Often, when people realize they have a debt that they can no longer afford, they turn to debt relief companies to help them get back in charge of their finances. Debt relief companies tend to offer a few different ways to help their clients get out of debt. From debt settlement to debt consolidation, there are many different ways you can start taking steps to get out of debt. Debt relief companies are just one of the options you have. If you would like to talk to someone about the other options available to you, give our team at Ascend a call! We pride ourselves on giving honest and unbiased advice and information. We would love to talk to you about your situation and what you can do from here. With that, let’s take a closer look at Greenwise Debt Relief.
Based on the reviews and the BBB page, Greenwise does appearto be a legitimate debt relief company.
Greenwise Debt Relief is a debt relief company offering what seems like just one option for service: debt settlement. They offer to work on your behalf to negotiate with your creditor. The goal of negotiation is to find a set amount that you are able to pay to your creditor that will fully satisfy your debt. This typically includes halting your normal, monthly payments and instead making payments into an Escrow account that you will later use to pay off your creditor.
Since Greenwise is the third party that coordinates the negotiation, they will also charge a percentage of the amount that you saved. So if you saved $5,000, you could expect an extra charge of $500-$1,250 on top of the payment you make to your creditor. Make sure you are aware of what the company charges in fees before you get started with the process.
If you are struggling with debt and don't know the different options, you can take the free debt relief options and alternatives options below to estimate the cost of debt settlement and also compare the cost to alternatives.
Before we take a look at Greenwise Debt Relief, let’s look at what we need to keep an eye out for while reading through their reviews.
There are a few things that are important to keep in mind while going through reviews.
Can you tell at what point the review was written? Does the reviewer mention how their debt settlement process ended? Or are they raving over how great it was to talk on the phone with a kind customer representative who reassured them they will be saving thousands? There is a big difference in the two reviews. The former is a review of the actual services the company rendered. The latter simply reviews the customer service and reassurance they got. Make sure you are finding reviews that go over the entire process, not just the initial point of contact.
Don’t limit yourself to only reading the best or the worst reviews. Doing so can impact how you view the company in a way that isn’t balanced based on the actual reviews. Having a holistic view of the company ensures you are fair in your judgment of it.
How long has the company been around? If they’ve only been in business for a few months, it might be hard to trust the reviews are honest or will stand the test of time. This is not to say that new companies can’t be great. However, you might want to dig a little deeper on companies that don’t have a longstanding history.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at Greenwise Debt Relief.
While it may not be initially obvious, Greenwise Debt Relief also goes by Greenwise Financial Solutions. For the sake of ease, we will continue referring to the company as Greenwise Debt Relief (or GDR), as that is the name on their website. According to Greenwise Financial Solutions BBB page, the company is only 4 years old. In those 4 years, GDR has gained just over 50 reviews on BBB. From those reviews, GDR has received an average 4.9 out of 5-stars rating. Surprisingly, every review, except for one, is a perfect 5 out of 5 stars. There is one 4-star review, however, even that review is excellent.
Unfortunately, these reviews do not really tell us much. In fact, almost all of the reviews seem to have been a review left after the first point of contact. Many of the reviews claim that the user feels relieved after talking to one of the customer representatives about what they can expect in the future. While it is important to have good customer service, this first point of contact should be seen as a sales call, where the client gets the best of the best attention and interaction.
It is also interesting to note that there are many complaints from users who are not even clients on their BBB page. There are at least 10 complaints from individuals claiming they have been bombarded by daily and even hourly emails for GDR. While not detrimental to their ability to help with debt, it is something to keep in mind if you are considering working with them.
Despite their website being called “Greenwise Debt Relief,” Google Reviews do not show up unless you look up Greenwise Financial Solutions. However, once you find the reviews, they are pretty positive! They have an average 4.8 star rating from a total of 205 reviews. However, once again, a majority of the reviews are based on the initial point of contact and not the actual service. Feel free to continue reading through the various reviews, but take note of how many actually only review a single phone call they had with a customer representative.
Because of the different names, it can be difficult to determine if the review is for the correct company. There are a few places where we could find reviews on the company. For instance, GDR links to their Facebook page, which does have reviews enabled. While they have an average 4.8 score, there are many reviews that look like scams or are talking about services that the website does not mention. They also have a Yelp page, however, it only has two reviews with an average rating of 3 stars.
Overall, Greenwise doesn’t have a great online record. From differing names to thin reviews, there isn’t a big digital footprint that might reassure a potential client. Ultimately, however, the choice is yours! Continue doing research and figure out if you think GDR is the company for you!
