Validating the Debt is Critical in Fighting Debt Collection
This is a guest post by Sergei Lemberg, a consumer attorney.
Many people aren’t surprised when a debt collector calls. After all, they know they owe an overdue debt. But what happens when you’re taken by surprise because you didn’t realize that you owe a debt or had forgotten that you owed money? Bill collectors often spring this kind of surprise on unsuspecting people, and make people so desperate that they end up paying the bill – even when they don’t owe the money in the first place.
That’s why, if a debt collector calls, the first step you should take is to demand validation of the debt. According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a bill collector must notify you in writing within five days of contacting you via phone. In their letter, they must state the name of the creditor, the amount you owe, and the fact that you have 30 days to dispute the debt. The bottom line is that, when you receive a debt collection call, ask for documentation of the debt in writing. The FDCPA says that a debt collection agency can’t call or write you about the debt again until you receive the proof.
When you get the paperwork, don’t put off looking at it thoroughly. Even though it might be tempting to set it aside, it’s important to go through the letter line by line. You may find out that you do not owe the debt. Perhaps you paid it long ago. Perhaps you didn’t pay the debt, but it’s a very old debt.
Very old debts are often purchased by debt collection agencies for a song. These are debts that original creditors have written off as “uncollectable,” but that doesn’t mean that a debt collection agency won’t try to collect. After all, they have everything to gain and nothing to lose. You should know, though, that many states have laws saying that a debt is no longer collectible after a certain number of years. This is called the statute of limitations. Debt collection agencies count on most consumers being unaware of the statute of limitations, and go ahead and try to collect anyway. Unfortunately, more often than not, people get tricked into paying up.
If the documentation you receive lists a creditor other than the original creditor (such as a case where a debt collection agency purchased liquidated bad debt), you have the right to ask for the name and address of the original creditor – providing you do so within that 30-day window. That’s why it’s critical to review the paperwork when it comes in the mail. You don’t want to miss the window of opportunity you have to dispute the debt.
Validating the debt is an important first step in fighting debt collectors. If you don’t feel you can do it alone, by all means contact a fair debt attorney. It should be free, and having an advocate by your side can mean the difference between sleepless nights and peace of mind.
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Cake in the Mail – from Ruby
I got a cake in the mail today. Life doesn’t get more awesome than that.
It’s from my awesome virtual receptionist: Ruby.
When I first signed up with Ruby, they sent me a cool mug. When I went back to them, I actually wondered if I’d get another mug. 
Seriously, the mugs are cool.
But they outdid themselves by sending a cake. Not just a plain cake with a computer-printed card inside. It’s a custom cake with a handwritten Ruby note card. Impressive.
Here’s the coolest part: They’re in Oregon. I’m in Virginia. I suppose cakes routinely fly around the country these days, but this country boy is amazed.
We can all learn some client relations lessons from Ruby. They know their stuff. How would your clients respond if you sent them a cake? We certainly can’t do that for every client, but it could be a great thank you for a new client who hired you for a big project.
If Ruby treats their clients this well, you can sure bet they’ll treat your clients right. To try them out, sign up for a free 14 day trial with this form.
Note: I’m a happy Ruby customer. I recommend them based on the incredible value they bring to my business. If you sign up using this form (or just tell them that Andrew Flusche referred you), I receive a small payment from Ruby. I guarantee that I’ve paid them much more than they’ve paid me. They’re worth every penny.
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Back With Ruby, Virtual Receptionist
My law firm gets a couple dozen (or more!) phone calls every day. Last year I had a virtual receptionist service help me by answering the phones. I wrote about the service, Ruby Receptionists, two different times.
I hired an in-office assistant last fall, and I stopped using Ruby. I thought me and my assistant could just handle the phones ourselves.
Wrong.
From February 1st to February 24, fourteen unique callers got our voicemail and didn’t leave a message. That probably means we lost at least 10 potential clients. A third of them would most likely have retained me for their case. That’s a HUGE loss.
As of March 2nd (2010), I’m now a Ruby client once again. I’m proud to be back!
