The Best Precious Metals IRA Depositories Compared

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Last updated: July 22, 2026 · By White Metal Resources Editorial

This page compares the depositories that hold IRA-owned gold, silver, platinum, and palladium for United States self-directed IRA custodians. Below we set out why an approved depository is a legal requirement, which five vault operators most custodians route retail bullion to, and how they differ on location, ownership, storage tier, insurance, and audit standard. Every figure traces to an IRS, statute, or company source cited inline.

Why an “approved depository” is a legal requirement, not marketing

A precious-metals IRA has to store its metal with a bank or an IRS-approved non-bank trustee. That rule is not a suggestion. It is written into Internal Revenue Code section 408(m)(3), which requires that IRA bullion be in the physical possession of a trustee described under section 408(a) (source: 26 U.S.C. section 408).

The Internal Revenue Service reinforces this in its collectibles Issue Snapshot. That snapshot lists physical possession by a bank or approved non-bank trustee as one test a precious-metals investment must meet to stay outside the collectibles rule (source: IRS collectibles Issue Snapshot).

The consequence of ignoring that rule is real. The United States Tax Court applied section 408(m) against the taxpayers in McNulty v. Commissioner in 2021 after they took personal possession of American Eagle coins purchased inside a self-directed IRA. The court treated the coins as a distribution, with tax and penalty consequences.

Worth knowing: a saver never chooses the depository the way they choose a broker. The self-directed IRA custodian is the party that opens the storage account and pays the vault. Your job as a saver is to pick a custodian whose depository list you are comfortable with, then confirm which vault your metal will actually sit in.

The five depositories US IRA custodians use most

Retail precious-metals IRA custodians tend to route bullion to a short list of vaults. Five names show up again and again on custodian intake forms and dealer shipping instructions. Each has a distinct ownership structure, footprint, and disclosure profile.

Sources: delawaredepository.com; brinksglobal.com and SEC EDGAR filings for The Brink's Company; internationaldepositoryservices.com; A-Mark Precious Metals 10-K on SEC EDGAR; Texas HB 483 (2015). Checked July 2026.

Two takeaways for a saver. First, all five vaults hold the four IRA-eligible metals at the statutory fineness floors, so eligibility is not the deciding factor. Second, the differences that matter for your account sit in the disclosure profile: what the vault publishes about insurance, audit, and storage tier, and what your custodian will put in writing.

Fineness rules that apply the same way at every vault

The metals a depository can hold are set by the statute, not by the vault. Internal Revenue Code section 408(m)(3)(B) references the minimum fineness that a commodity contract market requires for delivery. The industry-standard minimums that satisfy the reference are silver at 0.999, gold at 0.995, and platinum and palladium at 0.9995.

American Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Palladium Eagles qualify under a separate carve-out for United States coins listed in 31 U.S.C. section 5112, even where the coin falls below the pure-bullion fineness (the Gold Eagle is 22-karat). The carve-out is in the tax code itself and applies at every approved vault (source: IRS collectibles Issue Snapshot).

Rhodium and iridium are not on the statutory list at any purity, so they cannot sit in a precious-metals IRA vault regardless of the depository. Numismatic or graded "rare" coins outside the United States coin carve-out are treated as collectibles under the same section. Their acquisition inside an IRA is a deemed distribution taxed as ordinary income, plus the 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty if the owner is under age 59.5.

See IRA-eligible silver coins, IRA-eligible platinum products, and IRA-eligible palladium products for the product-by-product detail.

Delaware Depository: what stands out

Delaware Depository is the depository savers meet most often, because most retail precious-metals IRA custodians route to it by default. The company is a state-chartered Delaware trust company, supervised by the Delaware banking commissioner as a limited-purpose trust institution (source: Delaware Depository, About Us).

Two US locations serve IRA metal: 3601 North Market Street in Wilmington, Delaware, and 1009 Industrial Road in Boulder City, Nevada. A separate silver-bar facility at 4 Meco Circle in Wilmington handles 1,000-ounce silver bars. Non-IRA personal storage is also offered in Long Beach, California, Zurich, and Toronto, but IRA metal must remain in the United States (source: Delaware Depository FAQs).

The regulator and audit stack is unusually visible for the industry. Delaware Depository is licensed by the CME Group (COMEX and NYMEX Divisions) for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, and by ICE Futures US for gold and silver. It publishes SSAE 18 SOC 1 Type I audit status and annual reviews by certified public accountants and insurance brokers.

