SterlingTrust Com

LONGHORN PIPELINES advertises they will pay you 1.8% dividend every month tax free and Free of any Capital Gains. THAT'S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. i sent Sterling Trust an E Mail asking what sort of PONZI scam were the promoting. I had a return email saying this was not a Ponzi scam and that Sterling Trust was established ten years ago and had many satisfied customers. Both my wife and 65yr old son are convinced this was a scam and I could kiss $5000.00 goodbye. After searching around on the internet and seeing all the complaints about Sterling's not responding to complaints , and thee fees charged. I have decided not to invest in Longhorn Pipeline Income Fund.

In Jan of 2013 Sterling Trust's computers were hacked and their clients' personal information was compromised. They did not bother to notify their clients until the end of April. E-mails I sent about this have not been answered. My financial advisor has asked all of his clients to drop them because of this pathetic lack of customer service. They are now changing their name to Equity Trust Co. Stay away from them. I don't have anything else to say about them, but I guess I have to add more words to meet the 100 word minimum for the posting. I'm done now

On 4/09/2013 I requested a distribution of 14ea 1/2 oz gold coins from my IRA, which left 14 coins and $.05 in my account. I received the coins and was charged $169.00on my credit card. On 4/18/2013 I requested the remaining 14 1/2 oz gold coins and instructed them to us the $.05 plus my credit card for any charges. They sent the coins and a check for $.05 and charged my credit card $269.00 $100.00 more for same type of distribution. $100.00 to write me a check for $.05.My on-line service to them has been closed and I have not been able to get any E-Mail response from them on the extra charges and an accounting print out

They should be in jail. Sterling Trust is the custodian of my IRA account. They did not meet their fiduciary responsibilities in our agreement. Sterling continued to take customer money and share it with Superior Gold Group for over 3 years. SGG was shut down for illegal practice. They continued to mislead me and many others about our accounts. Sterling has continued to make mistakes on our accounts. Sterling Trust has refused to give us our money back while they send us statements and charging fees. Do not do business with them. If you have been a victim of Sterling Trust or Superior Gold Group join this page for more info. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/SGGINVESTOR/

This company should be put out of business. They blatantly don't perform the request that you submitted paperwork to do so they can charge you more fees. I requested to have my IRA transfered out after several fees were charged to my account. There annual fees were much higher than industry standards. They transfered a portionof the account and charged me a fee to transfer. Their transfer fee was quite high also but fine at least I'm out. NOt so fast. They intentionally ommitted a dividend which clearly hit the account before the transfer. They then required a 2nd transfer form and charged an annual fee, a paper statement additional fee and oh by the way yet another transfer fee!! Unbelievable! All that is done these days by our regulators to protect the consumer, particularly in the financial business and they allow this kind of activity. Sterling couldn't have been more blatant if they had a mask and a gun!!

I have an IRA with Sterling and there was a transfer in how the money was held. Sterling was stating it was a matured note and it had actually changed from a non performing note to a public non-traded US corporation. We started off by sending an email to Sterling in February of 2012 with all the documentation they needed to perform the change. Well, this went on for several months with Sterling promising to fix the account but yet every time I'd get a statement, it wasn't fixed. In September 2012, Sterling threatened to close my account and report the account value as money taken out of an IRA as taxable to the IRS if this wasn't resolved by the end of the year. We had called multiple times from February-November and talked to customer NO SERVICE reps, stating they'd take care of it but that didn't seem to matter and there was no record of any of our contacts with them. Finally in November 2012, we started sending them emails and documenting all our phone calls with them because we realized we were dealing with people that could care less about our situation. Over a dozen emails and calls later, we finally talked with Ruth who was semi-helpful. We sent her the information she needed because apparently the other 3 times we sent it, it was "never received." Finally like 4 days before Christmas, the paperwork was reviewed and processed. It was the MOST PAINFUL (non physical, of couse) EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER BEEN THRU. To say we got the run around would be the understatement of the century. I won't even go into their "management fees" and how outrageous they are, all for doing nothing and having to hold their hands for over 8 months with something that should have taken 1 email or phone call. I now just registered online so I could sign up for their paperless statements to avoid an extra $30 charge and after unsuccessfully trying to change my email address which was supposed to update my new account contact info. in 10 minutes, I called their customer NO SERVICE again, was on hold for over 20 minutes only to be told that they couldn't enroll me in the paperless statements; I needed to do it online!!! Ugh!!!! Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall!!

