Freedom Debt Relief - How good a company is it?

I researched Freedom Debt Relief today and now they have 68 complaints with the BBB. I told them that I was not interested in doing business with them but now they keep calling me to pressure me. They say that I am making a big mistake, that Freedom Debt Relief can settle my debt in 6 months or less. I was going to pay lump sum not payments. They said they could save me 9,600.00 (3600 is their fee). Has anyone actually been happy with Freedom Debt Relief complaints?

Debi - tell Freedom Debt Relief to take a walk. With that many complaint reviews against them (unresolved ones, at that!), they are not worth your time nor your money.

Stop taking their calls and save yourself money.

Ja-I asked for a quote, but never got back to Freedom Debt Relief scam. They would call me SEVERAL times a day leaving me voicemail. At first I thought they were a debt consolidation company, but they aren't. The thing that threw up BIG red flags were that they claim to be able to do it in 12-36months, while if you read articles on-line, a reputable company could take 3-5 years if you do a payment plan.

there is a difference between debt settlement and debt management. There's a red flag if you're making statements and you dont know what you're talking about. the average debt settlement program is 36-42 months. The average debt management program is 6-9 years according to the National Law Center. Settlement works on the behalf of the consumer to REDUCE priciple and Management companies are sponsered by the banks and have pre negotiated interest rates, and will reduce INTEREST only. the main problem is they tell you 48 months, but if you do the national average of 11% interest and a monthly maint fee of $35-40 a month, you will see the program going a lot longer. Neither program is easy and they BOTH have their pros and cons. One is designed to help someone lower their monthly payment AND avoid bankruptcy and the other is designed to give you one payment when you have 6+ credit cards and you CANT manage your time/payments. The fact you can keep paying minimals and payoff debt within 20-30 years, but at higher interest, debt management will be a lower interest, but it's compacted into 6 years, which tends to actually raise your monthly payment. Freedom Debt Relief is a debt negotiation company.

Todius - Thank you for your post. A lot of people don't understand the difference between debt settlement and debt management. They get confused and think a company (like Freedom Debt Relief) is a scam when they may not be.

I do not know anything about Freedom Debt Relief reviews but if your total debt is 20k and they are saying they can reduce it to 11k plus charge you 4k in fees then your bottom line is 20k reduced to 15k which is a 75% settlement. It????????s not hard to get that on your own if you are 6 months behind in your payment. Heck many credit card companies will send you a settlement like that without even asking for one. If you are not behind in your payments and you enter this program or one like it then they will quit making payments until the credit card company settles which will hurt your credit. I would probably stay away from Freedom Debt Relief though since they have a bad BBB rating and they are trying to high pressure sale you into using them. It's a scam.

Let me clarify. My total debt is about $20k and their settlement program, INCLUDING their fees, is only about $11k. That means, in reality, since their fees are 15%, which is about $3k...I'm only paying back about $8k of my debt back. I've done alot of research and even spoke to the founder of their company and it all seems on the up and up. I'm just scared I guess. I'm so untrusting of anyone, including my creditors! I KNOW my creditors could really care less if I'm having trouble as long as they get paid the monthly minimum. If not Freedom Debt Relief company can someone recommend a good debt settlement company they have worked with???

Oh, and I addressed the BBB complaints with their founder and he said he wishes they had none but Freedom Debt Relief always resolve their complaints. I did look at the BBB and I believe they are all resolved. He invited me to contact the CA Attorney General's office as he knows I will not find any negative information there. Their founders are Stanford graduates...blah blah blah. Help! I'm scared! It's either this or bankruptcy!

I can tell you for sure that Freedom Debt Relief will not succeed in 40% settlement which is what they are telling you without messing up your credit score. Your accounts will have to be charged off before you get that kind of settlement even with one of these companies trying to negotiate. As your accounts get charged off the amount you owe escalates. The credit companies start tagging you with late fees, over limit fees, higher interest and other fees to balloon your balance. In 6 months that 20,000 could easily grow 35% to around 27,000. They may still be able to get a 40% settlement on the beginning balance but keep in mind that your credit will be a wreck afterward. As you settle your score will improve but the settled amounts leave gray marks on your report. Sometimes you can dispute these and the creditor will not verify those marks so they disappear. Also keep in mind that your creditors will 1099 you afterward too which means you have to pay your tax bracket on the difference between the ballooned amount and the amount you paid.

