You have a right to be represented by an expert workout consultant with Power of Attorney. We are fighting this important battle for you all.

The audacity of the credit card companies and banks holding defaulted loans is sometimes beyond belief. The list of outrageous acts and statements made by banks defies mere greed and elevates itself to bombastic arrogance and the borrower must be defended.

The nerve of some banks and credit card companies to refuse to speak with a third party representative on behalf of a defaulted borrower, especially when the representative carries a Power of Attorney and has significant experience, helpful to both the client and the bank. Yet this issue pops up from time to time.

The reason is simple. The Banks and Credit Card companies have figured out that the borrower is allot easier to intimidate into making payments they cannot afford and accepting settlements that are beyond reasonable. Experienced debt workout specialists, with Power of Attorney are simply going to get a much better deal, as they know what works and what does not work, they are not easily intimidated, and have great expertise on how to arrange a reasonable fair workout resolution that is in the best interest of the borrower and within acceptable parameters for the bank/credit card company.

This does not work for the Banks /Credit Card Companies as they are more interested in beating you up and taking every last dollar you may or may not have.

Recently we have experienced such absurdity, the bank refusing to deal with us as third party representatives with Power of Attorney on behalf of one of our clients. Shame on them, how blatantly absurd. Surely anyone can understand the basic requirements of allowing one to be represented by an expert consultant with Power of Attorney. Of what possible business is it of the bank whoever represents the borrower? How dare they butt in to the borrower’s right to be represented? How over reaching.

In fact it is my belief that this is a serious breach of a banks fiduciary responsibility to the borrower and could result in a lender liability suit.

Thus, I have hired counsel, a legal expert in bank law, who agrees completely with me that the bank has no right to interfere with a clients right to be represented. I am starting at the lowest level, asking counsel to prepare an all encompassing review of the law in memo form with Federal Law citations.

The conclusion will be obvious. Such actions are an absolute breach of the borrower’s rights and could result in an action against the bank.

If this does not remove the barrier, I will consider filing a suit against the bank and if necessary litigating the issue. Surely the borrower has some unalienable rights that the banks cannot take away from them and I believe this is one of them.

If others reading this blog has confronted this issue and needs such back up support, please email me and we can discuss my sharing this memo with you.

We cannot allow the banks to walk all over our rights, you may be in default but this is a business matter which must be resolved with a business conclusion, not by intimidation and a prevention of appropriate representation.

I will report further as the issues are explored.

Get back to running your business, doing what you do best. Leave the workout to pros.

Get back to running your business, doing what you do best. Leave the workout to pros.

One of the more serious side effects of being under cash flow duress from reduced revenues, are how these issues change your focus from running the business to fighting for survival.

Being forced to fight the battles every day, with notes being called, and threats of foreclosure looming from your bank, not taking home a check, so personal finances are in disarray, most of your time is being spent fighting this war.

Juggling cash flow, worrying about how to make payroll, aggressively collecting accounts receivable, worrying about how to convince vendors to ship you while you still owe for previous invoices and cannot afford to prepay or even pay COD. Late on rent, late on car payments and worrying about a repo, and on it goes. Soon you may be challenged with facing the IRS for failure to make 941 tax payments, or your landlord threatening eviction unless you come current.

I understand. It is a near impossible balancing act.

Two things can occur to change this situation immediately when you engage the professional services of a workout specialist:

First, our efforts and workout strategies remove these issues…completely, affordably.

Second, and most important this leaves you to focus on what you do best and what is most important and most necessary for your long term survival… managing your business, reinventing your business so it once again becomes profitable and successful.

I hear from so many of my clients, that they cannot focus on their business and when they go home they only worry about their situation, none of which will help to change their reality.

As critical to your emergence as is the workout of your debt, is the need for you to be able to get back to business, and with a balanced cash flow, having stripped off the debt and reduced your personal guaranties reinvent yourself, profitably and emerge successful again, under the new economic realities of the day.

