@Lisa Eisenhauer thank you for your detailed response Lisa.
my hesitancy with titan is that they are a nigerian bank. and my hesitancy with solera is that the are pretty new small bank. given how small banks that have failed in the past, i feel more comfortable with going with someone like chase. here is list from fdic of recent failures: https://www.fdic.gov/resources/resolutions/bank-failures/fai...
however, since i ran into problems with chase based on what i described in this post:
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/1150830-bank-...
i wanted to know who i can go with. so i called solera, firstly the person who picked up transferred me to an IRA LLC bank specialist. when my call go transferred, the specialist was i guess working from home and had a crying baby i could hear. that was my first uncomfortable momemt. i don't accept that from a bank. maybe a small retail company or something.
secondly, i asked her if you know how an ira llc bank account is set up and i want to make sure it's set up correctly so i have some questions i'd like to understand your process.
she right away asked me who is my document provider. and i was like, what is a document provider. she asked who set up your llc and i told her i did that.
she said well we usually work with document provider because it's not a typical llc and is set up differently.
i assured that the my llc is not an issue, i do have that set up properly. it is manager managed. i am the manager. my ira is the 100% owner/member of it.
then she assumed that my ira is with solera. and i told no, i have it at another custodian, all i want to do at solera is to set up a bank account. and what i want to know is when you open an account at your end, in the bank account who do you put as the owner of llc.
she told me well it's a business account that llc owns. and you will be the manager on the account.
and i told her, yes, i already know that and that's how it is currently set up at chase. the issue i am asking about is who will be listed as the owner of the llc at your end on the bank acct.. it should be "xyz custodian fbo shaz...IRA" and it should NOT be me. she goes. llc will be the bank owner.
i think i had to repeat 3 times that i am not asking whether or not bank accout will be under llc. i am asking in filling out your paperwork for opening the bank account, does it anywhere ask who is the owner of the llc and if so, who will you put.
she goes, oh we dont' mention that anywhere but if you did have your ira with us then we will have "solera bank ..custodian fbo shaz...IRA". that didn't make sense to me that if i have my ira with you then you will put who the owner is but if i don't have it with you you wont' put anything.
anyways, she def didnt' give me indication that she exactly knew. maybe i had a bad agent and since i was already skeptical of using a small bank, that def turned me off.
at chase my account shows that it's a business account under an llc. i am the manger of llc, the only thing that worried me is that they put me as a the owner of llc. this seemed no diff to me that when you go get an ein, it also puts you the owner of llc. if irs itself can have this limitation in getting the ein, then surely they would understand the limitation of the bank. besides, i have a fully complying operating agreement in which i have a clause that explains while irs ein letter shows me as the owner, in reality it is my ira that is owner and that that there are limitations on irs website when obtaining an ein. i will jsut be adding a similar explanation in my operating agreement about bank acct and have all the supporting documentation in case if it's ever needed.
but that's where i am at.
i wish this process was simpler/ easier. it is also very frustrating that the custodian doesnt' telll you anything. they all market you can have a checkbook ira but don't really guide you in HOW to do it practically. all these rich ppl are doing it and i doubt they are going through all these hoops. ...
