uDirect IRA Services: Precious Metals IRA Fees and Depositories

This page is part of our Gold IRA Custodian Directory. It collects what uDirect IRA Services publishes about itself, what public records say, and what we could not confirm. We read the company's pages on 2026-10-13. Fees and policies change, so check the current pages before you act. Nothing here is a recommendation for or against the company.

Who is uDirect IRA Services?

According to its website, uDirect IRA Services, LLC offers self-directed retirement accounts from an office at 8 Corporate Park, Suite 300, Irvine, California (uDirect home page). A self-directed IRA is one where you choose the investments instead of picking from a fixed menu. The company lists Traditional, Roth, SEP, SIMPLE and Inherited IRAs, and Solo 401(k) plans. It lists precious metals among the assets it supports, along with real estate and other non-traditional assets.

The company's Legal page calls uDirect an "IRA administrator." It says uDirect is not a fiduciary and does not give tax, legal, accounting or investment advice. It also says it "does not provide any recommendation on the quality profitability or reputability of any investment, individual or company" (uDirect Legal page). Its FAQ states that it does not sell any investments (uDirect FAQ).

Who is the custodian of a uDirect IRA?

This matters because the custodian is the company that legally holds the account. According to uDirect's "Safety of Funds" page, uDirect "uses the custodial services of American Estate & Trust, LC" (Safety of Funds). The company's account sign-up and login addresses also point to an "aet.app" web address.

American Estate & Trust (AET) describes itself as a Nevada-chartered retail trust company, regulated by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division, with headquarters in Las Vegas (AET regulatory oversight page; AET company page). AET says it "acts as a directed custodian, trustee, and administrator." A directed custodian acts on your instructions and does not choose investments for you.

What is the company's regulatory status?

Here is what we found, kept separate by source.

Company statements (claims):

• uDirect says AET is regulated and examined by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division. AET's own page calls itself Nevada-chartered.
• AET says it is subject to ongoing supervision, bonding and audit requirements, an annual audit by an independent accounting firm, and periodic state examinations. We did not verify these statements.
• The uDirect pages we read make no claim that uDirect itself is a licensed trust company or bank. It describes itself as an administrator.

Public records:

• The Nevada Financial Institutions Division's list titled "Retail Trust Companies" (dated 1.26.2026 in the file name) includes an entry for "American Estate & Trust Inc" (Nevada FID list). The list shows no license number or date. The entry says "Inc," while uDirect's page says "LC." We did not resolve that naming difference.

Does uDirect or its custodian appear on the IRS list of approved nonbank trustees?

The IRS keeps a list of non-bank companies approved to act as IRA trustees or custodians under Treasury Regulation section 1.408-2(e) (IRS approved nonbank trustees and custodians). That regulation says a company other than a bank must show the IRS in writing that it can administer IRAs properly. The IRS must then approve it (26 CFR 1.408-2).

We read the list headed "Nonbank Trustees Approved as of April 1, 2026," which was the version linked from the IRS page on our access date (IRS list). We did not find an entry for uDirect IRA Services or for American Estate & Trust under those names. We did not find any statement from uDirect or AET explaining this. AET's regulatory page does not mention IRS approval.

What this does and does not mean:

• It means we could not confirm IRS approval from this list. It does not tell us why. A company can be listed under a different name, or may hold a license, charter or status that works differently from the nonbank approval. We have not checked those possibilities.
• We are not drawing a legal conclusion. Only the IRS, or a qualified tax professional, can say how the rules apply to a specific account.
• The list changes often. Check the current version yourself, and ask the company to explain in writing how its custodian meets the IRS requirement for holding IRA assets.

This question is especially relevant for metals. IRS guidance says certain gold, silver, platinum or palladium bullion of a required fineness is not treated as a collectible only if a bank or approved non-bank trustee keeps physical possession of it. Otherwise, buying a collectible with IRA money can be treated as a distribution of its cost (IRS collectibles page). That page is written for qualified plans and says the collectibles rules also apply to IRAs. Who holds the metal is therefore a point worth confirming. We also compare how other firms handle this in profiles such as the Entrust Group.

What does uDirect charge for a precious metals IRA?

