Published Articles
BullionVault Updates Their Terms For Account Holders
Dear BullionVault user,
There are five updates to our Terms & Conditions which you should note.
None of them affect our dealing fees (max. 0.8%) or storage charge ($4 per month, or 0.12% per year on larger accounts). Two of them put new obligations onto BullionVault, further improving the security of our users’ physical property.
These new conditions will apply 30 days from today:
http://www.bullionvault.com/help/terms_and_conditions.html
* Ownership Records *
Each working day, BullionVault will now send an encrypted, electronic copy of all client identities, public nicknames and their balances both to its auditors (Albert Goodman) and to ViaMat, our professional vault operators.
Without the decryption key, neither our auditors nor ViaMat can interpret or use this data to “unlock” the Daily Audit. The key is held by BullionVault’s lawyers, with a copy in both their London and New York offices.
Our lawyers are under instruction to release the decryption keys as follows:
1. Only to BullionVault on request, unless it is no longer operating; in which case
2. To our auditors, unless they are no longer operating; in which case
3. To a liquidator, unless one has not and will not be appointed; in which case
4. To ViaMat itself.
Such a chain-of-failure is highly unlikely, of course. But this new procedure ensures that a full record of your property ownership would survive BullionVault’s annihilation.
* In the Event of Your Death *
BullionVault now undertakes to process your BullionVault account in accordance with the legally authorized binding instructions of your executors in the event of your death.
Different procedures will apply depending on the jurisdiction in which your estate is handled. For further information, and to ensure smooth timely action, please refer to our procedure for handling deceased accounts:
http://www.bullionvault.com/help/in_case_of_death.html
* United States ONLY: Checks & Online Transfers *
If you wish to withdraw funds paid by US check or online transfer (bill-pay) within 60 days of deposit, BullionVault will require details of a staff-member we can contact at your bank.
We may also charge $30 to cover our administration costs. This is because, in some circumstances, US law allows a 60-day “right of repudiation” on checks and bill-payments. So if you seek to withdraw such funds within that period, BullionVault will need to contact and confirm with your bank that your original transfer will not be repudiated.
Please note that these extra measures are NOT required on wire transfers.
* Failure to Validate *
Validation protects both you and BullionVault from fraud and potential money-laundering issues. It simply requires, within two weeks of first transferring funds to your account, an electronic copy of your bank statement and your passport, as explained here:
http://www.bullionvault.com/help/verify_identity.html
To encourage prompt validation, and to recover our extra costs, we will now start charging a LATE VALIDATION FEE of $30 per month on all funded but unvalidated accounts.
We do not want to charge you this fee; we want you to validate your accounts.
As soon as you validate, we will re-credit your account with your most recent late validation penalty, if any.
* Changing Your Linked Bank Account *
If you change your bank account, you will need to validate the new details with us. BullionVault is now entitled to charge $50 (or currency equivalent) to cover its administration costs if you follow our prevailing procedure.
If the work required is more involved for some reason, BullionVault may charge you a reasonable fee based on its prevailing Time Charge, as published in our tariff:
http://www.bullionvault.com/help/tariff.html
Kind regards,
BullionVault
