The SafeOunce ratings changelog is the public, dated list of every change to a gold IRA company's SafeOunce Score or rating status, with the reason and the document behind it. Why publish it? Because a rating you cannot trace can be changed for any reason, including money.
A SafeOunce Score is a 0 to 100 rating that SafeOunce gives a gold IRA company, the dealer that sells you the metal but does not hold your account. Each score comes from the 7 criteria and 100 points explained in how SafeOunce rates gold IRA companies; this page shows when and why a score moved. No company can pay to change its rating or its place.
A changelog is a dated list of changes, newest first.
The table below sums up the log as of launch day.
| Log at a glance | Launch day |
|---|---|
| Method version in force | 1.0, effective September 29, 2026 |
| Newest entry | September 29, 2026 |
| Companies with a published score | 0 |
| Companies "Rating pending" | 11 |
| Companies "Not rated" | 1 (Rosland Capital) |
The SafeOunce Ratings Log: Every Score and Status Change, Newest First#
The log below lists every SafeOunce rating action since the method took effect, newest first, and you can filter it by company, entry type or year. A rating action is any change SafeOunce makes to a company's score or status.
| Logged | Event date | Company | Entry type | Change | What moved | Why | Evidence (document, date, level) | Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-07-02 | Rosland Capital LLC | Status change | none → Not rated: closed | Gate 1 | Filed a liquidating Chapter 11 on July 2, 2026 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. 2:26-bk-16650-BB); about $60.8 million owed to about 617 customers. | Bankruptcy court docket, 2026-07-02, level 1 | 1.0 |
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 | Advantage Gold | Rating pending | none → Rating pending | A1, A3, C, parts of F and G wait for documents | Documents being requested; no total score until they arrive or 10 business days pass. | SafeOunce written request (send date added when sent); level 2 once answered | 1.0 |
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 | American Hartford Gold | Rating pending | none → Rating pending | A1, A3, C, parts of F and G wait for documents | Documents being requested; no total score until they arrive or 10 business days pass. | SafeOunce written request (send date added when sent); level 2 once answered | 1.0 |
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 | Augusta Precious Metals | Rating pending | none → Rating pending | A1, A3, C, parts of F and G wait for documents | Documents being requested; no total score until they arrive or 10 business days pass. | SafeOunce written request (send date added when sent); level 2 once answered | 1.0 |
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 | Birch Gold Group | Rating pending | none → Rating pending | A1, A3, C, parts of F and G wait for documents | Documents being requested; no total score until they arrive or 10 business days pass. | SafeOunce written request (send date added when sent); level 2 once answered | 1.0 |
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 | Goldco | Rating pending | none → Rating pending | A1, A3, C, parts of F and G wait for documents | Documents being requested; no total score until they arrive or 10 business days pass. | SafeOunce written request (send date added when sent); level 2 once answered | 1.0 |
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 | Lear Capital | Rating pending | none → Rating pending | A1, A3, C, parts of F and G wait for documents | Documents being requested; no total score until they arrive or 10 business days pass. | SafeOunce written request (send date added when sent); level 2 once answered | 1.0 |
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 | Noble Gold Investments | Rating pending | none → Rating pending | A1, A3, C, parts of F and G wait for documents | Documents being requested; no total score until they arrive or 10 business days pass. | SafeOunce written request (send date added when sent); level 2 once answered | 1.0 |
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 | Patriot Gold Group | Rating pending | none → Rating pending | A1, A3, C, parts of F and G wait for documents | Documents being requested; no total score until they arrive or 10 business days pass. | SafeOunce written request (send date added when sent); level 2 once answered | 1.0 |
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 | Preserve Gold | Rating pending | none → Rating pending | A1, A3, C, parts of F and G wait for documents | Documents being requested; no total score until they arrive or 10 business days pass. | SafeOunce written request (send date added when sent); level 2 once answered | 1.0 |
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 | Priority Gold | Rating pending | none → Rating pending | A1, A3, C, parts of F and G wait for documents | Documents being requested; no total score until they arrive or 10 business days pass. | SafeOunce written request (send date added when sent); level 2 once answered | 1.0 |
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 | U.S. Money Reserve | Rating pending | none → Rating pending | A1, A3, C, parts of F and G wait for documents | Documents being requested; no total score until they arrive or 10 business days pass. | SafeOunce written request (send date added when sent); level 2 once answered | 1.0 |
| 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 | (all companies) | Method change | none → v1.0 | Method | SafeOunce rating method version 1.0 takes effect: 7 criteria, 100 points, 6 gates. | /methodology/ version 1.0, 2026-09-29, level 1 (own published rule) | 1.0 |
What was logged on launch day?#
On launch day the log recorded 13 entries: the rating method taking effect, 11 companies entering as "Rating pending", and Rosland Capital entering as "Not rated: closed". The 3 groups of launch-day entries are listed below.
