American Hartford Gold Reviews

How do you reconcile my review with so many positive reviews? "He held my hand, and he was so patient and friendly." Con men always are. They beg for these reviews. Also, a simple gold or silver purchase may be conducted reasonably fairly. The scalping happens with the IRA's, and the full horror isn't recognized until you sell the gold back. I paid 60% over spot for their coins. I knew I was screwed, but I clung to the fiction that the coins had intrinsic value beyond the spot price. They did not. AHG bought them back at less than spot. What about the endorsements? Those are paid endorsements, and I've lost all respect for those people. I lost 40% of my IRA with a phone call because I trusted AHG and the endorsements. Just cruel, predatory, and devastating after a lifetime of frugality and saving. Please don't let it happen to you.

He put pressure on me to make the purchase, despite huge premiums, by telling me that I may not get that price again because the mint would only produce so many coins that year and I could miss the opportunity to make a good investment. Well, that “good investment” turned out to be a huge financial loss for me! I was devastated when I realized that I might have jeopardized my family’s financial security during retirement, the very thing I was trying to protect. I finally decided not to be silent. I spoke with Nick recently about the fact that I was cheated but he had nothing to say. I followed up with an email but got no response. It’s ironic that I was scammed so badly on my Gold IRA investment, by a company that claims to be rated #1 Gold IRA company. Shame on them! It makes you wonder how AHG got that rating. DO NOT TRUST American Hartford Gold.

I understand they are in the business to make money but blatantly taking advantage of consumers is another thing entirely. Make sure to do your homework or better yet, use a company that is actually reputable and employs people that have a conscience. These coins would be bought back and resold to someone else the same way so they would just continue to take advantage of the next guy. This needs to stop and consumers need to be aware.

Original Review: American Hartford Gold is a corrupt company that engages in fraud. In December 2021, I contacted AHG about rolling my IRA at Fidelity to a precious metals IRA. The salesman I talked with seemed very nice and trustworthy. I trusted him to give me advice that would be the best for my investment future. He recommended that I buy silver Rose Crown Guinea and Australian Wildlife coins. He told me they were limited production and would appreciate more than other coins like Eagles and Maple Leafs. I questioned him on why they were so much more expensive and so much higher than spot prices. Again, he assured me that they would perform better for me than Eagles and Maple Leafs. Last December 2025, I needed to take my first required IRA Distribution. That is when I learned that I had been scammed.

When the salesman at American Hartford Gold told me the liquidation values for those coins I was shocked. They were worth less than Eagles or Maple Leafs. I began researching and calling other dealers where I was told American Hartford Gold is involved in criminal activity taking advantage of older people that are not knowledgeable about precious metals. I was told by some of the dealers I called that those coins they recommended were only worth melt value. I have learned that I was charged a premium of 79% over spot for those coins which is dramatically higher than typical pricing. The total premiums I paid were $35,141 on a $100,000 investment. Since I was charged such a high premium on coins that were not worth more than other bullion, I have at least a $94,091 loss. This is because I could have purchased 665 more ounces of silver and 5 more ounces of gold at fair premiums.

I have tried to get some kind of compensation for the loss, but all I get are games like I will look into it, I will call you back, the back office is working on it, etc. I sent at least 20 emails and made numerous calls to American Hartford Gold, but I have been unable to get any compensation for my loss. ADVICE: Do not trust or believe American Hartford Gold. They lie! Research many precious metals dealers. Watch videos on scams by precious metals dealers. Do not buy limited edition, limited production or any collectible type coins. Buy Maple Leafs or American Eagles. Two dealers I have learned that are trustworthy are Battalion Metals and Miles Franklin.

Because of that, I felt confident in my purchase and comfortable with my decision. The entire experience was smooth, and communication was clear from start to finish. I really appreciated how transparent and supportive everyone was. I would absolutely recommend American Hartford Gold to anyone who is thinking about investing in precious metals and wants to work with a company that truly puts the client first.

In our conversations, especially with Bill **, we were quickly steered away from purchasing American Eagles into buying these very specific “Australian Wildlife” coins, that were available exclusively through AHG, which we were told was an advantage. We were sold on the idea that there was a major twofold advantage in purchasing the Australian wildlife coins: the first of which being a major tax advantage to these coins over American Eagles and secondly that a very high premium came with these coins that would not fluctuate and was built in to the value the coins, even if we went to sell. As it turns out, BOTH OF THESE STATEMENTS WERE COMPLETELY FALSE!!

