PENSCO Trust Company

Once they have your money, they will fight you for WEEKS to hang onto it, despite your efforts to move it to another company. We went through multiple calls with multiple people to verify--and verify--and verify AGAIN that we really do want to move our funds. Then they released only part of the money, and we had to go through yet another round of verifications to try to get another check released. When asked why it couldn't all be done in one check, the latest rep said this is the way it's done. The company we're trying to move our funds to say they only encounter this kind of difficulty with Pensco--all the big companies are cooperative and efficient and the transfers smooth (this is what we experienced when we moved funds from Vanguard). Would NOT recommend Pensco!!

Once ******* ***** decided not to handle certain types of investments, PENSCO was the recommended entity to fulfill the role. For me the transfer has been a disaster. In a recent case it has taken PENSCO 7 weeks to provide me a response on a matter. I only received the response after continually chasing them. The response that they provided me was wholly insufficient. They are terribly unprofessional and utterly irresponsible. I don't understand how they even keep their regulatory licenses.

Pensco has been the holding company for one of my tax sheltered annuity accounts for about five years. They have been charging some of the most outrageous maintenance fees of any company that I have account with. However, because of the nature of the account there were no other options. The fees have been about $230 annually for an account valued at about $80,000. Now I'm in a position to close the account and withdraw the money -- they have just charged me a $365 account closing fee. The customer service representative told me that this is for the paperwork involved in closing this kind of account. That's a lot of paperwork! I've closed several other accounts at other financial institutions and I've never been charged a closing fee. I am furious, outraged, and glad to be done with Pensco.

These people are crooks. I would not do business with this company. I had to file a claim in small claims court to get fees back that were unnecessarily charged. They held on to my money as long as they possibly could, and even Fidelity was frustrated with there lack of caring about transferring my money out (not to mention wait times on the phone). NEVER AGAIN. *Update: Their user interface is so bad it’s not compatible with Safari if you want to download any of your statements/documents. I called them to ask if they can fax over my last statement because the IRS needs it. They said yes and never faxed it.

The experience in setting up was simply so bad, I give up after 3 weeks. Every issue requires follow up by me, and still they couldn't get me the paperwork to take the money from my IRA. I administer alternative assets myself and one of my members uses them, and it is normally brilliant, but this person has many millions with them. I must presume they get the VIP treatment. I was testing them out with $200K of investments so it is clear to me that Pensco must literally ignore small investors while taking teh fees. Yes, I now have the hassle of dealing with trying to get my money back.

Pensco is an absolute nightmare to deal with an nearly impossible to reach on the phone. We have had to call them on behalf of a client numerous times and are always met with excessively long wait times to reach a representative. It doesn't seem to matter when you call either. I literally called the minute they opened on one occasion and still waited 30 minutes before just hanging up. When you leave a callback number, it's like they purposely call you back well after normal business hours knowing you won't be there to take the return call. Callbacks usually occur 1-2 full days later. I honestly don't know how this company is in business or who would possibly open an account with them. I have worked in financial services for over 20 years and this is one of the worst companies I've ever had to deal with.

Terrible customer service. Business model and fees are a scam. Holding assets at above market value because their fees (for holding an asset that doesn’t exist) have not been paid.

RE: My previous review by ******* *. on 07/16/2018 Pensco contacted me to resolve my issue, and it was resolved satisfactorily.

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