BBB Rating: F
1/5
First Glance
Are you wondering whether Hard Assets Alliance is the right choice for buying precious metals? When it comes to handling your hard-earned money, it’s important to find a company you can trust.
Many people have started shifting their investments to precious metals as it provides a safe heaven against the continuous devaluation of the dollar. Many people feel that the typical cash-based investments are not really worth it. In fact, bad things have been predicted by experts for paper money all around the globe.
Thankfully, the value of precious metals tends to be much more stable, especially when compared with fiat currency. You can rest assured that your investments in precious metals will remain valuable in case there is a depression or a recession.
Hard Assets Alliance is promoted by a number of financial advisory services. We have also received questions from many people who want to know whether they should choose this company for buying precious metals. In this article, we will discuss everything you want to know about Hard Assets Alliance and whether they are the right choice for you.
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About Hard Assets Alliance
Hard assets alliance was formed by multiple firms involved in the financial research industry. In essence, it is a brokerage service that specializes in precious metals. They call their platform the SmartMetals platform.
Their core business is to help customers buy precious metals. Their pricing strategies are smart and you can say the same about their website.
However, the company does not limit its services to only buying and selling of precious metals. They offer other services such as storage services all around the world in addition to delivery in various forms. They also offer a variety of choices when it comes to accounts. You can also open an IRA account with them. You also have the option of buying, selling as well as storing precious metals with them.
When I started digging deep into this company, I found that information about them is really hard to come by. During my research, I discovered that more than 60 investment advisory services are a part of this company. Some of the names involved in this company include Eagle Publishing, Rich Dad, Street Authority, and Peak Prosperity.
However, all these names don’t really tell a whole lot of story. For example, I don’t know who came up with the idea of this platform. This information isn’t readily available anywhere. I find it a little suspicious that this information isn’t available anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
One of the biggest advantages of using this company is that they make things easy. Everything is easy. Also, their prices are fair. But it would be wrong to say that they are the cheapest option around.
Currently, the company offers for sale gold, silver, palladium, and platinum. Needless to say, the most popular options are gold and silver.
As far as the options for various products are concerned, you can buy palladium and platinum in 1 ounce bars only.
Gold – Some options include Rougher gold (from South Africa), American Eagles, and Great Britain Britannia.
Silver – Available silver products are Buffalo Nickels, American Eagle, Silver Bars, and Austrian Philharmonics
The first thing you should know about this company is that they are not a dealer. There services are limited to acting as a marketplace for professionals as well as entities who compete on this platform for business. Since there is fair competition on the platform, it helps in keeping prices competitive.
For instance, consider the price of a 1 ounce Credit Suisse gold bar on the Hard Assets Alliance site. The price at the time of writing this article was $1,873. There is no doubt that it’s a competitive price but you will be able to find cheaper options elsewhere. For instance, you can find these for around $1,830 at the US Gold Bureau.
Are They a Scam?
We haven’t found any evidence to say that they are a scam. Having said that, we do believe that they need to do a lot more in order to gain the trust of their customers as well as potential customers. One of the biggest problems with their credibility right now is that it’s almost impossible to find important information about the company.
For instance, they are not transparent about their physical address or individual/individuals who found this platform.
It’s basic information and all businesses have this information readily available. It’s not easy to trust a company that does not share even the most basic information that any alleged legitimate business wouldn’t have any problem in sharing.
However, it’s what we feel but here is what others are saying about them.
Reviews and Ratings – Hard Assets Alliance
Before investing your hard earned money with the company, it’s important for you to do your due diligence and find out what others are saying about them. These days, businesses can’t hide behind big promises as there are a lot of choices available to consumers where they can easily voice their opinions and reviews.
In this section, we will cover how others have reviewed Hard Assets Alliance on some of the most popular review websites. It will help you in making an informed decision.
Better Business Bureau
The company is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau and their rating on this platform is C. Needless to say, these are huge red flags.
Trust Pilot
They are rated at 3.7 stars on this platform but there are only 13 reviews. This is not good for a company that has been in existence for quite some time. Most of the other companies in the same space have at least 500 total reviews. if you start comparing with the best gold companies, you will find that the best companies have close to 2000 reviews.