- Method change: method version 1.0 takes effect, with 7 criteria, 100 points and 6 gates.
- Rating pending (11 companies): Advantage Gold, American Hartford Gold, Augusta Precious Metals, Birch Gold Group, Goldco, Lear Capital, Noble Gold Investments, Patriot Gold Group, Preserve Gold, Priority Gold and U.S. Money Reserve.
- Not rated: closed (Gate 1): Rosland Capital LLC, which filed a liquidating Chapter 11 on July 2, 2026 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. 2:26-bk-16650-BB), owing about $60.8 million to about 617 customers.
"Rating pending" means documents are requested and no total score exists yet. A liquidating Chapter 11 is a bankruptcy in which the company sells what it has and closes. A gate is a pass-or-fail check, and Gate 1 removes a closed or bankrupt company before any scoring.
No company has a score yet: 4 of the 7 criteria need a written quote or the customer agreement, and no total is published without them.
Which gold IRA companies were not rated on launch day?#
On launch day one gold IRA company, Rosland Capital, was not rated, because it filed a liquidating Chapter 11 on July 2, 2026. Eight more failed, closed or sanctioned gold IRA companies join the log as their review pages publish. Each row carries its record (a court docket, a regulator order or, for Gold Alliance, the company's closure notice) with its date. The table lists the 8 rows as of September 2026.
| Company | Label | Event and date | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metals.com (TMTE, Inc.) | Not rated: closed (Gate 1) | In receivership since September 22, 2020; the case is pending and the allegations are not proven (as of September 2026) | Court docket, N.D. Tex. 3:20-cv-02910-X |
| Midas Gold Group, LLC | Not rated: closed (Gate 1) | Chapter 11 (Subchapter V) filed June 7, 2024; converted to Chapter 7 on September 25, 2024 | Court docket, Bankr. D. Ariz. 2:24-bk-04587-DPC |
| Oxford Gold Group | Not rated: closed (Gate 1) | Customers filed an involuntary Chapter 7 on August 28, 2024 | Court docket, Bankr. C.D. Cal. 2:24-bk-16947-NB |
| Gold Alliance | Not rated: closed (Gate 1) | Closed effective June 24, 2024 | Company closure notice |
| Regal Assets, LLC | Not rated: closed or sanctioned (Gate 1 or Gate 2) | Ceased operations in late 2022; CFTC default judgments of October 15, 2024 total about $49.2 million | Court judgments |
| Safeguard Metals | Not rated: sanctioned (Gate 2) | SEC final judgment May 2, 2025; CFTC final judgment September 30, 2025 | Court judgments |
| Capital Gold Group | Not rated: closed (Gate 1) | Ceased operations in December 2018; Chapter 7 filed March 3, 2019, case closed April 1, 2025 | Court docket, Bankr. C.D. Cal. 1:19-bk-10501-MT |
| Red Rock Secured (operating as American Coin Co., per the SEC in May 2024) | Not rated: sanctioned (Gate 2) | Charged May 15, 2023; CFTC consent order of April 23, 2024 totaling $56,334,313.90 | CFTC consent order |
The next table shows the 6 status labels and their launch-day counts.
