Last updated: July 12, 2026 · By White Metal Resources Editorial
Quick answer: Lear Capital is a Los Angeles precious-metals dealer that has been operating since 1997 and is one of the few firms in this niche that actually prints a specific IRA fee number on its website. Its FAQ states $315 for the first year and $235 for each subsequent year, contingent on choosing electronic statements and non-segregated storage.
The company also has a chapter of public history most dealers do not have to disclose: a 2022 Chapter 11 reorganization that Lear itself confirms on its site, followed by an exit from bankruptcy in 2023. That episode should shape how you weigh the fee transparency below.
Short on time? The essentials
- Founded in 1997 by Kevin DeMeritt, who is named on the company's Executive Leadership page as founder and chairman. John Ohanesian is listed as the current CEO.
- Headquartered in Los Angeles. The company confirms a private ownership structure and states it has no stock symbol.
- Published IRA fee schedule on the Lear IRA FAQ page: $315 in year one, $235 each year after that, when you accept electronic statements and non-segregated storage.
- Depository partner named on the site: Delaware Depository, with storage insurance underwritten by Lloyd's of London per Lear's own IRA FAQ.
- Metals sold: gold, silver and platinum coins are described on the Lear site and the CEO bio explicitly names those three metals. Palladium is not featured as a headline IRA product in the pages we could fetch in July 2026.
- 24-hour post-order cancellation window at no cost, per the Lear IRA FAQ. Any dealer should give you that in writing before you wire funds.
- Third-party self-reported credentials on the reputation FAQ: Business Consumer Alliance AAA rating, Professional Coin Grading Service authorized dealer status, Numismatic Guaranty Corporation grading, and Industry Council for Tangible Assets accreditation.
- Public regulatory chapter Lear discloses on its own reputation FAQ: the company entered Chapter 11 reorganization and exited earlier the year the FAQ page was last updated. Services were kept running through the process.
- Live BBB profile check: bbb.org sits behind a human-verification challenge, so the current letter rating and complaint count could not be pulled through a scripted fetch. Confirm at bbb.org before signing a transfer form.
- SEC EDGAR full-text search returns zero direct filings for Lear Capital as of July 2026, which is normal for a private physical metals dealer regulated primarily by state consumer protection law.
What Lear Capital actually is
Lear Capital is a private, Los Angeles-based precious-metals dealer that has been in continuous business since 1997, according to the company's own About and Reputation FAQ pages. That founding date is one of the older ones in this vertical, which matters mainly because it produces a long public paper trail you can read before you fund an account.
The company was started by Kevin DeMeritt, who is currently listed on the Executive Leadership page as founder and chairman. His background is described as international banking, and he is the author of a book titled The Bulls, the Bears and the Bust. The CEO listed on the same page is John Ohanesian, whose bio credits him with growing the Bosley hair-restoration brand before he joined Lear.
The company sells physical bullion and rare coins directly, and it also facilitates the addition of gold, silver and platinum to a self-directed IRA held with a third-party custodian. Lear itself is not the custodian, and no dealer legally can be. That distinction shows up in the fee section below, so keep it in mind.
The published fee number, and what it covers
The single most distinctive thing about Lear versus most of its competitors is that Lear publishes a specific IRA fee number in prose on its own IRA FAQ page. The exact wording, quoted from the FAQ answer to the question "What does it cost to set up and maintain a Precious Metals IRA?":
"The fee for the first year is $315 and $235 each subsequent year. This is contingent on choosing electronic statements and non-segregated storage when you set up your account. If you choose different options, your fees may be higher."
Read that quote twice. It gives you the number, but it also gives you two conditions that push the number up if you skip either. Paper statements or segregated storage (your metals kept physically separate rather than pooled) both increase what you pay each year. Neither of those exact upcharge amounts is published, so ask for them in writing before you fund the account.
There is also a promotional overlay on top of the base schedule: Lear's IRA FAQ describes a tiered offer where the company covers first-year setup and storage on qualifying purchase sizes. The overlay is described as a "free first year" reimbursement check sent after the first month in storage. Promotional structures like this rotate over time, so treat any "free year" language as something to confirm in the paperwork rather than as a permanent price.
