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Bear Lake Gold has created this Provident Metals Review to answer the typical questions potential investors ask before choosing a gold broker or gold IRA company.
In this review, we will answer all the questions we typically get asked by serious-minded investors when considering doing business with this company. We will also provide additional information about this company to help you draw your own conclusions about whether choosing to invest in a gold IRA through Provident Metals is the best option.
Bear Lake Gold is your precious metal advisor - providing impartial, up-to-date guidance and insights across the gold & silver landscape. We manually validate, fact-check, and review all companies in this market to provide our readers with balanced insight, allowing for easy comparison so they can choose what's right for them!
As a vital part of our review process, we extend our research to essential individuals in the companies we review. These people include owners, staff team members, the leadership team, directors, and customers who have bought from or sold to these precious metals companies.
When we reach out to these people, we ask them probing questions about the company. Their responses help us form our impartial opinion about these companies and how suitable, moral, ethical, and competitive they are in the precious metals market.
Investors seeking to weigh the merits of investing with Provident Metals will find a comprehensive analysis within this document. From an in-depth exploration into its leadership and the founding team to what products it offers - investors can gain insights on whether or not they should trust their hard-earned money and gold IRA investments with this company.
We intend to use the information in this review document to give answers to these basic investment questions;
We conducted our intense research, and after evaluating the details we got using our review methodology, we discovered the following about Provident Metals.
Read till the end of this review document to discover why we concluded these about the company.
However, we still have one question unanswered, "Which companies would we recommend as the best precious metals & gold IRA investment companies?"
Our principal aim at Bear Lake Gold goes beyond reviewing precious metal organizations. We also provide recommendations based on extensive research on the best gold and silver companies to buy precious metals from in the gold IRA investment market.
The gold and silver IRA companies we have selected as the best in the industry based on our extensive research are Augusta Precious Metals, Goldco, and American Hartford Gold. We have also ranked them as the top three recommended gold companies for your precious metals investments.
We have documented the details we discovered about these companies that made us rank them so high in three separate review documents. These documents are available for download free of charge. Only click the relevant buttons below and input your details, and you will get the reviews in no time. The reviews are easy to understand, straightforward, detailed, and will be worth your reading time.
Provident Metals, erroneously called Provident Gold most times by investors, is a precious metals bullion company that came into the industry in 2009. The company aims to provide clients with precious metals investment options and collections. In addition, the company helps customers set up their Self-directed Individual Retirement Accounts (SDIRA) via its three-step IRA program. The headquarters of Provident Metals is located in Dallas, Texas.
Provident Metals sells precious metals coins and bars in the following categories;
The company also sells copper, and it has a Precious Metals Knowledge Center. The aim of its Precious Metals Knowledge Center is to educate novice coin investors and collectors on how they can collect and invest in precious metal coins and bars.
Provident Metals offer IRAs via its three-step IRA program. The program allows investors to open their SDIRAs, fund them and purchase metal to add to their IRAs. If you open your gold IRA through Provident Metals by participating in its SDIRA program, it will fund your investment through its IRA partner, Preferred Trust Company.
Customers can buy products from the company’s website at any time of the day, and it serves as the primary interface between Provident Metals and its customers. You can also buy precious metals over the phone by directly contacting Provident Metal customer service representatives. They are always available to take phone calls from Monday through Friday, 8 a.m to 6 p.m central time.
Our call to Provident customer service started with a question, “why should we invest in a gold IRA through Provident Metals?” Here is the response we got from the agent that we spoke with, “As a company, we do our best to provide professional customer service. We ensure that we give timely responses and are courteous when responding to customers. Our interactions with customers remain polite from the moment they contact us till when we are shipping their metals.”
He told us that Provident Metal has adequate knowledge about the precious metals market, and it ensures that its catalog remains vast and updated. According to him, the company sells products to customers for the best prices.
When we asked one of the customer service reps through a separate phone call why we should invest in precious metals through Provident Metals, she said, “We do not just sell numismatic coins and bullion products. We also sell various supplies to allow collectors to preserve their precious metals. Hence, you can get all you need in one place for the best prices and in good condition.”
She told us that Provident Metals employs an automated system that allows the company to sell precious metals effectively for the lowest and most current prices in the market. She said, “The competitiveness of our prices does not influence us to alter the quality of our products, so you can be sure that you will get premium quality for the lowest prices in the market when you buy from us.”
These two customer reps told us about the company’s different services and highlighted why we should invest. However, the agents pointed out one central feature at the end of the conversations as the reason Provident Metals is the best for precious metals investment.
