Universal Coin operates under the name of Universal Coin & Bullion. This company sells precious metals, such as silver and gold. People may also buy authenticated numismatic coins here.
Overall, the company has been doing business since 1994, so it’s a long-lived online dealer for precious metals. However, how does it stack up to its competition? What should people know about the services offered at Universal Coin & Bullion before getting started?
Does this company do its best at providing clients with the information they need to purchase precious metals with accuracy and for the right price? Find out!
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 Universalcoin stacks up against the competition.
About Universal Coin
Universal Coin & Bullion is located on Phelan Blvd, Beaumont, TX, and it’s considered a gold dealer. It’s been offering precious metals to people throughout the US since 1994. With that, the company provides IRA services, though the website doesn’t list much information about those.
Overall, the business can purchase precious metals from clients if they meet the requirements. It’s possible to buy gold/silver coins and bars through the online store, as well.
Dr. Michael Fuljenz
Most of the reputation about this company comes from its president, Dr. Michael Fuljenz. This man is a speaker and author and has been nationally recognized as a top expert within the precious metals industry. In fact, Fuljenz has won over 60 awards because of his efforts to educate people about precious metal IRAs and other alternative assets.
Overall, his books have gotten “best of the year” awards from the Numismatic Literary Guild. Plus, he is featured as an expert consultant on many local and national television shows to talk about precious metals. His work is quoted in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and many others.
When visiting the website, people can see that Universal Coin & Bullion works hard at providing clients with outstanding collecting strategies and appraisal services for silver, bullion, and coins.
Fuljenz is a gold leader and serves on the Board of Directors for the ICTA (Industry Council for Tangible Assets). This group is made up of the best experts in the business. People can use it to stay updated on economic concerns and new regulations.
Educational Materials
Universal Coin offers many educational materials to show people about the benefits of precious metals investment strategies. It also explains the possible benefits that the rare coin market offers, though it does state that this is a riskier option than buying normal bullion.
Some resources include videos, articles, books written by Fuljenz, and newsletters. Dr. Fuljenz has produced much of the educational materials, using his expertise to help average consumers learn about precious metals.
Many publications are available to download for free. It’s also possible to talk to the staff members at Universal Coin to determine the right strategies to promote a more stable growth for the portfolio and to protect the assets.
Overall, this business provides advice to each customer that’s tailored to their needs, time frames, and goals.
Precious Metals IRAs and Diversification Kit
This company includes an IRA Diversification Kit to show others how precious metals can be bought for IRAs. It’s won awards and is easy to read. Overall, Universal Coin & Bullion explains how precious metals are used to diversify retirement portfolios and protect against stock market crashes.
Personal Gold Guide
Those who prefer a book to tell them what they need to know about gold investing are sure to appreciate the gold guide from Universal Coin & Bullion. Because Fuljenz is a gold leader, he explains everything about the bullion business and provides commentary and economic analysis.
Advantage Portfolios
This company also offers investment portfolios tailored to the customer’s needs with the guidance of an expert. When using the service provided by Universal Coin & Bullion, business experts help people transfer funds from a poorly performing investment into something more stable.
That way, they can hedge their losses and work toward creating financial security for themselves. The overall goal is to ensure there’s a stable profile while the economy goes through turmoil, as it is now and is sure to do in the future.
Other Reports
On top of everything else, Universal Coin & Bullion offers other resources and reports. Among them are why coin certification is crucial, comparison guides for different precious metals, and reports on the current market. Those in the business of buying or selling are sure to appreciate the reports this company generates.
The Rare Coin Market for Gold/Silver Products
There’s a wide variety of gold coins and silver products available from Universal Coin & Bullion. It actually has access to rare coins from mint locations throughout the world. In addition to its IRA-eligible silver and gold coins, it also offers other investments for silver and gold.
It’s possible to browse the inventory the company offers by its rare coins or the top investment picks. When visiting the website to browse by category, gold bars and coins are available from these mints:
- Royal Canadian Mint
- Mexican Mint
- Australian Mint
- United States Mint
- Royal UK Mint
- Other official governments
Silver is available in those categories, too, though Mexico doesn’t offer those coins. People can purchase silver coins, bars, rounds, and bullets.
