GoldStar Trust Company Review: Fees, Owner and IRA Size, 2026

Why this review exists

About 720 people a month search for “goldstar trust company.” Most of them already have an IRA there and want to know who is behind it and what it costs; some are deciding whether to open one for a private note, a crowdfunding deal or gold. The pages that rank are review sites with affiliate links to gold dealers, and they mostly repeat the same lines: founded in 1989, a trust arm of Happy State Bank, Texas Department of Banking oversight. We read the documents instead. Several of those lines are out of date, and the regulator's own form says more about the size of the book than the company's website does.

We have no affiliate relationship with GoldStar and earn nothing if you open or move an account. For how custodians compare on real estate crowdfunding, see our SDIRA custodian comparison, which does not cover GoldStar.

1. Who owns GoldStar today

Three points that older descriptions get wrong. First, Happy State Bank now belongs to Home BancShares: the 8-K says the merger agreement was dated September 15, 2021 and the merger took effect April 1, 2022. Second, GoldStar is no longer described as a Happy State Bank branch: the 10-K calls it a “limited services trust company” and a subsidiary of Centennial Bank, and the About page says “Today, GoldStar Trust operates as a subsidiary of Centennial Bank and is located in Amarillo, Texas.” Third, the address is Amarillo (701 S Taylor on the fee schedule), not Canyon.

On regulation, the 10-K says Centennial Bank “is chartered as an Arkansas state bank and is a member of the Federal Reserve System,” supervised by the Federal Reserve Board and the Arkansas State Bank Department. Exhibit 21.1 gives Arkansas as GoldStar's state of organization. We could not open the Texas Department of Banking or Arkansas regulator lookups, so we do not say which agency licenses GoldStar itself; review sites that name the Texas Department of Banking do not cite a record, and we could not confirm it.

2. How big the book is: Schedule RC-T

Banks with trust powers file Schedule RC-T (Fiduciary and Related Services) with their call report. We downloaded the FFIEC bulk files for eight reporting dates and read the “other retirement accounts” lines, which is where a bank reports IRAs it holds. Amounts are in thousands of dollars.

What the table shows, and what it does not. Before the merger, Centennial Bank alone reported only $63,363 thousand across 353 such accounts (December 31, 2021), so the jump to $2.70 billion at year-end 2022 is Happy State Bank's trust book coming in. The schedule is the bank's, not a separate GoldStar filing, so it also contains any other retirement accounts the bank holds; we read the bulk of it as GoldStar because the 10-K says all GoldStar accounts are self-directed and the pre-merger Happy figure is almost the whole of the total (our reading, not a filed statement).

Between December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2025 non-managed assets rose from $3,194,693 thousand to $4,974,345 thousand, up $1,779,652 thousand or 55.7% (our arithmetic), while accounts rose by only 916, or 2.1%. The call report does not say why. From March 31 to June 30, 2026 the figure fell $553,446 thousand, or 10.5% (our arithmetic), with 858 fewer accounts. Because the schedule reports market values, price moves in what holders own can move it; we do not know the mix.

Compare this with GoldStar's website. The About page's fact box says “Over $6 billion in assets” and “over 60,000 customers”, while the History text on the same page says “more than $4.5 billion in assets under custody” and “over 60,000 clients.” The call report shows 45,494 non-managed retirement accounts and $4.70 billion. Customers and accounts are not the same thing, and the website may count other business, but the filed figure is the one you can check.

That income line covers all fees booked on these accounts, not only the schedule's maintenance fee, and the schedule does not break it down. We cannot say whether the rise from about $130 to about $250 per account reflects fee changes, mix or accounting; we could not retrieve earlier fee schedules to compare, so we make no claim that fees rose.

3. What it costs, from the company's own schedule

The schedule says annual fees “are due when the account is established and billed annually thereafter on the account opening anniversary date” and “are not prorated.” It also says that with several asset types “only one Maintenance Fee will be charged based on the asset type with the greater fee.” Fees can change: they “become effective on the 30th day after mailing the notice of such revision.”

Worked examples (our arithmetic). A $50,000 IRA holding crowdfunding notes pays $50 plus $150 = $200 in the first year (0.40% of $50,000) and $150 afterwards (0.30%), whether it holds one note or twenty, because the schedule has no per-asset line. A real estate IRA that buys one property and later sells it pays $50 + $150 + $100 + $100 = $400 in the first year before any legal fees. Precious metals in commingled storage cost $50 + $90 + $125 = $265 in year one and $215 a year after. Closing any of these with a full termination costs another $150.

Cash. Under its cash-management paragraph GoldStar sweeps uninvested cash into an omnibus account at “Happy State Bank, a division of Centennial Bank, an affiliate of GoldStar,” credits interest “based on the rate paid on similar accounts by one or more financial institutions selected by GoldStar,” and treats the difference as “GoldStar's compensation.” So idle cash earns something less than the bank pays, and the schedule does not state the rate.

