Did a company called Secure One Financial send you a mailer similar to the one below?
These mailers might claim to offer a $40,000 debt consolidation loan with a 5.99% interest rate, lowering your monthly payment to $663 and helping you save $6,447 in your first year.
Understandably, this might sound too good to be true. To offer more clarity, we conducted a deep dive into the company’s background and trustworthiness.
My name is Ben, and I have spent the last five years helping people understand the differences in options to help them eliminate debt cheaper, easier, and faster. I have also uncovered debt consolidation scams. I was also one of the first to write an article covering the unfortunate Litigation Practice Group bankruptcy and have spoken with countless people negatively affected by it.
“Your Debt Relief Pal” was created to help protect you from any debt company that may have deceptive marketing and provide you with realistic estimates of your options for debt freedom.
Keep reading below to learn more about Secure One Financial and what you might be getting yourself into by accepting their services.
What is Secure One Financial?
Secure One Financial History
After looking into the company’s background, we discovered a few interesting things. Secure One Financial was incorporated on 1/13/2020 and operates two websites.
The link listed on the mailer was the first website: https://securemyloanoffer.com/. This single-page website allows mailer recipients to input their information and claim their loan offer. We discovered this website was registered on 12/06/2023, about a year ago.
If you search for Secure One Financial on Google, their main website appears instead: https://secureonefinancial.com/. This is also a single-page website, but it seems to have a bit more information on their process, strengths, and reviews. This website is also much older, being registered on 12/12/2019.
After reading the fine text on both websites, a common theme appears. They state that “Secure One Financial does not take loan applications, originate, service, underwrites, makes loans or credit decisions in connection with consumers.” Immediately, we can see that this is somewhat deceptive, as their mailer highly suggests that Secure One Financial will be the one offering debt consolidation loans.
Furthermore, the company’s Compliance & Disclosure statement says that “Secure One Financial is a marketing lead generator and loan match referral service.” This indicates that Secure One Financial is simply a marketing company that refers clients to licensed lenders who can then offer loans.
The company also mentions that “…not all individuals responding to this offer will qualify for the lowest rates or the maximum loan amount, as these typically require excellent credit”. Once again, this is counterintuitive to what was on the mailer, as it writes that you have been “pre-selected” for a debt-consolidation loan.
Lastly, after searching the company on the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, we can see that it indeed does not have an active lender license, confirming our previous research.
Another aspect of the company we looked into was its physical address. On its website, the company’s address is listed as 5000 Birch St. W. Tower Suite 3000, Newport Beach, CA 92660. Although it does show up on Google Maps, we checked CompStak to verify this address.
Surprisingly, we could not find Secure One Financial as being listed as one of the tenants in this building. This could be due to simple inaccuracy in the data, or it could mean that the company does not have any physical operations but employs individuals working remotely. Nonetheless, we believe this is an important piece of information to remember.
Check Your Rate and Compare Options!
You may be looking for a debt consolidation loan, but do you qualify? Is your credit score good enough? Is your debt-to-income ratio or credit utilization good enough?
I helped build this free consolidation loan and other options calculator to help you compare your rates across multiple debt consolidation lenders and your options to other options if you cannot qualify for a loan. It’s specific to your financial information, so if you have $10,000 in debt, it will provide an estimate of your situation.
You can then check your rate, which will NOT affect your credit score.
Secure One Financial Reviews
Now that we’ve been able to offer some insight into the company’s history, we wanted to highlight some of the reviews that the company has received in the past few years.
BBB
The first source we checked was the Better Business Bureau, a non-profit organization created to increase consumer protection. On its website, we found that Secure One Financial has a rating of 4.71/5 and an average of 224 customer reviews.
The company is rated A+, has been accredited by the BBB since 4/30/2021, and has closed six complaints within the last 3 years. Below are some reviews that we found interesting.
Some individuals claim that the company is very transparent with its processes and makes sure to “touch base with you throughout the process.” On the other hand, several one-star reviews mention how the company is persistent in its outreach and continues to call back, even after being told to stop.
In general, however, the company seems to have an overwhelming number of good reviews, with many people pointing to the positive benefits of their service.
The next place we checked for reviews was Google. On their Google Business page, the company has 4.8/5 stars with 406 total reviews. We’ve highlighted a few of these reviews below.
The two most recent reviews give both a positive and negative rating, allowing us to see both sides of the story.
Victor N mentions that initially the company sounds professional, however at the end, they bait and switch their customers. This could reference a possible tactic they use, such as signing people up for debt consolidation programs when they do not qualify for consolidation loans.
The other review from Steve Mastny mentions that the company is effective at helping people resolve challenging financial situations stemming from “medical bills, legal bills, credit card debt, and the like.” Similar to BBB, the majority of the reviews on Google are positive, suggesting that the majority of people do have a good experience working with Secure One Financial.
Trustpilot
The last place we checked for reviews was Trustpilot. On this website, Secure One Financial has a rating of 4.8/5 with 288 reviews. Below are a few reviews we thought would be interesting to read.
In this case, both the positive and negative reviews seem to follow the same theme as what we’ve seen beforehand. Positive reviews mention that the company has empathetic employees who have been helpful throughout the entire process of reducing the client’s debt. However, the other review once again mentions the bait-and-switch tactic we previously discussed.
They specifically note that Secure One Financial switches them to a debt resolution company, which may have high fees. Of course, you should be wary of this if you consider working with this company.
Important Distinction: Debt Consolidation Loans vs Debt Consolidation Programs
After hearing about how Secure One Financial may try to bait and switch customers into a debt consolidation program, it is important to understand the difference between that service versus a debt consolidation loan. Although both may seem similar, they actually mean two very different things.
To begin, we’ll cover debt consolidation loans. These loans are ones that are issued with a lower interest rate than the rest of your outstanding debt. This allows you to consolidate your debt into one payment, as well as reduce the amount of interest you’re paying, helping lower the total amount you pay on your debts. On the other hand, with a debt consolidation program, this service requires you to let your debts fall behind in order to create leverage. Then, a debt consolidation company will contact your creditors to help settle your debts for ~50% of this value. The debt consolidation company itself will also take a fee of about ~25% of your debt’s value. This may allow you to save ~25% on your debt’s total value. However, with this method, it is important to remember that there might be hidden origination fees, balance transfer fees, closing costs, and annual fees. Additionally, while your monthly payment may be reduced, the extended duration of the loan could result in increased interest payments over time.
Now that you understand these two concepts, it is important to differentiate between these two options when they are presented to you. It is also crucial to dig deep when contemplating a debt consolidation program to ensure that you are aware of any hidden costs or feeds. It’s also important to know how Debt Relief Companies work in order to understand what you could be signing up for.
Closing Thoughts
Now that we’ve uncovered more about Secure One Financial’s background, we get an inkling that this company might be posing as a debt consolidation loan provider while actually being a marketing agent for debt consolidation programs. However, the majority of the reviews we read were positive, and it is possible they still provide a service that is beneficial to those in debt.
That said, hopefully, you’ll be more informed when considering their services. We stress the importance of conducting your own research so that you completely understand what you’re getting into.
Feel free to take the Consolidation Loan and Other Options below to estimate your options.
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