Now if me or my assistant can’t answer the phone, Ruby gets the call. A friendly, professional receptionist answers. They take a message and email it to us. Awesome, right?!
This ensures that a live person always answers our phone between 8am and 9pm, Monday to Friday. They also answer between 12pm and 9pm on Saturdays. I’d honestly pay extra if they had a 24/7 option. They’re that valuable!
Ruby also just announced that they have an iPhone app. It has several handy features, such as:
- Updating your whereabouts to change your call options for the day
- Calling Ruby with one click
- Viewing your message and call details
If (when?) they create an Android app, I’ll be sold for life.
To try Ruby out for your business, sign up for a free 14 day trial with this form. The trial really is free. You pay nothing if you cancel within 14 days. When you realize how awesome Ruby is and want to continue, you’ll pay at the end of your trial.
Note: I am a happy, born again Ruby customer. I recommend them based on the incredible value they bring to my business. If you sign up using this form (or just tell them that Andrew Flusche referred you), I receive a small payment from Ruby. I guarantee that I’ve paid them much more than they’ve paid me. But they’re worth every penny.
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Eee PC Battery Test – 7 Hours, 29 Minutes
I was at an all-day seminar last week, sporting my Asus Eee 1000HE netbook. I brought my AC adapter, but I figured it would be a great chance to really test Asus’ claimed 9.5-hour battery.
I started the day at about 8:45am with a fully-charged battery.
When I decided to actually watch the meter, I tweeted that I had 93% left. The battery meter estimated 7:42 hours.
I kept an eye on the battery meter for a while, and I realized the netbook wouldn’t make it all day at full power. At 10:17am, I turned off wifi and bluetooth. I also dimmed my screen to the lowest setting and exited unnecessary programs.
I put the netbook into sleep mode for about 20 minutes while I ate lunch. And I plugged it in for 1 minute, when I got scared that the battery wouldn’t last all day. But I quickly pulled the plug back out and decided to keep the test going.
After lunch, I still had over half my battery left: 53%.
At 2:15pm, I had 2:23 hours left on the meter, 33%.
The conference ended at 4:19pm. At that time, I had 4% left on the meter, an estimated 15 minutes.
To sum it up, the battery lasted 7 hours, 29 minutes (subtracting the 20 minutes in sleep mode at lunch time).
I ran Firefox and Word 2007 all day, but that’s about it. I did power on the wifi during a few breaks to check my email, but it stayed off most of the day.
I don’t think you’ll get 9.5 hours out of this battery, but 7.5 hours is nothing to scoff at. If you can plug in the Eee for a few minutes sometime during the day, I’ll bet you could keep trucking way past 8 hours.
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3 Launchy Tricks – Evernote, Google Voice, RTM
If you want to control your computer from your keyboard, check out Launchy. It’s a free keystroke launcher. Here are three ways to supercharge Launchy.
Evernote
I use Evernote for all my note-taking needs. I constantly need to pull up a note that I’ve previously written. With Launchy and Evernote’s Windows scripting, this is now a piece of cake.
To pull up all of your notes that contain a particular string, you execute a command like this:
C:\Program Files\Evernote\Evernote3\ENscript.exe /showNotes QUERY
We can plug that into Launchy as a Runner command:
Now you can go straight to an Evernote search by typing something like this into Launchy:
en {Tab} QUERY
Fast as lightning!
Google Voice
This one’s a bit more complicated, but it’s cool. When you’re done, you’ll be able to initiate a Google Voice call by using a command like this in Launchy:
gv {Tab} 555.111.2323
That command will tell Google Voice to call your designated phone and then connect you to the phone number you entered. Ready to see how it’s done?
1. Create a Google Voice call script.
I did this in PHP. You can download this awesome class which lets you easily initiate a Google Voice call via PHP.
