Freedom Debt Relief

Freedom Debt Relief, LLC.

Type	Private
Industry	Financial Services, Debt settlement
Founded	2002
Headquarters	San Mateo, California, USA
Key people	Brad Stroh and Andrew Housser, Co-Founders and CEOs
Website	FreedomDebtRelief.com

Freedom Debt Relief is a debt settlement company based in San Mateo, California, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Freedom Financial Network, LLC a financial service company headquartered in San Mateo California. The company has served more than 100,000 clients since its inception in 2002. Freedom employs more than 600 employees across the U.S.

Contents 1 Company History 2 Regulatory Issues & Legal History 3 Accreditation's/Certifications 4 Awards 5 Community involvement 6 See also 7 References

Company History

The company was founded in 2002 by Andrew Housser and Bradford Stroh, two Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni.^[1] "One thing that was clear was that consumer debt was a problem, and had been for decades," said co-founder Housser in a 2007 interview. "We looked long and hard at the collection industry ... you have the biggest companies in the world -- banks, collectors, law firms -- all ganging up on the consumer, who has no advocate. We saw an opportunity," Housser said.^[2]

The company negotiates on behalf of indebted consumers who are experiencing a financial hardship with the goal of avoiding bankruptcy (Chapter 7 or Chapter 13) by settling their unsecured debt at a discount to the principal owed. The company primarily serves consumers for whom debt consolidation or home refinancing is undesirable or an unavailable option, and those who cannot afford either the credit card minimum payments or the payments required in a credit counseling or a debt management plan.^[3][4]

With the passage of Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act and the financial crisis of 2007-2009, debt relief options for consumers significantly decreased (with both bankruptcy and mortgage refinance becoming much harder to qualify for), increasing the demand for debt settlement.^[5]

On November 4, 2009, Andrew Housser, co-founder and co-CEO, and Robert Linderman, general counsel, participated as panelists at the Federal Trade Commission's public forum on "Debt Relief Amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule." The forum discussed proposed fee regulation, and rules to eliminate deceptive and abusive telemarketing of debt relief services In a letter to the FTC, Linderman stated in the first nine months of 2009 alone, Freedom Debt Relief successfully settled approximately 40,000 accounts aggregating more than $206 million of unsecured debt with savings to consumers in excess of $120 million.^[6] On November 11, 2009, the company announced it had settled more than $500 million dollars in consumer debt since its founding

Working with nearly 100,000 clients since 2002, FDR reached the $1 billion mark in December 2010, in face value of debt settled, by negotiating settlements on 188,000 individual creditor accounts for its clients becoming the first debt resolution company in the country to reach $1 billion in cumulative debt it has resolved for clients. Housser was quoted saying “The achievement of obtaining $1 billion in settled debt – not just offers, but completed settlements – for consumers is positive proof of FDR’s ability to assist individuals who are in serious debt. From truly humble beginnings, FDR has maintained its singular commitment to save as much money as possible for each client who turns to the company for debt relief.”^[7]

Regulatory Issues & Legal History

Freedom Debt Relief has played a prominent role in promoting consumer protection legislation and regulation. In 2009 Freedom Debt Relief contributed to and supported the passing of federal regulatory measures that brought additional consumer protections to the industry*. During the drafting the of the new regulations, the Federal Trade Commission received testimony from Freedom Debt Relief clients from around the country -- including California^[8], Oregon^[9], Texas^[10], Wisconsin^[11], Michigan^[12], Ohio^[13], and Colorado^[14] – confirming Freedom Debt Relief’s high ethical standards, pro-consumer conduct, and the effectiveness of their debt relief program.

At the state level, not all states require licensing, but Freedom Debt Relief has supported successful efforts to create licensing requirements in Delaware^[15], Iowa, and Minnesota^[16] and became the first to company to awarded licenses to provide debt settlement services in those states.^[17] In addition to Delwarare, Iowa and Minnesota, Freedom Debt Relief is also currently licensed to do business in the following states: Maine, Kentucky, Utah and Colorado.

Since the creation of the current regulations, there have been a number of legal disagreements between regulators and the debt settlement industry. The legacy of the non-regulated debt settlement industry did set-off several legal battles between Freedom Debt Relief and several states. To bring closure to these legal stand-offs, Freedom Debt Relief agreed to settle with the states that had filed complaints during the pre-regulation era. In every case, the complaints were settled with Freedom Debt Relief being found free of any wrong doing or liability.^[18] As part of some of the settlements, the company did offer reimbursement funds to the states (New York for example) and a limited number of qualifying individuals involved in the complaints.^[19]

Accreditation's/Certifications

• Accredited member of The Association of Settlement Companies (TASC)^[20]
• Accredited member of The American Fair Credit Council (AFCC)^[21]

Awards

• Winners of 2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year for the Northern California region.^[22]

• Recognized as one of the Best Places to work in 2008 by both the San Francisco Business Times and the Phoenix Business Journal^[23]

• Andrew Housser and Brad Stroh, named to the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal's "40 Under 40" list.^[24]

Community involvement

Freedom Debt Relief supports the following organizations in the community. It does this in equal parts through volunteering employee time and through direct donations.

• Best Buddies
• Child Advocates
• The Family Giving Tree
• Give Something Back
• Glow Foundation
• Samaritan House
• Second Harvest Food Bank

See also

• Debt
• Bankruptcy
• Credit Counseling
• List of finance topics

References