Northwest Territorial Mint might be bankrupt...out of silver!
Jason Hommell and others at GIM site claim Northwest Territorial Mint is bankrupt. Many have been waiting for silver deliveries since Nov. 07, with no further notice. The Washington attorneys generals office are investigating them. This is the largest silver mint in the USA, silver could go to the moon, however thousands of NWT buillion buyers could be left empty handed. Their retail is empty, according to locals looking for physical.
People are not getting silver delivered on time by the NorthWest Territorial Mint. [link to www.nwtmint.com
If this has happened to you, I'd like to hear it so I can tell others, or you can post your complaints the goldismoney.info forum, which is tracking info on many dealers:
[link to goldismoney.info]
If you plan to order silver from a dealer far away, you might want to review the "PM Dealer Feedback" link, above.
NorthWest Territorial Mint is listed there, and they have a bad reputation, with 26 people giving them 1 star out of 5.
State sues Auburn gold investment company, Northwest Territorial Mint
Investors didn’t get products on time, state says
[link to www.thenewstribune.com
"The Attorney General’s Office, the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission have received 82 complaints against the company, the state news release said."
Attorney General sues NW Territorial Mint
[link to seattle.bizjournals.com]
Response to Attorney General Lawsuit Filed Against Northwest Territorial Mint
[link to www.coinlink.com
Ross Hansen explains:
Northwest Territorial Mint locks its clients in to the current price of metal at the time of purchase or sale.
We then expect those clients who buy from us to remit payment within two business days, or, if selling, to ship within two business days.
In case of buying from us, whence this dispute arises, clients may pay with a personal check, cashier’s check, money order, or bank wire.
To protect against bad checks or counterfeit checks, it is our policy to hold these checks ten business days after receipt.
It is our policy to ship our clients’ products within 30 days of check clearance.
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Now, let's think about this. If a bullion company locks in a price on day 1, and the customer then sends a check within 2 business days, and it takes 2 more days for the check to arrive, and then the check is held for 10 days, that's 14 days later that the mint gets the money, to then spend on acquiring the silver in the open market for the customer.
How is that going to work in a rising market? That may have been a great business practice in a declining market, but in a rising market that could cost a lot. I don't understand how that business model could work. A quick look at the 30-day silver chart at kitco shows that silver prices moved from $17 to $21 within 15 days recently.
On a single $100,000 order, for 5882 ounces of silver at $17, will cost NWT Mint another $4/oz. more 15 days later, at an additional cost, or loss, to NWT Mint of $23,529 to fill the order.
I would be very nervous if I didn't get my silver from that dealer within 45 days, as the dealer claims they can deliver, because that dealer's business model is one I cannot understand. Standard investment wisdom is to not buy what you can't understand.
Also, if a typical dealer does $100,000 in volume in a day, over 30 days, that creates a "float" on customer money, of $3,000,000 per month. If you add in another 30 days because of excuses of "delays from others," then maybe there is a float of about $6 million.
I would strongly advise NWT Mint to change their business model, to only give out a price indication when customers call initially, and to wait until after good funds arrive to give a price lock, or after checks clear. At that point, a customer has a "valid account" and can then lock in a price. That's how I've ordered bullion from my trusted dealers when I know that I'm ordering more than I know they can handle.
NorthWest Territorial Mint is one of the largest private mints in the U.S., and makes the most beautiful coins, so I'd hate to see them go out of business. At present, you just have to wait about 60 days or more to get them, if you think nothing's wrong with that.
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On Today's Price dip.
People have such a short term focus; why are people asking me why silver dipped today? I live in Grass Valley, CA, a small town of 30,000 people. I have no idea why the price dipped today. More sellers than buyers, I guess, or maybe there was a manipulation on the futures market, thank God, that allows us to buy silver cheaper. Maybe I ought to send the CFTC regulators a bottle of wine and a fruitbasket with a thank you letter for neglecting their duties, as well as a warning that when it blows up in their face, that I hope they won't lose their heads like the officials did in the French Revolution. Anyway, the CFTC releases information every Friday so you can check what happened last week, up to Tuesday.
