Kitco is a well-known name in the world of precious metals, offering a comprehensive range of services including price reporting, trading, and investment opportunities.
With a global presence, including offices in Hong Kong and New York, Kitco has established itself as a trusted source for market information and a reliable destination for precious metal investments.
In addition to their renowned price charts and news updates, Kitco operates as a gold IRA firm, offering a diverse selection of IRA-eligible products and storage solutions to investors. Let’s delve deeper into what Kitco has to offer and explore its various services and offerings in detail.
What is Kitco?
Kitco is a price reporting firm which also has a precious metals store called Kitco Store. They are popular for their gold and silver price charts.
The company focuses on providing customers with information regarding indices, currencies, precious metals and particularly, gold news. They have been in the industry for more than 40 years and entered the industry in 1977.
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This company is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec and has offices all over the globe including Hong Kong and New York.
The company is renowned for its Kitco News section.
However, apart from providing investors and consumers with the latest industry insights, the company operates as a gold IRA firm. They have a large product selection including gold, silver, platinum and palladium bullion, eligible for your gold IRA account.
Furthermore, Kitco has partnered with multiple storage providers to help customers store your precious metals safely. They offer storage locations in the US, Canada, the Cayman Islands and Hong Kong.
People Behind Kitco
Unlike some precious metal dealers, Kitco is rather transparent when it comes to sharing information about its leadership.
Below is all the information I could find about their executive leadership:
Bart Kitner (Founder and President)
The founder and President of Kitco is Bart Kitner. He founded the firm in 1977 when he was still in university.
Bart is a graduate of McGill University, Montreal.
Initially, he ran the firm by buying scrap gold from jewellers across Eastern Canada, refining them and selling it to bigger players.
The biggest breakthrough for Kitco came in 1995 when it launched its website. There, the company published gold prices, trends and news which wasn’t much accessible before.
This way, they were able to grow as a reliable source of precious metals market information.
Carmela Tutino (HR Director)
Carmela became a part of the company’s upper management in September 2005. She has more than 15 years of experience in human resources and talent management.
Carmela Tutino handles the company’s global HR requirements and implements their people strategies.
John Dourekas (Media Director)
John joined Kitco’s executive team in 2008. He handles the company’s content, programming, digital properties, online assets, and the operations of its editorial units.
Also, John has more than 15 years of experience in technology consulting. He has helped multiple telecom firms with new product development, innovation and strategy.
Nizar Tabet (Chief Financial Officer)
Nizar became a part of Kitco’s management team in October 2019. He has more than 20 years of experience in compliance in treasury, financial reporting, the accounting cycle and similar fields.
Furthermore, Nizar Tabet is an expert in acquisitions, mergers, financing, divestments and reorganizations.
Can You Invest in a Gold IRA with Kitco?
Yes, apart from being a reputed media company, Kitco offers customers the facility to invest in gold IRAs as well.
The sign-up process here is quite simple and only requires you to follow the following steps:
Step #1:
First, you would need to open an IRA with one of their partner custodians and nominate them as your account representative. Opening an IRA would only take a few minutes.
Step #2:
Once you have created an IRA account, you would need to add funds to it. You can do so either by rolling over your 401k into a precious metals IRA or making a direct contribution.
In both cases, your custodian will help you with the process.
Step #3:
The company requires you to take a screenshot of your account balance.
Also, if you want to invest in a gold IRA with Kitco, you would need to open an account with them. You can do so by going to their website and filling out their signup form.
Surely, the signup process at Kitco is quite simple. However, I don’t personally recommend opening a gold IRA with them because there are plenty of better and more specialized firms in the market. That’s because the majority of their product catalog focuses on selling non-IRA products.
Kitco Products
Kitco has one of the largest product catalogs in the industry. You will find gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium and several other precious metals in their selection. Moreover, they have some of the most popular collectible collections in their catalog including DC, Marvel and Star Wars-themed coins.
Also, the company shares the pricing details of its products, making it easier for investors to get an estimate of how much their total order would cost.
Kitco Gold
The Kitco gold selection is among the largest catalogs of gold products available in the market. Their IRA-eligible selections include the following products:
- American Gold Eagle Coins
- Canadian Gold Maple Leaf Coins
- American Gold Buffalo Coins
- Gold Bars (various sizes and refiners)
Additional gold products you can find here are:
- Austrian Gold Philharmonic coins
- British Gold Britannia coins
- Gold Bitcoin rounds
- British Gold Sovereign coins
And plenty of other collectibles.
Kitco Silver
Their selection of IRA-eligible silver products includes:
- Canadian Silver Maple Leaf
- American Silver Eagle
- Royal Canadian Mint Silver Bars
- Silver Bars (various sizes and refiners)
Also, the company has a vast selection of non-IRA collectable coins in their silver catalogue. From coins about soccer to Marvel superheroes, you will find something for everyone here.
Other Precious Metals Products:
Here, you can purchase the following IRA-eligible platinum and palladium products:
- Canadian Platinum Maple Leaf
- Platinum Bars (various sizes and refiners)
- Canadian Palladium Maple Leaf
- Palladium Bars (various sizes and refiners)
Kitco Fees and Pricing
The company doesn’t share any particular fee structure for its gold IRA services. Moreover, how much gold IRA fees you pay here would be dependent on the custodian you choose.