This company is in the business of offering some of the highly sought-after products. These include:
- Certified United States coins
- Type III double eagles
- Indian Head quarter eagles
- Platinum American eagle specimens
- Key date gold
IRA Services
On its website, Universal Coin & Bullion shows that it offers IRA services, primarily in the form of precious metal IRAs. However, there isn’t much information. It doesn’t explain its account setup process or list the custodians and depositories it partners with.
Those are crucial bits of information in this business. Though it serves clients nationwide and offers various investment strategies, people need to know everything they can.
When setting up precious metal IRAs, they must be held in a depository approved by the IRA and maintained by a custodian registered to do that. Therefore, it might be wise to contact the company directly to determine this crucial information.
Is It a Scam?
Overall, Universal Coin & Bullion isn’t a scam. The business has been in the precious metals industry for many years, and it has an A+ rating at the Better Business Bureau. However, there are mixed reviews from customers, and some of those are serious complaints.
The company notified the BBB that customers with problems should contact the customer service department to fix the issues. Plus, it can keep complaints hidden on the BBB website.
There have been various Ripoff Reports written on the company, which is also concerning. In the past three years, seven complaints have been filed. However, the accreditation and the A+ rating from this gold leader indicate that the company tries hard to resolve consumer issues.
BBB Complaints
There was one complaint about the business from April 2021. The person claimed they placed an order, paying by check. Once the check cleared, the customer asked the company when the order might ship. This person tried for over a week and received no answer.
After waiting for 30 minutes, they got through to a sales representative. This person couldn’t verify the order status and said someone could call the person back, but it might take a few days.
The company did respond to those concerns on the website, saying that it had records of the phone conversations. When the customer bought the items, they were advised that there could be shipping delays for four weeks. After the complaint was filed on the Better Business Bureau site, the customer’s items were shipped two days later.
To apologize for the incident, Universal Coin did send out some silver coins for free.
The response by the company is quite impressive. It took time to address each concern from the customer and attempted to make it right with the coins. Overall, the customer said this was a satisfactory resolution.
Because Universalcoin has clients nationwide, there are bound to be issues at times.
Similarly, a customer bought precious metals by check, and the package was shipped. However, it was lost in the mail, so the customer never got it. This company said it must file an insurance claim, but that was a month before the complaint surfaced on the BBB.
Though the customer called the company many times to leave messages, they got no response. After being listed on the BBB site, it responded to say that it got the complaint and issued a refund. Then, the company sent several silver rounds and a book to apologize.
Ripoff Reports
There have been quite a few Ripoff Reports filed on this business. Again, though, it does whatever it can to resolve the issue satisfactorily for the customer.
Overall, this business is now part of the Corporate Advocacy program at Ripoff Reports. This is made up of companies that want to show higher levels of care to disgruntled and upset customers.
Ripoff Report indicates that Universalcoin makes a strong effort to provide solid customer service. With that, it is quick to address filed complaints and acts on them fairly. In fact, Universalcoin has attempted to resolve each issue reported through the Ripoff Report website.
Universal Coin is actually a top performer within the Corporate Advocacy program, as well.
Despite the many customer reports, Universal Coin has apparently addressed them decently to be given higher ratings. This could be because of its commitment to its customers rather than the offerings it makes to satisfy clients.
Pros and Cons for Universalcoin
Pros
- Dedicated to resolving customer complaints
- Wide assortment of products, including platinum American eagle specimens, certified United States coins, Type III double eagles, key date gold, and Indian head quarter eagles
- Been in operation since 1994
- Founded by a precious metals expert and author
Cons
- Not much information about IRA partners
- Several complaints about delivery issues and contacting customer service
Conclusion
Universal Coin & Bullion is an online precious metals dealer that’s been in the industry for over two decades. The company president is actually an expert and helps people invest. While the business seems to resolve customer issues, it might not be the best choice.
It claims to offer outstanding collecting strategies and appraisal services, but several customers have complained about the business regarding lost packages and long delivery times. In fact, Universalcoin admitted to having packages lost but makes up for it by sending out free products.
Another issue is that customers can’t contact customer support representatives. The company believes this is from high call volumes.
Overall, there are many other companies out there with consistently positive feedback from customers. They have better transparency regarding the process for setting up a precious metals IRA, too. With that, there are fewer complaints in general. Though it’s up to each person to decide which company to trust, it’s advisable to do plenty of research on other options and consider going with them instead of setting up an account with this one.
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.
