Are you trying to determine if Fortress Gold Group is the ideal company to choose when making a precious metals purchase? If you like most people, you’re tired of being beaten down by inflation. And you’re really tired of watching your stock market investments dwindle. You’d like to hedge your bets against an economic downturn and you’re hoping Fortress Gold Group is the company to work with.
Unfortunately, I can say with absolute certainty that Fortress Gold Group is definitely the long company to choose. Why? It’s actually impossible to do business with them because the message on their website states that they are no longer taking new clients. Ultimately, they have closed their entire operation and they are only willing to help existing customers at this time.
Do yourself a favor and take a look for the company on Google? You’ll see exactly what I just explained when you click their website link. Be forewarned that their website is not secure, so Google might warn you to stay away from the site.
Regardless, if you’d like to find out more information about this company, stick around and keep reading to discover everything that I can share with you.
IMPORTANT – before we get too far in this review, we’d like you to know we’ve vetted quite a few companies in this space.
We know that selecting a company to work with is a major financial decision and something not to take lightly. InvestingInGold.com has put in extensive research spanning many years in order to compile a list of the 5 highest recommended companies for this year.
==> See our #1 recommended company for precious metals investing
We urge you to view the links to see where Fortress Gold Group stacks up against the competition.
Information about Fortress Gold Group
Originally founded in 1995, this company morphed into a privately held investment corporation years later in 2007. And in an odd turn of events, mostly because their website is pretty much shut down, it’s hard to discover the name of the final CEO or the name of the people that founded the company.
Before the website eventually shut down, it was actually difficult to get a hold of this information nonetheless. This is part of the weirdness of this company because it makes you question their sincerity and you have to wonder why they have something to hide. Are they ashamed of their Board of Directors? Does the company founder have a shaky past? This is information that we were never able to uncover due to their lack of transparency.
Before there website was shut down, this company promised a few things to their customers that include:
- They deliver 72 hours shipping after purchases
- They have the fastest industry related retirement conversions
- They share advice and market outlook with their customers
Investing in Precious Metals
Fortress Gold Group gave investors the ability to purchase precious metals on their website. Since their website is shut down, I cannot tell you about their previous selection and other types of investments made available. In the past, they did have gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and other investments like rare coins as well.
Investing in a Gold IRA
One of the big claims to fame of Fortress Gold group is they set up precious metals IRA accounts for their customers and they did it via transfer or rollover. From what I recently learned from the information that I came across; the company wasn’t considered an IRA custodian. If you worked with them, they would help you connect with an approved custodian deemed worthy by the IRS. This custodian would help you with the account creation process.
It’s also hard to find out information about the IRA services that they provide, but other companies work with more than one custodian and give their customers the option to choose a custodian that they like the best. From there, they will either initiate a 401(k) to IRA rollover from their current retirement account, transfer funds from a different IRA account, or possibly initiate a wire transfer from their bank account.
After the account creation and funding process is complete, Fortress Gold Group will help their customers pick the best silver, gold, and other precious metals investments for their account.
Storing Precious Metals with Fortress Gold Group
Based on the IRS rules regarding precious metals accounts for retirement, an individual investor doesn’t have the ability to store their precious metals in a safe in their home. They have to choose an official depository with IRS approval. I learned recently that Fortress Gold Group had a particular storage service in mind that they like to use named Brinks Global Services.
Most people have heard of Brinks since they are the armored truck company that you typically see in bank robberies and heist movies. But they are also a very well-respected armored car and vault service. They have a great reputation and they use state-of-the-art technology to keep customer investments safe and secure.
If you buy precious metals for your gold IRA or if you decide to buy collectible metals that aren’t IRA approved, you can still keep them safely secure with Brinks Global Services if you prefer. Or you can store them in a safety deposit box or keep them in a safe at home.
