As of January 2022, the average debt in US households is now at $155,622.00 or more and that amount is projected to increase as inflation continues. You have been looking into options to help manage your debt – whether that is bankruptcy, debt settlement or some form of consolidation. Chances are that you have stumbled across Mediator Law Group. In this article I am going to take a deep dive into who they are, what they can do to help you and if they are reputable or not.

What is Mediator Law Group?

Mediator Law Group is a multi-jurisdictional law firm that specializes in helping Americans manage their debt. Upon a quick scan of their website, they appear to specialize in 3 things: bankruptcy, debt settlement and family law. Their claim to fame is that they can get you out of debt in 12-48 months, and if they do not perform you do not pay their fee. They also state on their website that they help American’s gain financial security by getting rid of their debt “as quickly as possible for as little as possible.”

They are based out of Woodland Hills, California. They are licensed to operate in 31 of the 50 states in the US. The states they are not able to help in are CT, DC, KS, MT, NJ, ND, SC, WV, WY, AK, HI, IL, ME, NE, NC, OR, RI, VT, and WA.

In order to enroll in their Debt Settlement program you must have $10,000 or more in unsecured debt, and you must reside in a state that they licensed to practice debt settlement in.

What is Debt Settlement?

Debt settlement is when you negotiate your debts with your creditors to pay less than you owe. Usually, you pay 40-50% of what you owe. You typically will work with a debt settlement company or your attorney to get an agreement in writing. If you choose to work with a debt settlement company, you will make monthly payments to them for 12-48 months. A good rule of thumb when looking for a debt settlement company is to see if they are upfront about their fees. Depending on the balance that you enroll in, a fair rate would be 20-25% of the total debt. If you amount enrolled is smaller being on the upper end of that scale is okay, however if you have a large debt amount (15k+) you would want to aim for a fee of around 20%.

Reviews

Let’s look at the reviews to see what other have said about this Mediator Law Group.

BBB Reviews

Mediator Law Group has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since June 30th, 2011, they have an A+ rating and 4.25 stars out of 5. It appears that when complaints get filed with the BBB, Mediator is quick to respond and amend the situation.

BBB Complaints

Anyone is eligible to submit a complaint to the BBB. When a complaint is submitted the BBB will get involved if it meets certain criteria. In most cases, they reach out to the business and ask them to to respond.

There are 3 reported complaints on Mediator Law Group’s BBB profile. Out of the 3, only two are visible. Both complaints are regarding refunds from unsatisfied customers. Out of the two visible complaints the business only directly responded to the oldest, it was a very long response with lots of redacted information. It appears however, that Mediatior Law Group was willing to give at least a partial refund.

The other visible complaint did not get a response – however, the customer amended their original complaint with a response saying the Mediator Law Group reached out to them and offered a settlement for more than what she was asking for. If you would like more information about the complaint, you can view their complaints page, here.

Google Reviews

Their Google reviews are slightly lower than the Better Business Bureau, but not by much. They have a 3.9 out of 5 rating on Google with a total of 60 reviews. A good rule of thumb when looking at a company’s reviews is to pay attention to more recent reviews – reviews placed in the last 6 months to 2 years should hold more weight than a review from over two years ago.

After looking through the google reviews, out of 60 reviews only 27 were from within the last 24 months. Out of those 24 reviews 20 were positive (4 or more stars) and 7 were negative (3 stars or less.

One thing I found interesting while looking at their Google reviews, it appears that their general manager, Kevin Rice, left a 5-star review:

Kevin Rice also responded to a negative review within the same time frame stating who he was and provided his contact information. You can see that bellow:

This is significant because they could potentially have employees or insiders writing reviews on their behalf to help boost their google rating. Fake google reviews can make a business look better than they actually are. Fake google reviews are not always done with malicious intent, but it is good to be aware of what to look out for when reading reviews of a company that you may want to do business with. When looking at a company’s reviews you should look for these things:

• Pay attention to details of the review – does it sound like it was written by an employee or an actual customer?
• Look at the complexity of their words.
• Check for unnecessary or excessive exclamation points.
• Take a look at the reviewer’s name, avatar, and review history. Do they only leave negative reviews? Is this review the only review they have ever left? Do you see the reviewers name anywhere else on the review page?

During your research into any business if they have reviews that any of the above scenarios are applicable to.

Final Thoughts

Navigating debt relief options can be overwhelming and time consuming. It can be very tempting to take what you see at face value and work with the first person who you speak with. In many scenarios that approach is okay. However, when it comes to your finances you want to do a deep dive into all aspects of their business. When researching companies to work with make sure you keep an eye out for:

• Not being upfront about fees or being deceptive.
• High pressure sales tactics.
• False or misleading reviews.
• Promises that seem too good to be true.