A BBB letter grade and a BBB customer review score measure two different things — and several home warranty companies show a real gap between them. Here’s how to read a BBB profile correctly.

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The Better Business Bureau is probably the single most-checked resource before buying a home warranty — and also one of the most commonly misread. Most people glance at a letter grade and stop there, without realizing that grade measures something specific (and different from what a lot of people assume), and that BBB profiles actually contain a second, separate score that frequently tells a different story. This guide is a literacy guide first, and a ranking second.

What a BBB Accreditation Rating Actually Measures

The A+ through F letter grade is BBB’s own assessment of a business, based on factors including complaint history, how complaints were resolved, time in business, transparency of business practices, licensing, and advertising practices. It is not a customer satisfaction survey — it’s BBB’s own methodology-driven grade, which is why a company can hold a strong letter grade while still showing mixed direct customer sentiment elsewhere on the same profile.

The Critical Distinction: Letter Grade vs. Customer Review Score

This is the single most important thing to understand before relying on a BBB profile. The accreditation letter grade and the BBB customer review score are two separate metrics on the same page, and they can diverge significantly. Select Home Warranty is the clearest example in this comparison series: it holds a B- letter grade, while its separate BBB customer review score — based on star ratings left directly by consumers — has been reported as low as 1.1 to 1.49 out of 5. These aren’t contradictory or a data error; they’re genuinely different measurements, and reading only one gives you an incomplete picture.

What “Not Rated” (NR) Actually Means

Liberty Home Guard’s profile, covered in detail in our full Liberty Home Guard Review, currently shows “Not Rated” status, after holding an A+ for years — revoked in January 2024 following a pattern-of-complaint alert. NR isn’t the same as an F; it means BBB has withdrawn a standard letter grade, typically pending further review or in response to a specific concern pattern. It’s a status worth investigating directly on the live profile rather than assuming it means the same thing as the lowest possible grade.

Best to Worst: BBB Accreditation Ratings

Rank	Provider	BBB Rating	What to Know
1	Old Republic Home Protection	A+	Held for over 20 years — the most consistent rating in this comparison series
2	2-10 Home Buyers Warranty	A to A+	Strong letter grade, though third-party review platforms tell a notably different story
3 (tie)	American Home Shield	B	High complaint volume reflects a large customer base, not necessarily a worse rate
3 (tie)	Choice Home Warranty	B	Active government-action alert on file related to a 2026 Arizona settlement
3 (tie)	Cinch Home Services	B to B+	Reasonably consistent across BBB and most third-party platforms
3 (tie)	AFC Home Club	B	Notable for resolving nearly all filed BBB complaints
7	First American Home Warranty	B to A-	Reported inconsistently across sources — verify the live profile directly
8	Select Home Warranty	B-	Separately, one of the lowest BBB customer review scores in this comparison series
9	Liberty Home Guard	Not Rated (NR)	Revoked from A+ in January 2024; strong scores on other platforms

Where the Letter Grade and Customer Sentiment Genuinely Diverge

• Select Home Warranty: B- letter grade, but a notably low BBB customer review score (1.1–1.49/5)
• 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty: A/A+ letter grade, but a Trustpilot score reported as low as 1.5/5 and a NerdWallet editorial rating of 2.5/5
• Liberty Home Guard: Currently Not Rated, but Trustpilot and Google scores of 4.5–4.8/5

These three cases alone demonstrate why checking only the letter grade — the number most people glance at and move on from — gives an incomplete picture in a meaningful share of cases across this industry.

How to Read a Live BBB Profile Yourself

1. Note the accreditation letter grade at the top of the profile
2. Scroll to the separate customer review section and check that score independently — don’t assume it matches the letter grade
3. Check for a “Government Actions” section, which flags regulatory settlements or actions (this is where Choice Home Warranty’s 2026 Arizona settlement would appear, for example)
4. Look at complaint closure patterns — how many complaints were “resolved,” “unanswered,” or otherwise, which gives more texture than a raw complaint count alone
5. Check the accreditation date and any rating history, since a rating change (like Liberty’s 2024 revocation) is itself meaningful information

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a BBB rating actually measure? BBB’s own assessment based on complaint history and resolution, time in business, transparency, licensing, and advertising practices — not a direct customer satisfaction survey, which is a separate score on the same profile.

Is a BBB letter grade the same as customer reviews? No — they’re two distinct metrics that can diverge significantly, as shown clearly in Select Home Warranty’s case (B- letter grade, notably low customer review score) and 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty’s case (strong letter grade, weak third-party review scores).

What does “Not Rated” mean on a BBB profile? It means BBB has withdrawn a standard letter grade, often pending review or following a specific concern pattern — not the same as the lowest possible grade (F), but worth investigating directly.

Which home warranty company has the best BBB rating? Old Republic Home Protection, with an A+ rating held for more than 20 years — the strongest and most consistent in this comparison series.

Why does a company’s BBB rating sometimes not match its Trustpilot score? Because they measure genuinely different things through different methodologies — BBB’s letter grade reflects its own complaint-and-practices assessment, while Trustpilot reflects direct star ratings left by individual customers.

Where can I see if a company has a regulatory action on record? Check the “Government Actions” section of a company’s live BBB profile, which flags settlements or regulatory actions — this is where a case like Choice Home Warranty’s 2026 Arizona settlement would be documented.

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Related reading: Home Warranty Companies with the Fewest Complaints · Red Flags: How to Spot a Home Warranty Scam · Best Home Warranty Companies of 2026 (Ranked & Reviewed)

Information in this article reflects publicly available BBB data as of mid-2026, compiled across individual provider reviews on this site. Ratings and complaint status change over time — always verify current standing directly at bbb.org before purchasing a plan.