Equity Trust Company Equity Way, Westlake

I have been using Equity Trust for my private IRA investments for about 10 years now. They have always been quick to respond to any questions that I have and to do their due diligence and process the investment in a very timely manner. Their fee structure is fair as well. You can't find a better company to deal with for your private equity investments than Equity Trust!

If you are looking for an industry-leading custodian of tax-advantaged accounts then your search has ended. Equity Trust is a financial services company that enables individual investors to diversify investment portfolios through alternative asset classes, including real estate, tax liens, private equity and precious metals, using a self-directed IRA and innovative technology. Their staff is very knowledgeable, professional and helpful. I have a self-directed IRA with Equity Trust Company since 2004 and I am a very happy investor.

Been a member of ETC for 15 years. They are a solid continuous improvement organization! Always innovative, highly trustworthy and dedicated to providing knowledgeable customer service. Improvements in online technology such as electronic signature are adopted, refined and simplified by ETC on a continuous basis. Some of the most helpful, knowledgeable and well trained Customer Service Reps I have ever encountered! A real challenge in understanding the latest technology and fairly complex government policies as they rapidly evolve every year. ETC seems to evolve on the human level even faster than the technical and regulatory level. A real challenge and a noteworthy achievement.

Equity Trust Company is the only financial institution which I've found that will set-up and facilitate transactions with a self-directed real estate IRA. That aspect alone is a great feature which I love. The ETC website has a lot of great information about the legal limits and restrictions for real estate IRAs, as well as the potentials for profits. It's fairly easy to set-up an account. Once your account is set-up, the ETC website is adequate (although a bit clunky) for executing real estate transactions and payments. Getting responses to questions from the ETC staff is slow, often taking several days. Overall, ETC does a very solid job in a financial arena where it appears they have no competition and are likely experiencing some "growing pains" due to an increasing demand as IRA investors become aware of the possibilities with a self directed real estate IRA.

Working with Equity Trust (ET) made the complex simple. Great team and superb customer service. I have recommended several friends to ET to leverage their IRA. They get a 10 out of 10 every time. Roland

It would help to get a printed version in the mail. Both of us will be 88 years old in a few months and do not handle computers very well. I tried to get our quarterly report on a weekend and couldn't do it. The numbers sent to our computer for verification were supposed to be good for 15 minutes. They were not good for 5. I did get some very good results during a weekday call with a very knowledgeable person and got the info quickly. It would also be of benefit to list the quantity of each product that we have. Thank you for asking.

We set Equity Trust up in hopes to use as 401K and IRA investment plan! As it turned out we never used and have since pulled the money out and invested in another route! Worked well to set up and think is a good tool! Our situation for this use changed!

The first time I checked my balance the total showing on your web site was a LOT less than my deposit of three months before. Of course I was very upset and called the company that I dealt with to set up the IRA. They explained it was a required accounting procedure. When checking my account balance I have to call this company and then wait two or three days for the return call. I do not understand why I can't call you directly for the total.

I'm a 20+year customer of this company. That is about to end. Not sure what has happened with this company, but their customer service is HORRENDOUS! I've attempted to make several recent investments involving rather large sums of money. When you spend 6+ hours of your time trying to ensure the transaction(s) have been conducted, you have a serious problem. Phone hold times of 1 hour, 6 minutes, 37 minutes, 23 minutes respectively, are uncalled for! That's just for 1 transaction that STILL has not been completed. I could go on, but you get the picture. If prompt customer service is of importance to you, I recommend you look elsewhere. Sad that I had to post this, but it's a serious concern/problem.

This was my first experience in purchasing coins. It was easy with the help of the financial advisors. It was a quick and thorough process. So glad that I made this choice as my traditional IRA is tanking with this inflation.

ETC has been my Custodian for nearly 10 years but I am fed up with their lack of service! 9 out of 10 transactions are delayed due to incorrect or incompetent processing. On Friday February 4, 2022 I called and spoke to Lizette to express my concerns. In response to my “escalated” complaint, today I received a call from Lindsey. After telling me what the IRS guidelines “probably” allow, she put me on hold to research further and never came back to the phone. After about 15 minutes I hung up. No return phone was received! It has become painfully obvious that Equity Trust Company is more concerned with its Assets Under Management than the quality and timeliness of its customer service!

