TIAA Bank Precious Metals Select Review
Last update: 21.09.2023
What TIAA Bank offers to gold investors
TIAA Bank Coins & Bars accounts offer private investors the option to buy, store and sell physical gold or silver. The gold or silver is stored in third-party repositories, but it is contractually not defined where the precious metals are stored geographically and by whom. TIAA Bank does not publish audit or inspection reports for the precious metals holdings.
About TIAA Bank Coins & Bars
| Headquarters | Jacksonville, FL, USA |
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| Founded | Origins dating back to the 1960s |
| Employees | Approx. 3,700 |
| Number of clients | Approx. 600,000 |
| Assets | Deposits of US$ 19.3 billion |
TIAA Bank was previously called Everbank with origins dating back to the 1960s. In 2006, the bank started offering vaulted gold over the Internet to private investors.
TIAA Bank offers Coins & Bars accounts in the form of allocated accounts and unallocated accounts. The following information refers to TIAA Bank’s Coins & Bars Allocated Accounts, since Unallocated Accounts do not meet our safety criteria, e.g., our requirement to provide 100% direct ownership of gold.
Customers can choose between 1oz gold coins, 1oz gold bars and 10oz gold bars or silver products. In addition to online trading, TIAA Bank provides customer support over the phone.
Product details TIAA Bank Allocated Accounts
| Precious metals | Gold, silver |
|---|---|
| Minimum investment | US$ 7,500 |
| Delivery of gold | Optional, separate fees apply (see below) |
| Vault locations | Not specified, gold is held by third party repositories within or outside of the U.S. as determined at TIAA Bank’s sole discretion. |
| Currencies | Clients of TIAA Bank can buy gold or silver in U.S. dollars |
| Additional features | Available as an IRA – American Eagle gold and silver coins only |
Security considerations regarding TIAA Bank
TIAA Bank does not specify where the gold is stored which is held on behalf of the customers. According to TIAA Bank’s terms and conditions, the gold is held by third party repositories within or outside of the U.S. as determined at TIAA Bank’s sole discretion.
TIAA Bank does not publish an auditor’s report of its gold holdings.
Trustable Gold’s Safety Criteria
| Outright Ownership of 100% Gold | Insured, independent storage | Transparent, external audit | Price transparency | Liquidity | Regulation |
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| Clients of TIAA Bank own their gold, it is their legal property. | The gold is held by third party repositories as determined at TIAA Bank’s sole discretion. | No published audit of precious metals holdings. | No, see below | Clients can place buy and sell orders on business days. | TIAA Bank is a regulated bank in the US. |
Costs of vaulted gold at TIAA Bank
Premium/mark-up for buying and selling gold
The price for the customer is determined by TIAA Bank each time the customer asks TIAA Bank to buy gold from TIAA Bank or sell gold to TIAA Bank. According to TIAA Bank, prices for purchasing metals to or from the customer, are within 1% of the wholesale prices.
Costs for storage and insurance
- 1.5% per year
Withdrawal fee for delivery of gold
The withdrawal fee rate is 1.0%. Delivery fees are calculated as a percentage of the Customer Price applicable to the precious metals on the date the customer makes its delivery request.