How We Rank - Understanding our ranking criteria

Debt Consolidation Ranking Criteria

Accreditations: 7% of Overall Score

In multiple survey’s we have conducted, a company’s accreditations are consistently important to consumers. In the debt consolidation industry, we believe it is important for companies to have the following:

• Certified Counselors. Companies should be help customers not only consolidate their debts, but help them secure a better financial future.
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO): A certification from ISO adds credibility to a company’s service and demonstrates that the company is up to industry standards.
• The Association of independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies (AICCCA): This is the largest association credit counseling companies can be a part of. The organization ensures their members follow high standards and provide particular services.
• National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC): Members of NFCC provide education for the public and a number of free services related to finances.

Interest Rates: 9% of Overall Score

Many companies claim to lower interest rates for customers when they consolidate their loans. However, customers won’t know how much they are actually lower their interest rates until they fully examined their case. We look at companies and see how they are able to achieve lower interest rates for their customers.

Monthly Fees: 11% of Overall Score

The obvious reason people go into debt in the first place is because they spend too much money that they don’t have. The last thing they should be doing is paying a bunch more money to try and get out of debt. A debt relief company that won’t charge customers too much is one that we feel good about recommending. While a great company does a lot of work for their customers, they also won’t charge more than they need to for services performed.

Account Management: 6% of Overall Score

If you have no idea where to start on your debt relief journey, then you’re not alone. Many people have no idea where to start. A great company will provide the following benefits:

• Credit Counseling
• No Cancellation Fee
• Free Consultation

The more a company is willing to provide upfront, the better.

State Availbility: 4% of Overall Score

We reward companies that extend their services to more people. One of the easiest ways to do this is offer consolidation programs in all U.S. states. Debt Consolidation companies are judged based on the number of states they opperate out of.

Up-Front Fees: 9% of Overall Score

Up-front fees can be an unnecessary added burden to individuals that are trying to get out of debt. Some companies may find it hard to avoid upfront fees, considering the amount of work that goes into service in the beginning. Companies that charge up-front aren’t necessarily bad, but it’s always a promising sign when a company can charge little or nothing when they first get started.

Time in Business: 3% of Overall Score

Experience in the industry and multiple surveys have taught us that people trust companies that have been in business for longer than a year or two. This isn’t the only determining factor in trust, but it is an important one. A company that has been around for a while shows that they have been able to weather storms that have come their way and that it is very likely that they will be around to serve customers for years to come.

Spanish Services: 3% of Overall Score

Not many companies have representatives that speak Spanish to serve a significant portion of the population that seeks out debt consolidation services. We give companies that offer these services a few extra points for making the extra effort.

Online Dashboard 3% of Overall Score

We like to see it when companies innovate and create better services and experiences for their customers. Many companies have started to offer an online dashboard or portal where their clients can see their account information as well as track their progress. This makes the company more transparent, and allows the consumer to feel more in control.

User Reviews: 25% of Overall Score

We want to make sure that customers have a say in our rankings. They’ve had real world experiences with these business and we think it’s very important that they have the ability to tell other people about it. If you’ve had an experience with any of the companies we’ve reviewed, let us know in the comments section on their review page.

Expert Review: 20% of Overall Score

Along with the criteria points above and the user reviews, we take into account various other factors that help to determine the viability, longevity and trustworthiness of businesses that we rank and review on our site. Company size, company leaders, transparency and more play a part in our expert review criteria.

Debt Settlement Ranking Criteria

Price: 10% of Overall Score

The price criteria encompasses any financial charges that a customer may experience when doing business with a company. For debt settlement, companies are scored based off of the following information:

• Cost of Consolidation

Accreditations: 5% of Overall Score

One of the ways we determine whether or not a company can be trusted is based on their accreditations. Some of the most important accreditations include AFCC(American Fair Credit Council) and IAPDA(International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators). We also look into see whether or not these companies are FTC(Federal Trade Commission) compliant. While these accreditations do not guarantee that a company is of good, it is an important indicator.

State Availability: 15% of Overall Score

Best Company determines the number of states in which a company’s services are available. This is one measure we use to determine a company’s ability to provide consistent service to its customer base. Companies that operate in more states will receive a higher score than companies that only operate in a few.

Contract: 10% of Overall Score

Each time a customer requests services from a company, a contract between the two parties is created. When available, we thoroughly examine the fine print of these contracts and share the information that customers need to know, such as the term length of the contract or the contract cancellation fee. For debt settlement, companies are scored based off of the following information:

• Minimum Debt Required

Time in Business: 15% of Overall Score

“Time in business” gives customers an idea of a company’s ability to establish itself and improve its product or service quality over time. Older companies have generally demonstrated greater sustainability, and are typically more reliable than more recent companies—and will therefore receive a higher score.