| Label | Gate | What triggers it | Launch-day count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not rated: closed | Gate 1 | Bankruptcy petition, receivership (a court puts a receiver in charge of the company's assets) or closure notice | 1 |
| Not rated: sanctioned | Gate 2 | Final judgment or consent order (an order both sides agree to) finding fraud, misappropriation or non-delivery | 0 |
| Not listed on best-of pages | Gate 3 | Regulator settlement over markups, disclosures or sales practices | 0 |
| Watch | Gate 4 | Pending regulator action, an affiliate's bankruptcy, or 3 or more non-delivery complaints in 90 days | 0 |
| Not rated: would not disclose | Gate 5 | No documents 10 business days after a written request | 0 |
| Not rated: out of scope | Gate 6 | Does not sell IRA-eligible metals through self-directed IRAs to US residents | 0 |
What happened to customers of each failed gold IRA company is explained on failed gold IRA companies.
How to Read a Changelog Entry: 8 Fields#
Every changelog entry has 8 fields: the date logged, the event date, the company, the entry type, the change, what moved, why, and the evidence with the method version. The table uses the real Rosland Capital entry as the example.
| # | Field | What it shows | Example (Rosland Capital row) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Logged | The day SafeOunce applied the change | 2026-09-29 (launch day) |
| 2 | Event date | The day the fact happened, from the document | July 2, 2026 |
| 3 | Company | Legal name and brand, linked to its review | Rosland Capital LLC |
| 4 | Entry type | One of 7 types (next section) | Status change |
| 5 | Change | Old → new score, band or status | none → Not rated: closed |
| 6 | What moved | The criterion (A1 to G) or the gate | Gate 1 |
| 7 | Why | One sentence with the fact and its date | "Filed a liquidating Chapter 11 on July 2, 2026 ..." |
| 8 | Evidence and version | The document, its date, its evidence level (1 to 3) and the method version, meaning the version of the scoring rules used | Bankruptcy docket, level 1, v1.0 |
Two dates show any delay: a bankruptcy filed on a Monday and logged on Tuesday shows a one-day gap. The Rosland row's longer gap has another cause: launch-day rows record events from before method 1.0 took effect, so they carry the launch date. From launch on, status events are logged as soon as the record confirms them.
Which documents count as evidence? An evidence level shows how strong a document is, from 1 (a court or regulator record) to 5 (another website). Only levels 1 to 3 move a score: records, contracts and fee schedules (1), written quotes we received (2) and dated web pages (3).
Phone or email statements (level 4) never move a score alone; other websites (level 5) never do.
What kinds of changes does the changelog record? 7 entry types#
The changelog records 7 types of change, from a company's first score to a score that was fixed after an error. An upgrade is a score going up, and a downgrade is a score going down. The table shows each type with a sample for Company X, a made-up company.
| # | Entry type | What it means | Example Change cell (Company X, example) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rating pending | Documents requested; no total score yet | none → Rating pending |
| 2 | Initial score | First published score | Rating pending → 67 (Fair) |
| 3 | Upgrade | The score rises | 67 → 73 (Fair → Good) |
| 4 | Downgrade | The score falls | 67 → 64 (Fair) |
| 5 | Status change | A gate applies or ends: closed, sanctioned, watch, would not disclose, out of scope, or back from watch | 67 → Not rated: closed |
| 6 | Method change | A new method version takes effect; every affected score is logged again with "What moved: Method" | v1.0 → v1.1 |
| 7 | Correction | A logged value was wrong and is fixed; the original row stays, marked "corrected", and the fix also goes to the corrections log | 64 → 67 (correction) |
A re-check is a scheduled quarterly review of every criterion. One that moves no point adds no row; only the company's "last checked" date updates.
Which reason codes explain a SafeOunce score change?#
The "What moved" field uses the method's own labels: a criterion letter from A to G, a gate number from 1 to 6, or "Method" when the rules themselves changed. A criterion is one thing being scored, such as contract fairness. The SafeOunce methodology uses 3 code groups, listed below.
- Criterion codes (scored points): A1 measured markup (15 points), A2 price disclosure (10) and A3 buyback terms (5). B account fees (10), C contract fairness (15) and D legal record (20). E complaints (10), F product mix and sales pressure (10) and G custody and delivery (5).
- Gate codes (status, no points): Gate 1 closed or bankrupt, Gate 2 sanctioned and Gate 3 settled pricing or disclosure case. Gate 4 watch, Gate 5 would not disclose and Gate 6 out of scope.