Equity Trust Co. is a great resource as a self-directed IRA administrator. They have superb customer service, an easy to use interface on their website, and great educational resources on using an IRA for real estate investing.

1256 DUNN MEADOW CT, VIENNA, VA, 22182, US Equity Trust Company Is a good Custodian to use your self directed IRA for your Real estate investments needs. I highly recommend this company.

I have 2 accounts with ETC. Have made several land purchases with my IRA and have been very happy with the service and response times. The myequity portal is very easy to use.

This company used to be ok but over the past few months has gone completely downhill. Customer service refuses to respond essentially at all and cannot actually handle anything at all. They've lost one deposit of mine and mis processed two others such that mortgage payments have now been missed on one of my properties. Which of course exposes me to legal action from the bank. Essentially, they are so incompetent and uncaring that you cannot depend on any transaction to go properly, big or small. I notice many others here have had the same experience. If anyone is interested in sharing experiences and / or getting legal advice / counsel on this pls contact me.

I miss the early 2000's Equity Trust. Hold times are over 20-30 mins every time I call. They're depositing money in the wrong accounts. It takes almost a month to fix any issues on the account. Transactions are takign longer to process.... Why must I pay extra to have normal processing times...What's going on????

Wouldn't even give one star. My husband and I have been customers for over 10 years. This last month has been the worst customer service ever. I have tried numerous times to call. I sit for 30 to 40 minutes and eventually end up having to end call. Today I have been on the call for 1.10 minutes. This is not acceptable. When I request call back they do not call back. They have charge my husband and I a fee for a form we did fill out the fee says non compliance. We did comply and have been trying for weeks to get thru. This is just a true experience of our dealings with them.

Everyone should have an IRA account. This company was the first and is the best. I have had an account since 2009. The only way to invest!

Their fees for digital assets are ridiculously high, monthly and annual fees...no other companies in this space charge what they charge. Plus their fees for placing trades are high and the asset you purchase will cost you more money than market quote at that time. I’ve emailed to complain about the fees and no one has responded. This company is not growing.

Equity Trust makes it increasingly difficult to manage by self directed IRA. After 6 years of doing business with this company, I am less than impressed. Gold Level Service took over 2 months to transfer an investment out of my account, phone hold times are atrocious, and the customer portal is inefficient.

My husband and I have our IRA accounts with Equity Trust Company. We have found the representatives to be knowledgeable, professional, and always helpful. They are a passive custodian and are very clear about what they do and do not do, referring us to our CPA or IRS we need input outside their expertise/jurisdiction. We recently sold one of our assets, and ETC was so helpful in walking us through the process. We highly recommend ETC !

The customer service at Equity Trust is second to none. I just had another fantastic experience on several transactions with them. Professional, accurate, and timely help and assistance is the hallmark of Equity Trust service. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

I would like to compliment the Client Services for their excellent service. I sincerely appreciate the outstanding assistance from Amber Baraona with completing my Minimum Distributions Requirement (MDR) form. She skillfully and very cheerfully guided me through doing the online form. I value her caring and helpful service. Thank you!

Knowledgeable and friendly phone responses...once the phone is picked up. Took about 30 minutes to be answered. Every time I've had a question, he Equity support personnel fully answer my request.

Outstanding and helpful management of private investments within a Roth IRA. Professionals are helpful and responsive, and take ownership of the process along a clear line of required action steps for full compliance. Online portal was upgraded during COVID, and the result was a major upgrade--very easy to use and it streamlines and clarifies the investment process very efficiently. I've done two transactions with Equity Trust. Both have been positive experiences, but I could clearly see a pattern of improvement and customer accommodation in the time that lapsed between my first transaction and my very recent second one.

Equity Trust has been the custodian of my IRA account for over 10 years; it's performance has improved over the years. My last two transactions with them have been handles very well by them. They re making transactions easier for me to process and much more timely. I would give five stars in a couple of years after I see their good performance continue and not go backwards again. Brian

Easy to work with...quick & handles your requests the 1st time you call. Professional & took the time to explain the gold market to a novice. Thank you!

