Is Financial Education Services a Scam? A Not So Appealing MLM!

What’s worrying about today’s fast spread of information is that we repetitively get to see services or products daily. Somehow, this cycle makes our minds think that whatever we read regularly may hold some truth. 

If this is not the first time you hear of FES, then perhaps that is one of the reasons why you’re questioning its legitimacy and ultimately asking yourself: 

 

Is Financial Education Services a scam or the real deal?  💭

 

It’s a blessing to be born in a time where you have the internet within reach, and you’re effortlessly able to investigate some of the unique products or services of today. 

I actually cannot remember the last time I had to use physical books to cross-check a piece of information. Today, with just a few clicks here and there, you can easily find loads of info, reviews, and details about almost anything you can think of. 

 

Unfortunately, not everything you see online is trustworthy. 🙃

Unlike physical books that have been thoroughly evaluated by professionals in the field, the information you can get from sites may not be accurate. 

In this sense, many people are getting scammed online, and by many, I mean almost 81% of them! If that doesn’t put you on edge a bit, then honestly, I don’t know what will. 

And when speaking of scams or shady businesses, I’d like to congratulate you for landing on my site because in here, I exclusively review online products and services comprehensively and with full transparency. 

If you are searching for real information that doesn’t involve shady marketing tactics or upsells, this site can be your second home. 👍

 

In this article, I decided to review one of the most intriguing services that have caught the entire internet’s attention.

Aside from this company’s promising income opportunity, I wonder why people are almost divided on answering whether it is a total scam or not. And for me, if there is smoke, there’s probably fire! 🔥

 

What Is Financial Education Services All About?

When I first heard the company’s name, I thought it is an online course provider like The Shaw Academy or Coursera because of the word “education.” 

When I finally keyed into their site, I was surprised to find out that it is not connected with education at all. Not even close. 😅

Instead, it’s a company that offers tailored services to help its customers create a more stable and sustainable financial future.

It was founded at Michigan in 2004 by Parimal Nalik and Michael Toloff to improve American consumers’ credit rating. As of writing, it enjoys a B rating and a shiny 4.76 customer rating under BBB.

In a nutshell, Financial Education Services prides itself on two things: a credit repair company and an opportunity for aspiring agents. So, in this sense, the two primary targets of the company seem to be:

1. To find people interested in credit repair services ✓
2. To look for those who would like to become financial specialists or agents ✓

 

Upon reviewing FES customers’ threads and statements, it seems to me that the hype around here evolves around their promise to improve the credit score of its members significantly in just a few months. 

If you are in serious financial situations, hearing such a promise can be like music to your ears. At present, they have five major plans under their belt:

1. FES Protection plan (the price points vary: $188, $138, or $89)
2. Corporate account ($49 per month)
3. MyCare Plan (one-time payment of $499 or $399)
4. Lifelock plan ($99 a year or $9 per month)
5. Ultra Score ($149 one time payment)

 

However, please note that the prices may vary depending on different factors such as promotional reasons for specific months and the additional services that a customer may want to add, such as credit repair or credit monitoring services.

 

But, let us focus on the company’s well-hidden information. 😧

Unlike what we usually review on this site, FES is the only one that seems to cater only to a specific nationality. 

Upon checking their site, they seem to have specific technical protocols, which means that the site may not be accessible outside of the U.S. 

Another thing that is worth mentioning is that the company seems to have three different websites that contain almost identical content:

1. http://www.myfes.net
2. http://www.financialeducationservices.com/
3. https://financialeduservices.com/

 

And you know another thing that is identical between these sites? All three are uninformative and lack information to some extent – first red flag 🚩

Usually, when I investigate a company’s credibility, I start by reviewing the About Us section and looking for inconsistencies. 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any valuable information on any of the sites mentioned above. They just have pages related to their contact details, privacy policy, terms of use, and income disclosure.

A quick search and review from different sites can show anyone that Financial Educational Service’s primary service is credit repair. 

 

However, you won’t believe what I found. 😬

I happen to come across one of the cases in which the company was involved, and it revolves around illegal credit repair services.  

The FES used unlawful and deceptive practices in their multi-level marketing structure and got caught, and we’re forced to pay a $1Million penalty. 

 

Let me ask you this: if you were accused of stealing from your friend and you have a clean conscience that you did not do such a thing, you will find a way to prove your innocence, right? 

What shocked me the most is that the Financial Education Service did not stand trial to clear its name and entered into a settlement to pay a million dollars instead. 

Honestly, that act alone somehow reflects that the management is guilty of the accusation, making me award this company with its second red flag. 🚩🚩

 

Signing up with Financial Education Services

There are two ways by which you can join the FES: 

1. As a customer – you should find your nearest FES agent
2. As an agent – go through a simple sign-up on their site 

 

As of writing, I cannot find their price range for customers since it varies depending on the gravity of credit score and the additional services that the customer can add. 

But as a general requirement, customers will need to pay around $99 to set up a regular FES protection plan. 

Depending on the agent, I found out that they can lower the fee up to $49 or even waive it entirely depending on the additional products you will use. So be sure to strike a good deal!

What I can thoroughly discuss here are the main fees associated with your sign up as an agent. Since their recent case, it seems that the structure of their procedure of registering has significantly changed. 

If you were to decide to use any FES plan back then, you would automatically gain a licensing fee to sell their products. Today, to become an agent, you should:

1. Have a project under the company
2. Choose an exclusive membership type (Standard or FES PP)

 

According to the updated standard membership, any agent that sells any protection plan product under FES will only receive commissions for their sales. 

The standard fee for this is $249, and it comes with marketing materials as well as access to their mobile application.

At the same time, you can choose the pricier one, which is around $199. Here, you will be able to sell products, get some useful tools, and receive CAB and infinity bonuses, and level overrides. 

