At one point or another in our lives, we all need legal advice for many reasons. Attorneys can help us fight criminal charges, prepare wills, and protect our identity from being stolen by thieves. However, such services can be quite costly. Businesses such as LegalShield provide a way for us to prepay for legal advice at discounted rates. But is pre-paying for these services worth your while? You may have read many other LegalShield reviews online already seeking the real truth about its products and services. Let's take a closer look at this review.
What is LegalShield?
LegalShield.com is a multilevel marketing company that offers prepaid legal services for individuals and businesses. The company started as the Sportsman's Motor Club in 1972. It changed its name to Pre-Paid Legal Services in 1976 and was bought out by MidOcean Partners in 2011 to become what it is known as today.
What Products Does LegalShield Offer?
The company provides prepaid legal plans from more than 7,000 independent attorneys in the United States and Canada. Its services also include identity theft monitoring and reputation protection services. The legal service plans include attorney consultations, document preparation, and a general trial defense. Attorneys can assist you with will preparation, traffic defense, criminal defense, and more. At the time of this review, personal plans start at $15.95 per month and can go up to $24 depending on the state you live in. Whereas small business plans start at $39 per month and go up to $149 depending on the plan you select.
LegalShield Compensation Plan
Associates earn a percentage on every prepaid legal plan that they sell. For example, selling the $17.95 per month Standard Plan nets a 20% advance commission equaling $2.97 per month. Potential commissions can be earned at higher rates as an associate advances through the marketing plan. Associates are also able to earn commissions from associates they have personally recruited into the business opportunity as well as cash and trip reward bonuses. If you have no interest in selling prepaid legal services, I suggest you take a look at my Best Work At Home Recommendation.
There are better options for multiple streams of income that will pay you to work from home such as SurveyJunkie.com, FusionCash.com, Swagbucks.com, and InBoxDollars.com. The companies pay you to complete simple tasks such as reading emails, reviewing products and so much more.
How to Become a LegalShield Associate?
To become an associate through Legal Shield, individuals are encouraged to complete a contact form on the company's website. An associate in the person's vicinity will then contact them and invite them to a local event to learn more about the opportunity. According to the company's Income Disclosure Statement for 2015, a person must purchase a startup kit for $249 plus any applicable state licensing fees. This kit includes all the brochures and forms you need to get started with the business opportunity.
What We Like
Excellent BBB Rating: At the time of this review, LegalShield has an A+ rating along with full accreditation with the Better Business Bureau.
Mobile Apps: The company offers a free mobile app for both Android and Apple devices. Members can get the assistance they need during covered emergencies 24/7. The apps now include a feature where you can submit snapshots of speeding tickets directly to your attorney.
Members-Only Discount on Hourly Rates: Members are able to receive a 25% discount off of the standard hourly rate for generalist and specialist lawyers. The discount applies for pre-existing legal issues, contested family matters, lawsuits, and more.
LegalShield Complaints
Don't Expect To Make A lot Money: According to the company's own income disclosure statement, about 83% of all associates made less than $1,000 annually in 2015. The top annual average earnings were only approximately $13,000. This is far less than what you can make flipping burgers. If earning a substantial income is important too you, then I highly recommend checking out my Best Work At Home Recommendation instead.
Expensive Startup Costs: You will need to pay $249 upfront for a kit to get started as an associate. In some cases, special licensing is required depending on the state you live in. You will be responsible for these costs as well.
If that turned you off you may want to consider free to join source of supplementary income such as SurveyJunkie.coma survey company or FusionCash.com, Swagbucks.com, and InBoxDollars.com. The companies will pay you to do what you already do online. The task varies from visiting websites to watching TV and so much more.
Can't Protect Itself Against The Law: The company has run into its own litigation problems in several states. Legal Shield fails to properly report its compensation to sales associates in Wyoming. In 2009, the FTC sent the company a letter with allegations of product and service misrepresentation. Several lawsuits regarding similar issues popped up in Missouri during the early 2000s. LegalShield only won two of these lawsuits and the rest resulted in settlements against the company.
Cancellation Headaches: The majority of online complaints concern cancelling membership. LegalShield states that members can receive a full refund if they cancel within the first 30 days of enrollment. However, many customers reported customer service issues when trying to cancel. Customers say they were given the runaround and told to contact different departments or couldn't be reached altogether.
So is LegalShield Legit or A Big Scam?
LegalShield is a legitimate multilevel marketing company offering affordable prepaid legal plans for both businesses and individuals. Associates can earn commissions on the plans they sell as well as those from members they have recruited into the business opportunity. However, the majority of associates do not appear to be earning a substantial income on a yearly basis.
Check out other additional sources of income such as SurveyJunkie.com, FusionCash.com, Swagbucks.com, and InBoxDollars.com. You will get paid after performing very easy tasks from the comfort of your house without having to sell any plan to anyone. All you have to do is to complete the assigned work such as filling poll, watching videos and so much more to get paid.
Multiple streams of income are the best way to make money from home. However, LegalShield doesn't seem to offer enough income as a full-time business. If you are serious about acquiring more passive income, you may want to consider my Top Work At Home Recommendation and my Work At Home Courses. Always do your research before selecting a business opportunity that is right for you.
