Accredited Debt Relief

• Cost
• Programs
• Free Consultation
• One Representative to Work With
• Highly Accredited
• Results
• Positive Accredited Debt Relief Reviews
• Money Back Guarantee
• FAQ Section
• Community Outreach

Accredited Debt Relief Cost

On average, Accredited charges customers $6,000 for settling $30,000 of debt (20 percent of enrolled debt).

Accredited's website discloses that fees are typically between 15 and 25 percent. The company claims that it only charges 4 to 8 percent annually of the total enrolled debt depending on different state requirements for fees.

For example, if you enroll $30,000 in debt and Accredited Debt Relief negotiates that down to $15,000, you can expect fees to be about $6,000 (between $4,500 and $7,500). In this case, Accredited Debt Relief would not charge you over $2,400 in one year.

This pricing is typical for the debt settlement industry, but it is nice that Accredited Debt Relief will spread its fees out over the course of the debt settlement program.

This helps you keep more money when you're strapped for cash. If you can settle your debt and only pay the four percent annual fee rate of your debts, we recommend working with Accredited Debt Relief.
By law, the company cannot charge an upfront fee. You wouldn't have to pay Accredited Debt Relief any money until after its negotiators settle your debts.

Accredited Debt Relief ensures that you don't have to pay a dime until you see results. The company understands that the process might hurt your credit score and tries to charge the lowest fees possible to save you money and reduce damage to your credit report.

From what we can tell, Accredited Debt Relief does not work to lower the interest rate on your existing debt. This is a service offered by some debt relief companies, but as a debt settlement company specifically, Accredited takes a slightly different approach.

Accredited Debt Relief Programs

How does Accredited Debt Relief work? Accredited Debt Relief offers personalized debt relief programs to fit your situation. For some clients, this will mean a debt settlement program, where the company negotiates with your creditors to settle your debts for a certain amount, while you make monthly payments into a dedicated account that is then used to pay those settlements.

For other clients, debt consolidation or credit card consolidation will make more sense. This involves taking out one large loan to pay off your debts from mulitple creditors, so that you now are only paying off one loan with one interest rate, rather than multiple.

Free Consultation 

Accredited Debt Relief provides a free debt settlement consultation. On top of a free consultation, the company offers a personalized approach to every person's financial situation and credit score.

The company rarely works with secured debt, so most of its customers have unsecured debt. Unsecured debt can be medical bills, a student loan or personal loan, or credit card debt, to list a few examples. 

If you come to the company thinking you need debt settlement, it will only move forward if debt settlement is the right option for you. Otherwise, it will recommend one of its other services, like debt consolidation.

Free consultations are a national debt relief industry trend, so if a debt management company doesn't offer free consultations, you should probably look elsewhere.

One Representative to Work With

Its programs are well outlined on the website, and Accredited Debt Relief assigns clients one representative throughout the entire settlement process.

This makes it easier for Accredited, as your debt management company, to see if you actually need services other than debt settlement (like debt consolidation).

Your assigned expert will negotiate with your creditors and try to convince your lenders to lower your total owed debt. Meanwhile, you will be making a monthly payment into your Accredited savings account in order to build up funds that will go towards paying off your debt.

Creditors are tough to deal with, so an expert on your side can save you a lot of trouble. Whether you have credit card debt, student loans, bad credit loans, payday loans (either online payday loans or normal payday loans), installment loans, or any other type of unsecured loan debt, Accredited Debt Relief will give you the help necessary to develop a repayment plan so that you can climb out of your loan debt.

Working with a single representative as your point of contact means that you won’t be passed from person to person to have your questions answered. It demonstrates Accredited Debt Relief’s commitment to quality customer service.

Highly Accredited

Regarding accreditations, Accredited Debt Relief has more than the average debt management company. The company is a member of the AFCC and has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

On top of this, Accredited Debt Relief outlines FTC guides for debt settlement companies (it meets all requirements), provides additional debt consolidation services, and even links to a warning the FTC has on debt settlement.

Results

Accredited Debt Relief has successfully negotiated with the following credit card companies (proving that  Accredited really can help its customers with credit card debt):

• Bank of America
• Wells Fargo
• Chase
• CapitalOne
• Citibank
• American Express
• Sears
• USAA
• The Home Depot
• US Bank
• HSBC
• GE Capital
• Barclays
• OneMain Financial

Although Accredited Debt Relief cannot guarantee a settlement for every client with these companies, we appreciate that it shows results from these 14 companies. In the settlements shown, clients paid 11 to 50 percent of their credit card debt.

