fee picture.
- The account agreement, before you sign it. It sets the fee terms, the custodian’s duties, and how disputes are handled.
- How a transfer out works and what it costs. The exit path and its price belong in the total cost, and they are easiest to get before you are the one exiting — see how custodians work.
The depository
The depository stores the metal. Ask for its name and its terms, not the dealer’s summary of them.
- Which depository holds the metal. “An approved depository” is not an answer; you want a name you can look up.
- Segregated or commingled storage, stated in writing. Segregated storage sets your exact coins aside; commingled storage gives you a claim on a pool.
- The insurer and the coverage limit. Coverage has an underwriter and a limit, and both are checkable documents rather than verbal assurances.
- Who bills for storage — the custodian or the depository. The billing party decides which fee schedule governs and who answers when the charge changes.
- Shipping terms in both directions. Who pays, who insures, and how long transit takes apply on the way in and on the way out, including when you sell or take a distribution.
The metal
Eligibility is a rule, not a dealer opinion. The product name decides it.
- The exact product name for every item quoted. “Gold coins” is not a product; the name determines eligibility, premium, and resale demand.
- Confirmation that each item meets the fineness standards in 26 U.S.C. § 408(m), or is an American Eagle coin, which qualifies by statute. Fineness is the eligibility test for bullion; American Eagles are excepted from it — see what counts as IRA-eligible gold.
- Bullion, not proof or collector coins, unless you intended otherwise. Proofs and collector pieces carry higher premiums, and this line is where an accidental upgrade gets caught.
The money
Funding method and fee totals are where the tax risk and the recurring cost sit.
- The transfer type — trustee-to-trustee transfer, direct rollover, or 60-day rollover — and the reason for it. The type decides who moves the money and which deadlines apply; a 60-day rollover puts the cash in your hands with a hard clock — see the rollover guide.
- For a 60-day rollover, the one-rollover-per-12-months limit. The limit applies across all of your IRAs, and a second rollover inside the window is treated as a taxable distribution.
- Year-one and later-year fee totals, written down. Setup and one-time charges make year one cost more than later years, so a single blended number hides the shape of the cost.
- The fee schedule for selling and for an in-kind distribution. Exit has its own charges, and those are the ones least likely to appear in the first quote.
Red flags that end the call
Any one of these ends the call. The CFTC’s investor education library covers precious-metals fraud advisories if you want the broader patterns.
- Pressure to decide today. Deadlines that originate on a sales call, not from a custodian or the IRS, exist to stop comparison shopping.
- A refusal to put the premium in writing. The premium is the main cost, and a number you cannot get in writing is a number you cannot verify later.
- A pitch to store IRA metal at home. The Tax Court held in McNulty v. Commissioner (2021) that keeping IRA metal at home led to taxable distributions, and the tax lands on the account owner — see the home-storage question.
- A push toward proof or “exclusive” coins. These products carry the widest premiums over spot, and “exclusive” is a marketing word, not a document.
- A claim that gold cannot lose value. Gold’s price falls as well as rises, and a promise about future prices cannot be kept.
For the fuller pattern behind these behaviors, see gold IRA scams.
Takeaways
- Every item above is a document or a written answer; if it stays verbal, it is not a term you can rely on.
- The premium, the buyback bid, and the exit fees are the three numbers that decide the total cost — get all three in writing before money moves.
- For the criteria behind this checklist, see how we review gold IRA dealers.