The table shows fees as published on uDirect's fee page on 2026-10-13. The page showed no version number or effective date for the schedule, and we found no fee-schedule PDF. Treat the amounts as "as shown on the page that day."

Source: uDirect fee schedule. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

Notes the company publishes with its fees:

• Storage fees are charged monthly on the current value of the metals, and are "not prorated or reduced in the month that metals are sold from the account." If an account holds both gold and silver, the page says "Both Metals" pricing applies, but it shows no separate Both Metals rate.
• The company says that if fees stay unpaid for more than 90 days, the metals may be liquidated to cover them.
• The six free transactions are one pool shared by transfers within the IRA and by distributions, investments and asset acquisitions. They do not reset each year, according to the page.
• The page lists dozens of other service fees, including check, courier and research charges. Read the whole page, not just this summary.

Fees for buying the metals, such as the dealer's markup, are separate and are not on this schedule. For background on how these charges fit together, see our guide to Gold IRA custodian fees.

A simple example

Suppose an account holds $60,000 of metals. Under the published 50-basis-point rate, storage would be about $300 a year ($60,000 x 0.50%), which is about $25 a month. That is above the $12 monthly minimum. Add the $275 annual fee and the total yearly custodian-side cost would be roughly $575 before any other charges. This is an arithmetic illustration using the published numbers, not a quote. Your actual charges depend on the current schedule and your account.

Which depositories does uDirect support?

We could not confirm a named depository. uDirect's precious metals page says metals are "currently stored at a metals storage depot" and does not name it (uDirect Precious Metals IRA page). AET's pages list "precious metals" among the assets it can hold but name no depositories either.

The company makes these claims about storage on that page:

• Metals are held in a segregated vault, not commingled with other clients.
• Metals are insured against theft, errors and natural disasters.
• If a metal is tracked as a generic "round," the page says it cannot guarantee that the exact same piece is returned.

We have no independent source for the insurance or segregation statements. Ask for the depository's name, the insurer, the type of coverage and who the policy protects.

How does buying metals work at uDirect?

According to the company, the steps are: open an account, fund it, sign a direction letter telling uDirect to purchase metals, uDirect has the metals purchased for the IRA, and the custodian stores them. The page says you may choose your own metals dealer. It also lists the coins and bars it considers eligible, and says the Krugerrand "is not permitted to be included in an American IRA" (uDirect Precious Metals IRA page). Check eligibility with the company before any purchase. For the federal fineness requirement, see 26 U.S.C. 408(m)(3).

What does a custodian do, and what does it not do?

A custodian opens the account, holds the assets (or arranges for them to be held), carries out your instructions, keeps records and sends the required tax forms. It does not decide what you should buy. uDirect's own Legal page says it does not evaluate the quality or reputation of any investment. That means the custodian will not check that a dealer is honest, that a price is fair, or that a coin is worth what you pay.

Where the cash sits before you buy metals is also worth asking about. uDirect's Safety of Funds page says client cash is placed in the "AE-Trust Quick Access Fund." The page says FDIC-backed accounts at two banks sit behind the fund, but that the fund itself "is not FDIC insured or guaranteed." Read that page and ask what it means for your money.

Questions to ask before opening an account

1. Who is the legal custodian, and is it on the current IRS list of approved nonbank trustees? Under what exact name?
2. Is the fee schedule I am reading the current one? What is its effective date?
3. Which depository stores the metals, and is storage segregated or commingled in my account?
4. Who insures the metals, and what exactly does the policy cover?
5. How do I take a distribution in kind or sell metals, and what does each step cost?
6. Where is my cash held between funding and purchase, and how is it protected?
7. What happens to my metals if I miss a fee payment?

What we could not verify

• The effective date and version of the fee schedule.
• The name of the depository.
• Any IRS approval for uDirect or American Estate & Trust under the names we searched.
• The company's statements on insurance, segregation and examinations.
• Complaint or enforcement history. We did not review court records, regulator actions or consumer complaint sites for this profile, so this page says nothing either way.

If you want to see more companies side by side, start from the Gold IRA Custodian Directory. For decisions about your own retirement account, talk with a qualified tax or financial professional.