What it will not hold. The schedule lists “Collectibles, Life Settlements, Viaticals, Single Member LLC and Foreign Real Estate” as not permitted, and the website says GoldStar “does not allow the use of single member LLCs, also known as “Checkbook IRAs,” to invest in real property.” If your plan is checkbook control, this is not the custodian. Our self-directed IRA real estate rules explain the structure.

4. What the contract says

GoldStar's IRA agreement (Rev. 11/2024, with the 2025 printing) and the fee schedule's disclosure state, in the company's words:

• Investments are yours alone. “You have exclusive responsibility for and control over the investment of the assets of your IRA.” The fee schedule adds that “GoldStar will not exercise any investment discretion regarding your IRA or ESA” and that you acknowledge “GoldStar is not a “fiduciary” with respect to your IRA or ESA under applicable state law.”
• No fiduciary status. “You acknowledge and agree that nothing in this agreement will be construed as conferring fiduciary status upon us,” and you agree to indemnify GoldStar for claims arising from the agreement.
• No duty to police the tax rules. “We have no duty to determine whether your contributions or distributions comply with the Code, regulations, rulings, or this agreement.”
• A 60-day window. “You will have 60 days after you receive any documents, statements, or other information from us to notify us in writing of any errors or inaccuracies.” After that they are deemed correct and GoldStar has “no further liability or obligation.”
• Losses from your directions. GoldStar says “We will not be responsible for losses of any kind that may result from your directions to us.”

This is the standard shape of a directed custodian's contract, and it matters most when the investment inside the IRA turns out to be a fraud.

The federal docket record

Justia Dockets' federal search for the party name “GoldStar Trust,” read on November 9, 2026, returns six cases. We list company parties, court, number and filing date as the listing gives them. We have not read the filings and state no outcome; the listing itself says dockets “should not be considered findings of fact or liability.”

Two things stand out. In three of the six GoldStar (as Happy State Bank or Centennial Bank) is the plaintiff, twice against large banks in contract cases, which suggests disputes over money moving through other institutions; the listing does not say what they concern. And the 2021 Louisiana case is the one that matters to an IRA holder: it is a fraud suit in which the bank doing business as GoldStar is a defendant alongside a bullion dealer. It is the kind of case a holder of a precious metals IRA should have read before choosing a dealer. We know nothing about its result. Federal listings also omit state courts, where custodian disputes often land. If you hold a position that has gone wrong, ask a lawyer to search both “GoldStar Trust Company” and “Happy State Bank d/b/a GoldStar Trust Company.”

Valuation. GoldStar's FAQ says the market value of “loans funds, mutual funds, stocks, foreign assets, etc. may be updated monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annually based on the individual asset,” and that precious metals are shown at an estimated bid value updated every two weeks. The December 31 value on your Form 5498 therefore depends on what the issuer reports; see our Form 5498 guide and the RMD guide for illiquid IRA assets.

Portal change. GoldStar's site carries a notice that a new client portal launches in October 2026 and that “Documents generated prior to October 2026 will not be available in the New Client Portal.” If you have not saved your older statements and tax documents, do it now.

5. What a reader can do with this

• If you hold gold or another asset bought through a dealer, ask whether the dealer is named in any court case before you send money (the 2021 Louisiana docket above shows why).
• Ask GoldStar in writing which entity holds your account (GoldStar Trust Company, Centennial Bank or the Happy State Bank division) and which agency supervises it, and keep the answer with your statements.
• Calendar the 60 days from each statement and read the asset lines against the issuer's own reports; the agreement treats silence as acceptance.
• Add up your real annual cost from the schedule: maintenance, any storage, a $40 paper statement fee if you have not enrolled in e-statements, and the cash-sweep spread you cannot see.
• If your IRA holds a private note, LLC or crowdfunding position, confirm the valuation date that appears on your December 31 statement before you rely on it for an RMD or a conversion.
• If you are choosing a custodian for real estate, compare flat-fee and per-asset schedules in our custodian comparison and the wider real estate crowdfunding IRA guide.

Sources: Justia Dockets federal search for the party “GoldStar Trust,” read November 9, 2026; GoldStar Trust Company Fee Schedule (Rev. 01/2026), IRA account agreement and application (Rev. 11/2024, 3/2025), home page, About Us and FAQ pages, read November 9, 2026; Home BancShares, Inc. Form 8-K filed April 1, 2022 (accession 0001331520-22-000040), Form 10-K for 2025 (accession 0001331520-26-000051) and Exhibit 21.1; FDIC BankFind API records for certificates 10359 (Happy State Bank) and 11241 (Centennial Bank); FFIEC Central Data Repository bulk call report files, Schedule RC-T, for December 31, 2021, March 31, 2022, December 31, 2022 to 2025, March 31, 2026 and June 30, 2026. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.