Insurance is published in plain numbers. The site carries $1 billion of all-risk vault coverage plus $100 million of contingent vault coverage, both through London-based Lloyd's underwriters, and insures outbound shipments up to $100,000 per package. The policy excludes acts of war, terrorism, cyber-attacks, and radioactive and biochemical contamination. Read our full Delaware Depository review for the section-by-section detail.

Brink’s Global Services: what stands out

Brink's Global Services is the precious-metals vaulting and secure-logistics arm of The Brink's Company, a publicly traded firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BCO. The parent traces its origin to 1859 as a Chicago armored delivery service and is now headquartered in Richmond, Virginia (source: SEC EDGAR, The Brink's Company filings).

The US precious-metals vault cities most often listed on custodian intake forms are New York, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles. Together those cities give East Coast, Mountain West, and West Coast custodians a shipping option without a cross-country haul. Specific street addresses are withheld from public marketing pages for security reasons, which is normal for the industry.

Brink's inherits the operating footprint of an armored carrier, so the same firm that stores the metal can also move it between cities and, for non-IRA business, across borders. IRA metal has to stay in the United States. That constraint is not a Brink's rule; it is the physical-possession requirement in the tax code (source: 26 U.S.C. section 408).

For a saver, the practical upside is a three-city footprint and a public company parent that files audited disclosures with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The practical downside is less consumer-facing detail on the vaulting arm itself than Delaware Depository publishes. Our full Brink's depository review covers the corporate profile, the vault footprint, and the questions to ask a custodian.

International Depository Services: what stands out

International Depository Services, usually written as IDS, is a three-vault group owned by Dillon Gage Metals of Dallas. Dillon Gage has traded wholesale bullion since 1976 and grew its depository arm out of an existing metals business. Two IDS vaults serve US IRAs: IDS of Delaware in New Castle and IDS of Texas in the Dallas area (source: IDS, About the IDS Group).

IDS of Delaware carries the group's heaviest approvals. It is one of eight COMEX-approved vaults in the United States for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium delivery, and one of nine sites approved by ICE Futures US for gold and silver. Every COMEX approval requires financial and procedural audits and notification of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (source: IDS, Accreditations).

The storage stance is distinctive. IDS Group offers segregated storage across all its vaults and does not offer commingled or unallocated storage. Your specific coins or bars stay in a labeled position that only your account controls, and you receive the same items on withdrawal.

Insurance is a three-policy stack, all through Lloyd's of London. The primary all-risk vault policy covers physical loss, damage, mysterious disappearance, and unexplained shortages. Two extra policies sit alongside: a separate acts-of-terrorism policy and an employee-theft policy. Specific dollar caps are typically shared through the IRA custodian on request. See our full International Depository Services review.

CNT Depository: what stands out

CNT Depository is a Bridgewater, Massachusetts vault operated by CNT Inc., a wholesale bullion firm that is now a subsidiary of A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMRK). A-Mark closed its acquisition of CNT Inc. in March 2021 for total consideration of about $218 million and now reports the operation as a segment of the group (source: A-Mark Precious Metals 10-K filings on SEC EDGAR).

The vault sits in Bridgewater, roughly 30 miles south of Boston. Massachusetts is not a state-chartered trust jurisdiction the way Delaware is. What makes the depository IRA-viable is not a state banking charter. It is the physical-possession language in section 408(m)(3), which the custodian must satisfy on behalf of the IRA.

A saver-first review has to be honest about what CNT does not publish. There is no retail FAQ page, no public fee schedule posted to a marketing site, and no public insurance certificate or SOC 1 letter on a consumer page. Peer depositories like Delaware Depository post those items in plain numbers.

If your custodian routes to CNT, demand the missing detail in writing. Ask for the vault address, the storage tier and titling method, and the current all-risk insurance underwriter and limits. Also ask for the standard exclusions and the audit standard used. Our full CNT Depository review lays out the list.

Texas depositories: what stands out

A saver searching for a "Texas depository" is usually weighing one of two facilities. The first is the Texas Bullion Depository in Leander, north of Austin, created by Texas House Bill 483 in 2015 and operated for the Comptroller of Public Accounts. The second is IDS of Texas in the Dallas area, run by Dillon Gage Metals as part of the IDS Group covered above.

