Premier Financial Alliance promises you the opportunity of a lifetime and the chance to build your own successful financial services business. In this Premier Financial Alliance review, I take a close look at the company’s claims of success.
What is Premier Financial Alliance? Premier Financial Alliance is a secretive multi-level marketing company claiming to offer an opportunity to build a financial services business. A lawsuit filed in California claims Premier Financial Alliance is a “classic pyramid scheme.”
Click to DISCOVER a Proven Path to Financial Independence!
Premier Financial Alliance website claims to be an innovative leader in the financial services industry and to have helped thousands of people to live their dreams and achieve financial freedom. However, there is no evidence on the Premier Financial website to substantiate these assertions.
Premier Financial Alliance Review.
The purpose of this Premier Financial Alliance review is to help you decide if the business opportunity is legitimate and what you can expect if you join.
No Retail Sales?
A California lawsuit alleging that Premier Financial Alliance is a pyramid scheme also states that commissions are earned on the sale of over-priced life insurance and that money is made by recruiting others into the scheme and selling them the same over-priced life insurance.
This allegation is significant because a telltale sign of a pyramid scheme is lack of retail sales to the public. According to the lawsuit, Premier Financial Alliance members only sell insurance to other members, indicating that PFA may indeed be a pyramid scheme.
Premier Financial Alliance is a Pig in a Poke.
Most of what you find on the Premier Financial Alliance website (pfaonline.com) pushes the business opportunity. Unfortunately, what you won’t find on the PFA website is specific information that will help you determine what the business opportunity is or if it’s right for you.
Due Diligence is Essential.
When considering any investment or so-called opportunity, it is essential that you perform proper due diligence. It starts with a look at the company’s Earning Disclosure Statement.
Multi-level marketing companies that are members of the Direct Selling Association must make available to all prospects an Earning Disclosure Statement. According to the Direct Selling Associate’s Code of Ethics, the information on the Earning Disclosure must be “substantiated by competent and reliable evidence.”
An honest Earning Disclosure Statement shows the percentage of MLM members that are earning commissions, how much they are earning and the probability of success.
Without an Earning Disclosure Statement, it is not possible to perform due diligence.
No Income Disclosure Statement = No Go!
Premier Financial Alliance does not have an Earning Disclosure Statement. Without it, we cannot perform proper due diligence on the business opportunity.
Without a thorough analysis of the opportunity, it would be foolish to get involved with Premier Financial Alliance. The lack of an Earning Disclosure Statement is a huge red flag and all the reason we need to pass on the so-called opportunity.
This shortcoming is only one of several signs that Premier Financial Alliance is not honest or transparent. That is reason enough to avoid it.
Read Why Affiliate Marketing is Better than MLM.
Premier Financial Alliance Website.
Like every other MLM, the Premier Financial Alliance website sells a dream of financial independence, and that’s about all it does. You won’t find anything specific about what Premier Financial Alliance is or what you must do to succeed with their opportunity.
Every page of the PFA website attempts to make you feel greedy for the pig in a poke they are selling. Any time a company tries to make you feel greedy for their “opportunity” but hides the details, it’s suspicious.
$125 Non-Refundable Fee.
If you want more information about PFA than the website provides you must fill out a lengthy questionnaire and include the member number of the PFA associate who would be your sponsor. In other words, you must enter the recruiting process.
At least on one level, it appears that the immediate goal of the Premier Financial Alliance website is to get people to fill out the questionnaire. In the questionnaire, you’re required to provide a phone number. Premier Financial Alliance insistence that you give them your phone number is suspicious.
Phone conversations are not regulated. Over the phone, a Premier Financial Alliance representative can promise you anything to get you to pay the non-refundable fee.
Legally, in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission enforces anything that might be considered advertising. Statements made on a website could be legally binding.
Perhaps this is why there is so little information on the Premier Financial Alliance website.
I suspect if you did fill out the PFA questionnaire, you would soon get a phone call from a rep who tries to talk you into paying the non-refundable fee.
