05.11.08
Posted in Miscellaneous, VBS, Virtual Assistants at '6:56 pm' by Administrator
I pledge allegiance, in my heart and soul, to the concepts of honesty, integrity, and quality in business. I recognize that the cornerstone of success is treating all stakeholders fairly, with compassion, and with a commitment to service. Working from abundance, I recognize that even my competitors can become important allies. I will not tolerate crooked practices in my business, from co-workers, direct or indirect reports, supervisors, managers, suppliers, or anyone else—and if I encounter such practices, I will refuse to go along with them and report them to appropriate authorities within and outside the company. I pledge to support the “triple bottom line” of environmental, social, and financial responsibility. And I pledge to participate in a serious effort to focus the business community on these principles, by sharing this message with at least 100 other business leaders.
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03.29.08
Posted in Tips and Tricks, VBS at '7:09 pm' by Administrator
A Present Owner Title Search is similar to a Real Estate Title Search; they both bring back similar information with the Present Owner Search being cheaper than a Title Search. In my day job we order one of these for every bankruptcy client that owns real estate, I than use the search to enter specific information into the petition. Each of our searches provide a thorough and comprehensive title, mortgage, liens, and judgment search with copies.
A 10 year Grantee Search lists if the debtor(s) are Grantee’s on any deeds within the last 10 years, which assists in finding Fraudulent Conveyances and also identifying the whole truth using the standard of “reasonable inquiry” which is now a requirement with BAPCA. I am sure all of us have had a client not tell us absolutely everything,
The Trustee’s in my area require that deed and mortgage copies are submitted to their office prior to the Creditor’s Meeting, they personally verify if deeds and mortgages are properly signed and valid. Doing these searches is yet another way to protect debtor attorney offices, without doing the search can cause title, mortgage, liens, and judgment issues to creep up and nobody likes that.
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Posted in Tips and Tricks, VBS at '7:07 pm' by Administrator
This is a true statement that I hear on a regular basis, I am sure you hear it too. The client who has been using their credit cards all along and one day it suddenly hits them that filing for bankruptcy is the way to get rid of all their debt. Very true, bankruptcy is a viable option to rid one’s self of all their debt but there is one main issue that has to be dealt with – the usage of credit cards within the last 90 days before filing for bankruptcy.
The ability to grasp the above concept is difficult for some people, they don’t seem to understand that it is against the Bankruptcy Code to do certain things prior to filing bankruptcy. The list of usual complaints include:
I can’t stop using my credit cards, how am I going to live?
If it’s real important can’t I just use them a little bit, every now and than.
What do you mean I have to wait 90 days to file?
I can’t afford to make more monthly payments (in order to satisfy dischargeability issues.)
This folks is pure bad luck on your client’s part; I feel that if the clients coming to our offices have just a small amount of knowledge about bankruptcy before they come to consult will help this situation tremendously.
What more can be said other than making it a habit to ask the client when was the last time they used their credit cards and how much did they spend? This can help to eliminate certain dischargeability issues and inform our debtors what is appropriate to do before filing for bankruptcy.
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Posted in Tips and Tricks, VBS at '7:06 pm' by Administrator
Working in a Trustee’s office is a great experience, you learn first hand what is the correct way to complete bankruptcy petitions and what is the wrong way or not the best way to complete bankruptcy petitions. On a daily basis I see so many attorney offices getting the dreaded “Corrective Entry” from the Courts, this shows to me that staff is either not trained well or distraction is an issue. I will admit from time to time, I also make mistakes but with practice they are not the kind of mistakes that can cost a bankruptcy.
I sift through about 100 new bankruptcies each month, which may not seem like a lot for some people but they definitely give me a super opportunity to learn. I have not only become more detailed in how I complete my bankruptcies but also understand more about how bankruptcies work. As I tell my clients coming to the office I work at they have chosen a smart office to do business with, we see both sides of the bankruptcy issue, both Trustee and Debtor. This helps me to prepare my bankruptcies better to eliminate as many possible Trustee issues from arising.
In PA we use Federal Exemptions for about 95% of all of our cases, in turn we get to utilize the best of the exemptions. In some cases, the debtor has so many assets or assets worth a lot of money that we have to be very creative in our use of exemptions. Doing a simple exemption analysis on every case before e-filing virtually eliminates simple mistakes that are made regularly, of course pure asset cases do surface every now and than.
So, my recommendation is to know your exemptions inside and out, this includes training your staff how to identify good/bad exemption use.
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Posted in Links, Tips and Tricks, VBS at '7:03 pm' by Administrator
I found a great website: www.creditcards.com, they offer a huge listing of different types of credit cards – from secured to low interest and even ones for people with bad credit. Tell your clients to shop this site for when they are ready to incur new debt after a bankruptcy.
