Andrew Housser

Andrew Housser is a financial expert and entrepreneur who co-founded, with Bradford Stroh, Freedom Financial Network,[1] which provides consumer finance services through its divisions: Freedom Debt Relief, Bills.com, FreedomPlus, and Consolidation Plus.

Andrew Housser
Born (1973-08-09) August 9, 1973
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
OccupationBusinessman, entrepreneur
Known forFreedom Financial Network
Freedom Debt Relief
Bills.com

Education

Housser attended Brentwood College School in Mill Bay, Canada. Housser received his MBA from Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar,[2] and received a BA from Dartmouth College, where he graduated summa cum laude and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.[3] Housser now serves on the boards of two independent schools.[4] He also speaks regularly to entrepreneurship classes at Stanford Business School on topics including formation of new ventures and managing growing enterprises.[5]

Career

Prior to founding Freedom Financial Network, Housser was an investor in a variety of services, manufacturing and distribution companies at Littlejohn & Company, a private equity firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut. Prior to Littlejohn & Company, he worked for Smith Barney in New York City in the company's investment banking division.[6]

Housser and his business partner, Brad Stroh, founded Freedom Financial Network in 2002. Freedom Debt Relief, the largest division of Freedom Financial Network, provides debt settlement services. Debt settlement, also known as debt arbitration or debt negotiation, is a unique approach to debt reduction in which the debtor and creditor agree on a reduced balance that will be regarded as payment in full.

The company was founded with the goal of providing consumers with a viable alternative to bankruptcy as a way to get out of debt. "We looked long and hard at the collection industry," Housser said. "You have the biggest companies in the world—banks, collectors law firms—all ganging up on the consumer who has no advocate. We saw an opportunity."[7]

Freedom Debt Relief is an accredited member of the American Fair Credit Council (AFCC). Andrew Housser serves on AFCC's board of directors, a position he has held since 2006, when it operated under the name The Association of Settlement Companies.[8] In 2010, he was awarded the association's President's Award for outstanding voluntary service to the organization and contributions that "benefits the consumer".[9] Within the AFCC, Andrew plays a key role in promoting strong consumer legislation at the state and federal level, including important work the industry conducted with the Federal Trade Commission with respect to federal regulation for the industry.[10] He played a vital role in reinventing the industry association to focus on its mission of credit advocacy, as well as strict compliance with the new federal regulations.

In 2005, Stroh and Housser purchased the Bills.com domain and relaunched it as a website that provides consumers with information and interactive tools dealing with personal finance topics including debt relief assistance, mortgage loans, and insurance.[11] In 2008, Entrepreneur magazine named Bills.com No. 3 in the Hot 100 Fastest Growing Companies in America.[12]

Housser is also frequently called upon as an expert by the print, broadcast and online news media. He has been quoted in publications such as The New York Times,[13] Christian Science Monitor, CNBC, Bankrate and AOL Money & Finance. As part of his company's effort to help educate American consumers on credit, debt and personal finance management, Housser is a weekly contributor to WorldNow, one of the country's largest online media content producers which have been syndicated in publications such as CBS Radio, Cox, Landmark and Raycom Media.[14] Housser also writes about larger economics trends, especially surrounding consumer debt, on his personal website.

In December 2013, Freedom Financial Network announced that Vulcan Capital, an investment group owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, would invest $125 million of venture capital in FreedomPlus, an online lending platform to make unsecured loans to consumers. Housser is CEO of FreedomPlus.[15]

In 2015, Stone Point Capital, a private equity firm based in Greenwich, CT purchased a minority stake in Freedom.[16]

In 2016, Freedom Financial Network and Stone Point Capital founded the Freedom Consumer Credit Fund LLC (FCCF), which funds the Freedom Financial Asset Management (FFAM) subsidiary of Freedom Financial Network. FFAM offers personal loan products to consumers to consolidate their debts, lower interest rates and convert revolving debt into fixed-amortizing installment loans. FFAM provides long-term risk-adjusted returns for investors in consumer lending.[17]

Awards
  • Winner of 2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year for the Northern California region.[18]
  • Named to the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal's "40 Under 40" list.[19]
  • Freedom Financial Network was named Best Places to Work in the San Francisco Bay area: 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014.[20]
  • Freedom Financial Network was named Best Places to Work in the Phoenix area: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018.[21][22][23][24][25][26]
  • In 2016 and 2017, Freedom Financial Network was ranked No. 1 among Extra-Large Employers.[27][28]

Personal life

Housser lives with his family in Northern California. He is married to Lara Bridges Housser and the father of three children.

References
  1. Rigoglioso, Marguerite (November 2007). "Renegotiating Debt: One Consumer at a Time". Stanford Business Magazine. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved January 31, 2010.
  2. "2002 Arjay Miller Scholars". Stanford.edu. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  3. "Bigsight Andrew Housser". BigSight.org. Archived from the original on December 31, 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
  4. "Andrew Housser: CO-CEO of Freedom Financial Network (FFN)". IdeaMensch. December 6, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  5. "Freedom Financial Network". Freedom Financial Network. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  6. "Bloomberg People – Freedom Financial". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  7. "Entrepreneur Profile San Francisco Business Times". San Francisco Business Times. August 19, 2007. Archived from the original on January 2, 2010. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
  8. "TASC Becomes American Fair Credit Council (AFCC)". PR Web. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
  9. "TASC Website". TASCsite.org. Archived from the original on July 7, 2010. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
  10. "Andrew Housser". AFCC. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  11. "Line of Business". Archived from the original on September 22, 2007. Retrieved September 22, 2007.
  12. "Entrepreneur magazine". Archived from the original on August 24, 2008. Retrieved August 26, 2008.
  13. Joachim, David S. (November 1, 2006). "The Word on Warranties: Don't Bother". The New York Times. Retrieved September 22, 2007.
  14. "Clients WorldNow". Archived from the original on July 26, 2010. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
  15. Brustein, Joshua (December 11, 2013). "Banks Aren't Lending Enough. Can Startups Do Better?". Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
  16. "Stone Point | Companies". www.stonepoint.com. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  17. "Freedom Financial Network". Freedom Financial Network. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  18. "Award recipients for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 Award in Northern California announced" (Press release). Ernst & Young LLP. June 23, 2008. Archived from the original on July 10, 2011. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
  19. "Dynamic Duo". Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal. May 16, 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2009.
  20. "Best Places to Work (Midsize) 2014". The Business Journals. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  21. "Best Places to Work 2013". The Business Journals. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  22. "Best Places to Work 2014" (PDF). media.bizj.us. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  23. "Best Places to Work (Large) 2015". The Business Journals. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  24. "Best Places to Work (Extra Large) 2016". The Business Journals. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  25. "Best Places to Work 2017". The Business Journals. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  26. "Best Places to Work (Extra Large) 2018". The Business Journals. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  27. "Best Places to Work (Extra Large) 2016". The Business Journals. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  28. "Best Places to Work 2017". The Business Journals. Retrieved January 8, 2019.

Talks
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