The reason I am taking my valuable time to write this is mainly because of the way Equity Trust has come through for me on two critical deadlines all with the same perfection they have done on all my transactions. The last one involved a closing where the sellers and closing attorneys set the closing date with only two business days to have my funds in their account. We usually allow 72 hours for a thorough review to make sure everything is legit and properly accounted for. However, with my last transaction I srsly felt like a hostage with a gun to my head to have the funds there by high noon! I had appealed to simply move the closing to a couple of days later so there would be plenty of time to make sure we only moved the date once. I had actually told them there was no way my funds would be there by the time given. Much to my surprise they advised they would not move the date, or even the time, until we all sat around the table to see if funds had cleared on the original closing date and time. Then, and only then, would they consider moving anything! So everyone involved (I had another buyer/investor too) had to keep their schedules open for about three days. What we suspected was the sellers were going to see if they could find other buyers in the meantime that would pay even more than the already higher than asking price, then simply cite legal allowances to call the closing off as "unfulfilled". Then they could take our earnest money, as well as even a higher sale price, to ring out the most money possible from their offering. Furthermore, I was not able to start the process until about 36 hours out. I told my liason to just to do the best they could given the circumstances. The bottom line is that Equity Trust stepped up to the plate and wired the funds by the end of the next business day so they would be in the account by noon the following day. Kudos and hats off to my friends at Equity Trust! There may be slightly cheaper alternatives but with Equity Trust you get what you pay for, fast, reliable and accurate. Thank you Equity Trust!!!

Equity Trust has done a great job with our self directed IRA accounts. They have really improved the last few year and are now very quick to respond and get things done. They are very knowledgeable and can put your mind at ease that everything is getting done correctly.

I do 2-8 transactions per year with Equity trust. I pay extra for gold level and never ever have any issues. People leaving negative feedback are 100000% wrong. I did 2 transactions last week with zero delay!! All done online and emailing docs. The best Team is here.

My wife and I have had our IRA accounts at Equity Trust Company for seventeen years, and we are very happy with their customer service. Everyone that we have worked with has been friendly and courteous. We have watched a lot of IRA custodians come and go, and we are glad that we chose to work with Equity Trust Company. We have referred a number of family members and friends who have set up their own IRA accounts at Equity Trust as well. Their website is very easy to use. Information on investments, financial transactions, paying bills, forms, and account statements is readably available to help manage your account. Annual fees are fixed and much less than some other IRA custodians, especially those who charge a percentage of account value. Our accounts have grown over the years, but Equity Trust's fees have remained very reasonable. Equity Trust offers many webinars and educational opportunities. We highly recommend Equity Trust Company!

I have used Equity Trust for my self-directed IRA for the past 3 years. I have been very impressed with their customer service. I highly recommend them if you are looking to open a self directed IRA.

Equity Trust Company (ETC) has provided me with a great opportunity to invest my IRA in real estate assets that I choose to purchase and sell. The online Bill Payment is so easy to use to send payments to contractors working on my properties. ETC website is easy to navigate to find the documents and resources needed for any transaction. The staff that assist with closings are knowledgeable and responsive. I have had nothing but great experiences with ETC since I opened my account several years ago.

I have worked with Equity Trust for over 13 years and have found them to be professional in both my original precious metals 401k and then Self Directed Real Estate 401k starting in 2007. There response and support has helped me with my investments, especially their constant website and bill pay improvements in managing the rental property.

I am a long time customer of Equity Trust company. I have paid attention to other posts explaining that the organization is very fee aggressive and if you are not careful, the costs of doing business under their platform can come back to bite you. Well, as of lately, I have been bitten pretty significantly. I made the decision to allow Equity Trust to auto bill my credit card for fees. Unknowingly, the yearly management fee is included in those charges. I sold a property at the end of 2021 and had planned on transferring a majority of the money out of my ET account to my brokerage account until property values decline somewhat. Depending on the amount you have in your account as of 12/31/year, you are billed for the next year in full for whatever amount threshold you are in. I arranged for the transfer to occur and then received my credit card bill for the fees that were attached to my threshold. I called to explain my circumstances but evidently their policy of keeping the full fee regardless of circumstances is more important then a good customer experience. Two things not to do with Equity Trust: 1. Do not give a credit card for auto billing. 2. Deposits/withdrawals - Remove whatever money you are taking out by 12/31/year or wait to deposit additional money until after 1/1/year.

