CSC Registered Agent Service Review

If you want to form a business in the United States, you will need to designate a registered agent. The role of the registered agent involves the usage of their address as your official business address, which means they’ll receive important document deliveries on your behalf, including court summons and other official correspondence from your state government.

While you can legally serve as your own agent and still operate a compliant business entity, there are some other benefits of hiring a registered agent service, like the ability to keep your personal information out of the public record. In addition, having a registered agent makes it so that you don’t need to be available at your place of business during all standard business hours, and it also cuts down on the amount of junk mail you’ll receive.

There are many companies that offer this vital service to businesses, and it can be difficult to discern which one is the best option for your company. In this review, we’ll take a close look at CSC, one of the most popular service providers in the industry. Are they the right registered agent service for your business?

About CSC

CSC is one of the oldest and most respected registered agent service providers in the world. In their own words, “We are the unwavering partner for 90% of the Fortune 500®, more than 65% of the Best Global Brands (Interbrand®), nearly 10,000 law firms, and more than 3,000 financial organizations. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, since 1899, we have offices throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.”

CSC provides a wide variety of services for businesses of any size. Whether you operate a major corporation or a small mom-and-pop operation, CSC can help you form business entities, remain compliant with all government regulations, execute business transactions, and even help you with real estate acquisitions. If you need any sort of business service, chances are CSC has a solution for you.

One fun fact about CSC is that they opened a new state-of-the-art headquarters building in Wilmington, Delaware, in 2017. When you consider that this facility spans a whopping 148,000 square feet on a 40-acre plot of land, you can start to comprehend how massive this company really is.

30-Second Summary of Our Review

CSC is one of the oldest and largest compliance services providers in the world, and today they operate all across North America, Europe, and Asia. CSC serves 90% of all Fortune 500 companies with their wide-ranging business solutions, one of which is their registered agent service. If you want your company to use the same services that the top global brands use themselves, acquiring registered agent service from CSC is an option.

CSC knows how to serve businesses of all sizes, and they’re extensively experienced with every stage of the business life cycle. However, their prices certainly reflect this level of experience, as they have one of the most expensive registered agent services we’ve ever seen.

CSC Strengths

• Impressive longevity – CSC opened their doors way back in 1899. There aren’t many competitors that can compare to this level of experience.
• They serve thousands of the world’s biggest brands – Considering the fact that they provide business services to approximately 450 of the Fortune 500 companies, it’s clear that CSC is a highly trustworthy partner for any company.
• Extensive record-keeping and compliance reminders included – With CSC, registered agent service is about more than just the legal essentials. They provide some convenient tools to help you maintain your good standing and help your business grow.

CSC Weaknesses

• High prices – Simply put, you definitely pay a premium price for CSC’s expertise and experience. While they don’t have the absolute highest prices we’ve ever seen, their prices are considerably higher than the vast majority of their competitors.
• Website lacks pricing information – For such a major corporation, CSC’s website is severely lacking. They don’t provide any pricing details — you’ll have to contact their customer support department to even get a quote for any of their services.

Pricing & Additional Features

CSC has an extremely high price point for registered agent service, at $381 per year. Along with the basics of registered agent, CSC has a thorough record-keeping and compliance reminder tool that keeps track of all your important business documents, and also sends you email alerts when it’s time to file your annual report, franchise tax payments, business license renewals, and more.

CSC vs Other Registered Agent Services

CSC does have some distinct advantages over their competitors. For instance, their experience level is tough to top, and we like the way they include valuable record-keeping and compliance tools with their registered agent service. For more information on your other options, take a look at our guide to the top registered agent services available.

Online Customer Reviews

CSC almost seems like they’re too big for online customer reviews. In other words, their clients are so big that if something goes wrong, they’re probably not seeking out outlets like the Better Business Bureau to air their grievances. As such, we only found six customer reviews ― especially for a business of this size, there’s not much analysis to be done on so few reviews.

Customer Service Quality

CSC provides access to their customer support team via phone or email, but it’s clear that they prefer to talk on the phone. When we sent them our email inquiry, they called us to respond instead of replying to our email. It was only when we sent a follow-up email that they replied to that message. Overall, their support reps are quite helpful, if a bit pushy, and if you want their quickest service you should probably just call them.

Main Reasons to Use CSC

If experience matters to you, and you want to use the same registered agent service most of the Fortune 500 companies use, CSC is obviously a strong contender for your business.

Main Reasons Not to Use CSC

If you’re looking for a company that can save you some money, CSC is not for you. Additionally, if you’re more comfortable making purchases from a company that has lots of online customer feedback, there are other options available. For instance, ZenBusiness gets great reviews and has significantly lower price points than CSC for both registered agent service and LLC formation packages.

Conclusion

With CSC, you’re getting a company that provides compliance services to a whopping 90% of Fortune 500 companies. While you can purchase CSC registered agent service for $381/year, many of its other services are only available to large enterprise firms and/or operate on variable pricing models.

Disclaimer: The content on this page is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.