I have a self-directed IRA on which they have been making mistakes of various kinds ever since they took over the business from First Regional Bank, San Diego. I did not choose Sterling/Equity Trust they took over the accounts of 1st Regional Bank in 2010. In early Dec. I got a check from Equity Trust marked as "normal distribution". I never asked for or authorized this distribution, which just happened to be the same amount as a deposit I made to my account about 2 wks. prior. I returned the check with a letter, via certified mail and got a return receipt that it was signed for at delivery. That was Dec. 20. To date, 12/30, they have not deposited those funds in my account. To try to reach Sterling by telephone is almost impossible, you're put on hold and told how many are before you, last time it 17 callers, I waited almost half hour then was cut off. This is normal for them. I don't advise anyone to deal with this company.

Sterling Trust hasacted as a fiduciary for some of my retiremnt funds since 1996. When I decided to move the funds, I found that not only had I been charged for years for services they did not provide, but they converted funds from my account in an ulawful offset for fees that I had not agreed to pay. I intend to sue them. I gave them every chance to make it right, but all I got was a runaround. I have been wasting my time for over a month with these crooks. Spread the word: Sterling Trust is an investor's worst nightmare!

They have refused to close our account and would not give us back our money. They have charged outrageous fees for an account that has almost no money in it. Now they are billing us for an account that has reached a zero balance - which as I mentioned before we had asked them to close several times before. Their current fees on this "zero balance" account are currently $134.29. I guess it takes a lot of effort and brain power to manage a "zero" balance account ( too many zeros to wrap their brain around? ). Of this amount, $30 is for the "Paper Statement Fee" that this demand for payment was sent on. I guess they use expensive paper too.

On several occasions, I have called and e-mailed Sterling Trust about fees, etc. On several occasions, the system said that there were 13 calls ahead of me. It gives the option to leave a message. I do not receive a call back. When I e-mail, I get the e-mail back that the issue has been resolved. I re-e-mail that it isn't resolved, and I recieve not e-mail back to me. I request a call back, and never get one back. What is the $75 IRA fee for. They perform no service that I can determine. There are other complaints. This is a bad company.

I opted to have electronic statements instead of paper statements sent to me. Or else they would charge a $35-fee for sending paper. I did this 4 times and still they send me paper statements indicating a fee of #35 on it. I called to complain and they said that I had to change my status on their website to electronic. I told him that I already did this FOUR TIMES!!! He said that I would have to do it again and they would waive the $35.00 fee. Guess what. They didn't!! I still owe them $35.00 for the paper statement and the $225.00 annual fee for holding a few gold coins. By the way: if they are this unethical or incompetent, maybe there are really no coins at all!! How do I really know??!!

Inept and incompetent! They do not do what you tell them to do; they don't even do what they should do automatically. Two years in a row they tried to overcharge me and then failed to make corrections in a timely fashion. This is not the first time I have had difficulty dealing with them. My stock broker has also had difficulty dealing with them. If at all possible, do NOT do business with this company! I would prefer to use the rest of my required 100 words with four letter words, but while that would be very satisfying, I will save it for the next time ,as I am quite sure there will be a next time.