ATROCIOUS customer service, many mistakes that they won't fix, and high fees. They do not answer the phone, do not call back, do not respond to emails. We have done business with them for many years and have multiple accounts with our family and investors. Over the years the service has gotten progressively worse to the point that it is now unbearable and basically non-existent. I have been trying for a month to get items that were posted incorrectly to an account corrected but despite multiple attempts to contact the rep and providing the requested documentation, she continues to ignore my calls and emails. She did not call when she promised. I am also discovering mistakes on every single account I look at for myself, investors and family members despite our documentation showing we sent the correct info. The fees keep going up and the service level has gone down to practically nothing. I just paid nearly $1,000 in fees and get treated like this in return. It's truly disgusting. I can't wait to finish out these transactions and move my business elsewhere. I will be sure to advise everyone else I know with them to do so as well.

Equity Trust is the best when investing in Real estate with your IRA. Every year the transactions become easier and more streamline through Equity Trust’s innovation. There commitment to the customer is fantastic. It’s like we are on the same team. Gary

Great company to help you get your Retirement Assets into Real Estate. Easy to Work with. Most Agents seem very knowledgeable. Wait times on the phone can take a while. Would definitely recommend that you go Gold Level Service for at least your first year.

Have invested through Equity Trust for approximately 18 years. My experience with this company has been very positive. Their staff is competent, friendly and helpful. Real estate closings have gone smoothly and while some of the investments did not do well (similar to stock market investments) that responsibility is on me and not Equity Trust.

I was trying to track down a large deposit I mailed to them weeks and weeks before and it never showed up in my account. I called the company 9 times over a four day period, left 9 messages and no one would return my call. It seems that my money is their money and they feel no responsibility to reply back to me for five days now. Where is my money? I don’t know they won’t tell me! We have no choice but to file complaints with the appropriate agencies and move our trust elsewhere. Spare yourselves the anxiety and go with a better option.

The employees at Equity are superior they are so very helpful and answer all of your questions. Stephanie walked me through the process on my computer and was so courteous and patient with me during the time she spent with me. Stephanie answered my email promptly. She is great.

I'm not sure if it is this company, or the entire self-directed IRA regulations, but investing through this company has been unnecessarily difficult. I can't get basic information that I need to direct investments. Considering moving my money elsewhere. *Lowering to 2 stars, can't get a simple $25K investment through. * I hate these generic "response from owners", contact my helpline or email. You've got my name, surely you can look that up and see if I'm actually a customer, and what transaction has been taking more than a month to process. I actually got my transaction moving again (thank you Jessica), but I'm leaving the rating.

The ONLY reason for a good review for Equity is because of Rachel Smith who was the only employee that ever really cared enough to listen to me and help me in a most horrible situation. She should be rewarded for her efforts as she is the only thing that has been good about this company. Make sure she is treated well and given the rewards she so deserves.

Equity Trust assisted me to the fullest in getting an address changed in my account. Elizabeth was EXCELLENT in helping me make the change. She was a very patient and kind person. Cheers to her and Equity Trust!

We purchased raw land for our IRA and the entire process was very simple and no problems. The process also moved along quite quickly once we submitted the closing information.

Everyone involved in helping with the process of setting up my metals retirement plan rollover were fantastic. It was a great experience and I highly recommend Equity Trust Company.

Euity Trust has a great team right from the onboarding process to giving advise on many questions I had as to what kind of investments can be made in a self-directed IRA account. Very Knowledgeable team.

ETC is very helpful in everything I need. Plus their affiliation with various companies will be helpful as well. I feel I'm in good hands and I am confident they can direct me with all my financial concerns for the future.

Equity Trust Co. has been responsive to any of my questions or inquiries establishing new account. I feel very confident about using them for my investments.

Was looking to take part in a property auction and the team at Equity Trust was so helpful and responsive. I would highly recommend then for a non-traditional IRA for investing!

I would leave less if I could. I have been a long time customer and will soon be leaving. If they ever respond so that I can get my money out. they cost me 100K investment because I could not get in touch (Called and e-mailed every day four 8 days straight). Not sure what happened, but customer service is not completely non existent. Will be moving to Millenium Trust as soon as I can get my money out.

Spent a good chunk of time with service rep., Whitney​ Williams, to assure I was filling out a form correctly. She was so nice & patient with me: made it a joy more than a chore!

I've been investing through a real estate IRA with Equity Trust since 2007. Their procedures and services have been improving over the years. They are responsive to the needs of their clients and provide a great way to segregate my long term retirement investing from my short term income investments. I would recommend Equity Trust to any young adult investor as a way to plan for the future.

