Is Team National a Pyramid Scheme Scam or Legit MLM? [2022 Review]

Team National Review

The overview and rankings

Name: Team National

Founder: Richard Loehr in 1997

Type: Discount Memberships MLM

Products (Including Pricing): 40 out of 100

Success Stories: 1 out of 100

Price To Join MLM: $55 starter pack + $25 a year

+$795/ $2,915 per 2 years for the discount membership

+ $61.95/ month

= $1,595.40- $2,995.40 for your first year (30 out of 100)

What to look for in a MLM:

What is Team National?

Team National is a discount membership Multi-Level-Marketing company. 

It was founded in 1997 by Richard Loehr and was passed onto his daughter, Angela in 2008.

Team National is a Fort Lauderdale-based network marketing and membership savings organization.

In 1997, Dick Loehr created the company.

In 2000, Angela Loehr Chrysler, his daughter, joined the team.

Angela became the president of Team National in 2006. And upon her father Dick Loehr's passing in 2008, she assumed control of Team National.

This company is a member of the Direct Selling Association (DSA), Dun and Bradstreet (D&B), and the US Chamber of Commerce, which is one of its many positive attributes.

Being a member of these groups lends them a considerable reputation, and when combined with their 23 years in business, they are a solid corporation.

In 2016, Team National generated $659,000,000 in revenue. That is quite remarkable for an MLM model.

The company not only provides a way for people to get discounts on a huge range of products, but they also provide an opportunity for everyday people to earn money from home by recruiting more people into the Team National company.  

The 8-minute video below explains more about this opportunity...

Many people will get very excited when they see this video about the opportunity.

But you're smart enough to realise this is just a promotional video made by Team National. 

So you're probably still wondering...

Is Team National a pyramid scheme?

Technically no, Team National is not a pyramid scheme.

It's possible for their "International Marketing Directors" (IMD) to earn money by selling the discount memberships to other people. They do not HAVE to recruit people into the MLM company to earn good money.

However, a much better question would be... "is Team National a pyramid scheme in disguise?"...

What is a pyramid scheme?

A company that promises payment to its members for recruiting more people into the company rather than selling any products or services.

These are illegal in most countries and the Wikipedia diagram below shows you why it's impossible for everyone to make money inside a company like this...

Team National does offer legit discount memberships that can save people a lot of money. 

However, it is very hard for IMD's to make any significant money unless they recruit a lot of people.

This means that the Team National is similar to a "pyramid scheme in disguise" because members will need to recruit people to "be their own boss" or work from home.

The 5 minute video below explains this in more detail...

Success is rare with Team National

In fact, success if hard to find inside any MLM company.

Did you know that between 73% and 99.9% of all MLM representatives lose money?

You can actually see from the Team National income disclaimer that 98.5% of IMDs made less than $1,303 in 2019.

When you account for the expenses of $1,595.40- $2,995.40 per year you can see that 98.5% of MLM members will lose money as an IMD. 

It's important to note that they may be able to save money from the actual program itself so it doesn't mean they are all out of pocket. 

But as a business opportunity... you can see that it's pretty hard to "be your own boss"!

How does Team National Work?

With Team National, you have some options for making extra cash.

If you're looking for a standard business, Team National is different. The uniqueness of their product type is one of their hallmarks.

However, the money-making structure is the same as in virtually every other multi-level marketing or affiliate scheme.

You receive a commission when you sell the service and recruit others to use it.

Here, let's compare the two in more detail:

Revenue Generation Through Product Sales

In addition to being difficult to understand, Team National businesses don't sell anything.

They market memberships that allow customers to save money when buying things.

Some of these are sizable, widely recognized brands. Team National needs to specify the exact percentages. Therefore, you can save money in four distinct ways.

• Buying from Team National Factory directly will help you save money on material goods.

• By banding together, consumers and businesses can save money on a wide range of services.

• Discounts for local businesses using our business services.

• Funding Return Plan. Individuals can use these deals to earn rebates on purchases made at various stores.

Team National is a wholesale cooperative. The firm takes advantage of its size to make bulk purchases, allowing it to pass the savings on to customers.

It's the same as BJ's or Costco in every way possible. Except they have a real store and you must pay a membership fee if you want to shop there.

There are two main schemes that Team National offers as discounts.

Team National's website also needs to provide more detail beyond the membership price ($795 for two years or $2,915 for life) and the number of available membership tiers.

To put it another way, you'll have to shell out some serious dough up front to save cash on something you'll eventually have to buy.

Isn't that a tough pitch to make?

Team National products

Before you decide to jump into any MLM, you will need to understand the products or services on offer. 