Put a script on your webserver that uses the Google Voice Dialer class and looks like this (replace the capitalized words with the proper values):
$gv = new GoogleVoice(USERNAME, PASSWORD);
$gv->call(YOUR-PHONE-NUMBER, $_POST['theirNumber']);
2. Now you can create a batch file on your hard drive that calls the PHP script from your web server:
@echo off
cd c:\
cmd /c curl --basic --data "theirNumber=%*" http://www.your-domain.com/your-google-voice-caller.php
Echo Exiting...
3. Prepare Launchy.
You can do this by going to the Launchy preferences, editing the “Catalog,” and adding the directory where the batch file resides. Be sure you also tell Launchy (in the Catalog tab) to look for *.bat files.
4. Call away!
Now you can call people through Google Voice with just a couple key strokes.
Remember the Milk
And to round out our trio, here’s a quick way to add tasks to RTM.
It’s actually from Lifehacker. Just download their handy script, follow the instructions, and you’ll be adding tasks in a flash!
Do you use Launchy? Any cool tips to share?
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My Custom Business Management System
Business have data to manage, documents to produce, and customers to invoice. Law firms are no different.
I run my own traffic defense law firm. It’s a high-volume practice area, which means I have lots of clients at any given time. There are lots of client contracts and invoices going out and coming back from clients.
In April, I wrote that I wanted to integrate my main systems. It’s done now, and this post explains everything.
What I use
I use a number of separate systems. They all do their job very well.
Remember the Milk (to do lists) – API
BatchBook (contact management) – API
FreshBooks (invoicing) – API
EchoSign (electronic signatures) – API
My integrated system
The foundation of my system is BatchBook. It holds the basic client data for each case, such as:
- Name
- Contact info
- Traffic ticket data
- Legal fee info
Using that data, my program does a variety of things. It integrates all the above systems throughout a client’s case. Below are a few examples.
Client contract
Every client signs a contract to hire me. With three clicks, my system produces the default client contract as a PDF and sends it to the client for e-signing via EchoSign. With a couple extra clicks, I can customize the text of the client contract if necessary.
The coolest part of this feature is what else the system does when sending the client contract. It creates a to do list for the client in Remember the Milk (this includes the client’s trial date and other default tasks that I need to do for each case). It also adds the client’s court date to Google Calendar.
Invoice
After the client e-signs the contract, I can send an invoice through FreshBooks in two clicks. This step also updates the client’s task list in Remember the Milk (it marks the client’s contract complete and notes that the invoice has been sent).
Letter to court
When a client has hired me by signing the contract and paying the invoice, I notify the court that I represent them. Three clicks will send the default letter to the court via fax through MyFax. At the same time, the system also emails a copy of the letter to the client and marks this task off in Remember the Milk.
It currently takes a couple extra clicks to save the letter to the client’s digital folder, but I hope to automate that soon.
The benefits
By now, it should be obvious that my integrated system saves time. It takes just a few clicks to process the regular paperwork, emails, and faxes for my law practice.
The system also improves accuracy. As long as the data is properly input into BatchBook, my program will produce accurate contracts, invoices, letters, etc.
Finally, my integrated system has enabled me to utilize a virtual assistant for many of these tasks. My assistant (who I highly recommend) inputs the client data into BatchBook and sends the contracts and invoices. I’m finding more and more ways for her to help with my work, which frees up my time to work directly with clients.
Any questions?
I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about integrating these systems. It takes some programming skill, but it isn’t that hard.
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NameCheap is Cheaper than GoDaddy
Everyone sees GoDaddy’s ads for “$1.99 domains” and thinks they’re the cheapest option.
WRONG!
I’ve been using NameCheap for years, and I’ll show you that it’s cheaper than GoDaddy. Let’s look at several different situations to give each company a fair shake.
All the prices below are the cost per year.
To make this comparison a bit easier, I’m going to focus on .com domains. Prices can differ on other extensions, but most people want a .com anyway.