Earlier this year (2012) I decided to convert part of my IRA into a metal IRA. I went to Merit Financial and converted about 1/3 of my traditional assets into gold and silver. Merit gave it to Sterling Trust. After Sterling Trust got done with it the value was just over half what they had been given. Because of OBozo, and not trusting what will happen if he gets reelected, and since I am well over 59 1/2, I decided to take the physical possession of the metal. What happened should be in a horror story for Halloween. First, Sterling charges a couple hundred dollars just to set up the account. As a first time customer of Merit Financial, they took care of that. It was supposed to also cover a years storage. It didn't. So, with the uncertainty of the economy time to investigate the cost of shipping etc. I found out there was $200 in closing fees. But, if I didn't close by 12/31/12, I would have to pay a similar amount to keep the account and continue storing the gold and silver (not all that much, believe me). So I closed the account. They didn't bother telling me when they shipped it. They didn't bother to provide a tracking number. And since it wasn't their money, they went the second most expensive shipping method available..two day air. Then to add insult to injury, they sent it COD! If you want to add precious metals to your IRA think twice about it. It has to go up a whole lot to break even after Sterling Trust gets done robbing you. And if you go to a broker like Merit Financial, make sure they aren't handing you over to Sterling Trust. I figure if I hold the metal another ten years, I might just about break even if it continues to rise in price after all the fees.

I was a very satisfied client of Equity Trust for many years and never had any problems or customer service issues until my account was transferred to Sterling Trust. Equity Trust never made a major mistake and the staff was always courteous and professional. Equity had an online check writing feature which prevented mistakes and saved everyone a lot of work. My problems started immediatley after the transfer to Sterling and following are some examples: 1) There were transactions in my account that I can not understand or explain. 2) The department has countermanded my written instructions regarding the issuance of checks, causing Sterling to re-issue them several times, and then were not truthful when I inquired about it. 3) Earlier this year before I even considered taking out the real estate Sterling sent me by mistake the original deed for the real estate asset and zeroed out the balance in my account. After I inquired why they closed out the account, they said to send the deed back to them. 4) Sterling also sent me two bills for the same annual fees. After I questioned the bill, they told me not to pay it. 5) Regarding the In Service Withdrawal Request for the real estate, I was told to complete a Hardship Withdrawal Request which did not seem correct since it was a distribution after the age of 59 1/2. One of the staff said she would complete the correct forms for my signature, but they were never emailed as promised. 6) When my account was transferred from Equity Trust an automatic monthly payment was transferred as well. But Sterling Trust began paying the big twice a month! Periodically, over several months, I called Sterling and requested this be fixed but nothing was done until finally I requested all the automatic payments be stopped. 7) I have always been very patient and professional when talking with the staff but lately they have indicated I have earned a reputation for being difficult which is certainly a case of the "pot calling the kettle black". 8) It was only after several calls and several attempts at mailing Quit Claim deeds that someone finally told me exactly how to title the Grantee and Grantor. I asked for an example I could look at while constructing the Deed, but, they were unresponsive. I was told to send the original Deed to Sterling to be put in your vault. This made no sense because the Deed had to be recorded. I was then told the deed would be mailed back for me to record. I used the postal service to find out that the deed had been received by Sterling on 8-9-12. When I inquired regarding the time frame to complete the process, I was told I would find out if things were done next year when I received a 1099. Whenever I called to inquire about what I needed to do, they were not helpful. No one seemed to know what steps were involved. Frequently, I would be put on hold for lengthy time periods and or transferred to two or three different persons, none of whom could answer questions. How difficult is it for them to advise me of the steps in the process and how long it will take and then fulfill their own committments? The last time I called I asked for a supervisor and was transferred to a Manager in a department that had nothing to do with them. My impression is that the staff is not well trained, and must resort to evasive tactics to avoid making mistakes.

I have a couple non-marketable securities with them. They charge me $220/year to place my $2,000 worth of securities in one account and $390/year for my other account. Called them four times over the month and waited over 20 minutes so I decided to leave a message to call me back. Still waiting for that call back. Rediculous!!! I think this must be a one person company. If this continues, i will request from the company that I invested move the company's account to another. ...what's with this "at least 100 words" requirement? Do people really have time to complain and get bad service from customer service?