Premier Financial Alliance Lawsuit.
A RICO class action lawsuit filed in California in June 2018, alleges that Premier Financial Alliance operates an illegal pyramid scheme. The lawsuit specifically alleges that members of PFA earn commissions solely by recruiting new members and not by retailing insurance to non-members. The lawsuit also alleges that PFA promises members they can achieve “vast wealth” with their PFA business but that over 95% of PFA associates lose money.
In a press release found on the PFA website, Premier Financial Alliance states that they are a “victim of false accusations” and that they consider the lawsuit a nuisance action attempting to “obtain a large settlement without having to litigate the merits of the complaint.”
The court will determine if Premier Financial Alliance is a pyramid scheme. However, we can use criteria established by Dr. Jon Taylor and published on the Federal Trade Commission’s website to determine how closely PFA resembles a pyramid scheme.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if PFA is a pyramid scheme or not. What matters, if you are considering the business opportunity, is whether you have a reasonable chance at success. I doubt it.
Not a Member of DSA.
The Direct Sellers Association attempts to regulate direct selling companies and multi-level marketing companies. Companies that are members of DSA agree to a code of ethics and to resolve complaints registered with DSA.
Just because a company is a member of DSA does not mean it’s an honest company offering a legitimate business opportunity. However, it does show that the company is at least paying lip service to a code of ethics.
When an MLM is not a member of DSA, it is cause for concern as it reveals they are not the least bit interested in appearing legitimate or abiding by any code of ethics.
In performing due diligence on an MLM company, DSA is a good place to start. A quick search of DSA members reveals that Premier Financial Alliance is NOT a member of DSA.
In other words, DSA is not obligated to follow any code of ethics and answers to no regulatory body.
Click to Discover a Proven Path to Financial Independence!
Is Premier Financial Alliance a Pyramid Scheme?
Dr. Taylor developed five questions to answer about a company to determine if it might be a pyramid scheme. Essentially, by answering Taylor’s questions, we can find out if a company is legitimate or if it exploits its associates.
Taylor’s questions are listed below.
Finding the Answers.
With an MLM that is a member of the Direct Sellers Association, the answers to these questions can be found in the Earning Disclosure Statement and the Compensation Plan. Unfortunately, neither are available for Premier Financial Alliance.
Is success with Premier Financial Alliance dependent on recruiting?
Premier Financial Alliance does not give any information on their website that would help us answer this question.
A legitimate direct selling company earns most of its revenue through retail sales. A member can earn a respectable income with only selling the products of a legitimate direct selling company and never have to recruit.
The lawsuit filed in California alleges that success with PFA is completely dependent on recruitment.
The questionnaire on the PFA website certainly raises the assumption that Premier Financial Alliance is dependent on recruitment. The PFA questionnaire clearly states at the top that all fields must be completed. Then it asks for your “Referring Associate PFA ID.” This requirement suggests that recruiting is central to the PFA business opportunity.
Pyramid schemes are dependent on recruiting. If recruiting stops, a pyramid scheme will collapse. To look at it another way, if Premier Financial Alliance earns most of its revenue by recruiting people into the scheme, it’s probably a pyramid scheme.
Since there is no evidence on the website that retail sales are even possible, I suspect that PFA is indeed dependent on recruiting, but ultimately, the answer to this question cannot be conclusively determined.
Does Premier Financial Alliance Permit Unlimited Recruiting?
Again, there is no information on the PFA website that answers this question.
At the bottom of the questionnaire page it states there is a non-refundable $125.00 association fee that permits PFA members to use a proprietary marketing system, but that the payment of this fee does not permit members to market products or to receive compensation and that all state licensing must be completed before selling life insurance and receiving commissions or overrides.
In other words, although you pay the fee, you’re not in business.
Assigning and protecting territories is something a legitimate direct selling company will do to protect the income of its salespeople. If PFA protected territories, I would expect it to mention the fact. It doesn’t
Pyramid schemes are dependent on recruiting. If they stop recruiting, pyramid schemes quickly collapse. Unlike a legitimate direct sales company, a pyramid scheme must permit unlimited recruiting or die.