According to them, the company’s shipping service is efficient and reliable. It also ensures that its shipping rates are very affordable, and customers can bank on the fact that their products are safe during transit. They told us that the company wraps and labels shipments discretely to keep them safe.
The last customer care agent we asked the same question said, “Provident Metals does its best to ensure that the personal information of its customers is secure. It secures information by providing a secure shopping cart and cutting-edge encryption software for online purchases. For extra security, we use ComodoCA SSL certificates.”
We checked the company’s profile on LinkedIn to see if it mentions the people on its management team. We found out that Provident Metals has between 50 to 200 workers. However, we did not find the people at the helm of the company’s affairs. In the same vein, we surfed the company’s website for that detail, and we did not find any mention of the current people in the company’s management team.
Although, we pressed more and were able to dig up some names that had public associations with the company in July 2022. These people are;
We sourced these names and positions from the firm’s Datanyze listing, and from the page, we also discovered that Provident Metals rakes in an annual revenue of around $11 million. However, it did not specify if the income was net or gross. Generally, from unverified sources on the internet, the founder of Provident Metals is Joe Merrick.
Provident Metals is an online company that retails precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and copper. The company allows customers to invest their fiat currencies into gold and silver bullion investment vehicles like numismatic coins, collectible coins, and gold IRAs. Interested investors can purchase products from the company via its website and get them shipped to their desired locations.
Provident Metals also sells IRA-eligible precious metals, coins, and bars. Some of the products that you will find on the company’s website for sale are;
Provident claims that it works with sovereign and private mints globally to provide the best precious metals coins, and bars for its customers. Customers can also sell their metals to the company and open gold IRAs. Provident Metals partners with Preferred Trust Company for its IRA custodianship services.
In summary, the company wants to fill the gap in traditional investments, and it intends to do that by selling a unique selection of precious metal bars, coins, and collectibles. At the moment, Provident Metals ships to both the US and Canada. However, it has plans to ship to more countries in the future.
Opening an account with Provident Metals is free, and it will not charge you any extra fee for making orders through its website. The spot prices of products on the company’s website always fluctuate because of the general costs of precious metals in the market.
According to the customer care agent we spoke to about prices, some payment options attract discounts. For instance, customers who pay for products via ACH/echeck get a cash discount of 4%, and when you pay using Bitcoin, you will get a discount of 3%.
The fees for opening an IRA through Provident Metals are the same as that of their partnered custodian. Hence the fees that you will pay are the storage fees, and annual custodianship/management fees will depend on the storage company you will choose and the management fee for Preferred Trust Company (PTC). PTC works with a plethora of storage companies, and you can choose any of them for the storage of your precious metals.
Provident Metals ships orders from $199 for free. Then, for orders below $199, customers will pay $7.99 for shipping. Remember that at the moment, the company only ships to the US and Canada.
Provident Metals has a vast selection of precious metal products for its interested investors, including copper. You can buy traditional gold mint coins, precious metal bars, Canadian gold coins, platinum and palladium bars, silver eagle, copper rounds, etc., from the company. Below are the product categories and the available products on the company’s website.
40% “Junk” US Silver
90% “Junk” US Silver
The company sells some of the famous 2022 series, including the following;
Customers can enjoy other services from the company asides from buying precious metals. Provident Metals' website gives visitors sales tax information based on the state where you ship your metals.
The website also has a Precious Metal Investor’s Knowledge Center that gives investment guidance to visitors, investors, and coin collectors. Other services that you can enjoy from the company are real-time precious metals live charts and gold IRA.
Many people invest in gold IRAs for two reasons; to safeguard their retirement investments and hedge their funds against inflation effects. Provident Metals IRA allows clients to add gold, silver, platinum, and palladium IRA-eligible products to their precious metals IRAs. Like you will have in a traditional IRA, investing in an IRA through Provident Metals will allow you to enjoy IRA tax benefits.
One of the most important benefits of investing in a gold IRA is having a tangible asset that stores value. ETF values, including gold and other precious metals, can go down to zero. However, in the case of a physical gold IRA, the chances of losing your investments are zero.
Provident Metals offer a wide range of precious metal bullion with 99.9% purity. However, not all are IRA-eligible coins, bars, and rounds. The IRA-eligible products (you can hold in your gold IRA portfolio) are only those that meet the strict IRS criteria. For instance, the gold bullion you can hold in your IRA must have 99.5% purity. The only gold product exempted from this requirement is the American Gold Eagle. Its purity requirement is lower than others, 91.67%.
In addition, the IRA-eligible gold bullion products must come with an assayer or a refiner hallmark showing that they have the COMEX (The Commodity Exchange Inc) or NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) approval.