I have not personally worked with any debt settlement company so I can not recommend any but one thing I would do is try to not pay them a large amount up front without anything being settled. Maybe you could get the company to agree to take payment as the settle items for you. For example if the settle a 5,000 account for 2,000 then you would send them a check for 2000 made out to the creditor and another check for $750 made out to them which is their 15% fee. I do not think they could settle any of them though if you continue to make your minimum payments. I would also recommend that you try the counseling on this site prior to going with any settlement program.

In reality 20k in debt is actually pretty low. I certainly would not file bankruptcy over it. I would try to cut corners, sell stuff and take extra work to pay it down which is what I did for my own debt. Do not let the creditors make you think it is an urgent matter either. Take care of your necessities first. If you end up delinquent on your accounts so be it.

I spoke with Freedom Debt Relief too regarding my $28,000 credit card debt. The "consultant" was very upfront about my credit taking a hit. But hey, if they can settle my account for only 40% including the fees then i'm all for it. Im not planning on buying a new house or refinancing in the next few years so Im not really worried about the credit score dropping. They did mention credit repair once the account settles though. I'll have to look into that some more.

Freedom debt relief is an ok company if you have the money up front. I deal with them at least 3x a month. They are usualyt more inclined to wait until somehting has charaged off on your credit report for a few years hoping they can get you a 40-50% SIF offer.

question if they have all these complaints with the BBB why are they an okay company? Freedom Debt Relief scam.

From what I understand, if Freedom Debt Relief settle the complaints with the BBB & the customer, that affects their standing. I've seen a lot of companies with a TON of complaints, but they addressed them (the company).

I had started to work with freedom debt relief and to date they have taken $1300 of my money and lost my information twice. They have lied to me and when I asked for a termination notice and the remaining $236 they didn't respond and took half of the money that I had left. I made a terrible mistake. I should have checked the complaints against Freedom Debt relief and now have to file for bankruptcy because this has cost me so much. When I started I was not in arears and had a decent credit score, now I just have a mess. :(

I'm sorry it didn't work out Working with freedom debt relief review!! They have many complaints.
I would apply for a free consultation or call the 800 # on the right...they could let you know what your options are & maybe how to get what is yours from FDR.

Do you mean Freedompoint debt relief (now CareOne?) If it is the same company I am working with them and so far is working I get a statement from them and a statement from the card companies showing their payments every month. Hope this help1

I have been working with this company for nearly two years now and have had mixed feelings about them. If you are VERY concerned about your credit report and you can keep making your highest minimum payment (by that I mean take your minimum payment amount now and keep making payments in that amount until paid off) then do that. Most people can pay off all their debts at the current minimum payment amount in 2-3 years with no delinquencies to tarnish their credit reports. If you are not bothered by delinquencies, and understand that credit does heal itself over time, then by all means they can settle for amounts significantly less than what you owe. I've settled on average for 41 percent of the current balances. My credit is now getting better as I have settled 2 of 5 accounts. Good luck if you choose them, I have much less stress thanks to them.

I am a 69 year old widow and have been with FDR over a year. I entered the program with a debt of $30,000 which they said would be reduced and paid off in 33 months. There are 3 accounts in the plan and all 3 accounts have now gone to legal because someone dropped the ball or just did nothing on the accounts. By going legal I now have to pay the law firms each month and will probably have to pay the entire amount of the debt instead of any of them being reduced. I am very upset because I was told about 2 months ago that one of the accounts could be settled because there was enough money in the account to pay it off, but it was not done. When you join the program they say they will help you with your debts, but I now feel I have not been helped at all. I have paid a certain amount to FDR each month out of the payments I made.

I agree with you all concerning Freedom debt relief. I am currently dealing with them and have asked them to cancel my contract with them. I feel that they are not doing anything as far as paying or settling any of my debt situations. I am still receiving letters from my creditors (who are suppose to be consolidated with FDR). I have been making monthly payments to them since July 2007. I asked them to send me a copy of everything stating what I have paid this far and how they have distributed this amount to each of my creditors. They have not sent this information to me, yet. So that was one red flag to me about them. The second red flag was when they would not allow me to pay by money order,etc. They only did automatic drafts from your bank account. So, I called my bank and signed a form for my bank not to allow any more automatic drafts to come out of my account from Freedom Debt Relief. I feel that they are hurting me financially more so than helping me.

This company was going to get me out of debt in 2 yrs.