Precious metals IRA fee-drag calculator
Precious metals IRAs charge mostly flat dollar fees (setup, annual custodian, storage). Flat fees take a much bigger bite out of a small account than a large one. Enter your numbers to see the drag.
Estimate only. Fee amounts vary by provider and are often not published; enter figures you confirm in writing. This tool ignores metal price changes and the dealer spread, which also affect returns. Not financial advice.
The 2022 Chapter 11 chapter, in plain terms
Most precious-metals dealers do not have a bankruptcy chapter to disclose. Lear does, and the disclosure appears on the company's own Reputation FAQ under the direct question "Has Lear Capital filed bankruptcies?" The answer confirms that the company entered Chapter 11 reorganization and exited earlier the same year the FAQ was written.
A Chapter 11 filing is a court-supervised restructuring, not a shutdown. Existing customers of an operating dealer typically keep their metals because those metals sit in an IRS-approved depository under the custodian's title, not on the dealer's own balance sheet. That structural detail is why the FAQ can accurately say the "services it offers remained unchanged" through the process.
Even so, this is a fact you should weigh before you fund a new account. Search the docket yourself, read the plan of reorganization, and note who the creditors were. A firm that has been through a court restructuring should hold up to a slightly harder set of due-diligence questions than a firm that has not, especially on any language around premiums, guarantees, or coin markups.
Ask the specialist directly: is the current legal entity operating your account the same one that filed for Chapter 11, or a successor entity? Ask for that in writing. It is a fair question and any dealer should be able to answer it clearly.
How Lear Capital handles silver, platinum and palladium IRAs
This is the section that matters most to a reader on White Metal Resources, because the case for a precious-metals IRA gets thinner if your target metal is not part of the dealer's core catalog. Here is what we found across Lear's home page, IRA landing page, and Reputation FAQ in July 2026.
Silver is treated as a first-class product. The Lear home page and CEO bio both mention silver alongside gold as a primary metal, and the fine-print risk disclosures on the site reference silver purchases directly. A Silver IRA structured with IRS-eligible bullion at .999 fineness should fit inside Lear's standard IRA process.
Platinum is named on the Executive Leadership page as one of the three metals Lear provides "detailed descriptions" of, alongside gold and silver. That indicates platinum is part of the visible product line, though the site does not surface a dedicated platinum IRA landing page in the URL structure the same way it surfaces the main IRA page. Ask a specialist to confirm current IRS-eligible platinum coins and bars in stock, and the specific ask premium, before you route funds.
Palladium is the metal that appears least often in Lear's own site copy that we could fetch. Neither the home page nor the CEO bio flags palladium as a headline metal. The IRA FAQ describes precious-metals IRAs in the general shorthand of "gold or silver."
That does not mean palladium is unavailable. The standard self-directed IRA process can hold IRS-eligible palladium bullion regardless of whether the dealer markets it heavily. It does mean palladium is not what Lear leads with, so if palladium is your primary target metal, confirm sourcing in writing.
Silver: yes, fully supported and marketed as such. Platinum: available with confirmation, referenced explicitly in the CEO bio. Palladium: not featured in visible marketing; request written confirmation before you fund.
Delaware Depository and the 24-hour cancellation window
Two operational details on the Lear IRA FAQ deserve a plain-English read. First, the depository partner is named: "Lear Capital ships (insured) all metals directly to the Delaware Depository IRS-approved depository vault." That is a concrete answer to the question most dealers dance around, which is where exactly the metal sits.
Delaware Depository is one of the older and more widely used IRS-approved storage facilities in the industry, and Lear's FAQ notes that its storage services are backed by an insurance policy underwritten by London-based underwriters. Lear specifically names Lloyd's of London in the "How does Lear Capital make money?" FAQ answer.