New domain only
If you’re just looking to register a new domain with no email or web hosting, here’s what you would pay:
| NameCheap | GoDaddy | |
| $9.69 | $10.87 | |
| Includes: | SSL certificate – 1 year free, $9.95 thereafter Private registration – 1 year free, $2.88 thereafter |
just the domain SSL certificate = $29.99 Private registration = $8.99 |
Transfer a domain only
What if you already own a domain and want to transfer it to a new registrar?
| NameCheap | GoDaddy | |
| $7.99 for year 1, $9.69 thereafter | $7.17 for year 1, $10.87 thereafter |
New domain with basic email and hosting
If you’re a small business owner, you probably want a complete package.
| NameCheap | GoDaddy | |
| $49.64 | $59.05 for year 1, $67.75 thereafter | |
| Includes: | 60 email addresses 5GB of web space SSL certificate – 1 year free, $9.95 thereafter Private registration – 1 year free, $2.88 thereafter |
100 email address 10GB of web space SSL certificate = $29.99 Private registration = $8.99 |
In GoDaddy’s defense, their basic web hosting includes a little more space than NameCheap’s basic plan. But I would argue that the average website owner wouldn’t come close to NameCheap’s limit. Why pay for more than you need?
Conclusion
Unless I’m missing something, NameCheap is cheaper than GoDaddy.
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Legal Articles at Article Alley
I was recently asked to write a review of the legal articles section of Article Alley. Here goes!
If you’re not familiar with them, article sites are big warehouses of articles. Most of them cover every topic imaginable, but some sites specialize. Article Alley is a general article site with different categories.
Article sites exist because the internet needs content. People want to write things, and other people want to publish them.
Just about anyone can write something and submit it to an article site. And the author typically gets a couple links in the article footer.
Here’s where the coolness starts: Anyone who wants content for their blog or website can re-publish articles from a site like Article Alley. It’s free content for site owners, and the authors of the articles get their work (and links) spread around the internet.
There are lots of article sites on the internet today, and many of them are junk. But Article Alley has a decent design with a large number of articles available.
The legal section has a lot of articles on lots of different topics. It looks like a good number of them are promotional for lawyers and law firms, but they could still be decent content depending upon your website’s needs.
This is a sponsored post, but these are my honest opinions.
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Give First, Ask Second
You’ve all seen web forms that ask for your information in exchange for a “free report” or “white paper” on a given subject. What if the great report was right there for the taking, and you were only asked for your information after you read it?
There’s an awesome post by Matt Homann over at the [non]billable hour on this exact subject. He found an awesome study that proves people are more likely to give their information to you if you give them something first.
In short, give first, ask second.
How does this apply to your business?
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Ruby Receptionist Rocks – My Virtual Receptionist
I first wrote about Ruby Receptionist in March of this year. I had just signed up for a free trial, and I was excited to begin using my new virtual receptionist for my solo law firm. (Here is my original post about Ruby Receptionist.)
I’ve now been with Ruby for five months. I regularly get questions from people who are looking to try out their service. So here’s an update.
I love Ruby!
In case there’s any doubt, I’m a satisfied Ruby client. They do a great job at handling my calls. They’re an asset to my law practice, and I plan to keep using their service.
If you want to skip this long post and just give Ruby a try, get yourself a 14-day free trial through this form.
What is Ruby?
Ruby is a virtual receptionist. Their awesome team answers your phone from their office in Portland, Oregon. But how does it actually work?
Basically, Ruby answers your incoming calls. You forward your current office number to your own toll-free number that Ruby gives you (you can take that number with you, if you leave Ruby). Ruby will answer the calls however you want. I have them say something like “Thank you for calling Andrew Flusche, Attorney at Law. How may I help you?”
It’s up to you how the call should be handled. For example, you could have Ruby ask the caller if they’re calling about an existing matter or a new matter. Existing clients could be transferred straight to you, and new matters could go to an assistant for intake and appointment scheduling.
When Ruby needs to transfer the caller to you or one of your staff, the caller is politely placed on hold with nice background music. Ruby calls whoever is supposed to get the call and whatever phone you want them to call, and they say something like “Hi, this is
Ruby emails messages to whoever you designate. When someone leaves a voicemail, the voicemail box owner gets an email notification that has a sound file of the voicemail attached. You can listen to the message right there, or you can call in and listen to it the typical way.