Simply removing the war zone from your daily efforts is a huge enough change. Giving you hope and some peace that the issues will be resolved, is another huge uplift. Going home and announcing to your spouse that you have some help and there is light at the end of the tunnel, that you will survive and work this all out, is the best result imaginable and this occurs moments after you sign on.

You cannot do it all alone. You need special skills which most business owners do not posses, nor should you, as you have been focused on building a business not working out debt.

Get professional experienced workout help. Remove the issues from your responsibility, concentrate on your business. That is the recipe for successful emergence from this economic meltdown.

Peace of mind, refocus and professional assistance working out your issues while you rebuild your business. This works, little else does. Call us for a no obligation teleconference to evaluate your situation. Call Norm 413-584-2581, he will arrange.

Men work, that is what they do. But in this economy you must learn new skills or perish.

Men go to work, that is what they do. But in this economy you must learn new skills or perish.

My wife went away with her parents and sister today for a long weekend to visit out of town family. She asked me what am I going to do, and I thought for about a second and said…work, what else. To me and every other small business owner, work is not drudgery, it’s not as if we are going off to the salt mines, it’s what we do. It is how we become successful. It is who we are. We compete in the business arena, and success is our motivation, money may be our reward, but success our goal.

So what, you say, you all know this. I know that as well. However there is a point here and it is very important, as it will mean your success or defeat in the near future.

Many, many small business owners are fighting for survival. This requires new and different skills, not necessarily the ones you have developed and honed over the years of entrepreneurship activities.

The knee jerk reactions is to work harder, put in more time and sacrifice yourself, taking no pay check, investing your IRA, your insurance cash values, your credit cards and then moving on to absorb every other available dollar you can reach, from family, friends, whomever has available cash.

The problem is this will not work. This will waste all the dollars you invest and will put your family in harm’s way, as home mortgages will not get paid, cars will be repossessed, savings drained, utter personal destruction, while the business fails to respond favorably.

The business owner must do things he abhors, but if he is to survive the current changing conditions, including massively reduced revenues, increasing overhead, choking debt, he must change his strategies rapidly, immediately, in order to survive and emerge.

You must downsize as soon as possible and as deeply as possible, most common mistake is to wait too long and not cut deep enough.

You must reduce debt by working it out, going in to default as soon as you see what is occurring. Stop paying on your credit cards and any other non survival debt obligation.

None of this is what you want to do and thus you wait…too long, absorbing losses you cannot afford, preventing the reinvention of your business so it may survive and emerge profitable again.

You need help, someone experienced in such procedures, downsizing, working out your debt, and reinventing your business.

The normal skills you have perfected are not the skills you need in such a situation.

The normal tendency, under such pressures, is to work harder and longer doing what you have always done, and this will not work in the current economy.

The objective is to understand where you are and further understand the changes you must make. It is not normal. It is not business as usual. It is upside down and backwards to what you have always done and thus is very difficult to do. Unfortunately failure to implement as soon as necessary can be fatal.

Call us for help. We can lead you through this mine field. Call Norm at 413-584-2481. He will arrange a no obligation teleconference. We can discuss your options.

Pretend you are opening a new business…today. Stop praying for a miracle.

It is not just payment default. While that is the reason for a vast majority of notes being closed, there are a host of additional reasons banks can and do call notes. Technical default it is generally called, and this covers everything other than payment default.

What is technical default? Any aspect of default that is covered in your mortgage documents, such as unpaid taxes, lack of insurance, out of repair, and other financial issues the bank can call on such as inadequate cash reserves, lost income etc. In short there are many reasons the bank can utilize to call notes.

A large category for this nonsense is when real estate drops in value the bank can call the note for inadequate collateral value, not enough value to cover their note. While it is hardly something the borrower can do anything about, and is not real merely a paper concept, the bank feels justified in calling a note and foreclosing, liquidating the property because there was inadequate value, and thus realize their problem that caused the event….creating real losses instead of just conceptual losses….all this while the loan is current. Nasty but true.