[link to www.cnot
Other rumors: I've heard that 4 major coin shops on the West Coast of North America were out of 100 oz. bars yesterday; Amark, the largest distributor for Johnson Matthey in the nation, and Tulving, and two dealers in Vancouver. If you include NWT Mint's delivery delays, that's 5. Anoter man emails to tells me that a coin shop in Surrecy, BC is sold out of 1 oz. Silver Coins, and that their phones are ringing off the wall for orders and they can't fill orders for lack of silver.
So, I emailed a trusted dealer I know on the East Coast, and he said he could get Johnson Matthey bars from the refinery within a week or two; it takes that long to produce them. I've ordered from him before, he's good.
[link to www.wexfordcoin.com
It was rather shocking, therefore, to see the silver price go down so much today. Therefore, I suspect this dip will be very short.
I want to reassure all those who bought silver recently at $21/oz. I first bought silver at $5.50 in 1999. I had to wait 4 years until 2003, to see silver lose 25% to $4.15/oz. Looking back, it's hardly anything to complain about, is it? So, too, will this current dip, be long forgotten once silver is at $200/oz. or higher.
Again, the fundamentals: .007% of investors are buying silver in 2006, which is $1 billion. By the time 0.1% of money in the banks tries to buy silver within 1 year, the price of silver will be well over $200/oz., in my estimation.
Here's my projection from 2005 of what will happen to silver prices if they rise 50% per year for 15 years. (You can't even see silver's rise to $50/oz. on the chart!)
Did Northwest Territorial Mint send the silver ordered?? I am getting to be worried myself. barefoot
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My experience with NWTM has been slow delivery...e.g. ordered gold coins 1st week in august 2008 - rec'd in late Septembr (say 6 weeks) This was using Cashiers cks to pay.
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Are there any satisfied customers for this company? I just placed an order for silver coins. They said that the wait time would be 3 or 4 months from receipt of payment. All these negative comments have made me nervous.
rkhunt5@aool.com
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I just noticed that the return address on my last post was incorrect. If you would note the change and respond to my correct address I would appreciate it.
Ron Hunt
rkhunt5@aol.com
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I recieved my order yesterday. This after being told many times by NW Mint that it would be about February before I would recieve my order. Their service is outstanding and I plan to place another order very soon.
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This is just jasons own way of getting people to pay higher prices for silver and freaking people out to raise his own auction prices! LOL Yes, NWT has UPTO 3 month wait at MAX .. but they clearly tell you that, infact they told me 8-10 weeks last time i called a week ago. Nice try jason, but NWTMint is GREAT if you don't mind the short wait.
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Am I the only person who has noticed that the whole point of what Jason Hommel was doing -- attacking Northwest Territorial Mint, Kitco and the Perth Mint -- was to create interest for his own business? You therefore can't take anything Hommel says as anything other than self-serving, no matter how much Bible he quotes.
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SOOOOO true, could not have said it better myself.. they are at 6 weeks delivery and a wicked company to deal with.. you on the other hand Hommel, are an ass... nice try!
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Looks like this was settled a long time ago. Here's the link to the story I saw on Coinlink: http://www.coinlink.com/News/press-releases/northwest-territorial-mint-settles-with-washington-state-attorney-general/ -- in which the attorney general says that there's nothing that should be implied to be wrong about what Northwest Territorial Mint does.
Meanwhile, I see stories all the time in the news about how much Northwest Territorial Mint has been growing. Hard to go bankrupt when you're a success...
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NWT is suing people for commissions, people find out they paid 28% in commissions after they send their check in and stop payment!! Of course they are going to stop payment when they find out 30% of their money id for commissions and it wasn't disclosed to them!!! These people need to complain to the AGs office in Washington, and counter sue these crooks!!!
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As for getting your bar's of silver delivered on time, Keep your pants on and have faith in the Postal system, as it will arrive when it gets there.
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This was a fantastic article. I came by your piece and found it extraordinarily helpful.
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