Are PFA members required to spend money to start and must they spend money each month to qualify for commissions or bonuses?
We know from the notice at the bottom of the PFA questionnaire page that a member must pay a $125 non-refundable fee. It’s not clear what benefits a member gets for paying this fee or what additional expenses a member might pay.
Pyramid schemes typically require members to “Pay to Play.” Pay to play means a member must pay for the opportunity to make money for the company. That appears to be happening with PFA.
When you join PFA, you pay a $125 fee to the company. Then, once you’re a member and duly licensed, you recruit people into the scheme who also pay the $125 fee to the company. That’s insane.
When a sale is made, does someone upline who had nothing to do with the sale earn about as much as the member who made the sale?
Again, because Premier Financial is so secretive and evasive, we cannot determine how much a member earns when she makes a sale or how much her upline earns.
There are reports online about the commission structure of PFA, but we cannot perform credible due diligence based on information from third party websites.
Pyramid schemes are structured to funnel money from the bottom of the organization to the top. To achieve this, they create a commission structure that rewards the founder of the scheme and a few members at the topmost ranks who joined the scheme early.
Since Premier Financial Alliance has taken no steps to prove they are NOT a pyramid scheme, we may assume the worse.
Does PFA pay overrides or commissions on more than four levels above the distributor making the sale or purchase?
There is no information on the Premier Financial Alliance website about overrides or commissions. Other sources online report that PFA has ten affiliate ranks. If this is true, PFA is hiding it for some reason.
A legitimate direct sales company will have no more than four levels of rank and overrides. That usually corresponds to four levels of management such as local, state, regional and national.
A legitimate direct sales company keeps management streamlined and compact, so the largest percentage of commissions is paid to the people making the sales.
A pyramid scheme does just the opposite. It creates several levels, so money is gathered across a wide base and funneled to a few people at the top who had nothing to do with the sale. That appears to be the case with Premier Financial Alliance, but there is no evidence on their website confirming this assumption.
Final Analysis.
We could not conclusively answer the five questions because Premier Financial Alliance withholds information. The most glaring red flag is that no one can perform proper due diligence on the business opportunity. That’s all the reason you need to avoid PFA.
If you pursue the PFA business opportunity, you will be going in blind. That is not the way to start a business. By keeping so many secrets, PFA has full control. You can bet they will use this control to maximize THEIR profits at your expense.
Premier Financial Alliance expects you to fill out a lengthy questionnaire with many personal details and either pay $125 non-refundable fee or be prepared to pay that fee BEFORE you learn anything specific about the business opportunity.
That’s like putting your money on the table and rolling the dice. The odds are you will lose.
Click to Discover a Proven Path to Financial Independence!
How does Premier Financial Alliance work? Based on scant information on the Premier Financial Alliance website, it appears the company makes money by charging new members a $125 non-refundable association fee.
After paying the $125 non-refundable fee AND getting a license to sell life insurance, PFA members can recruit others into the scheme. However, a statement on the PFA website states that no commissions can be earned until a member is licensed to sell life insurance.
It can take months and considerable expense to get a license to sell life insurance. Each state has specific fees and requirements for a life insurance license. Some states require license applicants to complete 40 hours or more of classroom training.
The Premier Financial Alliance Lawsuit. The PFA lawsuit is still playing out. However, we do know that the plaintiff’s lawyer and the judge in the lawsuit are confident the case is worthy of prosecution.
The plaintiffs charge that Premier Financial Alliance is a pyramid scheme and an endless chain recruiting scam. Members are forced to buy extremely expensive life insurance and then recruit others to do the same. The plaintiffs also claim that the cost of the insurance is so expensive it cannot compete as a retail product and only members of PFA purchase it as a requirement to qualify for commissions and overrides.