Second, the FAQ describes a 24-hour post-order cancellation window at no cost. The exact wording: "You have 24 hours to take your time and make sure the purchase is exactly for you, if not, you can cancel your transaction with us at NO cost to you in that 24-hour time period." That is a consumer-friendly policy, and it is written down in Lear's own FAQ text. Ask that the same wording be included in your signed order.
A short cancellation window matters more than it looks. Precious-metals orders move at fast-changing spot prices, and buyer's remorse on a coin purchase usually surfaces within the first day, not the first week. A written 24-hour walk-away is a real protection to have in the paperwork.
What the trust badges actually mean
Lear's Reputation FAQ lists four third-party affiliations that customers see as trust signals. They are worth a plain reading, because two of them are ratings and two of them are trade appointments, and they do different things.
The Business Consumer Alliance AAA rating is a private commercial-bureau rating similar in structure to the Better Business Bureau letter grade. Lear reports its own AAA rating on its site; we could not pull the live BCA profile through a scripted fetch, so confirm the current rating directly at the BCA site before treating it as current.
The Professional Coin Grading Service authorized-dealer status and the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation grading standard are appointments by two of the industry's main coin-grading houses. Those matter mostly for numismatic (collectible) purchases, where a certified grade is the difference between fair and unfair pricing. They matter less for standard bullion coins and bars, where fineness is set by the mint and the IRS.
The Industry Council for Tangible Assets accreditation is a trade-association membership. Membership is a lower bar than a regulatory license and should be weighed as an industry signal, not as a substitute for one.
None of these trust badges replaces a written fee schedule, a named IRS-approved custodian, and a current BBB record on the specific legal entity you are signing with. Ask for all three before you fund.
Lear Capital at a glance
| Attribute | What Lear or a public source states | Where to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1997 | learcapital.com About and Reputation FAQ |
| Founder and chairman | Kevin DeMeritt | Executive Leadership page |
| Current CEO | John Ohanesian | Executive Leadership page |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California | Reputation FAQ answer to "How many locations does Lear have?" |
| Ownership | Private, no stock symbol | Reputation FAQ answer to "What is the stock symbol for Lear Capital?" |
| Published IRA fee, year one | $315 (with electronic statements and non-segregated storage) | IRA FAQ answer on setup and maintenance cost |
| Published IRA fee, subsequent years | $235 (same conditions as above) | IRA FAQ answer on setup and maintenance cost |
| Depository partner named on site | Delaware Depository, Lloyd's of London insurance | IRA FAQ answers on storage and how the company makes money |
| Post-order cancellation window | 24 hours at no cost, per Lear's own FAQ text | IRA FAQ, cancellation-policy answer |
| Metals featured in visible copy | Gold and silver primary, platinum named on CEO bio, palladium not featured | Home page, CEO bio, IRA FAQ |
| Chapter 11 disclosure | Yes, disclosed on Reputation FAQ; exited reorganization in the same calendar year | Reputation FAQ answer on bankruptcy |
| Self-reported ratings | Business Consumer Alliance AAA, PCGS authorized dealer, NGC grading, ICTA accreditation | Reputation FAQ |
| Live BBB profile check | Not confirmable via scripted fetch (Cloudflare human-verification page returned) | Check directly at bbb.org before signing |
| SEC EDGAR filings | Zero direct filings for Lear Capital as of July 2026 | efts.sec.gov full-text search |
All values verified live in July 2026 against the sources named in each row, unless noted otherwise.
What $235 a year costs over ten years
Lear's published fee is a flat dollar amount, not a percentage, so its impact on your balance depends entirely on how much is in the account. The chart below applies Lear's own published $235 annual fee (year one at $315, then $235 each following year) to three plausible starting balances over a ten-year horizon. No investment return is assumed; the point is to isolate the fee drag itself.
On a $50,000 account, ten years of the published Lear fee comes to $2,430 in raw dollars. On a $100,000 account, that same $2,430 becomes proportionally cheaper as a percent of balance. On a $250,000 account, the flat structure becomes a genuine advantage because the ratio keeps shrinking.