Additionally, you will be required to pay $89 per month for a personal protection plan, but basically, here are the things included under this membership type:

1. Budgeting tool
2. Credit restoration tool
3. Credit builder and calculator
4. Credit monitoring system (accessible through the FTS mobile app)
5. Debt payoff tool
6. Financial lockbox
7. Identity monitoring tool
8. Net worth tracker
9. Savings and goal planner
10. Will and Trust system
11. YFL family mint (a tool for teaching kids about financial freedom)

 

There are also some additional fees that I think you should know about. For instance, you should know that each weekly commission check will always have a $4 deduction for processing the check. 

If you also want to get a phone line for business, you can do so by paying an additional $49 or $98 for two lines. For exclusive discounts on hotels, flights, and transportation, you can also pay $20 more. 

Lastly, you can also take advantage of the $25 health plan for you and your family members.

 

What’s my opinion on this? 🤔

I do not recommend the standard one based on the two membership types since it does not offer the agent anything aside from the mobile application. 

However, if you can sales talk your way without using tools to show projected plan or anything at all, you can go and sign up for that.

As for the $89, I came across some old pictures of the sign-up site where it was listed that the monthly fee then was $87 plus an additional $2 as a donation to the Youth Financial Literacy Foundation. 

I guess they just added it into the fee and did not care to discuss this on the updated sign up page.

Looking at the pricing in general, I think it is remarkably too high, which honestly makes me wonder why people are joining this company – third red flag 🚩🚩🚩 

I mean their services are not the cream of the crop and given their recent legal case, I seriously find it hard to believe that people are still considering their services. 

 

Is Financial Education Services A Pyramid Scheme?

Based on my review of the company, I sincerely think that they are not a pyramid scheme. They are an MLM since they operate legally by having their agents sell real financial services.

However, if you’re keen on making great wealth out of this, then you better think twice because, to be honest, selling their products can be a bit challenging, especially on the first month of starting. 

Closing a plan with three or five people a year is not enough to let you finance the life that you want to live, because as a new agent, your direct and split payment commissions are just around $1.00 to $5.00 per month.

See the example below: 👇To know more about their ranking system, check out the most comprehensive video I found which explain all the promotion qualifications and possible commissions.

As you can see on the video above, it is very much possible to become an agent and a field trainer but getting beyond that is harder than it looks. And if you intend to become a vice president, then you better get your gears running 24/7!

But if you are going to ask me about the company’s legitimacy and whether it’s possible to make money or not, I would answer yes, especially if you take advantage of its customer acquisition bonus and residual commissions.

 

Is Financial Education Services A Scam?

The Financial Educational Services lies in a crowded market, meaning nothing can make it stand out against its competitors. 

However, I like FES because they did not promise a specific amount of earnings or anything to their agents (unlike their competitors).

That means that they encourage them to earn on their own without luring them to the idea that they can get rich quick from this service.

Given the company’s legitimate MLM structure and the considerable number of positive ratings on Indeed, Glassdoors, and Best Company, we cannot deny that the company is the real deal. ✅

 

However, that doesn’t mean it is suited for you. 🙂

I sincerely do not recommend it since it raises some major red flags. If I were in your shoes, I would stay away from this since I wouldn’t want to deal with tainted companies with legal issues. 

If there is one thing I learned from FES, then that would be that your earnings are heavily dependent on how much agents you can recruit and the type of monthly plans you will close with them. 

The main question is – why spend time growing someone else’s firm when you can start a real online business with the same effort and eventually hire people to do all the tasks for you? 

 

I Have Something Better! ( Sustainable & Scalable ) 

I seriously consider myself lucky for being born in a time where so many opportunities are literally within reach. 

Back in the days, people did not have many options, so they had to partake in several part-time jobs to make ends meet. 

Times have changed a lot since then, and nowadays, you can comfortably earn a decent amount by doing things you’re passionate about. 

 

And when we’re talking about passionate earning – for me, the best way to make a living online was, is, and undoubtedly forever will be through affiliate marketing.

I’m not sure if you previously heard of it, but affiliate marketing is a straightforward business model that enables you to earn predetermined commissions to promote and sell other people’s products or services. 

 

You’re probably asking yourself – “What makes it the best?” 

 

Because unlike other business models, this one has a very low startup cost, meaning that you won’t waste a ton of money even you fail at it. 

And yes, I purposely mention the probability of failing because, like any other business, this one also requires a lot of perseverance, guts, and hard work above all else.  

 

My question to you is – “Are you willing to give it a try?” 😊

 

If you answered yes, it would be my pleasure to introduce you to and welcome you inside the platform that equipped me with all the training, tools, and support to innovate and prosper within this promising industry.

The unique platform I’m referring to goes by the name of Wealthy Affiliate. It is a platform backed up by a caring community consisting of some of the top affiliate pioneers. 

Among them are also newcomers like yourself, and many of them owe their success to this community. As a sign of appreciation, they are vouching for WA and sharing their success stories on any given day. 

Wealthy Affiliate is one of a kind educational platform, and its freemium membership model proves that. 🆓 

 

It allows you to take your time, take part in the first nine lessons of the course, and ultimately lets you decide whether this community is something you want to be apart of. 

It would be my utmost pleasure to welcome you inside and share some of my best pointers that have worked for me throughout the years so that you, too, can go ahead and build your very first successful affiliate marketing business. 

As I end this post, I hope that I was able to give you a piece of full-blown and detailed information about Financial Education Services. 

If this helped you out, please give me some love by sharing this post on social media to help spread the truth. 💖 🤟

Additionally, if you have specific products or services that you want me to review for you, send the name below, and I’ll do my best to help you out as soon as possible. 👋