Northwest Registered Agent Review [2023]- Is it the Best Option?

Find out how helpful Northwest can be with their incorporation and registered agent services if you’re ready to incorporate your business.

By now, you have already realized the advantages of incorporating your business. You also probably also know that you’re better off with a professional outfit handling the entire process for you. The real question now is, are you better off with Northwest than with other similar services?

To answer this question, let’s take a closer look at what Northwest actually has to offer:

If you are looking for an incorporation service which also provide registered agent service at an affordable price with good customer support, Northwest should be among your top 3 choice. They guarantee same day LLC filing and privacy protection.

 

Northwest Registered Agent

Pricing: $125/year

Who Should Use It: 

If you are willing to pay a little more for top-notch customer support and want to combine virtual office and mail forwarding services with registered agent service.

Pros

  • Top-notch customer service. Great Phone Support. 
  • Focus on Privacy.
  • Documents are scanned on the same day they are received. Mail forwarding is also available.
  • Money back refund possible within 90 days
  • No hidden charges. They handle all fees associated with the change in RA (good if you plan to change your registered agent).

Cons

  • Not the cheapest. Zenbusiness is slightly cheaper.

Core services provided by Northwest

  • Registered Agent Service
  • LLC Formation 
  • Service Nonprofit Formation
  • Corporate Guide Service
  • Trademark Service

Other Services

  • Annual Report Filings
  • Federal Tax ID Service
  • Foreign Registration
  • BOC-3 Process Agent

Business Address & Development

  • Mail Forwarding Services
  • Virtual Office Service
  • Phone Service
  • Payment Processing

The Packages for Incorporation

While other online incorporation outfits offer several packages for you to choose from (with different sets of services and different prices), Northwest simplifies matters by offering two simple packages.

  1. Upfront Payment
  2. Monthly Payment

You absolutely know what you get and what you’re paying, because Northwest doesn’t muddy the waters with vague descriptions of services, offers of upsells, and sneaky hidden fees. Everything’s upfront.

ImagePackage NameFeaturesPrice
Pay in Full

Pay in Full

Get Best Price
Pay Monthly*

Pay Monthly*

Get Best Price

The services include guiding you through the whole process ,especially with the confusing details of the paperwork. These include services that include helping with your corporate bylaws and operating agreement. Once your business formation documents have been completed, Northwest files them for you that same day.

They offer excellent customer support, which is a huge deal. Give them a call, and whoever takes the call will be quite knowledgeable, and they’ll be able to answer all your questions about incorporating their business. They’re very friendly too.

These services also include registered agent services, which you get for an entire year as part of the package. That’s very convenient since many states require a business to have this service ready to receive all legal documents. Now you won’t have to obtain these services separately.

The Price

All of these services come at a set rate of $225, and that doesn’t include the state filing fee (which will vary depending on the state). Once the year is done, you can continue using their registered agent services for $125 a year.

Admittedly, $225 is a rather high price. Lots of other similar outfits offer an even longer list of services for a lower price. The price is one of the reasons why Northwest isn’t considered the best in the industry.

Take into account that some similar companies offer incorporation services for just $39. There’s one that even offers free incorporation services (though admittedly they also try to sell you other services along the way). Then again, you do get what you pay for, and they offer high-quality services overall. For a lot of customers, it’s a great investment as it offers full value for their money.

ImageIncorporation Package NameFeaturesPrice
Basic

Basic

Get Best Price
Comprehensive

Comprehensive

Get Best Price

Historically Reliable

When it comes to incorporation services, you definitely don’t want to rely on unknown brands that don’t have an extensive track record for you to check out. That’s just asking for trouble.

You’ll have no trouble with the Northwest track record since they’ve been around since 1998. The fact that they’re still around and still much-respected speaks to their excellent record of serving their customers. They have helped more than 2 million customers so far.

ImagePlatform NameFeaturesPrice
BBB

BBB

Source
Yelp

Yelp

Source
TrustPilot

TrustPilot

Source

Easy Process

The entire process of incorporating is extremely easy, as all you basically have to do is to follow the directions offered on the website. You won’t feel like you’re on your own. Instead, it’s like Northwest is gently holding your hand as they show you the way.

Just enter the details (personal and business) required, and then pay for the service. Everything’s quick and easy. With a single package available, you won’t be confused by too many different options.

Fast Service

Northwest does everything quickly. As already mentioned, they file your formation documents on the same day. But then they also know that the state government proceeds at its own pace.

When you use the service, you’ll get to point out the state where you want to establish your business. Once that’s done, Northwest will display the estimated time needed to finish the entire incorporation process. This may be a matter of several business days. But in some cases, it may take a few weeks. It all depends on the state.

Northwest doesn’t offer an optional expedited process, allowing you to jump the line. Northwest simply acts quickly for all their customers.

Fantastic Customer Support

This is the area where Northwest rules over the whole industry. Their customer service is simply top-notch. That’s especially true in an industry where a rather significant percentage of the outfits don’t even have their own customer support department.

With Northwest, give them a call and you will find out exactly how good this customer support really is. The person who answers the phone will be able to answer your question in great detail. They really know what they’re talking about.

They just won’t give simplistic answers, either. They’ll ask for details about your particular situation so you can get a complete answer.

Their email support is almost as good. They do take their time to reply to emails, and that may be almost 24 hours later. But then the reply you get will be quite detailed as well. They don’t just send you simple stock answers.

