Complaint Review: Equity Trust Company

This firm provides Self-Directed IRA and/or ROTh management services.  However, if you are not well educated regarding self-directed IRA's, you'd be better served not using this company.  In my case, I called on them for their expertise to guide me through the process.  

I had an existing IRA that I wanted to convert to a self-directed IRA, so I called them and spoke with their rep.  The whole process seemed pretty straight forward and completed the paperwork and they did the rest.  
With a self-directed IRA, you are allowed to "direct" how the funds are invested. 

So, I found a little investment home to purchase and completed the paperwork to facilitate that.  There was some confusion, and I was told I had to fill out some more paperwork, which I did.

All is good.  The property is purchased, I clean it up and direct the IRA to sell it to a new Buyer on Land Contract, and the new buyer begins making payments into the IRA. Cool, it worked!!!

Then comes tax season.  My account calls and says I converted a regular IRA to a ROTH IRA which is a taxable event.  Boom!  Not only have I lost any profit that the IRA would have made, but I had to pay out-of-pocket taxes for the TAXABLE event I created!

DO NOT TRUST - "TRUSTETC" - I have been totally boned!  When I called to see what was upon, I got the typical - Well, Sir, I see you completed the forms and you signed them!  Well, duh, I was following instructions on how to do that.  When I mentioned that, I got the old, "Well so-and-so is very knowledgeable, and she wouldn't have told you to do that.

The logic there - Oh, I wanted to pay a lump sum tax on funds that were in a tax free account?!!!  

Let me say it again, DO NOT TRUST - "TRUSTETC"!!!!!