In 4 months they took $1500.00 of my money and $117.00 went to my 4 accounts. This company ripped me off. While in this program my accounts were turned over to collection agencies.
Do not go with this company

It's not their program that is flawed, it's their representatives that are misinforming you.

debt settlement is a viable program for those who have the patience and information to understand and appreciate how it works. Collection accounts won't negatively affect debt settlement, however might even assist in it. Collectors buy your account for somewhere around 10 cents on the dollar (depending who the original creditor is). Therefor their generally willing to settle for less then creditors, because to them a 20% or 25% settlement is doubling their initial investment.

I've done work through Freedom debt relief in the past, their processing department is up to standards. It's likely you had a horrible representative who got you enrolled to inflate his numbers and he never really cared after that.
I personally give even clients a call every month or two just to touch base and see how everything is going. From a consumer standpoint, it reasures the client; from a business standpoint it keeps feedback coming in regarding the file, aswell as possible references, win/win if you ask me.

Sorry to hear you got shafted, hope everything works out well for you.

Thanks for the info everyone. I was sooooo close to signing with this company and I'm glad I didn't after reading all the feedback. I have about 40G in credit card debt that they said they could settle for $700.00 a month for 32 months which sounded too good to be true. Thanks

THIS COMPANT TOOK $1600 FROM ME AND MY ACCOUNT WAS TURNED OVER TO A COLLECTION AGENCY. DO NOT GO WITH THIS COMPANY

All companies will get compaints, it's how a company deals with them that defines their customer service. People could not have understood how the program works, could have tried to change a payment date the day before the ACH was set to draw the money, etc.

Working for a settlement company myself, I'm very up front about the credit hit. It's a fairly large hit to your score, however a good settlement company will have your credit profile still in tact. The accounts will show "Account Closed by consumer" and "Account settled in full"; it's part of the negotiations.

my debt is $20,000 and they're settling it for $9,000 which includes their fees. they have stopped harrasing phone calls, gave me what to say if one does get through. they said it would take 3 years and i'm at less than that now. i am a supporter of them. they have done nothing but help not only me but my sister. all their complaints have been resolved because i took one step further than viewing the bbc. i called the attorney general's office. don't stop when you see bad. delve further and find the end result. they helped me avoid bankruptcy. freedom debt relief is my hero. :D

mcasper is right. i will have my file show account closed by consumer when it is all finished with. mcasper hit it all. that's exactly what freedom debt relief did for me!! :lol:

Dear JaBaker,
Many debt settlement companies have bad ratings with the BBB. This is mainly due to a companies failure to completely disclose the process of debt settlement. It does cause negative reporting to your credit, but your credit can begin healing itself sooner than if you are tapped out and paying minimum payments at outrageous compounded interest rates. debt settlement companies do charge fees that range from 15% - 18%. They have established relationships with collection departments and can have a better chance of settling your account at the lowest rate possible. Think of it this way, you CAN cut your own hair if you want to. But, do we not go to professionals for the best haircut possible? With Debt Settlement you are cutting your monthly payments usually by 50% leaving you more money to put towards paying off your debt sooner (apply to mo. payments to decrease time in program) or to help pay for daily necessities such as gasoline, etc.. Debt Settlement works for YOU not for the creditors. Although there are companies out there that claim they are "FREE", we all know nothing is free. These companies are contracted by the creditors and are paid for by the creditors. All of the employees have to get paid some how. It is all in the way you are paying for it. With the "FREE" debt management companies, you are paying interest at a reduced rate and the FULL principal balance you owe. With Settlement, the interest and fees are eliminated and the principal balances are also cut sometimes as much as 75%! But more commonly around 45-50%. Yes, you pay a fee, but you still save a ton of money in the process. Yes, you hurt your credit, but you are in this type of program for a very short time and then your credit begins to heal itself. You may also be able to fix it faster with some credit repair companies out there. But do your homework on those. If your #1 goal is to get out of debt, then Settlement is the smart choice. As far as the BBB, people report debt settlement firms, like I said earlier, because they do not know how the program works and then think that they are getting ripped off due to the lack of disclosure by the rep enrolling them in the program.

Credit Exchange Center is a reputable company with many years of servicing experience. Their debt mediators are certified and their service is excellent.

Check out a review of Freedom debt relief... looks legit.

They have 40,000+ clients, so that number of complaints is incredibly low (see some of their competitors with a ton more complaints and fewer clients).

Anyway, they look pretty good: Bills.com has done a good evaluation of them, but the link won't go up... so go their and search for the review.

They are big and look good.

People are soooo misinformed, when you llok at the number of complaints does anyone even bother to ask what the companies total client base is???

