Pacific Debt Relief review.
Consumer debt settlement
Two decades in, $500M+ settled, sterling reviews. If your debt is personal, call them. If it’s an MCA, they’re the wrong tool.
Our verdict
Pacific Debt Relief is what a consumer settlement firm looks like after two decades of doing the work properly: $500 million settled since 2002, an A+ BBB rating held since 2010, and customer scores (4.93 average on BBB, 4.8 on Trustpilot) that sit at the top of the category.
The honest read for a business owner: this is a personal-debt tool. Owners with a mix of personal cards, unsecured lines, and modest vendor balances can do well here at a competitive 15–25% fee. But there is no MCA practice, no UCC or COJ capability, and no reason to expect a call center negotiator to out-leverage a funder’s counsel.
We rank Pacific where we do because quality and fit are different things. On quality alone it would sit higher; on fit for the reader of this page (a business owner with commercial debt) it’s a supporting player.
What we like
- Founded 2002, one of the longest track records in settlement
- Over $500 million in client debt settled
- Customer reviews averaging 4.9 out of 5; 95% of Trustpilot reviewers give 4+ stars
- IAPDA-certified, CDRI-accredited, competitive fee range
What gave us pause
- Consumer and general unsecured focus; MCAs are outside the playbook
- Not available in Oregon
- Standard multi-year program clock
Who it’s for
- Mixed personal + small unsecured business balances
- People who value tenure and clean complaint records
Who should look elsewhere
- Oregon residents
- MCA, SBA, or lien-encumbered debt
How Pacific Debt Relief stacks up against our #1 pick
Local guides where readers use this review
In their own words
What customers wrote about Pacific Debt Relief
What satisfied customers wrote
“I was so skeptical of using a service like this but what convinced me were the reviews and after speaking with them they were willing to explain everything if I called they answered and got me to someone no matter how early or late it was.. any documents I needed to understand they quickly sent them to me they were exceptionally good at making sure I understood what was going on and the few times I fell behind they were like dont panic they worked with me and I was so surprised when I found out we paid everything of Im very happy I did this and would recommend using them to my own mother if she needed”
★★★★★ Lo K · 07/30/2026 · BBB
The company repliedThank you for your wonderful review of Pacific Debt Reliefand congratulations on your financial freedom!
“The staff at Pacific Debt Relief, especially [name withheld], took the time to explain the whole process, describe all the options available, and after we signed up, followed up with me every month with updates on the progress of our account. We had no issues and everything went as planned. In the end, we saved roughly 50% of the credit card bill and when you factor in the Pacific Debt Relief fee, we were still financially ahead of the original credit card bill.”
★★★★★ Rudolph O · 07/27/2026 · BBB
“[name withheld] was great and took his time explaining everything to me. Overall not pushy or annoying as the other debt relief companies (no spam or multiple calls a day.) This was a great relief. Thanks again!”
★★★★★ Jenny D · 07/22/2026 · BBB
What complaints and critics wrote
“Pacific Debt Relief LLC (PDR) stated they settled with both of these companies, but they keep showing up on my credit report. I have paid [name withheld] in full and expect them to have settled and not to be dealing with these companies any more. Since they stated they settled and they are still showing up, I am assuming that their settlement statement was in error, and they took fees/payment for an uncompleted job/task, and the falsified in statements to me that all accounts were fully settled.”
Complainant · 04/15/2026 · BBB complaint · Billing Issues
The company repliedWe were sorry to learn that settled debt is still showing on your credit report today. Our Director of Client Experience reached out to you at 2:45 PST today, via phone and email to assist, but has not yet heard back from you. Please let us know the best time to connect so we can assist in getting this resolved. Thank you!
“There is so so much to say. They were holding my money to pay creditors, I canceled one months payment of over $309 dollars in order to assist my mother in her time of need. They assured me that a creditor wouldn't be paid, I could cancel the program and be refunded my money in escrow. Instead they allowed a creditor to be paid, took their fee and left me with nothing back. I made financial decisions based on the information that was giving to me at the time. No I cannot pay the rest of rent, electric, nor buy food for I needed the money I had for traveling. My mom was in the hospital with strokes. As anyone knows, for a 71 year old parent, or any age parent, that is very scary. I was taken advantage of just so they could get less than 300 bucks for themselves. Such a shame. God bless.”