After reading many other online LegalShield reviews as well as mine, you should now completely understand its products and services a whole lot better. If you have any thoughts or experiences with LegalShield, I'd love to read them in the comments below. And if you enjoyed this review, please free to check out my other work at home reviews as well.
Until next time,
Eddy with a y
Eddy,
I appreciate you taking an honest look at LegalShield – a company I have just been pitched to join. It does look like your analysis is correct about how much the average associate makes.
I would, however, like to ask about the average income for someone who is a part of Wealthy Affiliate. Is it higher or lower than LegalShield? What percentage of people are making $1000 or more with Wealthy Affiliate?
Don’t get me wrong – I love Wealthy Affiliate. They have some good training and an amazing positive and active community there. However, as with anything, the money you get out of it depends on the effort you put in.
Blogging tends to have a very steep learning curve and requires a substantial time investment – especially at first.
One of the appeals of LegalShield is that it can be picked up and sold fairly quickly.
I believe that you found that Wealthy Affiliate works well for you. I’ve also met several who didn’t do well with it. I’ve talked to a couple of people now that are successful with LegalShield. I think if you looked at the statistics for your chosen money making opportunity, it’s probably similar.
Hey Joe,
I’m glad you enjoyed the review. Wealthy Affiliate isn’t an MLM so they don’t have income disclosures like an MLM would. However there are plenty of people making making money and discussing their success in the dashboard. I took a screenshot here.
And there are more stories discussed here.
But from my personal experience it’s far easier making money with affiliate marketing when you’re promoting name brand products and services folks know versus trying to convince them to buy a product from a company they have never heard of. As an affiliate marketer you can work with brands like Amazon, Ebay, etc that folks trust and know. It’s a lot easier to convince people to buy from these type of companies because they have an established trusted brand. So I think you have a better chance of success as an affiliate marketer and wider range of products, services and companies you can work with. But that said like any business most people will fail and that’s why most folks are employees. You’re guaranteed a check. That can’t be said for any business and that can be scary.
Ultimately WA is a great training platform that will provide you with all tools, training and support to help you succeed with the affiliate marketing business. However your success like any business is in your hands. Regardless of the business, your chances for failure are high. But I think certain businesses make it easier to succeed assuming you have the proper training, tools, work ethic and patience to make it happen. So that’s my only point. I’m giving folks other options to consider that I know have worked for me. I’ve tried MLMs and they weren’t a right fit for me. In my experience MLMs tend to put you in a position where you have to chase customers down and then convince them of a product or service from a company they never heard of. Whereas with affiliate marketing, if you follow the training and apply it properly and consistently, then you have people coming to you that are actively looking for what you’re offering on your site. To me that’s an easier way doing business which you’re more likely to have success. But that’s my opinion. I’m just giving folks other options to consider. Then they can see for themselves what works for them.
I hope that makes sense.
so you tell us next to nothing then try to sell us your thing… classy!!!
If you didn’t find any value in me listing the pros and complaints against this company, so be it. Fortunately I have thousands of people everyday that do appreciate it and are happy to discover alternative options. And yes like the people that visit this site I’m in the business of feeding my family too. I make no apologies for that nor do I hide it. I am very happy that I earn money referring people to programs I have personally tried and know work. I could easily promote things that pay me more but I only recommend things I have had success with. If that makes me lose credibility in your eyes then so be it.
Eddy I don’t know how you can say the top earning wages are that low when Legal Shield has more Million Dollar earners then any other company from my understanding. I have sit and visited with some of them who do very well with legal shield. You are the one who seems more misleading just to get folks to come to your site.
Scott,
I get it. You’re probably a rep so attacking my credibility even though I’ve been helping people avoid scams since 2003 makes you think it will negate some of the complaints I listed in the review. But it doesn’t and it’s probably why you didn’t discuss the other things I listed. That said, I never said there weren’t million dollar earners with this company. But on average most people are making no where near that and are unlikely to do so. That’s just the reality of this business. And quite frankly, most businesses aren’t profitable. It’s not unique to Legal Shield. If most businesses were profitable, people wouldn’t become employees. Trying to attack me doesn’t change that.
I don’t need to mislead anyone about anything. If I wanted to do that, I would have said all bad things about this company. But I acknowledged some good things like the positive BBB ratings. I even concluded it was legitimate. But what I won’t say is that this opportunity is perfect when it’s not. And yes, I’m in the business of giving people other options that I trust in and have personally succeeded with. Everyone wants options. If they don’t use mine, that’s fine. But I want them to have a more complete picture of any opportunity they consider. I know most reps of a company are trained to just tell prospects only the good things. But I think that’s more misleading. No opportunity is perfect and folks that visit this blog want to know the good and bad. This way they can make a decision for themselves and not based on just a rep that’s interest may be to just sign folks up so they can earn their commission regardless if the business isn’t a right fit for the prospect. But to each their own. I wish you success with this business and hopefully some of the millionaires of this company that you made reference to will teach you their secrets to earning the same with this opportunity.