The single biggest gold IRA red flag is a company that will not put its costs in writing — above all the spread over spot price, usually the largest and best-hidden cost. Others, drawn from the CFTC’s precious-metals fraud advisory: collectible-coin upsells, “home storage IRA” pitches, manufactured urgency, undisclosed lenders, and refusal to name where the metal is stored.
You don’t have to take a website’s word for what predatory metals selling looks like. The CFTC precious-metals fraud advisory spells it out (official advisory), and this page translates each warning sign into what it actually sounds like on a sales call — plus the flags we’d add from the IRA side of the business.
The CFTC’s core red flags
1. An undisclosed lender behind “financed” metals deals. The pitch: “leverage your purchase — control more gold with the same money.” Behind it is a loan you didn’t fully see, with interest and margin-call terms that can consume the account. Retirement savers have no business in financed metals.
2. Nobody will tell you where the metal physically is. In a legitimate IRA, the answer is boring and instant: a named, insured depository holding it for your custodian. Vagueness about physical location is how schemes with no metal at all stay alive.
3. “We’re not regulated” framed as a feature. Some dealers spin the lightly regulated nature of physical-metals selling as freedom from government interference. Read it in reverse: it means you are the compliance department.
The IRA-specific flags
4. Collectible and numismatic coins pitched for your IRA. Federal law — 26 U.S.C. § 408(m)(3) — restricts IRAs to bullion meeting a fineness floor. “Rare” coins carry the industry’s fattest margins and don’t qualify. The details: What Is a Gold IRA?.
5. “Home storage” structures. Taking personal physical possession of IRA-owned metals — including ‘home storage’ via a checkbook LLC — was treated as a taxable distribution. That’s settled at the Tax Court level (McNulty v. Commissioner, 157 T.C. No. 10 (U.S. Tax Court, 2021)). Anyone selling you around it is selling you a tax problem.
6. The spread that never appears in writing. The markup over spot when you buy — usually the biggest cost in the deal — is the number bad dealers protect hardest. Demand it in writing per product. This is the single highest-yield question you can ask.
7. “Free silver” and giveaway promotions. The gift is priced into the spread on everything else. Ask for pricing with and without the promotion.
8. Commissioned urgency. “The dollar won’t survive the year” is a script. Fear compresses your decision timeline, and compressed timelines are where the margin lives. It’s worth favoring companies that pay agents a salary rather than a commission — it removes the incentive behind most of these tactics. See how the majors compare on this in Best Gold IRA Companies.
The 60-second screen
Before any second phone call, require in writing: the complete fee schedule, the spread on the specific products discussed, whether agents are commissioned, the buyback terms, and the name of the custodian and depository. Five items. A clean company produces all five without friction. Rolling over a 401(k)? Add the direct-vs-indirect question from 401(k) to Gold IRA Rollover.
Prefer to start with education instead of a salesperson? Get our red-flags checklist (this list in printable form, plus the five questions to demand in writing):
Frequently asked questions
What is the biggest red flag with a gold IRA company?
Refusal to put costs in writing — the full fee schedule and, above all, the spread over spot price. The spread is usually the largest cost in the transaction and the one predatory dealers hide. A company that won’t write it down has told you everything.
Are celebrity endorsements a red flag?
Treat them as a cost signal: endorsements are expensive, and marketing costs come out of customer pricing somewhere. Judge every company on written fees, spread, and buyback terms — never on who’s in the commercial.
Is 'free silver' really a trick?
The promotional metal is typically financed inside the spread you pay on the rest of the order — you buy your own ‘gift.’ Ask what the spread is with and without the promotion and watch what happens to the conversation.