Active: 5% of Overall Score

We look at the legal history and financial stability of each company. This metric takes into consideration any bankruptcies, class action lawsuits, government lawsuits, or government investigations a company has had in the last five years.

Verified: 10% of Overall Score

We verify company information with supporting documentation that companies offer on their websites or share with customers.

User Reviews: 25% of Overall Score

Here at Best Company, we believe a company is only as good as what its customers say about it; feedback from real customers is crucial to understanding how a company truly operates. For this reason, we have allocated more than half of a company’s overall rating to verified customer reviews. The customer reviews score is broken down into three metrics:

1. The average user score
2. Total number of reviews
3. Total number of reviews in the last 12 months

These three metrics not only help us understand what customers are saying, but they also help us determine a company’s relevance and to how many people—all of which are critical to understanding the value of a company in the eyes of the customer.

Note: this is different from the “User Score” that is displayed on each company profile, which is simply the average of all user scores published for a given profile, and is independent from a company’s overall score.

User Review Moderation

In order to prevent false and misleading user reviews, Best Company employs a Review Moderation Team specifically assigned to vet all user reviews for all companies listed on the site. This team follows a very specific and strict moderation process that has been designed to gauge the validity of each and every user review submitted to our site.

The Flag System

This moderation process involves a “flag” system, where a flag is assessed for each negative attribute associated with a user review. Too many flags result in a rejection of a user review. Some of the things our moderation staff looks for and assigns potential flags to include the following:

• Email address verification of the user
• IP address duplication and region check
• User review semantic verification
• Is the user an employee of the organization?
• Is the user associated with a competitor of the organization?
• Foul language of any kind
• Relevance of the content pertaining to the company and the review

As you can probably tell, we take our user review moderation process very seriously. We believe accuracy and authenticity are critical when it comes to user reviews, and are constantly finding new ways to make our user moderation process better. Please note that while we do our best to manually moderate each and every user review, mistakes can occasionally be made; however, we are dedicated to resolving any errors in our process and delivering you better data so you can make a better decision.

Tax Debt Relief Ranking Criteria

Price: 7% of Overall Score

Price is an important component of our debt settlement rankings. While this criteria point doesn’t carry as much weight as it does in the debt settlement and consolidation rankings, it’s still important. This point is not as weighted because other factors like the staff members of a company or the overall trust in them is a more important aspect of a tax relief company. Most companies you will need to call to get a price for your specific situation. Companies are awarded the maximum number of points if they display pricing on their site. Some points are award for general pricing information online, and some for giving pricing over the phone.

Professional Association Members: 7% of Overall Score

There are various organizations or associations that both companies and individuals can become affiliated with. Just because a company is a member of one of these organizations does not mean that they are a company that you should automatically be ok working with. However, when a company is a member it greatly increases the likelihood that they are a trustworthy business because of the standards that these organizations enforce. Certification with one or many of these organizations is a sign of trustworthiness to a certain extent.

Some of these associations include: The American Bar Association (ABA), The American Society of Tax Problem Solvers (ASTPS), National Association of Tax Resolution Companies (NATRC), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP), National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA), and National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP).

Staff Accreditations: 7% of Overall Score

A company’s staff credibility is an important aspect to receiving tax relief. It is important to know if a company has these members on staff. Each staff member’s certification and credibility to deal with customer tax relief is an important factor to the trust and legitimacy of a company.

• Enrolled Agent: An Enrolled Agent (EA) is an individual that has completed certain certification steps to be allowed to work with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). They are empowered by the Department of Treasury. An EA is able to work with individuals in all 50 states. They are an essential part of a good tax relief company.
• Tax Attorneys:
  Tax Attorneys have passed board exams and ideally have an excellent understanding of tax laws. They differ from regular attorneys in that they have dedicated additional time to focusing more specifically on tax laws. They are an incredibly important part of a good tax relief company.
• CPA:
  Having a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) on staff is important because they generally have a very good understanding of taxes and finance in general. They have passed specific exams and been certified to help with taxes. They are a (word cut) valuable resource for individuals regarding taxes.

Refund Policy: 6% of Overall Score

A trustworthy tax relief company stands by their word and they won’t make promises they can’t keep. A refund policy is one way of knowing whether a company will stand by their work or not.

Tax Problems a Company Works With: 5% of Overall Score

We want to see that a company can handle the following tax problems:

• Wage Garnish Relief
• Back Tax Solutions
• Tax Audit
• Tax Lien
• Levy
• Asset seizure

State Availability: 6% of Overall Score

Not all tax debt relief companies offer their services in every state. Because we want to reward companies that can help the greatest number of people, the more states a company works in, the higher their score.