The Texas Bullion Depository is the only state-authorized precious-metals depository on this list. Texas HB 483 created the depository framework under the Comptroller's office and lays out how bullion is held and administered. State authorization is a legal fact, but it is not federal deposit insurance. FDIC-style programs do not cover physical bullion at any US depository.

State choice matters mainly for shipping loops, not for federal tax treatment. A New England saver working with a New England custodian will usually pay less in transit costs by using a nearer vault. A Texas-based saver working with a Texas custodian and a Texas dealer will often see the reverse.

Texas has no state income tax, which some retirees value for non-IRA reasons. That state feature does not change any IRA rule. The tax on a traditional-IRA distribution is a federal question, and the 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty under section 72(t) applies regardless of the vault state. Our full Texas depositories review compares the state-authorized and private Texas options.

Segregated versus commingled: the tier decision at every vault

Every depository on this list either uses two storage tiers or defaults to one. The tier decides what you own on paper and how you take it back on withdrawal.

Segregated storage keeps your specific coins or bars in a labeled position that only your account controls. On withdrawal you receive the exact same items you sent in. This tier costs more per year, because the vault dedicates named space and labor to identifying your assets.

Commingled storage pools like-for-like bullion of the same product with other customers who hold the same product. On withdrawal you receive an equivalent quantity of the same specification, not the identical items. This tier costs less because the vault handles a smaller number of larger pooled units.

The trade-off: commingled storage lowers the annual bill on a smaller silver-heavy IRA. Segregated storage matters more for 100-ounce gold and 1,000-ounce silver bars, because those are non-fungible by construction and are already tracked individually. IDS Group is segregated-only across all its vaults. Delaware Depository and Brink's offer both tiers through the custodian. See segregated versus commingled storage for the full comparison.

Fees, insurance, and audit stack to demand in writing

A saver never inspects the vault, and never sees the storage bill from the depository directly. The IRA custodian receives the wholesale storage rate, applies its own margin, and passes on a total charge. Two structural points recur across all five depositories.

First, silver-heavy accounts pay more per dollar than gold-heavy accounts, because a given dollar buys many more ounces of silver and takes more vault space. Second, non-fungible storage on 100-ounce gold and 1,000-ounce silver bars usually costs more than fungible commingled storage on common bullion coins.

Below is the checklist to run with any custodian before you fund an account. It uses the same short list of questions regardless of the vault at the end of the chain.

1. Name the vault and the address. Get the specific depository name (Delaware Depository, Brink's, IDS, CNT, Texas Bullion Depository, or a named alternate) and the city and state on paper.
2. Confirm the storage tier. Ask for segregated or commingled, whichever you have chosen, and get the annual dollar charge for that tier for your metal mix.
3. Ask for the insurance underwriter and limits. Get the current all-risk vault coverage limit, the underwriter name (Lloyd's or another), and the standard exclusions (war, terrorism, cyber, radioactive, biochemical are typical).
4. Ask for the audit standard. Confirm whether the vault provides a SOC 1 or SOC 2 report to custodians, when the last audit was signed, and how internal inventory audits run.
5. Ask for the processing and hours schedule. Get the deposit and withdrawal processing times in business days, along with business hours in the vault's time zone.
6. Ask what happens in a disaster scenario. Get the backup or mutual-aid arrangement in writing, and confirm the shipping insurance cap per package.

If a custodian will not put these answers in writing, that is meaningful information about the account itself, not just about the vault. See the source-specific rollover walkthroughs for a 401(k), a 403(b), a TSP, and a traditional IRA. The custodian side is covered in silver IRA custodians explained.

Fixed annual fees drag hardest on smaller accounts. The calculator below shows how a percentage fee compounds against a balance over time.

Which depository fits which saver

No depository is universally best. A short decision framework covers most retail IRA cases.

If you want the most consumer-facing disclosure and a state-chartered trust regulator: Delaware Depository publishes locations, insurance stack, and audit status in plain numbers. If you want a three-city footprint under a publicly traded parent: Brink's Global Services covers New York, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles under an SEC-reporting company.

If you want a segregated-only stance from a group with a COMEX-approved Delaware vault: International Depository Services offers that model at its New Castle and Dallas sites. If your custodian defaults to Bridgewater, Massachusetts and you are comfortable getting insurance and audit detail in writing: CNT Depository is the vault your metal will meet, backed by A-Mark Precious Metals as parent.