- Method code: "Method", used only when new rules, not new company data, change a score.
When the rules change, every affected company gets its own row, so no move hides in a general update.
Any change to the weights gets a new version number. Each code's scoring thresholds are listed in the SafeOunce methodology.
Why Does a SafeOunce Score Change? A Worked Example With a Markup Rise#
A SafeOunce score changes for 3 reasons only: a new document moves a criterion's points, a gate applies, or a new method version changes the rules. Such a document can be a higher written quote or a court order. Company X, a made-up seller from the methodology page, scores 67 of 100, which is Fair. A band is the word label for a score range: Excellent 85 to 100, Good 70 to 84, Fair 55 to 69 and Poor under 55.
Next quarter, Company X's written quote for $50,000 of 1 oz gold bullion coins is 8.6% over spot instead of 7.4%. The spot price is today's market price of one ounce of pure metal. The markup, or premium, is what you pay above spot.
A1 falls from 12 to 9 points, because the A1 rule pays 12 points for a markup over 6% to 8% and 9 points for over 8% to 10%. The total drops from 67 to 64, and the band stays Fair.
| Event (Company X, example) | Criterion change | Score | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quote rises from 7.4% to 8.6% over spot | A1 12 → 9 | 67 → 64 | Fair → Fair |
The log entry reads as follows.
In money, the change is $600: 1.2 percentage points more on a $50,000 purchase, paid on the day you buy. Why the markup is usually the largest cost is explained in gold IRA markups and spreads.
When does a change move a company into a different band?#
A company changes band only when its total crosses 55, 70 or 85 points. Company X, at 67, needs 3 more points to reach Good and can lose 12 points and still be Fair. The table shows 3 edge cases.
| Event (Company X, example) | Criterion change | Score | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arbitration opt-out added and confidentiality clause removed; live prices posted online | C2 3 → 5; A2 4 → 8 | 67 → 73 | Fair → Good |
| New regulator settlement over pricing | D 17 → 5 (and Gate 3) | 67 → 55 | Fair (lowest point) |
| Bankruptcy filing | Gate 1 | 67 → Not rated: closed | none |
An arbitration opt-out is a right to refuse private arbitration within a set time, and a confidentiality clause keeps a dispute secret. Company X gains 1 point for each on C2, since it has no fee-splitting clause. Live online prices for IRA bullion add 4 more.
A settlement ends a case, often with a payment and no admission. A pricing settlement within 10 years costs 12 points on D, leaving Company X at 55, the last point of Fair. It also triggers Gate 3, which removes the company from best-of pages.
A bankruptcy filing replaces the score with "Not rated: closed" under Gate 1, and the last score, 67, stays in the log with its date.
When Is a Change Logged? The Update Schedule for Each Entry Type#
A status event, such as a bankruptcy or a regulator order, is logged as soon as the court or regulator record confirms it. Price, fee and contract changes follow the quarterly update schedule shown in the table.
| Trigger | When the entry appears | Entry type |
|---|---|---|
| Court or regulator record: a bankruptcy, receivership, closure or regulator order | As soon as the record confirms it, at the latest at the next quarterly review | Status change |
| Documents received: a quote or a customer agreement | When scored, dated by each document | Initial score, Upgrade or Downgrade |
| No reply to a document request | After 10 business days | Status change (Gate 5) |
| Quarterly re-check of prices, fees, contracts and complaints | At least every quarter | Upgrade or Downgrade; if no point moves, only the "last checked" date updates |
| New method version | On its effective date | Method change, then one row per affected company |
The full update schedule for every rating input is on the methodology page.
Here is an illustration of the 10-business-day count, counting Monday to Friday and skipping federal holidays. Suppose a request goes out on Wednesday, September 30, 2026. Day 10 is then Thursday, October 15, 2026, because Monday, October 12 is Columbus Day.
Federal law, 5 U.S.C. 6103(a), lists "Columbus Day, the second Monday in October" as a legal public holiday.