IRS Negotiation Tactics: 5% of Overall Score

We want to see that a company has experience negotiating with the IRS in the following ways:

• Offer in compromise
• Installment agreement
• Currently not collectible
• Penalty Abatement
• Innocent spouse relief
• IRS Appeals

Minimum Tax Debt: 5% of Overall Score

As with most debt relief companies, tax relief companies will often only work with someone who has a certain amount of tax debt. The lower the minimum debt requirement is, the higher a company scores in this category.

Contact Information: 4% of Overall Score

The easier a company is to get ahold of, the better they are for consumers to work with. We judge companies based off whether or not they provide the following:

• Email
• Phone number
• Live chat

Time in Business: 3% of Overall Score

Generally, companies that have been in business for a longer period of time are more likely to be able to serve customers best. It shows they have a proven track record. While this isn’t always the case, it’s usually how things play out. A company that has been around for a long time has most likely proven they are able to keep customers happy.

User Reviews: 20% of Overall Score

As always, user reviews are essential to what we do at BestDebtCompanys.com. Your opinion is important, and the community wants to hear it!

Expert Review: 25% of Overall Score

We’ve spent a long time figuring out why the criteria points above are important, in addition to multiple other factors including: number of employees at a company, a companies ability to scale and much more. Because of this, we reserve the right to a portion of the ranking score.

Student Debt Ranking Criteria

Fixed Interest Rates: 12% of Overall Score

When you refinance your student loans, you have the option to choose between two types of interest rates. Fixed rates mean your interest rate will never change during the length of your term. It also means that your monthly payments will never change as well. Many companies will allow customers to choose what kind of rate they want.

Variable Interest Rates: 10% of Overall Score

If you don’t want to refinance with fixed rates, some companies give you the option to refinance with a variable rate. This rate changes based on different industry benchmarks. The most common benchmark the interest rate is measured by is the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) rate. This can be measured in 1 month, 3 months or 6 months terms. While the LIBOR benchmark is not the only way to measure variable interest rates, it is one of the most common. Variable rates can either increase or decrease during the length of the term.

Account Set-Up: 10% of Overall Score

When it comes to refinancing your student loans, you want the best service possible. It can be complicated issue and you want to make sure you are being helped through every step. We look for companies who offer a free consultation, easy payment guidelines and sign-up process. Good companies will also give a variety of term lengths and the possibility of having a co-signer. We want you to choose a company that will cater to you and your needs.

Payment Flexibility: 12% of Overall Score

With federal loans, the government provides a variety of programs to help customers if they experience hardships. Refinancing with private student debt companies sometimes changes their ability to offer all the payment flexibility. We like to reward companies who also offer clients certain flexibility plans. Some of these plans include deferment option, forbearance option, unemployment protection and discounts for auto-pay.

Loan Type: 6% of Overall Score

When you choose to refinance you student loans with private companies, many will refinance both your private and federal loans. The best companies will be able to refinance both types of loans.

BBB Score: 5% of Overall Score

Many companies and individuals have mixed feelings about the Better Business Bureau and in a number of cases these feelings are justified. Some ratings seem a bit odd and unfounded. However, we feel that overall a BBB rating is a great starting point for people when trying to determine the trustworthiness and viability of a business. These ratings can provide excellent insight into how a business deals with consumers and the efforts they make to insure that both past and current customers are happy.

Time in Business: 5% of Overall Score

Experience in the industry and multiple surveys have taught us that people trust companies that have been in business for longer than a year or two. This isn’t the only determining factor in trust, but it can be an important one. A company that has been around for a while shows that they have been able to weather storms that have come their way and that it is very likely that they will be around to serve customers for years to come.

User Reviews: 15% of Overall Score

We want to make sure that customers have a say in our rankings. They’ve had real world experiences with these business and we think it’s very important that they have the ability to tell other people about it. If you’ve had an experience with any of the companies we’ve reviewed, let us know in the comments section on their review page.

Expert Review: 25% of Overall Score

Along with the criteria points above and the user reviews, we take into account various other factors that help to determine the viability, longevity and trustworthiness of businesses that we rank and review on our site. Number of employees, revenue, historical and more play a part in our expert review criteria.

You can’t buy love… or rankings

Disclosure: We do not have any relationships with companies that guarantee position, rank, or score…and we never will. Our ranking of home security companies is based on our Ranking Criteria algorithm, and backed by real user reviews. We are compensated by some companies we review, depending on their willingness to work with us. (Not all companies are fans of an honest review site)