Nati🍌onal Debt Relief vs. Freedom Debt Relief: Services Offꩲered

National Debt Relief and Freedom Debt Relief offer the same services. Debt settlement makes up the bulk of each company’s business, while some customers are offered 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:debt consolidation loans through partner affiliations with certain lenders. Both companies handle the same types of debt as well—namely, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:unsecured debts such as🐓 credit cards, personal loanജs, and private student loans. 

The debt settlement process works pretty much the same regardless of the company you choose. You’ll be required to intentionally default on your debts while you instead make monthly payments into a new third-party savings account. Hopefully, by the time your creditors start putting your accounts into collections, you’ll have accumulated enough savings for the company to negotiate a settlement for a reduced amount.🍸 But there’s no guarantee your creditors will accept a settlement.

N👍ational Debt Relief vs. Freedom Deb🥀t Relief: Debt Settlement Fees

Both companies charge a settlement fee ranging from 15% to 25%, although where you fall within that range may differ with each company depending on your state of residence and your amountᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ of debt. This fee is charged for each individual debt and is taken after you give your consent to any settlements that the companies can negotiate on your behalf. 

But National Debt Relief charges based on the amount of settled debt, while ꦺFreedom charges based on the amount of initial debt. For example, say your fee is 25%, you enroll a credit card balance of $10,000, and the company is able to negotiate a settlement for 50% less. National Debt Relief would charge $1,250 (25% of $5,000) Freedom Debt Relief would charge $2,500 (25% 🔯of $10,000). These fees are in addition to the settlement amount you have to pay. 

However, it’s possible that Freedom would charge the lower end of its fee, rather than the higher end. And Freedom’s program guarantee could be an attractive feature if you’re worried ꧒about a lot of interest accruing throughout the program. So it may be worth exploring costs with both companies.

What’s not included in the costs above are the taxes you’ll generally owe on any forgiven amounts, the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:damage to your credit from defaulting on and settling your debt, and—a particularly annoying point—extra fees for required services from third-party companies, like the dedicate♚d savings ac༒count that will hold your settlement funds.

Freedom Debt Relief states that there’s a $9.95 setup fee and a $9.95 monthly fee for this dedicated account. National Debt Relief doesn’t specify the cost, but customer reviews on Google describe it as the same amount. Reviewers also report that you may be charged a monthly subscription fee for legal services in case a creditor sues you.

National Debt🐭 Relief vs. Freedom Debt Relief: Accreditations

National Debt Relief and Freedom Debt Relief are both accredited by the same two organizations, the American Association for Debt Resolution (AADR) and the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA). They also hold 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Better Business Bureau (BBB) accreditations, although these are based in large part on how the companies interact wi𒀰th the BBB, rather than on their actual debt settlement services.

Freedom Debt Relief claims to be a member of the nonprofit Financial Health Network (FHN), but it’s not listed directly in the member directory. It does have a connection, though: FDR is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Freedom Financial Network. Freedom Financial Network also owns most of a loan company called Achieve, and that lender is a member of the FHN.

National Debt Relief vs.𝔉 Freedom Debt Relief: Customer Satisfaction/Review𓄧s

Once again, Freedom Debt Relief and National Debt Relief have basically the same numbers, this time for customer satisfaction ratings. One exception is with National Debt Relief, which currently has 116 customer complaints filed against it within the CFPB Consumer Complaint directory.

However, Freedom Debt Relief doesn’t get off free in this regard, either, having been sued numerous times by various state and federal authorities tasked with protecting consumers from abusive practices. In 2020, for example, FDR reached a settlement with the state of New York to pay almost $3.6 million for misleading customers about expected savings through the program. And in 2019, the company settled a $25 million lawsuit in which the CFPB alleged that FDR charged consumers without settling their debts as promised and after having them negotiate their own settlements, among other infractions.

The Bottom Line

If debt settlement is your goal, we’d recommend over , given that it’s more widely available and hasn’t been embroiled in numerous government lawsuits for violati꧃ons of consumer protection laws. We think it’s still worth checking with both companies to see if one offers a lower rate than the other.

How We Determine the Best Debt Relief Companies

To determine the best debt relief companies, we reviewed various databases, competitive analyses, consumer behavior, and more, ultima💜tely narrowing down the list to 40 companies that offered debt settlement and/or credit counseling services. We developed a quantitative model in whi💃ch we identified 53 important criteria across five categories. We weighted each category as follows to rate debt settlement companies:

• Costs and fees: 41.00%
• Availability: 22.50%
• Reputation and stability: 19.00%
• Customer experience: 9.50%
• Services: 8.00%

We then gathered data for the 53 criteria directly from companies via websites, media contacts, and existing partnerships. Data was collected between Oct. 19, 2023, and Dec. 18, 2023. This resulted in over 2,000♉ data points in our rubric, which we used to score and determine the best debt relief companies (including debt settlement and credit counseling services) for people looking to manage and get out of debt.

To learn more about our process for finding the best debt relief companies, read our 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:full methodology.