Disclosure: We are reader-supported. If you buy through links on our site, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
We've covered quite a few gold IRA companies that either double-up as precious metals dealers or place an even heavier emphasis on brokerage. American Bullion is more of a throwback to a pure gold IRA company.
While they also have precious metals delivered directly to buyers, from the moment you visit the American Bullion website, it'll become clear that individual retirement accounts are what they're about. The website is a large resource page on all things precious metals IRAs, detailing how and why you might want to open such an account.
There are in-depth guides about virtually every facet of retirement investing, which instills a kind of comfort and tells us that the company is laser-focused on this type of investment more than anything else.
Though not as varied or as detailed as their gold and silver offering, they list both a platinum and a palladium IRA as their products, and seemingly any kind of account can hold other precious metals. Let's dive into our American Bullion Review.
Important note: Continue to our in-depth American Bullion review below or visit our #1 recommended gold IRA company for 2023 here.
Best Gold IRA Companies 2023
Buying gold with your 401(k)? We've compiled a list of the top gold IRA companies for 2023.
About American Bullion
The company opened its doors in 2009 and is helmed by two experts with experience in commodity brokerage, Orkan Ozkan and Nevtan Akcora. We haven't been able to verify this claim, but American Bullion purports that they came up with the whole hassle-free process of a gold IRA rollover through a single company that takes care of both custody and storage.
Either way, the website makes it very clear that they want their customers to be able to open a precious metals retirement account with minimal effort. The website's history tells us that they signed custody with Sterling Trust Company and storage with the Delaware Depository in 2009. In the case of the latter, it appears that the facility, or rather two, remain their sole storage option. Presumably, other custody options are available if the customer so requests it.
There are a few other interesting and faith-instilling parts about the company and its history. For example, they began accepting cryptocurrency payments as early as 2013. We imagine that's close to, if not the earliest out of any precious metals company in the sector.
Celebrity endorsements are popular here, and in the case of American Bullion, they list Rhett Jeppson, who became their spokesperson in 2018. Jeppson previously held tenure as the Deputy Director of the U.S. Mint, which is pretty good as far as endorsements for precious metals firms go.
Rhett Jeppson
They are a registered dealer for the U.S. Mint, the Royal Canadian Mint, a member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA), the Industry Council for Tangible Assets (ICTA), and members and dealers of both the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and the National Guaranty Corporation (NGC). Quite the laundry list of positive associations.
Click to play
American Bullion reviews
Before jumping into the feedback itself, we'll mention that American Bullion has received multiple awards from consumer watchdogs. These include a Best of TrustLink award in 2016 and an award by Bullion Directory for Bullion Dealer of the Year and Gold Retirement Specialist in 2017.
As their accolades, they also list that they became the "Most Account Holder" with their custodian in 2010. One surmises this means that they brought the most traffic to the Sterling Trust Company, so to speak.
While the website boasts an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), it seems that such was since downgraded to an A. Still, not exactly low grades. They obtained an accreditation way back in 2011, something that many competitors still lack, and have held onto it since. The BBB rating is 4.43/5 based on 7 reviews, with one unhappy customer whose complaint has been resolved and the rest singing praise.
Things are even better on the Business Consumer Alliance (BCA) page, where they have the highest grade of AAA and a 5-star rating based on 8 reviews. There is likewise only 1 complaint, which has been resolved.
Though a ConsumerAffairs profile appears to be absent, the TrustLink one is practically spotless. 5 out of 5 stars based on 57 reviews, all praising the company's approach, representatives and products. Digging a little deeper, the same with TrustPilot, where they have a 4.4 rating based on 194 reviews.
On TrustPilot, 82% reviews are 5-star and 11% 4-star. Furthermore, the negative ones don't seem very elaborate, making us wonder if someone is playing a prank on the company. Overall, a virtually spotless consumer feedback record.
American Bullion products
Despite what seems like a fairly robust inventory, there don't appear to be any prices listed for any of the products on the website. Rather, the products section is split into four categories which we'll outline below, offering some clue as to what kind of bullion they sell and more clue on how they do it.
Based on both reviews and feedback, it appears that American Bullion's products are very competitively priced, as is their fee structure which we'll get to in a bit. Besides standard physical precious metals, American Bullion also mentions that they offer an array of pre-1933 coins, though details seem to be scarce on the overt side.
Gold IRA
The product they pay the most attention to, the Gold IRA has the most resources to it and the largest selection of bullion. It's not uncommon for narrowly-focused precious metals retirement companies to not list their product prices, so we won't make a huge deal out of it. The products, with plenty of description to each, in this section are as follows:
- American Gold Eagle bullion and proof, available in 1oz, 1/2oz, 1/4oz and 1/10oz denominations
- American Gold Buffalo, 1oz
- Canadian Gold Maple Leaf, no denominations listed
- Austrian Philharmonic Gold coins, no denominations listed
- Credit Suisse gold bars, 1oz and 10oz
- UBS gold bars, 1oz and 10oz
- PAMP Suisse gold bars, 10oz
Silver IRA
Though each of their products is listed under an "IRA" category on the website, they mention that all of them are available for both individual purchase and placement into an IRA. While, as mentioned, the lack of pricing is normal, we found it somewhat curious that there is an absence of available denominations on some of the products. The available bullion in the silver category includes:
- American Silver Eagle, bullion and proof, 1oz
- Canadian Silver Maple Leaf, 1oz
- Austrian Silver Philharmonic, 1oz
- PAMP Suisse silver bars, 10oz
- Johnson Matthey silver bars, 1oz, 10oz and 100oz
They also have an entire section on Peace Silver dollars, which would fall in the pre-1933 category. It's not particularly detailed as far as what's available, but there seems to be a fair bit of choice. To find out, however, you'll need to get in touch with one of their specialists.