I never knew that investing my retirement into real estate could be this easy. Equity Trust Company made the process so seamless and pleasant that I can’t stop talking about it to friends and family. I wish all the company’s out there could take a few minutes to study how this company does business and use them as a model! Equity Trust Company has employees that are excited about their work and well trained in getting things done quickly. Such a great experience and my processor Yvonne was just fantastic! Thank you Equity Trust Company!

I became interested in adding some Real Estate to my IRA earlier this year. With no experience other than buying my current home, I was worried that there would be a huge learning curve and a lot of paperwork. Equity Trust has made the process of investing in Real Estate through an IRA almost as easy as buying stocks and mutual funds. Great service every step of the way!

Equity Trust has enabled me to vastly improve my building wealth. Instead of just having some mutual funds in an IRA, they have allowed me to buy and sell real estate with flawless execution. All the specialists I've worked with were extremely knowledgeable and accurate. I can't say enough good things about them. I can also invest in metals, stocks and bonds, and tax properties.

Equity Trust can handle your self-directed IRA if you have a couple of properties because you can deal with their archaic paper form based method of moving money to manage properties. Beyond that, Equity Trust will not meet your needs. Let's start with this. Equity Trust won't allow "checkbook control." If you're not familiar with that concept, get familiar before you add too many properties to your Equity Trust account. At some point, it gets so unwieldy to manage properties through their clunky paper-based processes that you'll have to find another custodian and then you'll have to go through the costly process of transferring title to real estate and pay Equity Trust their penalty fees for leaving. Second, if you ever plan on hiring an outside management company to manage your portfolio, you'll find it is virtually impossible due, once again, to Equity Trust's 1990s style requirement to submit a paper form with for every distribution for every property. Do the math--10 properties, 10 monthly rental payments, 12 months a year = 120 pieces of paper that you get to fill out per year. Happy retirement! Oddly, Equity Trust seems to lack a basic understanding of how rental property management works. You'll end up working for them, rather than the other way around.

Wonderful company, located near Cleveland Ohio, I have 5 accounts with them for my family and will probably need some more for my kids. I have recommended friends and family who have used them as well. Highly recommend. A special thanks to John Bowen’s who I have heard speak about 10x and has personally helped me on my accounts numerous times. If you are looking for a self-directed IRA company this is the one I would choose. Thanks again.

Equity Trust Co has improved its digital forms for its customers. It now is much easier to make or sell an investment. I have been a gold member for about 3 years now. They all do a very good job of answering my questions. I've has my self directed IRA with other companies and came back to Equity Trust mostly because they are making an effort to improve the customer face of the business and it shows.

These "good" reviews are garbage. We got a bill from this company and we do NOT have an account with them. We have tried to get in touch with someone in customer service every day for the last week but no one ever answers. I am livid and I am certain that this is a bogus company/fraud. I will be reporting this company to my local authorities and the BBB as fraud. Do NOT trust this "business" with your money!!!!!!

Equity Trust Company has given us the opportunity to invest our IRA’s in areas we are most interested. In our case, real estate. The “ on call” advisors have been very helpful& the transactions are handled quickly and efficiently.

Yvonne was on top of my transaction! Also, for me it was my 1st deal in my IRA, and I was partnering with someone else. She explained how to do it very well. Someone from Equity Trust came to our REIA last Tuesday and gave great info, and did a training with us on Saturday FOR FREE. I liked the education.

I have never experienced a smoother process than with Equity Trust. Not my girst try at a self directed IRA. This company is organized, thorough and simple to deal with. Get Gold Level service and never wait on hold again. None better out there for personal service

Best level of communication. I can always reach someone when I need to. Transactions are simple and handled in a timely manner. Saves me lots on taxes!

The Technical Support that I received from he Gold Level Service Team was Excellent and Seamless

My experience with Equity Trust Company has been by far the best experience not only in excellent follow-up but also in customer service. When you're taking a financial risk in real estate investments, you want to minimize the stress by dealing with a professional financial company like Equity Trust. Highly recommend!!!

Equity Trust Company seems to be constantly improving their operations. Bills paid out of my account are done swiftly and accurately. Purchasing new assets is handled quickly with a specific representative assigned to the transaction to make sure all goes smoothly through the process. I couldn't be happier with the service and value. My CPA recommended ETC years ago and it was the best advice he ever gave me. Thanks ETC!