I have recently heard an even more despicable practice. A bank called the notes of a business which had never been late, had profitable operations and significant value, adequate collateral, but was within a high risk business….office furniture. Thus the bank felt justified in calling the note because the industry was taking large losses across the country despite the fact this borrower was in good shape and fairing well.

No, not fair at all, but the banking industry is not about fairness, they believe it is all about 100% for them and nothing for the borrower. They apparently believe that the bank must be made whole and held harmless by the borrower no matter what and that all issues fall on the borrower for resolution including a full payoff of the note whenever and for whatever reason the bank conjures is in their own best interest, despite the lack of damage to the bank and the real damage to the borrower.

Beware, be prepared and call us when the note is called. We have the strategies that can protect your business assets and reduce your personal guaranties to pennies on the dollar. We need to fight fire with fire…unfortunately as we are not in it together; the banks still believe their needs are superior to the borrowers.

That is one reason we are and remain in the deepest recession in history.

Call us; we can help you win this battle.

What makes the right client gift? What’s in it for you?

First and foremost, think this strategy through very carefully. If you miss the mark you will not only waste your money but will also run the risk of reducing your goodwill, instead of enhancing it. Very treacherous ground, filled with landmines.

Here are some guidelines if you choose to embark on this journey.

1. The gift should in some way be commensurate with the value of the customer to you. Do not cheap out on your very valuable clients, overspend, it will come back to you many fold.

2. Better off sending a card, or making a donation on behalf of the client than giving them cheap gifts with little thought.

3. Customized gifts with the clients name or your own logo or brand can be perceived as tacky….depends on many aspects specifically and most importantly how nice the gift is and how nice the imprint is, if it’s embroidered maybe ok, if it’s silk screened getting marginal, be creative and tasteful and it will be a winner. The nicer the gift the easier it is to customize, you must execute perfectly. If you do, it can be a winner for you.

4. Specific gifts to a restaurant with enough paid to cover the entire meal, wine and the tip…do it right or do not do it. Obviously you can only do this a limited number of times, your best clients. A special restaurant with real show off potential….. Flash works, big dividends.

5. If possible enclose a personal thank you note, signed and written by you. You can manage, it’s not that difficult. If on a low budget, this will demonstrate you do care even with a low value item.

6. Special food items can be a good choice, steaks from Omaha, honey from somewhere special, nicely packaged, lobsters from Maine, jams, coffee from Jamaica, cigars, get very good ones, Cuban’s, are a knock out if you have the connections.

7. Low budget but great potential, a custom art seasonal card, with a personal note….nice.

8. If possible, a gift that somehow reflects what you do is a great way to go, make something special along the lines of what your company produces, sells, represents, in some way is a great statement.

Either do it well, or do not do it at all. Be creative and spend a few extra dollars. It must be something the recipient will want to save, wear, use and enjoy, and think of you every time, or you are wasting your money. If you do it well, it is the best goodwill enhancer imaginable and you will have a friend and loyal customer for years. Take it out of your advertising budget. If you have none, make it your advertising budget, it may be the best program possible.

Beware of sizes, get it right. Call a secretary, or wife, or guess correctly and upgrade. Instead of a t-shirt do collared golf jerseys, if it is a baseball cap make it one that is sized and made of quality material, like the pros. If it is a t-shirt have it printed front, back, maybe arm, maybe custom art work…make it special, on a high quality made in America 100% cotton.

I do not recommend calendars as everyone has their own style and needs, and will not switch easily. Money wasted.

Be creative, what I discussed above was for the purpose of showing you the context for deciding what to do…. Purpose: Getting you a return on your investment and thus very worthwhile, worthy of the investment. It should return far more than you spend if you do it correctly.

Quality and flash at any price level that works for you.

Figure it out. What makes the right customer gifts?