The log records "Not rated: would not disclose" on the next business day when nothing has arrived by then. What if the company sends its documents on day 11? They are scored at the next update, and a new entry replaces the Gate 5 status.
The event rule exists because lists fall behind. CBS News recommended Rosland Capital on August 7, 2026, 36 days after Rosland filed its liquidating Chapter 11 on July 2, 2026. The log's two dates make that kind of gap visible.
What Other Gold IRA Rating Pages Do Not Show: Changes Without Reasons#
Of 9 gold IRA ranking and review pages we read on September 29, 2026, none publishes a change log, a version number or a reason when its picks change. The 9 are Money, Forbes Advisor, Investopedia, CNBC Select, Yahoo Finance, CBS News, Clute Journals, an IRAEmpire press release on Morningstar and Caracal Gold. A capture is a saved copy of a web page in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, with its date.
The table shows 4 dated examples.
| Page | What changed | What the page says about it | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Money, "Best Gold IRA Companies" | Best Overall moved from Augusta Precious Metals (captures January 2025 to April 2026) to Allegiance Gold on the May 29, 2026 republish; Goldco and Birch Gold Group dropped; labels "Fee Transparency" and "Customer Service" removed and "Educational Resources", "Transparent Pricing" and "Customer Support and Accessibility" added | No reason or change note on the live page (read September 29, 2026) | money.com |
| Forbes Advisor, best gold IRAs | Labels changed between the December 13, 2025 and August 17, 2026 captures: Birch "Strong Endorsements" → "Transparency"; Lear "Free IRA Setup" → "Longstanding Experience"; Orion "Buyback Policy" → "Customer Satisfaction" | The August 17, 2026 capture shows "Audited & Verified: Jun 26, 2026", but we found no change note | Wayback capture, August 17, 2026 |
| CBS News, best gold IRA companies | Recommended Rosland Capital on August 7, 2026 | The recommendation came 36 days after Rosland's July 2, 2026 bankruptcy filing | cbsnews.com |
| CNBC Select, best gold IRA companies | Title "The best gold IRA companies of September 2026" | The page body shows "Published November 9, 2023" | cnbc.com |
Company website links in this table: SafeOunce earns nothing from these links.
Three of these 9 pages, all "best of" lists, carry a month in the title that is not the month of their data or body. Money's "October 2026" list was published September 25, 2026.
Investopedia's "September 2026" title sits on a page whose data were last shown as collected October 8 to 29, 2024 (body read on an April 29, 2025 capture). Every list's current picks sit side by side in gold IRA 'best of' lists compared.
A changed pick may be fair. Without a dated reason, you cannot tell whether the company changed or only the list did.
How sites earn from gold IRA reviews is covered separately.
Can money change a SafeOunce rating? What the FTC rule and the log show#
No: no company can pay to change a SafeOunce rating, and the log lets anyone check that every score change has a documented reason. The FTC's Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR 255.4(b), Example 3 (eCFR version of September 1, 2026), say paid-for rankings "are deceptive." They add: "A disclosure that the website operator receives payments ... would be inadequate because the payments actually determine the ... relative rankings."
An affiliate link, a link that pays a website when you contact or buy from a company, is one such payment. The log is how you test the no-payment promise: every move names the criterion and the document, so an untraceable move would stand out.
Who pays SafeOunce fits in one sentence. SafeOunce takes no money from any company named on this page. If that ever changes, who pays SafeOunce is updated first, and scores still come only from the published formula.
How do regulated rating agencies record rating changes?#
Credit rating agencies registered with the SEC must publish every rating action with its date and whether it was an initial rating, an upgrade, a downgrade or a withdrawal. A credit rating agency, called an NRSRO by the SEC, is a firm such as a bond rater whose grades lenders rely on. A withdrawal is a rating that is stopped.
SEC Rule 17g-7(b), 17 CFR 240.17g-7, requires each entry to show "The date of the rating action" and its class, such as "An upgrade". The history may end only after "at least 15 years have elapsed since a rating action classified as a withdrawal".
SafeOunce is not a credit rating agency and is not covered by this rule, but it borrows the idea. The rule allows up to 12 months before an action appears when the rated company paid for the rating, and 24 months otherwise. SafeOunce logs a change at the latest at the next quarterly review.