I deal with two issues that come up quite often: the scared debtor, who swears off the use of all credit cards forever and the brave debtor who wants to know how soon it will be till they can get on with their lives after bankruptcy.
For the scared debtors swearing off all credit cards forever is a silly notion, one just has to go back to the basics and learn to use them wisely; not getting back into the mess they were in before bankruptcy. I encourage my clients to wait about a year from the time of filing to even start looking for a credit card. I feel the wait time helps them to get a better card with decent rates compared to getting credit immediately after a discharge. As to what kind of card to get, I tell them to carefully read the fine print and steer clear of cards that charge annual/monthly fees. In case of emergencies, the only way to go is secured, that way only a specified amount of money can be spent.
For the brave debtors who want to know how soon it will be till they can get on with their lives after bankruptcy. Most clients can go on with their lives directly after discharge, especially those who reaffirm secured debt – they can increase their credit score immediately by making their monthly payments. For the people that have no secured debt, it is harder to increase their credit score – they must wait to incur new debt and than show the credit card companies that they made a mistake and it won’t happen again so easily.
Regardless, bankruptcy is supposed to provide everyone with a fresh start, right?
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Posted in VBS at '6:58 pm' by Administrator
Because I work in a law firm in conjunction with running my business, I am privy to many different ideas and situations. I feel that my success has been achieved by staying in the game and learning from the very best.
I guess I came to the paralegal world at a great time, I had been teaching in the same city that doesn’t hire full-time teachers but keeps continual substitute teachers. I took an opportunity to go back to school and achieve the knowledge I have today. Working in a Trustee’s office is also a great experience that many paralegals never get the opportunity, I love what I do. Having a different perspective than just being a debtor’s attorney paralegal has made a huge difference in the way I get things done. I get to see what the other attorney’s offices do and learn firsthand the most common mistakes that law firms make, that in turn hurt the clients they represent.
Erie, PA is a small town with a negative attitude about how to achieve the better things in life – but also a place that I found my true niche – Paralegal work. Looking in the phone book for this small city is just like any other city – plenty of lawyers but determining the good from the not so good is truly a difficult task.
I see lots of things being immersed in this fickle city. Law firms here hire many workers without experience and than complain that the person they hired does not know what he/she is doing. The next thing that happens is the hiring of yet another person to complete the job. Or the infamous law firm that has no time to train their employees yet expects them to catch on as if they have been doing this their whole lives. This truly amazes me! When does the cycle ever end – it will if you finally get fed up with the above and hire a professional. VBS, LLC are professional and I promise the work will get done right the first time. Using a virtual paralegal will be your dream come true, try it and see if you like it!
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11.10.07
Posted in Tips and Tricks, VBS at '7:21 pm' by Administrator
Over the past few months I have been trying to network with other Virtual Assistants – I have finally found the place: http://www.vanetworking.com, this site is so comprehensive – spending a few hours is not enough.
Have you hired an assistant like Virtual Bankruptcy Services, LLC and want to hire another for a different project or want to brush up on all things virtual, try this site: http://www.vanetworking.com/, I promise you won’t be disappointed. Tell your friends, tell the world about, virtual assistants are on the verge of being everyone’s new assistant. I am a VA Insider and am very proud – check us out!
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Posted in VBS at '6:54 pm' by Administrator
A Partnership is like a family, if I just work for you and don’t care about what you stand for, the type of work you strive for and the type of relationship you would like with your co-workers – I am no better than just a simple acquaintaince. I want a specific type of relationship with the people/person i work with. The best way i can describe this relationship is apartnership, working together towards a common goal. Having the same type of mindset and working hard toward that goal – to be successful and make money. Not everybody measures success the same way but money is money in any language. I am not trying to sound greedy, like money is the only thing that’s right, but it sure helps.
The better our relationship, the more we can achieve the goals we have set. Working together, that’s a partnership!
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Posted in VBS at '5:35 pm' by Administrator
This topic has already been kind of covered but I felt the importance or need to mention it again – just in a different way.
Your assistant may have an overflow of work. More than likely you have a backlog of cases. VBS strives to work diligently to keep you up-to-date and to streamline your work flow. Putting you in the best situation to accept more work and make more money.
Your current assistant, with the aid of Virtual Bankruptcy Services, LLC, will be able to focus more on client relations and the organization of the office rather than dealing with an over abundance of work to much for any one person to handle or being forced to prioritize the most important work while the not so important work falls through the cracks.
Attorneys Virtual Bankruptcy Services, LLC is here to make your life easier and in turn you can accept more clients, do more important work and make the most of your money! How can you turn this down, think about it!
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07.30.07
Posted in Links, VBS at '11:22 pm' by Administrator
Do you like what I have to say, if so visit my website for more info. If you have come to this blog from my site and wish to return, use the following link www.virtualbankruptcyservices.net.
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