Kitco has partnered with multiple industry-leading IRA custodians including:
- Midland Trust
- The Kingdom Trust Company
- GoldStar Trust Company
- Strata Trust Company
- Equity Institutional
- NuView IRA
- Next Generation Trust Services
- UDirect IRA Services
And several others.
Also, Kitco provides customers with several different services such as Kitco Allocated Storage and VaultChain. Both of them have their own fee structures.
However, the company doesn’t share their fee-related information on its website. To learn about their fees, you would need to get in touch with Kitco directly.
Is Kitco a Reputable Company? – The Scam Lawsuit Explained
In 2013, the precious metals giant faced tax fraud allegations from Revenu-Quebec. It sought prison sentences and fines totalling $ 750 million for the firm’s founder Bart Kitner and its directors along with several other firms.
The revenue department of Quebec had told the media that it filed 1,920 charges against the firm. Also, 11 other firms and their directors were implicated in this alleged fraud scheme.
Moreover, the department had filed 120 charges against Kitco and an additional 120 charges against Bart Kitner. The total fines were $454.6 million.
According to the ministry, Kitco had made false statements and tried to get tax rebates when it wasn’t entitled to. However, the firm had vehemently denied the allegations.
While the lawsuit is over a decade old, it can be a red flag for many modern investors.
Additional Highlights of Kitco
Apart from being an industry leader in gold news and price charts, Kitco has several unique highlights which make it stand out in the precious metals industry:
Kitco Allocated Storage:
Kitco is one of the few precious metals dealers that allow customers to store their precious metals in multiple countries. Their Allocated Storage program lets you store your physical gold and silver in the US, Canada, Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands.
The company has partnered with multiple storage providers all over the globe to provide customers with such a unique facility. Only a few others offer customers global storage.
Their storage facility lets you add or take delivery of your products whenever you want. You can track your stored precious metals 24/7 through your Kitco account. Moreover, the company provides you with a free annual independent audit.
For storage in the US, they offer a COMEX-certified facility. Similarly, they have a Crown Corporation in Canada.
VaultChain:
VaultChain is Kitco’s digital solution which lets consumers buy and sell physical gold and silver through a blockchain-distributed ledger.
The platform provides customers with the ability to track their physical metals in real time and has transparent auditability. Moreover, it stores your precious metals at the Royal Canadian Mint.
Blockchain is already extremely popular among crypto IRA providers such as Bitcoin IRA, BitIRA and iTrustCapital. It allows firms to maintain a decentralized transaction system which is easy to access and keep track of.
Apart from partnering with Royal Canadian Mint, Kitco has partnered with Tradewind to offer VaultChain. TradeWind offers an advanced platform for digitizing the trading, settlement and ownership of precious metals.
Certainly, it’s an advanced feature and makes the Kitco Store stand out from other precious metals dealers.
Kitco Gold and Silver Price Charts:
Easily, the biggest highlight of Kitco is its price charts. The company is renowned for its gold news and insights.
They excel at providing consumers with resources and some of the charts you might find here include:
- Gold price chart
- Market Indicators
- Gold Indicators
- Top-performing gold equities
- Exchange rates
- Crypto market live quotes
And plenty more.
Also, they provide customers with their unique “Kitco Gold Index” which shows you how US dollar fluctuations affect gold’s value. Some other tools they offer include a mobile app for staying updated, a currency converter and an interactive gold chart.
If you like keeping track of gold and silver prices, this is the best place for you.
Kitco Reviews and Complaints: What Do Their Customers Say?
On BBB, there are a handful of Kitco reviews but a significant number of complaints. However, the company has an A+ rating and a 5 out of 5 rating based on the reviews.
Their Trustpilot page has received over 5,500 Kitco reviews and their overall rating is 4.7 out of 5 stars. More than 80% of these reviews give the company a perfect rating of 5 out of 5 stars while 9% give them 4 stars.
Only 3% of their Kitco reviews give them 1 out of 5 stars.
The positive reviews praise the company for having capable and polite staff. On the other hand, the negative reviews are mostly concerned with delivery issues.
For example, the above reviewer highlights that they liked the professionalism of Kitco’s staff and how customers do not have to wait for too long.
Similarly, here’s a complaint. Here, the reviewer highlights that the company changes its rates frequently and you might encounter communication issues. The reviewer suspects that Kitco might be fraudulent, however, that could mainly be because of the company’s past lawsuits.
Is Kitco Legit?
Yes, Kitco is a legitimate precious metals firm. The company has been in the industry for more than 40 years and is famous for its price charts and gold news.
Pros:
- Over 40 years of industry experience
- Excellent insights and resources
Cons:
- Received mixed reviews from customers
- No fee-related information on the website
They excel at providing customers with industry insights and updates. Kitco offers its customers a large selection of gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium products including both IRA-eligible and ineligible options.
They have received thousands of reviews on Trustpilot and most of them praise the firm for its professionalism.
However, they have faced a lawsuit for fraud from the revenue department of Quebec in the past. Also, the company has received plenty of complaints for having poor pricing.
Although Kitco has a lot of industry experience, its history and the number of complaints are the reason why I can’t recommend them to IRA investors.
There are plenty of gold IRA firms with a better track record and specialization.
Finding the right gold IRA firm can seem herculean and before you invest with anyone, it’s best to check out multiple service providers. To help you streamline the process, I have created the ultimate list of the best gold IRA companies of this year. You can check it out and learn what the industry’s best has to offer.