Complainant · 07/14/2025 · BBB complaint · Product Issues
The company repliedThank you for sharing your experience with our company and we're so sorry that you were dissatisifed with our program. Our Director of Client Experience connected with you via phone on 7/15, in response to your [name withheld] review. She then researched what happened by listening to calls, and then followed up with you to share her findings. She was able to share that we did not promise you that creditors would not be paid, our employee gave correct information regarding what your refund would be had you canceled on the day of the call. You told her you didn't want to cancel at that time, but could end up not being able to afford to stay enrolled. A few days later, via the normal timeline for your program, you were transitioned to the negotiations department, where we negotiated a debt and you were presented with a settlement offer, which you accepted and authorized. As a result, when you later opted to cancel, there was no money to refund to you. We really appreciate you taking the time to discuss the situation with our Director of Client Experience and we're pleased that we were able to come to an agreement on how best to proceed. We sincerely apologize for any misunderstanding, we wish you the best and we wish your Mother a speedy recovery!
“So first off, save your money and dont pay the monthly fee for the lawyer. Its a waste the lawyer works for the debt collector not you. If you question the debt they withdraw and remove the debt from the program. We are 8 months in paying the fee for this debt and now they want $2100 up front when the original settlement was 1250. Technically we have paid 544 towards this debt already. They told us to settle it on our own. Now when you start the program they tell you they run every agreement by you first and you dont have to accept it. Well we didnt accept and upon a conversation with a mediator and the debt collectors lawyer we found out that they had already sent them money without a signed agreement or our approval. We are now on our own for this debt and I am a OTR truck driver and cant make a court appearance. We would like the money back for the lawyer and the money we were charged for this debt for the last 8 months which was part of the program credited back.”
Complainant · 04/29/2025 · BBB complaint · Billing Issues
The company repliedThank you for reaching out and sharing your feedback. Our Director of Client Experience, [name withheld], has left several voice messages and sent an email reaching out to resolve this matter to your satisfaction. It is our goal to get this resolved and make things right for you. You can reach [name withheld] directly via email at [name withheld] and direct by phone [name withheld].
Quotes are reproduced exactly as written, including original spelling and punctuation, and are trimmed only with an ellipsis where marked. Where the BBB has redacted an employee’s name we show [name withheld]. Reviewers are identified only by the display name their platform shows. We pick quotes to represent the range on each profile, not to make a case, and we publish the overall rating and review count beside them so you can judge how typical any one of them is. Retrieved August 24, 2026.
The court record
Lawsuits involving Pacific Debt Relief
Nothing on the docket is a real result, and we would rather show you what we looked at than leave the question hanging.
We searched for litigation naming Pacific Debt, Inc. — the operating legal entity. Confirmed from the company's own Terms of Use, which gives the address 750 B Street, Suite 1700, San Diego, CA 92101 and states 'Pacific Debt, Inc. is registered with the California DFPI under the CCFPL registration number 01-CCFPL-1250953-3419036'. Also disclosed there / Pacific Debt Relief — the consumer-facing brand, used at pacificdebtrelief.com. The Terms of Use references the site but does not expressly state it as a separately registered DBA. and found none. That is a finding, not a shrug, so here is exactly what we checked and when.Searched CFPB enforcement action database (consumerfinance.gov/enforcement/actions) — reported as a control-verified negative, FTC cases and proceedings — reported as a control-verified negative, CFPB action against Meracord LLC (checked specifically to see whether Pacific Debt was named — it is not), CourtListener REST API v4 — RECAP docket search and opinions corpus, CourtListener document storage (the 87-page Thompson exhibit and the 153-page Rajagopalan class complaint were downloaded and text-extracted), Google Scholar case law — searched 'Pacific Debt, Inc.', 'Pacific Debt Inc', 'Pacific Debt Relief', and 'Kevin Landie', pacificdebt.com Terms of Use (primary source, retrieved and quoted), California DFPI (partial — see notes on the 'PacificCal' exclusion, which could not be re-confirmed). Verified August 2026.
Claims we could not verify, and therefore do not state as fact: “Two bankruptcy adversary proceedings possibly naming Pacific Debt” (CourtListener RECAP, identified during this research); “Landie v. Gonzalez-Romero, Bankr. S.D. Cal., Adversary No. 16-90168, filed 2016-10-31, terminated 2018-01-10” (CourtListener RECAP); “Any California state-court litigation involving Pacific Debt, Inc.” (n/a – coverage gap); “Any state attorney general action, any California DFPI action, or any discipline against NMLS 1250953” (n/a – coverage gap); “The 'PacificCal exclusion' at California DFPI” (referenced in the researcher's own notes); “Completeness of the federal docket sweep” (CourtListener RECAP). Each appears online with no court, caption, or docket behind it. We list them so you know we looked.
Court records are public and they change. A filed complaint contains allegations, not findings, and a case appearing here is not a conclusion that the company did anything wrong. Where a case ended, we say how it ended. Where we could not confirm a docket, we say that too. One limit worth knowing: free docket sources show only what someone has already paid to fetch, so a case we describe as open may have been resolved since the date shown against it. Treat every date here as the last time the record was refreshed, not as today. Last verified August 24, 2026.