Birch Gold Group is one of the most well-known precious metals dealers, with endorsement from Ben Carson and Hugh Hewitt. This company is famous in conservative circles because its products help customers achieve self-reliance in financial areas. However, popularity aside, many want to know if previous customers are happy with their service and what products are available.
Most of Birch Gold Group’s focus is on precious metals IRAs and educational tools to help investors understand more about their potential assets. We have shared what we’ve learned about this company so you can decide whether this is a good choice.
- Product Type: Precious Metals
- Owner: Laith Alsarraf
- Rating: 4.9/5
All About Birch Gold Group
Contents
- 1 All About Birch Gold Group
- 2 Birch Gold Group’s Values
- 3 Getting an IRA Through Birch Gold Group
- 4 Opening Your Birch Gold Group Account
- 5 What Precious Metals Can You Buy Through Birch Gold Group?
- 6 What Educational Options Does Birch Gold Group Offer?
- 7 Is Birch Gold Group a Scam?
- 8 Difficulty Contacting Customer Support
- 9 Pros & Cons of Birch Gold Group
- 10 Pros
- 11 Cons
- 12 Final Thoughts
Birch Gold Group has served precious metals customers since 2003. This company is in Burbank, CA, near many of the most popular movie studios. If you’re in the market for precious metals for cash purchases, this is an option in addition to precious metals IRAs, perfect for anyone who enjoys collecting coins.
Birch Gold Group has service to Americans in all 50 states. This company has been recommended on several programs, including “Live From Studio 6B,” “Ringside Politics with Jeff Crouere,” and “Outside the Beltway.” The company has served over 20,000 customers, with many of these customers offering repeat business.
Birch Gold Group has a team of finance professionals dedicated to providing top-rate service to every customer regardless of their asset amount. Some of the backgrounds these professionals come from include wealth management, financial advising, and commodity brokerage, with most having many years of experience.
Birch Gold Group’s Values
Birch Gold Group has three values that guide its interactions with customers. These fundamental principles include:
- Knowledge
- One-on-one customer service
- Overall trustworthiness
Knowledge
One of the values the company prizes about all is knowledge. Birch Gold Group believes that an educated customer base is better because they are more likely to invest. Every customer having control of their financial future matters to the company, and they work hard to help make that goal a reality. Customers receive helpful information about precious metals and the pros and cons of certain products.
Several guides from Birch Gold Group help investors spot scams, which commonly target people with high asset amounts. Customers have recourse to videos and articles that provide valuable information about purchasing and investing in precious metals.
The resources provided on the website are offered without obligation. One of the most helpful things about these resources is they are self-paced, so you can read through them without rushing. The account specialists are willing to answer all questions, even those that might seem silly to some.
One-on-One Service
Birch Gold Group highly values one-on-one service because they hope to build long-term customer relationships. Every customer works with one precious metals specialist. Your specialist will work with you to meet your goals.
A good relationship between you and your specialist is one of the things that matters to Birch Gold Group. One advantage of this relationship is the specialist’s ability to make sound recommendations. Whether your questions involve the state of the economy or general account concerns, this person can handle all of them.
Birch Gold Group has a firm policy against selling customer data. This company also meets or exceeds industry standards involving data protection.
Trustworthiness
Honesty and integrity matter to Birch Gold Group. Having a good rapport with the customers increases the trust of using the company. Most of the feedback from customers shows that the company has succeeded.
The company wants customers’ trust and for them to feel more secure. One of the things that helps increase both these benefits for customers is the range of information available about staying safe from scams.
Positive feedback from most customers indicates that the company is meeting its trust-building goals. One of the company’s main goals is building trust; starting this process with every new customer is a priority.
Getting an IRA Through Birch Gold Group
IRA services are one of Birch Gold Group’s primary services. These self-directed IRAs allow precious metals and other alternatives to cash assets like cryptocurrency and real estate. These assets have strict guidelines, though, and also have somewhat complicated paperwork.
However, the process is more straightforward if you use precious metals IRA services. Your account representative will help you with this paperwork and set things up with the custodian required for account management. After you have had a chance to fund the account, your representative can get you started with buying your metals.