Can You Trust Premier Financial Alliance? Premier Financial Alliance has done nothing to prove they are trustworthy and everything to prove they are not.
In my opinion, at best, Premier Financial Alliance is a poorly organized and managed MLM. At worse, it’s a pyramid scheme as the lawsuit alleges.
If you are considering the Premier Financial Alliance business opportunity, ask yourself, do you trust them? If you do, the first step is to give them $125 you will never get back.
Related Articles:
Why Affiliate Marketing is Better than MLM
How to Evaluate an MLM Company
If you found this article helpful or if you have experience or insight into Premier Financial Alliance, please leave a comment below. Thank you.
Hey, Gary:
Your article is helpful. To those who would totally believe that PFA is a scam. You wrote so many inaccurate claims that are your PERSONAL opinion. I work in the healthcare business. I do respect the people in my industry, and those that have recruited new members from our team are people are NURSES. I personally saw a best friend of mine earned her commissions in 3 weeks. She worked hard for it and she was mentored by a very successful PFA coach. The amount of training she received and the “hand-holding” mentorship my best friend received and is receiving is immense. If you’re stuck and bitter about paying $125 – then you gotta move on and do something else. PFA offered my best friend a goldmine and wealth of information that are fascinating. For example: this evening we just learned about how business owners like me can better offer benefits and reward financial benefits to our employees thru IRS tax credits. Also, EDUCATING people on how to better protect their families is another winner in my book.
Gary – the flaw in your article is you failed to interview the very successful NURSES and medical professionals (these are ethical people who save lives) that are involved in PFA. You went right straight to the jugular and made claims of you OPINION. SMH.
I personally know someone (immigrant) who made it good in PFA.
Your article and one-sided. There are two sides to a story. And the GULLIBLES who are broke and negative would simply buy your opinion. This is why they stay broke and remain to stay there.
I wish you had been more fair in your one-sided article.
And all those crying about the $125 membership fee is pretty petty. If you are bitter about investing the $125 to educate yourself – then quit and move on. This is not for the faintest of heart and gut. So many negative people (like you ) who like to put people down just because they are a HATER.
Your article is a FARCE, Gary, Shame on you.
PS. I just started PFA. I will come back to your article and prove you wrong. And I will share this with our team. Your OPINION are NOT FACTS. There is always a “lawsuit.” California is the land of frivolous lawsuits. Even for a petty $125. Even Disneyland gets sued. The ‘Happiest Place on Earth.”
So there. I said it.
Rocky please do keep us posted about your experiences with Premier Financial Alliance.
I don’t understand how people can afford to state derogatory statements about this company PFA when they have not had any personal relationship or experience with the company. I was an RN for 37 years and at the time the platform was introduced to me I had 2 nursing jobs. The opportunity enabled me to quit nursing after 2 years. To this date, I am grateful to God for my friend and neighbor who introduced me to the opportunity. I have a small team of mostly nurses but bulk of my income comes from my personal production. Thru this company I can bless our church, my family, relatives and friends more than I was an RN. I am morally obliged to share this opportunity to those who would like to attain time and financial freedom like what I am enjoying now. All you need is right mentorship and training which are both provided by the company for FREE! Time to learn and application of the knowledge, skills and attitude are the 2 vital factors for you to achieve in any endeavor. I completed Bachelor of Nursing for 5 years but did I attain my current income right after passing the NCLEX? Absolutely NOT! But here I started making good earnings after a month of passing the licensing exam. Understand that this career is highly regulated since you are required to pass the government- administered licensing test. Hence, this is not a scam. PFA doesn’t sell a product. We offer superb services to the right clients- not everybody! The $125 membership fee is refundable within the 1st 10 days of signing up. That amount is utilized to maintain our individual agent portal. It is a one-time lifetime fee. We don’t pay any monthly fee after that unlike other companies. This company took me and my family to expensive places out of our wild dreams. One thing that struck me being with this company for 10 years now is I can freely call and talk to the CEO of the company which boosts my morale everytime. There is an open and direct communication line with the CEO, the Executive Chairman and the other leaders in this company. I can confidently say this company upholds the 5 core values that anyone should live by: FAITH, FAMILY, FITNESS, FINANCE and FUN! I encourage anyone who reads this to do your due diligence by talking to real people with real experiences or relationships with the company before casting your unpleasant judgement. Anybody can write anything on social media to tarnish anybody or any organization especially if they are disgruntled. Emotional decisions are not logical decisions. Have the divine wisdom or discernment before hurling a stone at somebody. In this world, nobody is perfect, only GOD is! Have a blessed day everyone and enjoy the best give GOD gave us- our LIFE! Ride the journey with bliss and gratitude! ???