That is the mechanical case for a flat fee versus a percent-of-assets fee at higher balances. It is also one reason dealers with published flat schedules hold up better under scrutiny than dealers with hidden ones.
A $100,000 rollover funded in year one pays $315 in fees that year, or 0.315 percent of the starting balance. In year two the same account pays $235, or 0.235 percent. Across the full ten years the cumulative fee spend at the published rate totals $2,430, or 2.43 percent of the starting balance. A percent-of-assets fee of 1 percent per year would total ten times more on the same balance and time frame.
Two caveats matter for this math. First, the $235 applies only under Lear's stated conditions of electronic statements and non-segregated storage. If you pick paper statements or segregated storage the number goes up, and by how much is not publicly disclosed.
Second, the setup fee schedule and the dealer coin spread are separate costs the chart does not model. The spread is the gap between Lear's sell price and its buy-back price on the same coin. On a full holding period, that spread is often the largest cost line in a precious-metals IRA.
How to open a Precious Metals IRA with Lear Capital
The mechanics below reflect the direct-transfer route described on the Lear IRA FAQ combined with the standard self-directed IRA process. The steps map to a rollover of an existing tax-advantaged balance into a new self-directed account that Lear helps facilitate.
- Request the fee schedule in writing first. Before any consultation call, ask by email for the current setup fee, annual custodian fee, storage fee for both non-segregated and segregated options, and any wire, termination, or paper-statement upcharges.
- Confirm the current legal entity. Ask which Lear Capital legal entity holds the operating agreement in 2026, and whether it is the same entity that exited Chapter 11 reorganization or a successor entity. Get this in writing.
- Verify your funding source is eligible. Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs, 401(k)s from former employers, 403(b)s, 457(b)s, and Thrift Savings Plan balances can typically move to a self-directed IRA. Confirm your specific plan.
- Open the self-directed IRA with the assigned third-party custodian. Lear works with an IRS-approved trustee that holds legal title to the metal and handles tax reporting. Ask which trustee you will be paired with and check that trustee's own separate record.
- Fund via direct trustee-to-trustee transfer. A direct transfer moves the money custodian to custodian and avoids the 60-day deadline and the 20 percent mandatory withholding that apply to indirect rollovers.
- Pick IRS-approved metals only. Gold at .995 fine or better, silver at .999 fine, platinum and palladium at .9995 fine. Favor common bullion coins and approved refiner bars over premium numismatic coins, where the spread can be much wider.
- Use the 24-hour cancellation window if anything on your written order does not match what you agreed to verbally. Lear's own IRA FAQ names this policy. Read every line item on the invoice before the window closes.
- Have Delaware Depository take custody. Metals ship insured directly to the depository under the custodian's title. Home storage of IRA metal is not permitted under federal law.
Pros and cons from the public record
What the public record supports
- Published IRA fee number in prose on the company's own site, which is rare in this niche and lets you price the account before a sales call.
- Named depository partner (Delaware Depository) and named insurance underwriter (Lloyd's of London) in the site's own FAQ answers.
- Written 24-hour post-order cancellation window at no cost, per the Lear IRA FAQ.
- Long operating history back to 1997, one of the longer public paper trails in this vertical.
- Executive Leadership page names both founder and current CEO with bios, rather than presenting the company as a faceless brand.
- Third-party appointments from PCGS and NGC that matter for coin grading integrity on any numismatic component of a purchase.
What weighs the other way
- Chapter 11 reorganization is disclosed on the company's own reputation FAQ. That is a real event in the public record that a first-time buyer should read and understand before funding.
- The published $235 rate depends on choosing electronic statements and non-segregated storage. Higher-tier storage fees are not published.
- Palladium is not featured in visible marketing copy. A palladium-heavy target allocation would need written confirmation of sourcing before funding.
- The BBB profile is behind a human-verification challenge, so the current letter rating and complaint count could not be pulled through a scripted fetch. Verify directly at bbb.org.
- The "AAA" rating cited on the site comes from the Business Consumer Alliance, which is a private commercial bureau, not from the BBB. Both are useful data points; do not treat them as interchangeable.
