Forge Trust

My father created a self directed IRA with this terrible company in order to simplify things when he passed. It had the opposite effect. It has now been 4 years since his death, and we cannot get this despicable company to release the remaining funds. Each day they hold his money hostage, they charge us for the incarceration. We are well beyond frustrated. When we do reach a person via phone, we can hear babies crying and dogs barking in the background. They NEVER respond to emails. You have been warned.

Using this company was the worst business decision I ever made. There are no services, and the fees skyrocketed after I opened my account. Once I sold my investment and requested to transfer money elsewhere, it took over two weeks for them to do so. They charged exuberant fees for that, and as payback for using my money, they send my check by snail mail.

Nobody answers phone calls, nobody calls back, and the only email I received was an automated reply.

Wanted to buy $50,000 of Disney last week. Seven days later, nothing, and the stock is up 7%. This is so simple. How can it take so long. No response to my support email.

Even worse with private stock investments. It can take two to three weeks, and that is if you follow up with them several times.

And their attitude always seems to be that they are doing you a favor.

I’ve conducted business with this company for 6 years. I’ve been very pleased, & never experienced the negative things mentioned in other reviews.
ER Q

Stay away from this company!!! This is a borderline questionable company in their disclosure practices for fees, mailings and communication. They charge higher than average industry fees and a la carte for most everthing.

Typical customer experience is calling the number 800.248.8447 only to be told to leave a message with a call back that generally is 1-2 days later. No real chance of getting a live person. Believe it is designed this way.

Poor disclosure of fees while investments are just sitting idle. Average fees on my investments were ~ $500 per year on an investment under $25K. They do absolutely minimal to earn such fees and do not substantiate their basis for charging.

No emails to get in touch with executives.

Shady operation, borderline at best.

While IRA Services Trust does a good job overall, they keep raising their fees. They charge for everything. The quarterly fee has doubled in just the last few years. It costs $5 to get a monthly check from your IRA. Essentially because it's complicated to switch to a different trust company, they are holding your money hostage. It even costs a bunch of money to transfer to another company. Try somebody else! I would not go with them if I had it to do over again.

IRA companies by and large offer no service and generally speaking charge you for the pleasure of holding your money hostage. In my experience, the best you will get is one that discloses their fees upfront.

Unfortunately, this is not one of those companies. I'd compare IRA Services to Comcast cable. The worst example of capitalism on the planet.

This company will routinely charge you fees without telling you and when you finally decide to leave this company they will charge you $150 for the pleasure of taking your money.

If you happen to end up seeing this company as part of a package deal. A deal where you get IRA Services for Free, this is a scam. The "Free" status is either removed completely or your account minimums are jacked up.

Stay away!

I e used them for many years and I have never had a problem. They are very responsive and most everything can be done on line.

Sorry, but need to agree with the very poor reviews of this custodian firm. It takes too long to process the combination of deposit, then withdrawal of your money. Hold times for checks, large fees for any type of bank wire vs. snail mail. Just a general slow process for all things. I can only hope that these fairly consistent reviews about these issues force this firm to improve their processes.

I did not hire IRA Services directly, so they just acted as a clearing house to move my IRA to a Checkbook IRA. They said it takes 3-5 business days to send a wire (domestic, not international), after waiting 6 days I called and they said that "compliance" needed to review the transaction? It took one day to wire my funds from my conventional IRA to them, so I am not sure what "compliant" needed. Anyway they said that they could expedite the wire for $50.
So here I am 7 working days later still with no funds wired. Stay away from this company!

This is a scam. avoid them at all costs. Their fees are unclear and random, and they don't notify customers. They simply ask for money at random times with no justification. Use anything but IRA Services. I'm going to find a way to opt out starting in 2018