Madison Trust Company

I tried rolling over my existing self directed IRA from a TPA that sold out to another. It was a mess. I found Madison Trust doing a web search and called them. We reviewed the fees and it all sounded good at first. I was ready to go with it but the salesman said that before we go any farther, I needed to send him the LLC Operating Agreement and Member Control Agreement the previous service provider had me prepare with one of their three preferred attorneys to the tune of around $1400. This request didn’t really make any sense to me as the role for these people is really to manage the paperwork for the account to the government. The people I used were a local well respected law firm. hmmmm.

Although the fees at Madison seemed better, the approach was veiled in the shadows from the start. After sending the documents, I got a response that said they were not good enough and that I had to use theirs. I asked what wasn’t good enough? They would never answer – just wasn’t up to their standards. I then asked them if they had ever accepted documents from an attorney similar to what I am trying to do. The salesman said no, they had not. I asked, well isn’t that really a fee then? He said that in reality, yes it was. He then went to management who said they would make an exception and only charge me $99 for that document. It was one single document where I had an Operating Agreement and a Member Control Agreement before. I said, “Not sure how that will work then compared to what I have…could you send me the document so I could review it?” He went to management again and Daniel from the New York office in charge of this area called me back and said he would not send me the document to look over and that maybe I just wasn’t a good fit for them. What? This sounding right to anyone?

So here is what he was proposing was the only way I could transfer my account:

1. Set up the transfer and get it going.
2. Once done, they would send me the agreement for $99 that I would have to sign and use. Or, they would refer me to one of their attorneys for another round of $1400 fees. “Couldn’t I just revise mine to meet their conditions (which they would not define)?” No….definitely not he said.
3. He had to go to a meeting and suggested I look elsewhere.

Something is wrong here. If I had to guess…they have lower fees because they re-coup a lot of them by sharing revenue with the “attorney” fees. Nothing else makes sense. If that is the case, then either the ongoing costs suddenly become “enough” to sustain the business, or, more likely – there are fees which I did not see that will be other “have to’s” once they have you committed. I do not understand this business. This is twice now where the people were less than honest and you got the feeling like you needed to keep your hand on your wallet. Daniel mentioned at least twice they were a Trust company – sure.

Isn’t there at least one straight shooting company that just does what it says with plain and simple straight forward approach? Can anyone recommend one?