What Does the Ratings Changelog Not Record? Wording Edits, BBB Grades and Corrections#
The changelog records only changes to scores, bands and rating status; wording edits, BBB grades, star ratings and fixes to unscored facts stay out. The 4 kinds of change the log leaves out are listed below.
- Wording edits that change no score or status, such as a clearer sentence.
- BBB grades and Trustpilot stars, which appear on review pages but score 0 points.
- Fee, price or minimum updates that cross no scoring threshold; only the "data as of" date changes.
- Fixes to unscored facts, which go to the corrections log, SafeOunce's public list of fixed errors.
A BBB grade is the Better Business Bureau's letter from A+ to F, mostly for how a company answers complaints. Midas Gold Group LLC still showed a BBB A+ when we checked in September 2026, after its 2024 bankruptcy. It filed Chapter 11 on June 7, 2024, and the case became a Chapter 7 on September 25, 2024 (Bankr. D. Ariz. 2:24-bk-04587-DPC).
That is why a grade change, like a move in BCA (Business Consumer Alliance) ratings or Trustpilot stars, never moves a SafeOunce score. What BBB, BCA and Trustpilot ratings do and do not measure is explained separately.
Complaint texts are different: what customers wrote counts under criterion E (complaints).
When a logged value was wrong, the fix appears in both places: here as a Correction entry, and in the corrections log with what changed and why. Suppose the 8.6% in the worked example was our typing error and the quote said 7.4%. The two rows below show how the log records the fix.
| Logged | Company | Entry type | Change | Why and evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (example date 1) | Company X (example) | Downgrade, marked "corrected" | 67 → 64 | Quote logged as 8.6% over spot; written quote, level 2 |
| (example date 2) | Company X (example) | Correction | 64 → 67 | The same quote says 7.4%; the 8.6% was a typing error; written quote, level 2 |
How Can You Use the Changelog Before You Choose a Gold IRA Company?#
Use a company's log to check that its score is recent, see what moved it and spot any watch or not-rated past, then get your own written quote. The 3 things to check in the log before you choose a gold IRA company are listed below.
- Check the company's "last checked" date; one older than a quarter means a re-check is due.
- Read the "What moved" field of every downgrade.
- Look for any past status entry, such as a watch or a Gate 5 "would not disclose".
The 12 questions to ask before you sign are in how to choose a gold IRA company.
A score compares sellers; it does not say which company is best for you.
Companies ranked by the current scores appear on best gold IRA companies.
How to check a claim that a company is "rated by SafeOunce"#
A SafeOunce rating quoted anywhere means little without its date and method version, and you can check both against the company's newest entry in this log.
Awards often outlive the lists that gave them. On June 9, 2026, a partner ad on Money's own page read "Named 'Best Overall' Gold IRA by Money", while Money's editorial Best Overall pick was Allegiance Gold. On September 29, 2026, Augusta's homepage still claimed Money's "Best Overall 2022-2026", although Money has named Allegiance Gold since May 29, 2026. A Goldco page dated February 4, 2026 claimed Money's "Best Customer Service" for a "fourth consecutive year"; Goldco has been off Money's list since May 29, 2026.
For regulator and court records, see how to check a gold IRA company.
Changelog questions#
Four short answers cover what readers ask most.
Are old scores ever deleted from the changelog?#
Old scores stay online in the changelog, and a wrong entry is marked "corrected" next to the entry that fixes it, rather than removed. A company that leaves the ratings keeps its last score in the log, with its date.
Can a company ask SafeOunce to remove or change an entry?#
A company can send a document that proves an entry wrong; if the document checks out, a Correction entry is added. A request alone changes nothing: not a phone call and not an offer of payment.
Does the changelog cover custodians and depositories?#
No: the SafeOunce Score and this log cover only companies that sell metal for IRAs. Custodians, which hold the IRA, and depositories, which store the metal, are compared on published fees and records on their own pages.
How can a company or reader contact SafeOunce about an entry?#
Send the entry's date and company name, plus any document, through the contact page; verified documents are scored at the next update. To contact SafeOunce, use the form on contact SafeOunce.