Some of the products that are available in Provident Metals’ gold IRA catalog are;
The IRS purity criterion for IRA-eligible Silver products is at least 99.9%. Some of the IRA-eligible silver products you will see on the company’s website are;
For platinum and palladium IRA-eligible products, the IRS purity criterion is at least 99.95%. Some of the IRA-eligible products available in Provident Metals inventory are;
You can access various educational resources on its websites, including investment guides, precious metals price charts, and other general investment info. Customers can also subscribe to the company’s newsletter to get free updates on the trends and news in the industry. You don’t need to open an account with Provident Metals to access free information. Hence, you can check market trends and bullion prices without having an account with the company.
Provident Metals partnered with the renowned Preferred Trust Company for its IRA custodial services. Through Preferred Trust Company, customers can choose from a list of storage vaults. These storage vaults are;
Provident Metals also buys precious metals from people who want to sell, and according to the agent that spoke to us, they buy at very competitive prices. The agent told us that people who want to sell to the company could do so in three easy steps.
The essence of calling the company is to inform them about your intentions and lock in your prices. When you have done that, you will receive a confirmation email showing your locked-in prices, a packing slip, and the process you need to follow to finalize the shipment.
The products must be postmarked 24 hours after receiving the confirmation email for your sale to Provident Metals.
Once the metals arrive at the company, it will issue your payments between one to three business days.
The agent told us that the three days delay is because the company receives a large number of packages every day, and it needs to verify and authenticate all the shipments before issuing payments.
The company only ships to Canada and the United States. It offers free shipping for orders worth at least $199 and charges $7.99 for orders below $199.
For an online purchase worth more than $1,000, you will get signature confirmation on order, and you will need to sign for the package when you receive it. The company will only ship your orders after you have made payments. Then it will send you an email notification immediately after it initiates your shipment.
Provident Metals ships all its orders via USPS or UPS. The shipments through USPS are shipped as Priority and First Class. Then it ships oversized packages through UPS.
You cannot ship multiple orders as one, and the company fully insures all its shipments. The agent also told us that Provident Metals secure all its shipments by packaging orders discretely and not indicating what is in the package.
A+
BBB records 20 customer complaints closed in the last three years
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4.7 out of 5 stars
This Facebook rating was based on 320 reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
This Trustpilot rating was based on 3678 review
Provident metals today do not have any promotions. For a fantastic promotional offer, open your gold IRA through Goldco. You will get $10,000 WORTH OF FREE SILVER when you qualify for a rollover.
To end this Provident Metals review, Bear Lake Gold will give its final opinion about this precious metals company. Based on what we learned from evaluating the details we got about this company, it is not a scam company. It has been in the industry for 13 years and has offered gold and silver purchases and IRA services to thousands of customers in the US and Canada.
The company has a beautiful selection of precious metals at fair prices, apart from its silver listings. Its silver listing prices are above that of many of its competitors. Interested investors can also buy copper rounds, bullion, and wheat pennies from the company.
Provident Metals offers seamless gold IRA integration and vaulting service through Preferred Trust Company.
Although Provident is not a horrible company, we do not recommend it as a company through which you can invest in a gold IRA because it does not have a verifiable management team. For a company that has stayed 13 years in the industry, not having a verifiable management team is a red flag. It looks fishy because customers may not know who to hold responsible when there are issues with the company considering the fact that they do not know the person or people at the helm of the company’s affairs.
For us at Bear Lake Gold, having a verifiable management team is one criterion we look for, among other important ones, before endorsing a company or recommending them to our readers. We are keen on management because we do not want you to lose your money to a faceless organization. We know that the person in charge tells a whole story about the company and how it does business.
We always advise that you should invest in gold IRAs or buy precious metals from companies that have verifiable management teams, like Augusta Precious Metals, Goldco, and American Hartford Gold. Apart from having known and reputable owners and management team members, these firms have excellent qualities that have made us rate them as the top three online bullion dealers in the industry. Many customers are drawn to and stay with them because of their fantastic prices, great customer service, and AMAZING INVESTMENT BONUSES.
We have put these details and more in their three separate review guides for your downloads free of charge. These guides also contain their free reports. All these will be yours when you click the relevant buttons in the ‘Top Three Provident Metals Alternatives’ section below.
Our #1 Precious Metals & Gold IRA Company - Best Overall
Augusta Precious Metals is our best rated overall precious metals company
Our #2 Recommendation - Best For Promotions
Goldco is our second top rated gold and precious metal company. Having been top rated all of last year they were very close top Augusta Precious metals
Our #3 Gold & Silver Company -Great Prices and Great Customer Service
American Hartford Gold is our third top rated company.
