Equity Trust Company is one of the largest self-directed IRA custodians in business today – with over $12 billion under custody and more than 130,000 clients. According to Equity Trust Company’s website, the business was originally founded in 1974, however, they did not acquire their official Trust Company license in the state of South Dakota until 2003.
Below you will find more information about Equity Trust Company. If you have personal experience working with Equity Trust Company, please make sure to share with the community in the comments section at the bottom of the page (if your comment is negative, please keep it civil and constructive).
Equity Trust Company Licensing:
Custodial type: Non-depository Trust Company
State where licensed: South Dakota
Date license acquired: 3/1/2003
Equity Trust Company Clients:
Clients: 130,000+
Assets under custody: $12 Billion+
Client Protections
Better Business Bureau (BBB) Accreditation: Company is not accredited by the BBB
BBB file opened: November 01, 1988
**ALERT** – from BBB website:
On April 4, 2012 accreditation was suspended due to the business’s failure to respond to and resolve BBB complaints promptly. Additionally the business had not eliminated the underlying cause of patterns of customer complaints concerning customer service issues and failure to respond to customers. The company met with BBB on April 18, 2012 and outlined steps it had recently taken to improve its internal handling of customer service related issues. The suspension was reviewed by the Accreditation Committee of the BBB Board of Directors on April 19th. The committee voted to maintain the suspension of the company’s BBB Accreditation for at least six months to determine if steps taken to minimize customer service-related complaints are successful, and to revisit the company’s BBB accreditation at that time.
The BBB has since refused to reinstate Equity Trust’s accreditation, and has now added this to the company’s page:
This company has exhibited a pattern of poor customer service, long hold times on the telephone, lack of returned phone calls/emails and overall dissatisfaction by consumer’s filing the complaints.
To view the complaints brought against Equity Trust Company, view the company’s BBB profile.
Equity Trust Company’s Leadership & Staff:
Founder/Chairman of the Board: Richard Desich
CEO: Jeffrey Desich
Staff size: 400
Equity Trust Company Location:
Elyria, Ohio 44035
Fee Schedule for Equity Trust Company Self-Directed IRAs
Equity Trust offers a mostly all inclusive pricing model based on the amount of assets held in your self-directed IRA account. There are a few things that require additional fees, which are outlined in Equity Trust Company’s fee schedule. To view Equity Trust Company’s full
fee schedule, click here (it is on page 25).
Other Products Offered By Equity Trust Company:
Small Business 401(k) Plans
Health Savings Accounts (HSA)
Coverdell Education Savings Account (CESA)
Brokerage Services through affiliate company Mid Ohio Securities
Equity Trust Company’s Contact Information
Phone: 1-888-ETC-IRAS (382-4727)
Email: help@trustetc.com
Fax: (440) 366-3750
Hours: Monday-Friday 9 AM – 6 PM EST
Website: trustetc.com
We do our best to ensure that all the information provided above is accurate, however, if you find something is in error, or if you have new information on Equity Trust Company which warrants addition to this page, please email us at info@nuwireinvestor.com.
Paul says:
I am actively looking now for an alternate company. I don’t know that I have ever really actively fired a professional, but ETC is as poor a company as I have ever seen.
Inconsistent and seemingly random in their processes
Communication processes as poor as I have seen
Customer Service process – which assigns problems to ‘the next person in line’ allows no ability to followup on common issues across multiple problems
Different reports and systems are inconsistent and don’t tie together
MDG says:
This company is horrible! Screwed up transactions and lots of bogus fees.
Ed Meek says:
I have been a Equity Trust client for many years and while I have had my
issues with them most of those issues have been a result of my not following Equity’s very precise instructions for processing a transaction. More recently Equity has implemented a process that assigns one person on their processing team to follow the transaction from beginning to end. As of late I have found dealing with Equity to be a much improved process.
client says:
So many frustrating examples I could share, so little space to write of them.
– Their yearly account fees seem high
– Their customer service model doesn’t work in the computer era
– Their staff really does try to help, but with no model, it’s a struggle.
– Getting emails from ‘alpha team’ that doesn’t answer the question is really ‘worthless’
– Big, but slow.
Customer says:
These comments are spot on. I’m interviewing replacement custodians becuase of all the reasons in the above comment.
Fred Cohrs says:
At the rate they accumulate complaints from frustrated and angry clients, I doubt that the BBB will ever reinstate Equity Trust. I have had conversations with many clients who seem as dissatisfied and fed up as I have been. ETC’s main liabilities are poor communications, lack of follo-through and feedback, and a general lack of action for customer service issues. Lots of nice people work there, but management seems to live on another planet.