Likes
1. Ruby is cost effective. I get lots of phone calls. 161 in July. My Ruby bill was $446.95. That’s not dirt cheap, but it’s very reasonable when you consider what Ruby does for your practice. Before I signed up with Ruby, I was getting several calls each week where the caller didn’t leave a message or anything. I assume most of those were potential clients that I lost (after I eliminated any phone numbers that I had already called me before, etc). Now Ruby is there to answer and provide a human voice to take a message. It’s well worth the cost, in my opinion.
2. Ruby is professional. The receptionists all speak English as their first language. They all work out of the Ruby office in Oregon. I don’t mean to say anything bad about offshore outsourcing, but I don’t think that’s the image most attorneys would want for their firm’s receptionist.
3. Ruby is better than voicemail. When I just used voicemail, callers would have no idea where I was when I wasn’t answering the phone. I can now tell Ruby (via email or phone) that I’ll be in court for the day. Or I can say “I’ll be in a meeting until 2pm.” They’ll hold calls until then and tell callers something like “Andrew is in a meeting right now, can I take a message?” You can update your status whenever you want, however often you want, and you don’t get charged any extra. That’s an awesome feature!
4. Ruby screens calls for me. I gave them three quick intake questions to ask new potential clients: A. What type of matter it is. B. Where the case is pending. C. How they heard about me. The answers to those questions help me triage phone messages and decide if I should answer a call when I’m busy with something else.
Dislikes
1. I wish the voicemail system was better. The voicemail system functions well, but I’d like to see more features in the email notification. The email notification lets you listen to the voicemail, but you can’t delete it from there. So if you listen to a voicemail through the email sound attachment, you’ll still have a new voicemail when you later call into your voicemail box. I wish the email contained a link to delete the voicemail message after I’ve listened to it on the computer.
Honestly, that’s my only dislike. Ruby rocks!
Other questions
Here are some other questions people have asked me about Ruby. I’ll try to update this list as new questions arise.
Are calls transferred smoothly?
Absolutely! I don’t think the callers have a clue that the receptionist isn’t in my office. A few of my friends and local colleagues have mentioned to me that they thought I hired an assistant. I then explain about Ruby.
The only potential issue is who is answering calls in your office. As long as Ruby has clear instructions on who to transfer calls to, it will work just fine. But if your staff isn’t available to answer, obviously Ruby will have no choice but to take a message.
How is the quality of transferred calls?
I’ve never had an issue with the connection quality. I believe Ruby told me once it’s a “trunk to trunk transfer,” but I have no idea what that means. They directly transfer the call from their phone system to whatever line you want. It’s just like the caller called you directly. The quality will be as good as your phone allows.
How do you update Ruby with your status?
Status updates are really simple. You can either call Ruby, give them your name, and tell them the update (“I’ll be in court until 3pm.”, or “I’m leaving for the day.”, etc) Or you just send a quick email to staff@callruby.com with your update. My emails are generally a sentence. Ruby will then temporarily change your call handling. For example, they’ll hold your calls if you’re in a meeting, only put through an important client if you’re busy on a big matter, etc.
Can Ruby work with your calendar?
Not to my knowledge. Ruby can’t really schedule appointments or tell callers that you’re in a meeting by looking at your calendar. They don’t have any access to your calendar. I’m sure this could change in the future, but I don’t believe it’s a current feature.
30-day free trial
If you think Ruby can help your business, give them a try. There’s no reason not to.
You can get a 14-day free trial by signing up through this form.
The free trial really doesn’t cost anything. If you decide to continue with their service, you’ll pay the setup fee at the start of your first paid month. If Ruby doesn’t work out for your business, cancel before the 14 days are up and you owe nothing.
If you do give Ruby a try, please let them know that I sent you!
More questions?
Do you have any questions about using Ruby for your business? Drop a comment below, and I’ll do my best to answer them.
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About Andrew Flusche
Lawyer, bicyclist, husband.
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