- Coin buy-sell spread on numismatic pieces is a separate cost from the flat fee and is not published. Ask for both bid and ask on any coin the specialist recommends.
Who Lear Capital fits, and who it does not
Lear is a plausible dealer to shortlist if your priority is a firm that publishes a specific IRA fee number in writing, uses a named IRS-approved depository, and has a long enough paper trail to actually research. It is a workable option for a gold- or silver-heavy allocation held inside a self-directed IRA at a mid-five-figure to low-six-figure balance where a flat fee compares favorably to a percent-of-assets structure.
Lear is a weaker fit if palladium is your target metal, because palladium is not featured in the visible marketing and its availability inside the account has to be confirmed on a case-by-case basis. It is also a weaker fit if you require paper statements or fully segregated storage, because Lear's public $235 rate is conditional on the opposite choices and the higher-tier prices are not disclosed.
Anyone still absorbing the Chapter 11 disclosure should slow down until the entity question is answered in writing. That does not disqualify the firm; it just means one more due-diligence question before you fund.
When a precious-metals IRA is the wrong move
Independent of any specific dealer, a precious-metals IRA can be the wrong tool for a household. If you expect to need liquidity from the account within the next few years, physical metal is a slow asset to convert. Dealer buy-back on non-market days is subject to spread, and depository release adds days to a settlement.
If your total tax-advantaged balance is small enough that a flat annual fee eats a meaningful share of the balance every year, the drag can hurt more than a diversified paper portfolio would. Flat-fee accounts favor larger balances mathematically.
If you are near or in required-minimum-distribution years, taking a distribution from a metals IRA means either liquidating enough to cover the RMD or taking an in-kind distribution of metal, and both introduce timing and paperwork risk. Talk to a licensed tax advisor before you commit.
Lear cannot solve any of these situations, and neither can any other dealer. They are structural features of the wrapper, not a criticism of any particular provider.
Lear Capital questions, answered
The answers below cite Lear's own site copy, live BBB and SEC checks, and public record only. Nothing here is investment or tax advice.
Is Lear Capital a legitimate operating business?
Lear Capital is an operating precious-metals dealer with a named Los Angeles headquarters, a named founder and CEO on the Executive Leadership page, and a paper trail back to 1997. The site openly discloses a 2022 Chapter 11 reorganization that the company exited the same year. Whether it is the right dealer for your specific rollover is a separate question, and one that requires a written fee schedule and a confirmed legal-entity name before you fund.
What IRA fees does Lear Capital charge?
Per the IRA FAQ on learcapital.com, the fee is $315 in year one and $235 each subsequent year, contingent on choosing electronic statements and non-segregated storage. Paper statements or segregated storage push the price above the published $235 rate, and the exact higher-tier prices are not disclosed on the site. Ask for them in writing before funding.
Does Lear Capital offer a Silver IRA?
Silver is one of the two metals featured most prominently in Lear's marketing copy, alongside gold. A Silver IRA structured with IRS-eligible silver bullion at .999 fine should fit the standard Lear IRA process. Confirm in writing that a Silver-only account is available on the same fee terms as a Gold IRA before signing a transfer form.
Does Lear Capital offer a Platinum IRA or a Palladium IRA?
Platinum is named on the CEO's bio as one of the three metals the company provides detailed descriptions of, alongside gold and silver, so a Platinum IRA is plausible with written confirmation of current in-stock coins and bars. Palladium is not featured in the visible marketing copy we could fetch in July 2026. Ask the specialist to name specific IRS-eligible palladium products and quote the ask premium in writing before you fund.
Where does Lear Capital store IRA metals?
Lear names Delaware Depository as its IRS-approved storage partner in the IRA FAQ. Delaware Depository is one of the older private depositories in the industry, and Lear's FAQ states that its storage services are backed by insurance underwritten by Lloyd's of London. Confirm the exact segregated-versus-non-segregated storage option on your paperwork.
What happened with Lear Capital’s Chapter 11 filing?
