A rollover is not the same as a Transfer. You can make multiple transfers into and out of a Strata Account IRA, as long as the type of IRA doesnt change. Institution to Institution transfers, are simpler and do not involve them cutting a check and sending it to you. - Contact the recipient institution and fill out the paperwork there. Its an ugly process, and takes a week or so to settle. I advise doing it no more than once a year unless you are desperately in need of it in the other IRA account.
If you "withdraw" from your Lending club account (Under the Transfer Tab menu), it moves money into Strata and out of LC, however its still part of the same IRA account at Strata. From the IRS point of view nothing has happened. At this point the money sits there and earns bank interest. Something like .02%/yr. Once you have enough money in the Strata account to transfer to your other IRA (eg., Schwab IRA) you can initiate the transfer from there (eg. Schwab). This is still not a taxable event. Do not rollover, transfer.
I believe Strata charges $25 or so per transfer. So fewer is better. Once the account value goes below a threshold like $10,000 the annual fee, which is normally paid by LC to Strata, has to be paid as well.
Seems that when you get down to something like $200, its all work and very little upside. Strata wins in the end with the annual fees and transfer fees.
Does anyone know if they have an account closing procedure too? Hopefully its not as arcane. All in all its a real drag trying to get your IRA money out of Strata and back to where it's fairly liquid again. Strata has been an experience I wish I never had.
Thanks for starting this thread. I wish that Strata would list the names of the companies they work with. I would rather stick some of that money into something like Gold or Silver bullion.
Good Luck everyone.
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