Hi everyone,
This article is helpful. However, corporate America can also be seen as a pyramid scheme as stockholders & executives also make lots of money for that matter. Pfa offers to anyone who wants to own their own business a platform of training to become business owners. Pfa does not sell products directly, so they cannot publish earnings. When you join Pfa you will get the training you need to be your own boss. The insurance business is a highly regulated industry and therefore cannot be a scam. Thus, you will need to be licensed before you can earn your commissions. Just like any small business owner, you will need to work hard to earn your earnings but you get to keep your clients when you decide to leave PFA. A scam is when you pay money & gets nothing in return but what you get in return is a team of coaches and a business platform that help you build your own business. Corporate America companies get sued all the time by their rivals, so not to be too quick to label Pfa as a scam when you have not seen it for yourself. Thanks for reading!
Hi Gary Horton,
This is a great product review with lots of important information about the premier financial alliance. I have not heard about this company before. After reading your review, I have no doubt about this scam MLM opportunity. I believe that many people will find the real truth about this company. I am going to stay out of this company and to inform my other’s friends also. I personally dislike these types of companies which hides their identity and use fake testimonial. Thanks for sharing this informative review with us.
Hi,
Thank you very much for introducing a fraud MLM company like Premier Financial Alliance. I did not know any information about this company before. After reading this great review, we got to know about their activities. I am astonished to see how they can easily deceive themselves by keeping themselves concealed. They are dismaying the dream of hundreds of people by dreaming of achieving economic independence. It’s really tragic. Your this comprehensive review will help people to become aware. So, I will shear it on my web link.
This is something to digest and learn from, lots have fallen victim and many more are on their way to the traps. I am glad the way you’ve exposed all the atrocities of these fraudulent companies by listing all the taletell signs. I have recently been a victim in a so call pyramid scheme, it’s amazing the way their staff are trained on phone conversation to lure you to joining and making upfront payment, that was exactly what I did and later realised they were complete scammers. I was told to get five dowlines and it goes on and on . The truth is , these companies make money from their victims without nothing to give back. Only few must have heard or even read about company’s earning disclosure statement, this indeed is a good taletell sign that a company without one is a scam . PFA indeed have skeletons in their cupboard and if victims have read articles like your one would have taken great care to know which company is real or not.
Thanks Gary
Hi, Stella!
It’s taken me years to learn to see the truth about MLMs. If not for the work of Dr. Jon Taylor, I may never have seen the light.
Because Premier Financial Alliance is so poorly managed, it’s a little easier to see the holes in their operation, but most MLMs are much more sophisticated. They have perfected exploiting our trust and vulnerability. Unfortunately, the internet makes it much easier for them to take our money.
As you mentioned, they often have highly motivated professional sales people ready to talk us out of our money. These sales people get a large chunk of the money we spend when we join. Naturally, they want it up front, preferably from a credit card or debit card.
Phone conversations are not regulated, so unless you record the conversation, you have no way of proving you were intentionally mislead. The telemarketers can tell you anything to get your money and they often do.
Thanks for stopping by,
Gary
OH! This is an in- depth review I must confess. I don’t know how people take delight in ripping off people of there hard earned money. All these MLMs are just birds of same feather. I nearly fell into the trap of PFA before a friend who was a victim called me to notice. Now I have confirmed their illegitimate deals through your article. Thanks for sharing this with us
Hi, Tunde!