Pricing, Commissions, & Fees
The truth of the matter is very simple. Fortress Gold Group definitely lacked transparency when it came to fees, commissions, and their overall pricing structure. So, even though their website existed for a long time, it’s nearly impossible to find this information anywhere on the web because the company never really shared it with their customers in the first place.
This lack of information makes it nearly impossible to compare them to similar companies, so I would typically tell my readers to stay away from a company that lacks transparency such as this.
Customer Service & Support
When they were still operating, customers had the ability to reach out to Fortress Gold Group via telephone or email. Unfortunately, many previous customers were upset because the website didn’t have a live chat feature. This feature is usually one that customers tend to gravitate toward because they can type in a quick question and have them answered very fast.
Red Flags and Other Potential Uncertainties from Fortress Gold Group
Most people realize that there were red flags regarding Fortress Gold Group. In fact, some of their main red flags were really big and stood out like a sore thumb. The biggest red flag of all is the one that you cannot ignore at this point. The company is basically shut down and their website tells us that they aren’t taking on new customers.
In fact, if you go to their website, you will run into a security issue because their website doesn’t have an SSL certificate. It’s safe to visit, but there’s no need because you can’t see anything on their website except for a short message saying that they aren’t taking new customers.
Next, I made the effort to check out online peer-reviewed websites. I learned that this company was pretty good and had a fairly decent reputation prior to shutting down. I looked them up on the Better Business Bureau, Trustlink, Trustpilot, and Business Consumer alliance websites. After looking over a few things, here is what I ultimately discovered:
- They have a AAA rating with the BCA
- They have 4.9 out of 5 stars with Trustlink based on 23 reviews
- Their BBB rating is B- and they aren’t accredited with the organization
- Their Trustpilot rating is 4.6 out of 5 stars based on 37 reviews
Is Fortress Gold Group Really a Scam Company?
I can say with absolute certainty that Fortress Gold Group was never a company designed to scam their customers. In fact, they had very good ratings on major online peer-reviewed websites, which isn’t easy to accomplish.
Nonetheless, the company is no longer taking on new clients, and they have other red flags, which is reason enough for me to tell you to avoid them altogether.
There are other gold companies with excellent reputations. Plus, even though their reviews were very good in the past, many of the more recent reviews seemed troubling. This is a red flag showing us that the company may have started to finally go downhill right before they closed. A specific reviewer felt like they were being ignored. They reached out to the sales representatives but nobody would provide expert assistance.
More often than not, when I recommend a company they typically have BBB accreditation. This company isn’t accredited and they do not have the highest BBB rating either, which is also a potential red flag. I prefer recommending companies with an A + rating and nothing more.
Before shutting down, they weren’t transparent and didn’t share information about fees or commissions on their website. This is the final red flag that I’d like to tell you about because the lack of transparency was a nonstarter for me and many others.
Important Company Takeaways
- They opened the company in 1995
- They had a quick retirement account conversion process
- They sold gold and silver coins and bars
- They offered precious metals IRA services but they weren’t a custodian
- They used Brinks Global services for storage purposes
- They communicated with customers via email or telephone
Pros
- They worked with custodians that helped customers with a transfer or gold IRA rollover
- They chose Brinks Global Services as their top storage provider
- They provided fast shipping to their customers
Cons
- They are no longer accepting new clients
- Their website doesn’t operate any longer
- They didn’t sell platinum or palladium on their website
In Conclusion
Was it a good idea to purchase precious metals through Fortress Gold Group? It wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world in the past, but it’s definitely a terrible idea right now. And it’s also impossible because the company isn’t operating at this time and they aren’t taking new customers.
Nonetheless, even if they were working at their normal capacity, I would suggest choosing a different precious metals broker. There are many better companies available to do business with, so you should choose one of them instead.
About Tim Schmidt
Tim Schmidt is an Entrepreneur who has covered retirement investing since 2012. He's also a published author, and his views on investing have been featured in USA Today, Tech Times, The Huffington Post, Nasdaq, and many more.