If your dealer, custodian, and shipping loop are all in Texas: a Texas facility keeps transit short. The state-authorized Leander site and the private IDS of Texas vault are both viable, with different ownership structures and storage stances. See depository storage fees compared for the annual-cost picture.

When picking a depository is the wrong focus

A balanced review has to name the cases where obsessing over the depository name is the wrong move. The vault is one variable in the account. For some savers, it is not the variable that decides whether the account works.

Picking a depository is usually the wrong focus in these situations:

• The balance is too small against the fixed fees. Setup, annual custodian, and storage costs are largely fixed. On a small account, those costs eat a large share of the balance, so the depository name is a rounding error next to the drag. A broader retirement base usually comes before a physical-metal account.
• The dealer spread is the dominant cost. A wide spread on premium or numismatic coins can cost more up front than a decade of storage. If the sales pitch pushes graded "rare" coins over common .999 or .9995 bullion, the vault choice will not save the account.
• Money is needed within a few years. Before age 59.5 a distribution carries the 10 percent federal additional tax on top of ordinary income tax (source: IRS Publication 590-B). The vault does not change that arithmetic.
• The saver expects federal deposit insurance. No depository provides FDIC-style coverage on physical bullion. Coverage comes from a commercial policy, and every policy carries exclusions. The label on the door is not the protection.
• The custodian will not name the vault in writing. If a custodian dodges the direct question of which depository holds the metal, the depository comparison is the wrong first step. The custodian relationship is.

If one of these describes the account, slowing down is the sensible call. The depository decision comes after the account structure and the dealer relationship are solid. There is no call to action in this section on purpose.

Depository comparison questions, answered

What is an IRS-approved depository, and why is it required for a precious-metals IRA?

An IRS-approved depository is a bank or approved non-bank trustee that holds physical possession of IRA metal on behalf of the account owner. Section 408(m)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code requires the metal to sit in physical possession of a trustee described in section 408(a). Home storage does not satisfy that rule.

Which precious-metals IRA depositories do US custodians use most often?

The five names that appear most often on retail custodian intake forms are Delaware Depository, Brink's Global Services, International Depository Services, CNT Depository, and the Texas Bullion Depository. All five hold the four IRA-eligible metals at the statutory fineness floors. Ownership, footprint, storage tier, and disclosure profile differ across them.

Are IRA metals covered by FDIC insurance at any of these depositories?

No. FDIC-style federal deposit insurance does not cover physical bullion at any US depository. Coverage on the metal comes from a commercial insurance policy carried by the vault, typically underwritten through Lloyd's of London or a large commercial carrier. The underwriter name, the coverage limit, and the standard exclusions matter more than the label on the vault door.

Can I visit the vault and see my metal in person?

None of these depositories is a walk-in bank branch for IRA holders. Instructions run through the IRA custodian, and IRA activity is documented in writing. A saver who takes personal possession of the metal risks a deemed distribution under section 408(m). Some vaults allow appointments for non-IRA personal-storage clients, but that is a separate account type.

Do all five depositories offer both segregated and commingled storage?

No. Delaware Depository and Brink's offer both segregated and commingled storage through the custodian. International Depository Services is segregated-only across all its vaults. CNT Depository and the Texas Bullion Depository routing depends on the custodian relationship, so confirm the tier and the annual charge in writing before you commit.

Can any of these vaults hold platinum and palladium as well as gold and silver?

Yes. All five depositories on this list hold gold, silver, platinum, and palladium at the statutory fineness floors: gold at 0.995, silver at 0.999, and platinum and palladium at 0.9995. Rhodium and iridium are not on the statutory list and are not IRA-eligible at any purity, regardless of the vault.

Does state hosting (Delaware or Texas) change how my IRA is taxed?

No. The state that hosts the depository does not change federal IRA tax treatment. Contribution limits, required minimum distributions, and the 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty under section 72(t) are federal rules that apply the same way regardless of the vault state. State-authorization at the Texas Bullion Depository is a legal framework, not a federal tax feature.

How do I know which depository my IRA custodian will use?

Ask the custodian in writing before you fund the account. A compliant custodian will name the depository and the city on paper, and will state the annual storage charge for the tier you have chosen. If the custodian dodges the direct question, that is meaningful information about the account itself, and the depository comparison is not the next step to take.