Ofcourse, having 68 complaints out of a bas eof 100 clients is pathetic, but have you thought about a client base of more than 40000?? You can't keep everyone happy, especially the mis-informed. They are in dire straits because of their faulty financial jusdgments in the first place and they would love to throw that balme on companies working to help them too!!!

Thats a crying shame.

It sounds some times too good to be true, but Freedom debt relief settled all of my debt for just under half of what i owe and now I am debt free. It wasn't perfect (i got some collection calls, and one of my accounts went to a law firm... but they settled it) but thanks to them i'm debt free and my $40,000 in debt is gone.

Thanks FDR!

I feel relieved at last that someone is representing me. I did a ton of research and decided that debt settlement was better for me, and that Freedom debt relief is the best company out there.


That's my 2cents.
:D

i've been enrolled in Federal Debt Relief program now for 4 months and so far they've held true to their word. We've been depositing around $700 per month and have accumulated about $800 that is to go towards our settlements. One account has gone to an attorney, and they've assured me they will get it resolved as we build our account.

DO NOT USE THEM.
I was using them (two months)and the phone calls were horrible, debt collectors.I was afraid to answer my phone, it was very embarassing if people were over and they are wondering 'why isn't she answering all thos calls? HMMM?.
I wound up getting a call form the court,(only after 2 months of not paying my bills) they were putting a judgement against me (bank of america) and I had to either come up with the money or they were going to send me a summons to appear in court. I talked to another person at Bank of America (the court told me to call him) and they were very forceful, they have som tactics... If I didn't come up with the money(in like 45 minutes, they wanted me and my husband to call all our credit cards that were open and ask for blank checks to be overnighted, of course they couldn't do that because I had the 'bad credit' already. They arent' going to give me another line of credit!)then the summons would be sent out! So I CALLED MY PARENTS. That was painful, but they did have the money and I overnighted the checks to Bank of America. (they did settle down the debt from 60,000 to 40,000, so turns out I DIDN'T need Freedom Debt Relief review after all.) Luckily I had my parents, but if I didn't have them, I would be getting ready to go to court. Bank of America said they WOULD NOT take any payment plan. I HAD to pay in full!
After all of this, the $2, 600.00 that I paid to Freedom, well they took that and RAN with it! So you could say it just made everything worse!
DO NOT DO THESE PEOPLE Just keep paying your bills, switching to 0% whenever possible. Its better than ruining your credit!
Luckily, since I paid in full, my credit will not be hindered.
All I can say is find another way to break the cycle.
Good luck
"LUCKY" in NJ
PS: Thanks mom and dad! :)

I am still somewhat confused after reading everyone's advice. I think I am going to call my creditors and try to do it myself informing them that I know in time they will give my card to a collection agency and getting on .05 or .10 on the dollar and I am willing to pay .40 right now and be done with it. If not then I will file bankruptcy and they will get 0!

I have been dealing with them as of late. I have 70K of unsecured debt, my great credit cards from 3 banks have raised my interest rates not because of late payment etc but they said it was because of having so much unsecured debt. With the increase I will in the short term begin to not be able to pay their minimums and I am searching for any way out. They said they could probably reduce my debt to 35K and they work with my card companies all the time; I just would like to hear from someone who has had a good experience with Freedom debt relief. I tried to search the BBB but could not get anything on them./

I would like to thank FDR for all your help. Helping me take this step is very exciting to me and it is very nice to know that there are people in this world that still care about helping other people. Thank you again. You have a great day.

I decided to type this in response to a previous commenter who specifically mentioned Citibank not working with Freedom Debt. This used to be a true statement, but has not been true since mid 2007.

As an employee for a large bank who works directly with debt settlement companies, I have seen the practices of many debt settlement companies. I can honestly say that if I were in the position some clients are in, Freedom debt relief would be my company of choice.

There are only a handful of companies that actually start paying debts immediately. Most accumulate funds over at least a year and then try to pay your debts. By this time the debts are with third parties and possibly being litigated. With Freedom they immediately start contacting your debtors to negotiate settlements.



I am not encouraging anyone to go this route because it does have a serious impact to your credit report, however being in a position to see how clients are handled, if you have decided a debt settlement company is for you, I would choose Freedom Debt Relief.