These were sold to us as semi-bullion/semi numismatic, investment grade coins at .9999 silver and gold as the highest quality of metal, only available as government mints. We were also told that these special coins would always hold inherent value, regardless of the underlying market for the precious metals. We were further steered away from bullion because we were told that the American Eagles were only .90 to .91 silver and gold.

While we originally came to invest in the coins as a cash purchase, we were persuaded to purchase additional coins using funds from our IRA accounts, due to the alleged tax advantages. We were told that by purchasing the Australian Wildlife coins as a semi bullion and any increase in value above the spot price would not be reportable under the 1997 Tax Relief Act. We were told would be missing out if we did not purchase these special coins. They reiterated that without the premium there would be no favorable tax treatment.

In short, the more over spot price we paid, the greater the tax advantage when we eventually took distributions. We later found out from our tax advisor that these statements were completely false. In hindsight, I can’t believe we fell for this. BUYER BEWARE!! This company preys on unsuspecting, trusting people, as they are very crafty and skilled at earning your trust but as we learned in the end, THEY ARE TRUE CON ARTISTS!!

The alleged advantages of buying the Australian Wildlife was contrasted to the American Eagle, which we were told is not only reportable for taxes and did not qualify for these advantages, but also was extremely volatile and had liquidity issues. Ironically, we would come to find out later that it is indeed the Australian Wildlife coins that have major liquidity issues, as there is no true secondary market for these special AHG coins.

In terms of liquidation, we were told by Bill ** that we should always go back to AHG if we ever decided to sell, as they would offer us more than any other dealer. So when we eventually did go back to American Hartford Gold just recently to request a buyback offer on our metals, we were extremely disappointed in the offer that was presented to us. Not only was the initial buyback offer below the current spot price of silver and gold, but we were appalled to learn that they offered NO RETURN OF ANY PREMIUM ON THESE COINS, despite everything we had been told repeatedly that the premium would never fluctuate as it is always built into the coins.

Our financial advisor was in disbelief when he looked into this and found out the amount of premium that we were grossly overcharged, to the tune of up to 77% premium on our silver purchase, and 89% on our gold purchase. This is compared to typical premiums by more reputable dealers in the market of 4-10%. In addition to this fraudulent level of premium, we were also charged an extremely high spread of 35%. Again, it is hard to believe that we agreed to this; but we unfortunately believed what we were being told by AHG about the alleged benefit to us of paying these high premiums, that we would recover when we went to sell.

To add insult to injury, when we were in recent communication with AHG’s Director of Client Relations, Jamie **, he tried to tell us that this evaporation of the premium was a result of the November 2024 election and that there were more net sellers of silver and gold in the market today, thus suppressing the premium that can be paid on these coins. Not only is this statement completely contrary to what we were told by the original AHG salesman who sold us these coins (that the premium was “built in” to the coin and would not fluctuate), but it just made no sense that while silver and gold are trading at all-time highs that premiums would be historically low. This is clearly flawed logic and presented as a narrative being spun to us by another crafty AHG salesman to divert us from the facts of the matter.

In the business my husband and I are in, we have a fiduciary responsibility to our own clients, and we take this very seriously. As such, we expected these men, who we generally considered our peers, would treat us in the same manner, having spent so much time earning our trust. Unfortunately, we came to learn that no such ethical standard applies to precious metals dealers.

We are embarrassed to admit that we were cheated out of over $360,000 by American Hartford Gold, which represents a huge part of our life savings. Additionally, this figure is just in terms of the amount we overpaid (relative to other more nominal premiums being charged by other more reputable dealers) at the time we purchased back in 2021. The far greater loss is in the opportunity cost of the amount of silver and gold we would have owned today had we invested that original amount without having to pay such exorbitant overcharges. In today’s market, this opportunity cost is over $1 million in value of additional precious metals we would have owned.

Bottom Line: DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE SCAM ARTISTS!! Upon further extensive research, we found that there is a only small handful of legitimate precious metal dealers out there. Do not waste your time, energy and money working with a company like American Hartford Gold that engages in fraudulent business practices. I wish we had known then what we know now, but I am hopeful that by telling our story here, others will not be taken advantage of by AHG in the same way that we were. As our next steps, we also plan to file formal complaints against American Hartford Gold with the SEC, the CFTC, and with the California Attorney General.