Positive Accredited Debt Relief Reviews 

We have over 1,000 reviews for Accredited Debt Relief on our website, and over 95 percent of these are either 4 or 5 stars. This is incredibly encouraging to potential clients of the company, because this means that over 1,000 people have had a positive experience with Accredited and its services in helping them receive relief from their debt burden.

In Accredited Debt Relief reviews, clients point out and value Accredited Debt Relief's knowledgeable staff. Additionally, customers note that the company's representatives make them feel comfortable throughout the process. In one Accredited Debt Relief review, one customer stated that he wished he had called the company sooner. Another positive review is reproduced below.

Customer Review: Emily

"They are super helpful. They explained everything to me and were able to bring my payments to where I was able to afford it!"

Money Back Guarantee

Accredited Debt Relief offers a generous money back guarantee. Plus, you as the client have to approve every settlement that is made on your behalf, and the company only gets paid once a settlement has been reached. Thus, you have full control over your money and payments throughout the whole process when you work with Accredited.

If you do decide to cancel your debt relief program, you can do so at any time, and you will get back any money that you had put into your savings account that was meant for future settlements, less any fees that had been agreed upon between you and Accredited Debt Relief. A generous money back policy like this one can give you peace of mind and lower the risk you may feel you are taking by using a debt relief service like Accredited's.

FAQ Section 

Accredited Debt Relief has one of the more helpful FAQ sections that we’ve seen. The company is very straightforward about how using its services may negatively affect your credit score, and about the different fees or legal scenarios that might come up during your debt settlement process. If you have questions about a specific debt relief service or if Accredited offers it, you will likely be able to find this information on the company FAQ page.

One question the company answers refers to debt collector calls. ADR mentions that you may notice an increase in debt collector calls while you are enrolled in the company's debt relief program, but it also outlines some common steps you can take to avoid the stress associated with such calls, or avoid the calls altogether by forwarding them straight to Accredited Debt Relief.

Community Outreach

Accredited Debt Relief supports a number of nonprofit organizations as a way to give back to the communities it services. These organizations include St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Wounded Warrior Project, The Salvation Army, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and Father Joe’s Villages.

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• Time in Business
• State Availability
• Negative Customer Reviews
• Minimum Debt Requirement
• Credit Counseling Not Available

Time in Business

One downside to Accredited Debt Relief is that it hasn't been in business as long as some competitors. The company was founded in 2008. Other debt management companies have been around since the mid to late 90s.

However, while Accredited Debt Relief may not have as much experience as other debt relief companies, it does provide more services, including a debt consolidation loan program. Companies that provide both a debt settlement and a debt consolidation program are advantageous for potential clients because they offer more services and thus options for people to pick from.

State Availability

Accredited Debt Relief is only available in 37 states and Washington, D.C. If you live in one of the states Accredited Debt Relief operates in, it is a good choice.

Negative Customer Reviews 

Some customers complained that they wish the company had explained the debt settlement process in more specific detail. However, there were only a select few who stated this.

Many negative customer experiences with debt management companies, in general, involve the unexpected penalties to credit scores. These complaints are understandable, but lower credit scores should be expected for those looking to find debt relief through debt settlement.

Customer Review: Kathy

"Original phone call was very misleading. Make sure you read all the documents thoroughly!"

Minimum Debt Requirement

While it’s fairly normal for debt relief companies to have a minimum debt requirement, the fact that Accredited Debt Relief does have one means some clients will be excluded from using its services if they don’t have at least $10,000 in debt. 

As a comparison, other top debt relief agencies such as Freedom Debt Relief and National Debt Relief have a lower minimum debt requirement ($7,500), while Accredited's requirement is tied with Pacific Debt Relief and is one of the highest we've seen.

Credit Counseling Not Available

While Accredited Debt Relief will work with your creditor(s) to settle your debt, the company itself does not provide credit counseling services. It does provide helpful information on its website about credit counseling and what to expect during a credit consultation, but Accredited specifically works with those who have already determined they need a debt settlement or consolidation program and doesn’t employ specific credit counselors to help you reach that decision.