I read an article today in newspaper that reported many many corporate companies are now outsourcing their collections to India..it stated that these people do a much better job..amazing that even debts in the u.s. are now being outsourced to other countries :shock: :shock: :shock:
debt collectors are now being replaced by workers in India :x

I just cancelled my FDR account, it ruins your credit and one of my credit card companies turned my account over to a lawyer and a ended up with a summons to pay my debt in 20 days or go to court. i wasted about 3000 dollars for nothing, my advice would be to stop paying your credit cards, save up as much money as you can for about 6-9 months and then try to make a settlement with the 3rd party collectors. FDR may sound good, but i would not recomend it.

I have over 50,000 of debt and am struggling to pay the minimum payments each month. I am using up my savings and getting no where. It sounds like debt relief is something I should consider. I am confused about a couple of things. If I enter into this do I still keep making my minimum payments??
HAs anyone gotten sued over this and wound up in worse shape then when they started? I really need help....

Quote:

Thank you for your response. Should I shop around to find the best settlement company? How do I find a reputable one? I spoke with one on the phone and they are saying they typically reduce the total debt by 40%....so instead of owing 50,000 I 'd owe 30,000. Are there companies that are better more successful at getting that lowered more?

99 % of all settlement companies will quote settlements around 40%. Any company that quotes an average settlement less than 40 % is not being realistic. Some of the better companies with solid reputations with the BBB are New Beginnings debt settlement LLC , Century Negotiations , Oak View Law , and Superior debt relief.

No, but I was ripped off by debt relief of America. If you
haven't looked at a non profit credit counseling, I recommend
you do that first. SERIOUSLY!!!
DRA told me that there were no hidden charges, their charge
was 10 of my owed bills & it was built into the payment. First
they took over $1500 up front before they even started my
"savings" account. When I had enough money to settle
I had to call & call and ask why aren't they doing anything.
Finally, they settled one of my debts for $1200 with the
agreement to pay $1000 and the remainder $200 the following
month. They never did & now I made a payment of $1000
and the company wants $1600 to settle. Oh and for them
to setttle they also take 10% of that amount. When I complained and stopped my savings I was still being charged $50 a month for their counseling benefits. So right now I am further debt than I was, my credit sucks!!! I am driving a gas guzzler and have no way to trade it in for a better car and Credit counsling said their only advice is for me to file bankruptcy because its too late. If you want to settle your debts, do it yourself. Put your money in savings & you will get offers. I setlled my one debt for 1/3 of what I owed, I wish I had known up front that I could have done it myself, thats what I'm trying to do with my remaining debts

I just found out from the BBB that Freedom debt relief can no longer do business in California. They have been ordered to cease & Desist. The report is really bad. Buyer beware!!

Would you please list the source where you obtained that information? :)

I read from the BBB Better Business Bureau that Freedom debt relief, Freedom Financial, Bills.com, and whatever else names they have, can no longer do business in California, they have been ordered to cease and desist!! Wow, I know many of these posts were by the owners, and who cares that they are Stanford graduates..egotistical brats, so be careful reading all the praise.

Anyway, buyer beware, they are doing business illegally in many states and now their own state has barred them from doing business there!!

I just contacted them about working with my debt. Is there anyone that has had any contact with them in the last few months. I am ready to get something done but, need to have someone that has worked with them successfully advise.

thanks

dont do business with them they pray on the weak and uneducated

Freedom debt relief is the nations largest debt settlement firm period. Nobody is perfect, when you have more than 40000 clients enrolled, I think 68 complaints is not bad at all, in fact it is an achievement. I have personally know a friend who finished the program, it was not a cake walk. It had its up and downs, but at the end he saved more than 9500K!. I think the problem here is that people do not understand what they are getting themselves into. When you have riled up 28K in debt, there is no easy way out. Any program except for a loan, is going to effect your credit in one way or the other. Debt settlement is not for everyone, it was primarily designed for folks who cannot afford their minimums and are contemplating bankruptcy. Bankruptcy laws are tough, and the Chapter 13 form of a bankruptcy is nothing but a court decided repayment plan. Why would somebody tarnish their report with a bankruptcy, when a debt settlement company can get you debts paid off in 12-36 months. Also, I see conflicting statements about the duration of the program. Keep in mind that be it Consumer credit counseling or Debt Settlement, it all depends on how much you can save monthly. The more you save the faster you can finish the program and a lot depends on the mix of your creditors. This forum is a direct competitor to Freedom Debt Relief, no wonder you wonly see negative comments here.

Freedom debt relief is a good company but they are not even close to being the largest settlement company. That honor belongs to Credit Solutions of America " of course they suck though ".