Birch Gold Group keeps you informed about what these services cost. A minimum of $100,000 is recommended for investment. There is a lower investment to purchase precious metals for personal collection instead of an IRA.
The basic setup fee that includes preliminary paperwork is $50. There is a $30 bank transfer fee for each precious metal purchase. Such fees are typical in this industry, although some companies opt out of charging them.
Maintenance and storage come with fees assessed annually. The custodian and depository receive these fees instead of Birch Gold Group. These fees average around $100 per year, depending on the facilities.
Birch Gold Group covers your fees for the first year with a purchase of $50,000 or more. These covered fees include custodial, setup, storage, and wire transfer fees. The standard annual fees apply after the first year.
Birch Gold Group works with custodians who never use percentage-based service fees. Regardless of how much the account contains, flat fees are always involved. Adding extra precious metals to your account is worry-free
Opening Your Birch Gold Group Account
Birch Gold Group has very informative resources if you need to know more about opening an IRA and buying precious metals. The process is easy in and of itself, posing few or no problems for investors.
Creating and funding your account are crucial first steps. Although you must use a minimum of $10,000 to set up your IRA, there are ways you can come up with these funds quickly. For example, you can roll over funds from a current retirement account.
The application paperwork for your preferred custodian is the next step. Equity Trust Company and STRATA Trust Company are the custodians that Birch Gold Group prefers to use the most. These custodians have solid reputations with customers, including Better Business Bureau (BBB) A+ ratings.
You can decide which precious metals to buy once your account has its funding. The account custodian will help you with this process. The custodian will assist you in making the right choices based on your goals and address any questions or concerns. These professionals strive to match investors with products likely to yield a healthy return.
Precious metals used in IRAs must meet purity standards from the IRS. These standards apply to coins and bars. Birch Gold Group account specialists can assist customers with determining their best options.
You can purchase the metals after deciding which are best for your needs. Purchases occur after you’ve had the chance to confirm your choices, complete paperwork, and pay for your metals. Once the payment is processed, Birch Gold Group ships the metals to your desired depository.
Upon arrival at the depository, the custodian will place your metals in the vault. Your custodian’s responsibilities include informing you about your assets’ worth and issuing account statements.
Depositories that Birch Gold Group uses include:
- Brinks Global Services
- Delaware Depository
- International Depository Services
- Texas Precious Metals Depository
Stay current on the status of your holdings as much or as little as you like. Emailing or calling your account specialist with questions or concerns is an option open to you.
Previous customers have commented the most about the IRA process. Many say opening and funding an account is easy because of the customer service representatives. Some customers have had difficult experiences with similar companies and have been very happy working with Birch Gold Group.
What Precious Metals Can You Buy Through Birch Gold Group?
The precious metals you can buy from this company include gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in coin and bar forms. Many of these metals are eligible for usage in IRAs.
Some of the products approved for IRAs include:
- 2 oz Silver Twin Maples
- America the Beautiful Silver Dollar
- American Buffalo Gold Coin
- American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins
- American Platinum Eagle
- Britannia Gold Coins
- Canadian Silver Maple Leaf
- Gold Bars and Rounds
- Gold Twin Maples
- Goldbacks
- Morgan Silver Dollar
- Gold or Silver Polar Bear and Cub
- Valcambi CombiBars
Customers who purchase precious metals for private collections are not required to use depository storage. However, many use this option anyway because it is more secure than storing the coins at home.
What Educational Options Does Birch Gold Group Offer?
Birch Gold Group offers articles to help inform customers and investors about their options. Some of the topics you can read about include why you ought to consider precious metals, how to buy them, and why Proof American Eagles are popular for IRAs.
One of the resources that prospective customers can access is an information kit. This free resource, updated for 2023, has 20 pages and contains everything you need to know about using physical precious metals to protect your money.
One of the things the company website offers is an interactive price chart. You can discover current pricing for certain metals as well as check out historical pricing trends.
There are video interviews with experts, including Steve Forbes. These interviews provide deeper insights into why metals are an alternative worth considering.
The website has a blog full of helpful tips that assist customers with making more informed decisions. If you want updates about new posts, you can subscribe to the newsletter.
Is Birch Gold Group a Scam?