Rip off Report
No complaints have been recorded against the company on this platform which is a positive thing.
Here are some specific reviews from customers, both good and bad. While they do have some great reviews in years past, it looks like they have gone downhill since then. Of the last 20 reviews, only 2 of them have been 4 or 5 stars. The rest are 1 or 2 stars. You can see these on their TrustPilot page.
Any Other Red Flags
Since the company isn’t accredited with the Better Business Bureau, it’s a huge red flag. We would have loved to read a few other assessments for the company but it simply doesn’t exist. Since there is not that much information about the company, it raises a huge red flag and we wouldn’t say that working with them is the best idea you could have.
Main Complaints about the Company
It’s true that everybody is a critic these days but at times, critics are your only protection against making bad decisions. While there are only a few complaints against Hard Assets Alliance online but you also need to consider the fact that they don’t have a lot of reviews.
This is why, even such a small number of complaints is a big concern as they don’t have a ton of reviews. Most of their complaints are on Trust Pilot.
Not Completely Transparent
We have already discussed it but we find it weird that they don’t even want to tell who is the owner of this business. It is true that there are multiple companies on this platform but somebody has got to be on the top. You can’t really find this information.
They don’t seem like an outright scam but when you are unable to find even basic information about a precious metals company, it’s not the most reassuring thing to say about them. You wouldn’t want to park your money in a bank where you read a review about them and you can’t really say whether they are a scam or not.
Tons of Moving Parts
It is confusing to see so many companies involved with this platform and no one really knows what all these companies are doing there. As we have discussed above, there are a lot of companies involved with this platform and they must be doing something as they are a part of it. However, when you dig deeper, you will find that they don’t seem to handle a lot of business on their own.
In fact, they are outsourcing quite a bit. For instance, a number of third-party sources are being used by them for storage and IRAs. They have partnered with another company that takes care of IRAs. We can say that the company handling IRAs might be doing a fantastic job but it’s really weird when they outsource so much of their business.
Lacking in Customer Service
There are reviews from customers who find the customer service support to be great but one of the most frequent complaints about this company is that their customer service is really bad. Strong customer service support can cover up some imperfections but if the customer service is also poor, everything looks worse.
Since find it great but a good majority find it lacking in customer service. All we can say about customer service experience is that it is inconsistent and that’s not something you want.
Hidden Fees
Many people have complained about hidden fees charged by this company. We don’t really know how hidden their charges are but some of the customers have accused them of misleading tactics where they have been charged much greater sums than anticipated.
Are There Better Alternatives?
There are a lot of options when it comes to precious metal investment firms which makes it really difficult to figure out which one is the right option for you.
Some companies are really good at a few things as compared to others but when it comes to the overall service, there are a few things you need to consider such as: reputation of the company, product quality, responsiveness of their customer service representatives as well as how consistent they are with delivery on their promises.
If you’re looking for the best overall company we can say that it is Goldco and this is what more than 1500 customers are saying. If you take a look at customer reviews on popular platforms, you’ll find that they have an average of 4.9 star rating on Better Business Bureau, Trust Pilot, and Consumer Reports. It is difficult to find a company that can match this level of customer rating.
Goldco offers investment opportunities in gold, silver, and various other precious metals and they also help their customers setup gold IRAs. They have been in existence for more than 10 years and there are very few complaints about them.
We also like the fact that you can get a gold investing guide for free from them which is unlike other businesses that use high-pressure sales tactics to get customers to open an account with them.
If you want to get in touch with one of their customer service representatives, you can always do that but the difference is that you can schedule an appointment and they will call you at that time only.
Final Verdict
Our job here is to provide you all the information and guidance but the ultimate decision where you choose to park your savings and retirement funds is yours and yours only.
One of the good things about Hard Assets Alliance is that they make it extremely simple to make precious metal investment. However, there are many alternatives where you can do the same without so many red flags and complaints. Also, their charges seem to be much higher, especially when compared to the quality they offer.
We would again like to stress that the ultimate decision is yours and yours only. We are here only to provide you with the right information.
Hopefully, we have cleared quite a few things for you. Don’t shy away from reaching out in case you want to know more about this company.