Platinum IRA
A somewhat lesser variety, as is to be expected when we venture into platinum group metals, but far from lacking. The products here include:
- American Platinum Eagle bullion and proof, 1oz
- Canadian Maple Platinum Leaf, 1oz
- PAMP Suisse platinum bars, 10oz
Palladium IRA
The palladium IRA reveals the smallest variety among the products, though far from not represented. American Bullion's palladium product choices are:
- Canadian Maple Palladium Leaf, 1oz
- PAMP Suisse palladium bars, 10oz
Related: How to Diversify Your Retirement with Physical Precious Metals
Additional products and services
Buybacks
Though seemingly absent from their website, our research indicates that American Bullion has a buyback program with competitive prices. Regardless of why you're buying, the option of selling precious metals back to your vendor is always a huge plus.
Since they do offer buybacks, it would be nice to have an easily-available section that somewhat clarifies what customers can expect in terms of pricing and service. Nonetheless, based on customer feedback alone, we imagine this feature is far from disappointing.
Knowledge hub
Every gold IRA provider goes to some lengths to educate visitors to their website and more so their customers. To a lesser extent, this is also the case with precious metals dealers. In the case of American Bullion, it almost feels like an understatement to say that they go the extra mile in this regard.
Every section of their website is full of relevant information for precious metal investors. If you're a complete novice to retirement investment, precious metals or otherwise, a mere visit to their website will clue you in on pretty much everything there is to know.
Request more information from American Bullion here.
There are detailed explanations on what retirement accounts are, both those with precious metals and those holding paper assets. They offer detailed information on how these work, what types of accounts exist, who might benefit the most from each and so on.
The same is true for their products. Each of the products they offer, price notwithstanding, is laid out in great detail. You're given a history of the product, details about its issuer, why and how it might fit into your IRA or home safe and so on.
With many feeling that both regular and retirement investment can come off as a bit daunting, we believe that American Bullion's efforts to go into this in such detail upfront warrant their own mention.
Related: Gold vs Silver Investments- Comparison of the Two Popular Metals
Fees - American Bullion
The company's fee structure is transparent, but not in an all-encompassing manner. On their website, they detail the various fees you might incur when you purchase precious metals for your IRA, store them and so on. Here are the details we've managed to come across:
- Annual custodial fee of $90 for accounts valued under $100,000.
- A supposed maximum of $290 annual fee regardless of the pricing of your account
- $5,000 to $10,000 account investment minimum, among the lower we've found from any competitor
- Regardless of your account and initial and subsequent investment, American Bullion waives the first year of fees completely
On their website, American Bullion goes into the various kinds of fees that can occur when dealing with precious metals in an IRA. They mention that closure of an existing account, with them or otherwise, generally costs $150. They also list setup fees, transaction fees and so on, though not that much in terms of exact details is known. Visit American Bullion's Website for More Information
American Bullion pros and cons
Pros
- Over a decade in business with close to a spotless track record in terms of customer feedback
- Clearly focused on precious metals IRA investment, perhaps more so than most companies we've come across
- Partnerships and memberships with some of the most known and reputable industry bodies
Cons
- Despite the website's extensive knowledge base, certain parts seem to be incomplete, such as the palladium section
- A lack of available denominations on some of the products
- The fee structure could be a little easier to understand. Customers can of course, get clarification through one of their account reps.
Related: Augusta Precious Metals Review: Is Augusta a Top Rated Company?
American Bullion review - Verdict
If every company in this sector specializes in something more than the other, in the case of American Bullion, it'd have to be welcoming newcomers. Especially when it comes to purchasing precious metals outside an IRA, which American Bullion also facilitates, a lot of competitors won't seem to go through the trouble of step-by-stepping the visitors to the website.
With American Bullion, it's very much the opposite. From the moment you visit the company's website, you'll be bombarded with information, but in a good way. Plenty of links detailing the ins and outs of gold IRA rollovers, purchases, storage and so on.
They also go in depth about precious metals investment and why it might be a good choice for you. Furthermore, there are different tools that help you make tailor-made decisions even before reaching out to one of their specialists.
American Bullion is, without a doubt, one of the most newbie-friendly gold IRA companies we've come across. That's not to say that experienced investors, both retirement or otherwise, won't find their accounts and their products more than satisfactory. But there's no denying that investment can get a bit overwhelming, and that making sound investment decisions can be tough for someone with a plain old employee-sponsored retirement plan.
American Bullion's website is very much constructed to do away with these difficulties. It's an ideal starting point for everyone interested in precious metals investment. It's also a great choice for anyone who has some experience and would like a sturdy precious metals IRA or competitively-priced gold bullion. You can reach out to American Bullion by visiting their website directly to request more information.