Investors are pleased to know that Birch Gold Group is a respectable company. The company has been in business for over 20 years and has BBB accreditation with an A+ score. Past customers, industry professionals, and prominent conservative influencers have spoken highly of this company.
The BBB website has 103 reviews for this company, with 4.58 out of 5 stars. Most customers have been satisfied working with this company. Other third-party review sites have similar, primarily positive feedback.
There are also complaints here and there, as is typical of any well-known company. However, Birch Gold Group is proactive about addressing these concerns, resulting in the loss of very few customers.
Positive and negative reviews are an excellent way to decide whether to work with a company. These reviews provide a clearer picture of how a company treats its customers.
Positive Customer Experiences
A positive review from June 2023 was from a man with a retirement account reinvested into gold. This customer worked with two different representatives and thanked them by name. The man found the employees he worked with helpful and attentive.
One woman who left a review in June 2023 mentioned that this transaction was her third with Birch Gold Group. This customer found everyone she worked with courteous. She commented that these representatives were all reliable.
A man who bought precious metals from Birch Gold Group commented positively on the experience in May 2023. This customer found the company helpful in navigating the process, answering questions, and presenting good customer options. The man cited a willingness to recommend the company to anyone interested in precious metals investing.
Another man who left a review in May 2023 cited how comfortable the representatives from Birch Gold Group made them feel. This customer mentioned the representatives treating him respectfully and making the process easy. Every person this man encountered during his experienced helped.
One thing that stands out for many customers is how gracious company representatives are about positive feedback. Although responding to good feedback is a good business practice, this step makes customers feel that sharing their experiences matters.
Complaint Handling
Birch Gold Group has received some negative reviews, which is bound to happen with any company with more extended business history. Whether a company deals with negative feedback professionally makes all the difference. Another advantage of reading about complaints is determining whether there is a pattern of specific problems occurring.
Customers have filed six complaints with the BBB over this company in the past three years. Two of the complaints date back over the past year.
Overpriced Products
A customer in June 2023 found the products that he bought overpriced. Some of the products this customer received were Semi-Numismatics and proofs unsuitable for IRA usage. This customer felt the company needed to be more upfront about the products’ IRA eligibility.
One man who purchased coins in June 2023 complained that the company was not upfront about the value. When he decided to find out about the resale price, the customer said he never received a clear answer. This man felt he had fallen victim to a false sales pitch.
In many cases, these issues were resolved by way of a complaint to the BBB. However, a typical outcome of these cases was the customer taking their business to another company.
Difficulty Contacting Customer Support
One man in June 2023 was in touch with a company representative, trying to find the purchase price for the items the customer requested. The representative said she would contact the sales department, but they have not called the customer back. This man ended up buying from another company because of the experience.
In April 2023, another man had difficulty getting a callback about selling assets. However, the representative got back in touch with the customer and clarified the best ways for them to contact each other.
Most interactions that involved not reaching customer support had satisfactory resolutions. However, one customer going with a different provider shows how important accessible customer support is to customers, especially when investing.
Pros & Cons of Birch Gold Group
Pros
- The company is proactive about responding to complaints.
- Has helpful representatives willing to make everything easier.
- Excellent rating from top review sites, including the BBB.
Cons
- Some of the pricing could be more transparent.
Final Thoughts
Birch Gold Group is a company you should consider investing some of your retirement funds in precious metals. Hundreds of positive reviews are online and endorsements from many media hosts who are known in conservative circles.
The Business Consumer Alliance and BBB are two consumer groups that praise Birch Gold Group. Service and educational tools for investors exceed most expectations. Many customers have had difficult experiences with other companies and find Birch Gold Group a refreshing alternative.
Birch Gold Group takes complaints seriously, working hard to address them when they arise. Most customers have been satisfied with the resolution offered. Miscommunication has been at the root of most complaints rather than anything deliberate.
Birch Gold Group is worth considering when buying or investing in precious metals. The minimum investment of $10,000 is more easily in reach, with much of the competition requiring $25,000 or more. The outstanding reputation in the industry also helps.
The Sunridge Gold Research Team is a group of dedicated gold and financial analysts that comb through mountains of research on every aspect of the gold industry and gold investments to bring you the best information so you can make informed decisions on gold and precious metal investments.