Team National has a range of discounts for tons of products and services under these main 4 categories:

• Group buying power – TN helps people to save on items such as home and life insurance, automobiles, jewelry and so on.
• Factory-direct pricing – provides savings on flooring, mattresses, grills…
• Business services – Business owners can save on payment processing, legal solutions, and other benefits
• Rebate programs – Cashback from many retailers, from household goods, shoes, clothing, electronics, etc.

You can find more information about these discounts here. 

To access these discounts there are 2 membership options of:

• Standard Membership: $795 for 2 years
• Or Premium Membership (good for businesses): $2915 for 2 years

But note that there are many other companies out there that sell the same services such as:

• Legal Shield
• Asirvia
• Fluorescent Sand
• Genistar
• Cowboy Wealth
• Global Dream Network
• 7K Metals
• OnPassive
• United Success Network

So you're probably wondering...

Can you make money with Team National?

The income disclosure proves that it is very hard to make money from Team National, but not impossible. 

The few people that do well from the company and make over $14k a year will treat this more like a full time "sales manager" job than a part time income to their other job. 

Typically, successful members in a MLM company are extroverted people that use social media all the time and very good at "selling the dream of being your own boss".

Hence, they have to recruit a large "downline" to make serious money and benefit from the bonuses & sales their team makes. 

They will then spend most of their time on Zoom calls encouraging their "team" to sell and recruit more to help them make more money!

How to make money with Team National

Like most MLMs there are 2 ways you can earn money as a IMD at Team National:

1. Sell the memberships to receive a commission of the sale
2. Recruit people into the MLM and earn bonuses from their sales

This is why Team National is not a pyramid scheme and has not been shut down by the FTC. 

They do not pay people directly for recruiting people into the MLM.

But there are some very lucrative bonuses for any sales their downline can make. This means that members need to focus on recruiting to make money. 

How much does it cost to join Team National MLM?

It costs $55 for the starter kit and $25 annual membership fee. 

If you want to sell these memberships you will be encouraged to try them for yourself so that you will understand them better. 

A 2 year members will cost either:

• Standard Membership: $795 (covers your immediate family)
• Or Premium Membership: $2,195 (covers some business expenses and your "extended family")

But the fees do not stop there...

Team National monthly cost

If you want to become an International Marketing Director (IMD) you will need to allow for some additional monthly expenses to access all of the resources on offer at Team National:

• Success Club: $35.95 per month
• TNAllAccess.com: $10 per month.
• Information on Demand services for Genealogy or checking your downline: $99 a year or $9 a month
• Personal Big N Marketplace website - $75/year or $7/month for members; $495 for non-members

This information is not available on their website and I had to do some serious digging through YouTube videos and other IMD's websites to find this out. 

So the total cost for your first year would be:

• $55
• $25
• $35.95 x 12
• $10 x 12
• $99 
• $795- $2,195
• $75/year 

Total costs for year 1 = $1,595.40- $2,995.40

Obviously this is cheaper that starting a standard bricks and mortar business. But it's certainly not "free to start" like some people make it seem. 

Team National compensation plan

For some reason many MLMs like to make their compensation plan harder to understand than solving a Rubik's cube blindfolded. 

Team National is no different, so I will do my best to keep this simple. 

There are 5 ways you can get paid from Team National:

1. Direct discount membership commissions ($25-$100)
2. Residual discount membership commissions (binary compensation plan- if you recruit 10 points on both legs = $1,500… see diagram below. 3 points = premium member; 1 point = standard member)
3. Hosting bonus- (If your downline hits their 10 & 10- you receive a $1,000 bonus)
4. Presidential bonuses (extra $10-$100 bonuses for sales if you reach presidential rank)
5. Promotions - Trips for recruiting people. 

If you are still confused by this... do not worry!

The only thing you actually need to know is WHAT to do to make money:

• Sell discount memberships
• Recruit people into the MLM

And do you notice that 4 out of the 5 ways to get paid helps if you to recruit people into the MLM?

The 3-minute video below explains the compensation plan in more detail...

Is Team National a scam?

No, Team National is not a scam. 

They sell legit discount memberships that people can use to save money from certain expenses. They also pay their IMD's like they say they will. 

However, is this the best way for you to "be your own boss and work from home"?

Only you can decide, but the rest of this Team National review will help you make an informed decision. 

Just to be fully transparent with you, I am not a distributor myself and I do not endorse Team National in any way.

I have researched the website, testimonials and information on the Internet to get to the bottom of what this program genuinely does. This is because I have been burnt from programs just like this in the past and I want to prevent others from making the same mistakes. If you’d like to learn how to “Spot an Online Marketing Scam” then click the highlighted text.

Common positive reviews

Here are some of the positive reviews we had from Indeed about the job opportunity...

• "Great family oriented company. Benefits surpass a lot of other companies in the area. Open door policy even with the CEO. Stress free working environment."

