Equity Trust is a financial services company that offers self-directed retirement accounts.
One of the products it offers is a Crypto IRA, which allows investors to buy and sell cryptocurrency inside a tax-advantaged retirement account. The company also supports investments such as real estate, private investments and precious metals.
On paper, that sounds straightforward enough.
But opening an account is only one part of the relationship. The more revealing part comes later, when a customer needs to move money, take a distribution, question a charge or close the account altogether.
That is where Equity Trust’s public review record deserves a closer look.
Across BBB complaints and Trustpilot reviews, customers have described frustrations involving fees, delays and communication, particularly when trying to move assets or leave. Equity Trust has responded publicly to many of those complaints and points to its published fee schedules and account procedures.
None of those complaints, on their own, prove a broader problem. But taken together, they raise a question that matters for anyone considering an Equity Trust Crypto IRA:
It is one thing to get money into the account. What happens when you want to get it out?
Equity Trust Has an A+ BBB Rating, But Its Customer Reviews Tell a Different Story
As of September 2026, the Better Business Bureau lists 141 complaints against Equity Trust over the previous three years, including 44 billing complaints, 35 service or repair complaints and 33 customer-service complaints.
The company is accredited and carries an A+ BBB business rating. But that rating is separate from customer reviews, where Equity Trust sits at about 2.4 out of five stars across roughly 90 reviews.
Some of those reviews are blunt
1. “Bad customer service, high fees and charge you to leave the company.”
2. Another customer described the process of trying to leave this way: “Pitiful experience if you are trying to close your account!!”
One August 2026 reviewer put one of the recurring complaints plainly:
“They have several thousand dollars of MY MONEY sitting on their books, awaiting wire transfer to my bank account.”
Not every customer reports a bad experience. But after reading through the lower-rated reviews and complaints, the same issues keep resurfacing: fees, delays, communication and what happens when customers try to move their money or close an account. And that last part is where things start to get expensive.
Customers Say Leaving Equity Trust Can Get Expensive
Equity Trust’s own fee schedule makes clear that closing or transferring an account can come with additional costs.
Its Universal IRA fee schedule lists a $250 full termination fee and a $100 partial termination fee per asset.
For someone moving several assets, those charges can stack up quickly. One BBB reviewer said transferring three assets away from Equity Trust resulted in $300 in asset-transfer charges, another $250 to close the account and an additional wire fee.
Another customer wrote: “Horrible company…all they were good for was collecting fees.”
To be clear, these are published charges. But the reviews raise a different question: how clearly does a customer understand what leaving will actually cost before deciding to leave?
Equity Trust Says There Are “No Hidden Fees or Surprise Charges”
On its website, Equity Trust describes its pricing as a “straightforward fee schedule” with “no hidden fees or surprise charges.”
But one June 2026 BBB complainant said they expected to pay $320 to have assets shipped and were ultimately charged $620.
Equity Trust said its representative had also disclosed a $50 in-kind distribution fee and $250 account-termination fee. The customer disputed that explanation.
The public record cannot establish exactly what was said, but the complaint highlights the difference between a fee being published and a customer understanding the full cost before approving a transaction.
For Crypto IRA customers, those exit costs are only part of the fee structure.
| Fee | Published Cost |
| Annual maintenance | $350–$2,500 depending on account value |
| Digital currency purchase | 2.0% |
| Digital currency sale | 1.0% |
| Liquidity cost | Up to 1.0% of the order |
| Full account termination | $250 |
| Partial termination | $100 per asset |
The schedule also says third-party provider fees may apply.
That means the cost of an Equity Trust Crypto IRA is not limited to an annual account fee. Charges can come into play when buying crypto, selling it, moving assets and eventually closing the account.
What Crypto IRA Investors Should Consider
Equity Trust also has positive reviews, including customers who praise individual representatives for being knowledgeable and helpful.
But the complaints raise another set of questions.
What does it cost to buy and sell? What happens when you want to move your money? What does it cost to close the account? And how easy is it to get help when something goes wrong?
Equity Trust publishes its fees and responds publicly to customer complaints. At the same time, dissatisfied customers have raised concerns involving fees, delays, communication and moving or closing accounts.
For prospective customers, those are questions worth asking before opening an account.
It is easy to understand what Equity Trust lets you invest in. The harder question is what happens when you want to move your money somewhere else.