You are so right about MLM. Premier Financial Alliance and all MLMs are birds of a feather. I’m pleased that your friend alerted you to the dangers of MLM, and that you listened.
Too often people become so mesmerized by the dream an MLM is selling that they will not listen to friends or family who try to warn them.
Thanks for stopping by,
Gary
Hi there!
Thanks for the review on premier financial alliance. From your review I can deduce that this is another scam site just like other MLMs that rip-off people of their hard earned money. The promises of MLM to people for financial breakthrough is a mirage. I was a victim few years ago. PFA collects $125 non refundable after filling lot of questionnaires and at the end all is a scam. I just hope people won’t fall victim for all this fake MLM site. Kudos for sharing this article.
Hi, Olalekan!
Premier Financial Alliance is so poorly managed that there is no reason to trust it. No MLM offers a legitimate opportunity, but with PFA the warning signs are all over the place. Not to mention the lawsuit that clearly describes Premier Financial as a pyramid scheme.
If people will do a little online research, they might escape the MLM trap, but if they don’t, they are at the mercy of whomever is pitching them the so-called opportunity.
Thanks for stopping by,
Gary
Thanks for writing out this lovely article and I must say its a must for everyone to read and digest.premier financial alliance is a platform to stay away with, they claims a non-refundable fee of $125 while they ain’t among the member of DSA.what exactly is there group into? To my believe, they are scam while newbies in online making money should stay away from. No tangible Information on their website. This blog has been revealing and alerting us about scanners. Thanks for this article. Best regards
Now it is a very impetuous world. I want to find a project that gets rich quickly, but I don’t want to work hard. In the end, I often fall into the trap of being cheated. Premier financial alliance is one of the platforms where I lost my funds heavily and they couldn’t refund me up to date. I consider them to be one of the scam sites in the world. This article should be an eye opener to online marketers newbies
Hi, Ola!
Sorry to hear you lost money to Premier Financial Alliance. Hopefully, the lawsuit that alleges they are a pyramid scheme will alert the Federal Trade Commission and shut them down.
Thanks for stopping by,
Gary
Hi Ola:
I’m sorry to hear that you lost funds, but how much did you lose? I only had to pay the $125 non-refundable fee and I paid expenses for my insurance licensing like everyone else.
Judging from the website, it doesn’t look like potential “associates” would even have a clue as to what they would be selling. The site should list what financial products and services their associates will sell.The site focuses way too much on how “associates” can get the life they want by building their business. Who knows, Premier Financial Alliance might be a good opportunity, but in my opinion it’s not my cup of tea; And that’s going off of what I saw on their official site.
Hi, Nate MC!
I agree. There is no way to know what a person is getting into when they visit the Premier Financial Alliance website. And, the $125 entry fee is enough to choke on.
PFA is not a genuine opportunity.
Thanks for stopping by,
Gary
Give the amount of investment it takes to start a business compared to the cost of paying the $125 entry fee and costs for training I don’t understand how this should be an issue. If someone wants to be an employee the of course the business owner would pay the expenses and give compensation to the employee.
As a member of PFA, some of the statements in this article are not true.
1. You do not have to recruit to work a PFA. You can just be a producer, period. I just started selling after I was trained (for free) on the PFA system. I was paid commission on my first sale which more than paid for my outlay.
2. You do not have to buy PFA products to work there. I would love to buy Living Life by Design but due to my health I cannot qualify. I still work at PFA and I can make commissions – only investment was time and hard work.
3. Making substantial money can be achieved just by selling. My upline made about $400K this last year all by himself on business direct to him. He was also able to make a great deal of additional money on spread commissions from his downline. I have no downline and I am still making money. I agree, It is not easy. It takes time and learning how to work within the system and the ability to be mentored.
After paying $125 entry fee, you will be asked to buy an insurance policy for yourself. Without buying a new policy, they will not train you.