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Monex Deposit Company boasts a historical track record going back 50 years in precious metals and gold. Their statistics are truly impressive; they claim more than $55 billion in customer transactions over those intervening decades.The currently named company was incorporated back in 1987, but it originated back in the early 1970’s. Monex claims to be the premier precious metals dealer in America today as a result of their commitment to serving and satisfying their clients. 
Monex is unique in some of the other statistics it boasts as well. Because of their client’s appreciation for Monex’s integrity, fully 80 percent of their transactions today come from repeat business customers. Around a quarter of their new customers come in as a result of referrals from existing customers. The company is found in Newport Beach, California, where it houses a substantial staff of dedicated precious metals professionals who are determined to be the best hard assets’ dealers in the country through offering competitive prices on precious metals and world-class customer service.
Big on education, they even feature a video library for clients and would-be customers. They also offer incentives to open an account with them. New customers who buy at least 20 one ounce gold coins get a no-cost 1/10th ounce American Eagle gold coin, pictured above.
About the Management
Louis Carabini started his first gold dealer firm Pacific Coast Gold Exchange back in 1967. The Carabini family was already running the unincorporated version of Monex Deposit Company back in year 1973. This was 14 years before Louis Carabini formally incorporated the firm in 1987. Three generations of the family now manage the firm in founder Louis, son Michael, and granddaughters Christina and Anna Maria. Their employees are unusually loyal, with more than 20 percent of them having been at the company for at least a decade.
Monex Prices and Products
Monex carries a full range of precious metals in both coins and bars form. Some of their products can not be bought for inclusion in a Gold IRA account. The company offers a discounted preferred client arrangement for those customers who are members of their Atlas Account program. Monex is also big on providing current precious metals prices to customers. They maintain a special page with currently live precious metals prices.
It is important to note that Monex is not an IRA custodian. They provide these retirement account services through their partnerships with these third party IRA custodian firms. It is regrettable that they do not list these out on their website (though their names are available if you call the company). This lack of transparency means that you can not comparison price shop their IRA services with other companies in advance since you do not know who they are working with in the IRA world.
At least some of these custodians working with Monex are likely charging sliding scale yearly fees. We recommend against these as compared to flat rate fees. The problem with sliding scale fees is that your administration and storage charges will only increase as your account value grows. This is a definite disadvantage for you the customer, especially if you open or transfer a larger valued account.
Monex Ratings and Complaints
Here are the most current helpful ratings, reviews, and reports about Monex.com, all arranged neatly in one place for your browsing convenience:
- BBB Rating: NR (Details)
- BBB Complaints: 1 complaint in the last 3 years (Details)
- BCA: A (Details)
- BCA Complaints: 0 complaints in the last 3 years (Details)
- CitySearch: Not Rated (Details)
- Google+: Not Rated (Details)
- RipOff Report: 8 Reports (Details)
- SiteJabber:
(1 / 5) based on 2 reviews (Details) - Trustlink:
(4.2 / 5) based on 40 reviews (Details) - Yellow Pages: (1 / 5) based on 3 reviews (Details)
- Yelp:
(2.5 / 5) based on 19 reviews (Details) - Trustpilot: N/A
- Facebook: (3.5 / 5) based on 14 reviews (Details)
Monex Contact Details
- Address: 4910 Birch Street, Newport Beach, CA 92660-2113
- Toll-Free Phone – 1-800-997-7859
- Phone: (949) 752-1400
- Email: info@monex.com
- Website: http://www.monex.com/
Key Pages From the Monex Website
- Monex Precious Metals IRA – a page explaining the advantages of and procedures for opening an IRA account with Monex. The firm has partnered with several IRA custodians and so recommends their customers over to an IRA company based on their specific investment goals and needs.
- Video Library – Monex is big on client education, so they offer this page containing a library of videos created to highlight the benefits of precious metals investing – these are mostly news stories and interviews with commentators and authors.
- How to Buy – their page that takes you through the processes of ordering, taking delivery of, and storing precious metals bought from Monex.com.
In Summary
Monex has the distinction of being a multi-decade established dealer of precious metals that offers silver, gold, platinum, and palladium coins and bullion bars. Precious metals investor Louis Carabini started the company in 1973 and incorporated in 1987, though his presence in precious metals dealing extends back to his original firm the Pacific Coast Gold Exchange in 1967. With 80 percent of their business originating with repeat business customers and another quarter of their transactions coming from existing client referrals, the company has a lot of customer satisfaction history to offer you.
Always Consider the Competition Before You Buy
A thorough review of the star ratings and negative reviews about this firm and others should be a constant reminder to investors to select their precious metals dealers and IRA custodians with care. Why take the chance of putting your hard-earned retirement savings at risk needlessly, and why pay more for storage and administrative fees than truly necessary?
W.D. Crowder is an American published author. His background and areas of expertise include history, economics, retirement, finance, expatriate living, international relations, investments, and personal finance. A widely read and top of his class graduate of Stetson University, he obtained his bachelor of arts degree in History with minors in Latin American Studies and International Relations and a special emphasis in Economics. He was President of his Phi Alpha Theta (National History Honors Fraternity) Stetson University chapter and a Phi Beta Kappa (National Honors Fraternity) member.