Top Advantages of Opting with Northwest

Northwest is considered as one of the best incorporation services available these days. There are plenty of good reasons why it’s a terrific choice.

Unmatched Customer Support

This is the area in which no other incorporation service even comes close. Their customer support is both friendly and utterly knowledgeable. They have these experts answering the phone when you call, so you don’t even have to wait until they find the resident expert.

For Northwest, it’s all about making sure you have all the answers you need. That’s why they take the time to give you detailed answers when you call them. They even ask for details regarding your particular situation, so you can get specific answers. They’re not about giving generic answers at all.

The same goes for their email responses, though it may take a whole day before you get the response via email. The email will also feature a complete answer. The answer doesn’t lead to more questions—it’s fairly complete.

Call them, and you won’t ever get the sense that they’re annoyed about your call. They’re really friendly, and almost eager to help. Even if you end up calling them everyday for answers, you won’t ever get the sense that you’re bothering them.

Transparent Pricing

Northwest doesn’t want to take advantage of your lack of knowledge regarding the incorporation process. That’s why they just offer a single package, with a customer support department that can answer all your questions. They’ve simplified everything.

They don’t take advantage by just adding hidden fees. Everything’s on the up and up, and the price you see is the price you pay.

There are no upsells either. This is quite a relief, as lots of customers of other similar services may often feel pressured to say yes to these offers.

Simple and Easy

The whole incorporation process is quick and easy, and there won’t be a point along the way when you’ll feel confused and alone. Northwest is there to help you, and everything gets done fairly quickly.

While there is no expedited process, that’s not always a bad thing. It simply means that Northwest will do things quickly for all their customers. You’re sure that no one is jumping the line simply because they paid more. You won’t get delayed, and the Northwest estimate about the turnaround time is fairly accurate.

The incorporation services you receive also include registered agent services for a year, which is also fairly convenient. While it’s true that there are some other outfits that offer this same feature, others don’t.

Long Track Record

Northwest has been around since 1998, and most (if not all) the other companies don’t have the same long history as this brand has. They’ve also served more than 2 million customers already, and most of their competitors haven’t even reached a million yet.

The fact that Northwest is still around and is regarded as one of the best in the industry proves that these people really know what they’re doing. If you want an outfit you can rely on to help you incorporate, you can do worse than Northwest.

Main Disadvantage

No question, it’s the price of the package. Some customers won’t pay $225 for these incorporation services when other outfits that also offer similarly good services offer them for less than $40!

Direct Comparison with LegalZoom

This is a natural comparison because in many ways these 2 companies are very similar. LegalZoom is also an old outfit, as it was established only a year later after Northwest. In fact, LegalZoom has even managed to serve more customers, as they’ve already gone past serving 4 million customers.

But in most aspects, Northwest comes out on top when compared to LegalZoom. This starts with customer support. While LegalZoom also offers good customer support 7 days a week, its quality simply doesn’t compare with the sheer helpfulness of the Northwest customer support.

In addition, Northwest’s main drawback is its price, but somehow Northwest even comes out ahead when compared to LegalZoom.

It’s true that the base package from LegalZoom is just $149, which is lower than Northwest’s $225 price. But the LegalZoom package doesn’t include free registered agent services at all. If you take up the LegalZoom registered agent services, that’s an additional $299 a year. That takes the total price up to $448 a year for incorporating.

In fact, even the most expensive LegalZoom incorporation package (Express Gold), which costs $349, still doesn’t include the registered agent services. It’s baffling, this is really the case.

All in all, you’re better off with Northwest than with LegalZoom. You pay much less for all the required services, and excellent customer support is there to answer all your questions.

FAQs

What’s Northwest’s refund policy?

Northwest offers a refund within 60 days of paying for their incorporation services. There aren’t really any hassles to this process, though there’s a $25 fee for requesting a refund. That’s not bad, since you still get your $200 back.

Are there no extra services available at all?

Northwest is pretty much upfront when it comes to their incorporation services. These include the free registered agent services, which also helps you meet various compliance requirements. To continue receiving these registered agent services, you only pay $125 a year.

However, Northwest does offer an annual report service. This will cost $100, which doesn’t count the state fee yet.

What about Northwest’s publication service?

It’s true that in some states, you’re required to publish the formation of your company in a regional newspaper. Nebraska and Arizona have this requirement for corporations and LLCs. Georgia and Pennsylvania require this for just the corporations, while New York requires this for just the LLCs.

The bad news is that Northwest does not handle the publication requirement for you. In contrast, a few of the other outfits (notably ZenBusiness), will handle this requirement on your behalf.

The good news is that even if you opt to go with Northwest and you’re incorporating in a state with a publication requirement, you’re not entirely on your own. Northwest will still help, and give you detailed, step-by-step instructions on what you need to do to meet this requirement on your own. It’s all part of their excellent customer support.

Conclusion

If there’s one word to describe the quality of the Northwest incorporation service, it’s clarity. Northwest wants you to know what’s going on. They want you informed, and while you lack the answers at the start, they won’t take advantage of your lack of knowledge with tempting upsells and hidden fees.

These experts will hold your hand through the entire process so that you will never feel lost and confused. That’s why they offer fantastic customer support, with a single, simple package and transparent pricing.

Northwest is a great option, with the high price being the most notable drawback. Other excellent companies offer high-quality incorporation services for a lot less. But if you want unparalleled customer support, then Northwest is certainly your best bet. No other incorporation service will match the answers given by their customer support experts.

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