09.07.2024
Dear Client,
We are aware of the communication from iTrust regarding the transfer fee and understand your concerns and appreciate the opportunity to explain.
We informed iTrust of the intent to recover the expenses associated with transferring client assets to a new custodian well over a month ago with the goal of working with iTrust to ultimately reduce the cost of the client account transfer to clients. Our best efforts were unfortunately not successful despite the many attempts we made prior to our communication to clients on September 6.
We also became increasingly aware of communications to clients that were improper, untrue, or could otherwise lead to confusion regarding fees associated with the transfer. These factors led to our decision to notify clients directly.
As always, we will continue to look for opportunities to work with any of our third-party relationships to add efficiency and reduce costs on clients. The same approach will guide our decision making here.
The account transfer fee itself is completely inline with industry standards, previously disclosed to iTrust, and reflected in our IRA Custodial Agreement with clients available on the iTrust platform. The transfer fee is also essential to maintain the quality and reliability of our trust services. It allows us to:
1. Ensure prompt client support services
2. Maintain record keeping obligations
3. Secure or otherwise leverage necessary vendors
4. And generally, comply with regulations applicable to our business as a trust company
Please review your IRA Custodial Agreement for more details on how we collect fees associated with our services.
We also understand that there may be misinformation regarding Fortress Trust’s business practices across other platforms. To clarify, every platform we work with has an opportunity to negotiate the transfer fee and any other fee at onboarding with us. Several of the platforms we work with have done so. We are always open and willing to work with a platform so that both parties can provide a high-quality service to clients at a reasonable cost.
We value your business and hope this explanation helps clarify the purpose of the fee. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Fortress Trust