Common negative reviews

And here are the common negative reviews we got...

• "If you have the time, and network you can make decent money doing this. Otherwise, dont waste your time. You will spend more money buying the actual membership."
• "Never trust HR. That's a set up.The CEO doesn't notice any of these things b/c the team leads/ managers put on a different face when she's around. Very sweet woman & family. It's sad."

What I like about Team National

There are some things that I do like about Team National's MLM program compared to many other MLMs...

Key Terms:

• Pyramid Scheme – recruits members via a promise for payment from referring others to the service rather than providing a product
• Affiliate Marketing- Connecting a customer to a product they are looking for and receiving a commission for doing so
• Red Flag - A warning sign

#1 Proven history

Did you know that 1 out of 3 MLM companies disappear within 10 years of starting?

Well Team National has been running for over 20 years now...

Their management has even passed hands and the company is still going.

This is a good sign that Team National is not a scam and is not likely to disappear tomorrow.

#2 Positive Team National product reviews

You can find some positive Team National reviews on forum site or review sites like the Better Business Bureau (BBB)

It's important to be aware that many MLMs encourage their recruits to leave positive reviews in certain places to make the company seem better, which can help the IMD's sell more!

But positive reviews about the discounts is a great sign that Team National is not a scam and can save people money.  

#3 No monthly sales quota to remain active

You do need to sell 2 memberships per year to remain active. 

However, there is no monthly sales quota to stay active at the company. 

You have to hit a "sales quota" at many MLMs otherwise they suspend your account. This means that many recruits end up buying extra products themselves so they don't get kicked out. 

This is a great sign, however, there are some sneaky monthly costs that you do need to be aware of inside Team National...

What I don't like about Team National

There are some hidden truths that you won't find out about on their website.

Many people find this out the hard way, but it's important to be aware of this before you dive in...

#1 Expensive to join

Did you know there are tons of rewards programs and cashback companies that offer you discounts that are free to join?

In fact, you can find 15 legit survey sites that pay you money here.

Inside there's even companies like Rakuten that pay you $10 to join... and then give you discounts for your online shopping!

Now, you may be thinking... but surely Team National's discounts are way better?

Well, that's what I thought so I did a quick search to see if there were other companies that offer a similar service.

It turns out AARP costs around $12 a year and offers very similar services and discounts as you can see below...

And I'm not the only one who knows you can get the same kind of  products without spending a penny or for a fraction of the  price. Check out this review on the BBB...

#2 Hidden monthly expenses

So it's great that there is no monthly sales quota.

However there are some additional monthly expenses that you need to pay according to other people's reviews and YouTube videos. 

Some of this include:

• Website: $7 a month
• Success club: $39.95 a month
• TN All Access subscription: $10 a month

You can even see the CEO talking about the "success club" but there is no information anywhere on the website (or this video) about the costs of the club...

These costs are well and truly hidden as you can see in this heartfelt review below... 

#3 Is Team National a pyramid scheme in disguise?

This is a screenshot from a Team National presentation...

Do you think that image looks familiar?...

The simple fact is that to make decent money, you will need to recruit people into the MLM. 

And any company that requires you to recruit to make money means that most people will lose money.

Still don't believe me? Well, check this out...

#4 Only 1 out of 167 make over $14k a year

Team National's 2019 income disclaimer proves that 0.6% of all members earnt more than $14,000 for the year...

In simple English that means that only 1 out of 167 IMD's consistently earn more than $1,000 a month.

#5 Downward trend

The final nail in the coffin is found on Google Trends...

It's much harder to sell a product or recruit people if they are not looking for it. Since 2018 there has been a huge decrease in searches for Team National on Google. 

You can see other MLMs such as Farmasi are going the other way to this trend. 

I also found out that in 2016 Team National had 48,494 IMD's. In 2019 there were only 25,420 IMD's. Almost half of the IMD's have disappeared in 3 years!

Hmmm... It's anyone's guess as to why so many people are leaving the company...

My opinion - Team National

It is possible to find discounts from the membership offered at IMD. 

However, it is possible to find these kinds of discounts from companies that you do not need to pay to join.

There are even discount memberships that are very similar that cost less than $20 a year!

But what do I think are your chances of making money from this MLM?...

98.5% of IMDs lose money. 

That means that if you are going to make money you will need to recruit people that you know are very likely going to lose money...

And that is not my idea of an ethical business model!

How I make passive income online

MLMs are not scams or illegal. However, I'm not a fan of them because of the restrictions to the expensive products you have to promote.

Once I learnt about affiliate marketing, I realised it's a far superior business model because:

• You can promote anything you want and truly own the business
• You never need to sell to friends and family
• It's completely free to start

In 2018 I had no idea what affiliate marketing was.