The Reputation FAQ on learcapital.com openly confirms that Lear entered Chapter 11 reorganization and exited the same year. The services offered did not change, per the FAQ, because metals held for customers sit at the depository under the custodian's title rather than on the dealer's own balance sheet. If this history matters to you, search the public docket and read the plan of reorganization, and ask in writing whether the current operating entity is the same one that filed.
Is Lear Capital BBB accredited?
The BBB profile page is behind a Cloudflare human-verification challenge that blocks scripted fetches, so we could not confirm the current letter rating or complaint count in this review session. Lear itself does not lead with a BBB letter grade on its Reputation FAQ; it leads with a Business Consumer Alliance AAA rating, which is a different commercial bureau. Confirm both directly at bbb.org and the BCA site before signing a transfer form.
What is the minimum investment for a Lear Capital IRA?
The IRA FAQ describes a tiered promotional structure where Lear covers first-year setup and storage fees on qualifying purchase sizes. A hard minimum funding threshold is not stated in prose we could pull from the public pages in July 2026. Ask a specialist for the minimum by rollover balance and by first-metal purchase, both figures, so you know exactly what you are agreeing to before you route funds.
Does Lear Capital have any SEC filings?
SEC EDGAR full-text search returned zero direct filings for Lear Capital as of July 2026. That is normal for a private, non-publicly-traded physical precious-metals dealer, which is regulated primarily by state consumer-protection law and by the Federal Trade Commission rather than by the SEC.
Is the 24-hour cancellation policy binding?
The Lear IRA FAQ describes a 24-hour post-order cancellation window at no cost, and it uses direct language: "you can cancel your transaction with us at NO cost to you in that 24-hour time period." Ask for that exact wording on your signed order confirmation. If the paperwork says something narrower than the FAQ, request that it be revised before you agree.
Who is the CEO of Lear Capital right now?
The Executive Leadership page on learcapital.com lists John Ohanesian as the current CEO. His prior role is described as leading the Bosley hair-restoration brand. Kevin DeMeritt, the 1997 founder, is listed as chairman on the same page.
Sources
- Lear Capital, "About Lear Capital" page. Company positioning and 1997 founding. learcapital.com/about-lear-capital/, checked July 2026.
- Lear Capital, "Executive Leadership" page. Names Kevin DeMeritt as founder and chairman and John Ohanesian as CEO. learcapital.com/about-lear-capital/executive-leadership/, checked July 2026.
- Lear Capital, "Reputation FAQ" page. Source for the Chapter 11 disclosure, the Business Consumer Alliance AAA rating claim, and the third-party trade appointments. learcapital.com/about-lear-capital/reputation-faq/, checked July 2026.
- Lear Capital, "IRA Frequently Asked Questions" page. Source for the $315 first year and $235 subsequent-year fee quote, the Delaware Depository partner name, the Lloyd's of London insurance reference, and the 24-hour cancellation window. learcapital.com/gold-ira/ira-faq/, checked July 2026.
- Lear Capital, "Precious Metals IRA" page. Source for the $3 billion in trusted transactions header claim and the $500 offer wording. learcapital.com/gold-ira/precious-metals-ira/, checked July 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Publication 590-A, "Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements." Source for the general framework of self-directed IRAs and direct-transfer rules. irs.gov/publications/p590a.
- Internal Revenue Service, Publication 590-B, "Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements." Source for the RMD framework and the 60-day rollover rules. irs.gov/publications/p590b.
- 26 U.S. Code § 408(m), the statutory source for IRS fineness requirements on IRA-eligible precious metals: gold at .995 fine, silver at .999, platinum and palladium at .9995. law.cornell.edu, 26 USC 408.
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR full-text search for "Lear Capital." Zero direct filings as of July 2026. efts.sec.gov full-text search, checked July 2026.
- Better Business Bureau, business profile page for Lear Capital, Inc. Live fetch returned a Cloudflare human-verification challenge in July 2026. Rating and complaint count to be confirmed manually. bbb.org profile link.
