Dear Friend,
I have received several emails from people that do not get Fox Business News or who are not available at the times it will be showing. For those that do not have access to Fox Business News, the show will also be available online at: www.pplsuccesschannel.com. The streamed version will become available at 12 noon EST on Jan. 1, 2011 and will remain available throughout the day.
Please pass this email on to anyone that might be needing a boost. This could be just what that friend of yours that is out of work right now needs!
Best wishes for the New Year!
Tony Koehler
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Some thoughts to start off the New Year...
Dear Friend,
I am amazed at "how expensive" everything is getting! Groceries are up, Gas Prices, Utilities, Insurance, everyday Taxes...its incredible. It has become very apparent that we live in a "do it yourself" society, meaning we have to do it for ourselves if we can...whether that's finding additional income or just by having access to advisors to help us with "handling" today's challenges.
I am looking for a few people, individuals or couples, who would like to "get paid daily", be in a position to decide how much they want to get paid, and build a business full or part-time where they can "make a difference while making a living." Do you know anyone?
If this describes you or a friend, tune into Fox Business Network on January 1, at either 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. and learn more. Then give me a call or email me back.
Happy New Year!
Tony
217-919-0457
I am amazed at "how expensive" everything is getting! Groceries are up, Gas Prices, Utilities, Insurance, everyday Taxes...its incredible. It has become very apparent that we live in a "do it yourself" society, meaning we have to do it for ourselves if we can...whether that's finding additional income or just by having access to advisors to help us with "handling" today's challenges.
I am looking for a few people, individuals or couples, who would like to "get paid daily", be in a position to decide how much they want to get paid, and build a business full or part-time where they can "make a difference while making a living." Do you know anyone?
If this describes you or a friend, tune into Fox Business Network on January 1, at either 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. and learn more. Then give me a call or email me back.
Happy New Year!
Tony
217-919-0457
Find Business Answers Quickly
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Monday, December 20, 2010
Does the Contract Protect Your Business?
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Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wolves at the Door
by M. Scott Carter
Published: December 15th, 2010
ADA – Debt-laden consumers are now being forced rapidly into court by collection firms as the U.S. debt collection industry increases its use of litigation as a debt collection tool.
Legal experts say the practice is widespread and it’s growing.
According to a report by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the system for resolving consumer debts is broken and major industry debt buyers – using data-driven debt processing tools – are now focusing on litigation and the justice system as means of collecting those debts.
This system, attorneys said, lets the corporate debt buyers skip some consumer communication and proceed directly to litigation.
“We’re seeing much more of it now than we ever did,” said Michael Fiffk, an attorney with the Pennsylvania law firm of Welch, Gold and Siegel, P.C. Those lawsuits, he said, highlight the weaknesses in this aspect of the justice system.
“Neither the consumer nor the collection agency are properly served by this approach,” Fiffk said. “Poorly gathered collection data from collection agencies and uninformed, under-represented consumers equals a recipe for injustice: It’s garbage in and it’s garbage out. This is not justice under the law.”
Though the telephone was originally the main tool utilized by collection agencies, many debt buyers have now turned their efforts to the courts to collect funds.
In a report entitled “The Debt Machine,” the National Consumer Law Center, a consumer advocacy organization, said debt buyers and other creditors have learned how to use small claims and other low-level courts “as a low-cost machine for turning claims into judgments against consumers who have fallen behind on payments.”
Officials at Ada-based Pre-Paid Legal Services said the lawsuits are often used to frighten consumers.
“This approach is flawed because it taxes the court system with an overabundance of collection suits and because it’s often utilized as a ‘scare tactic’ against consumers,” said Harland C. Stonecipher, Pre-Paid’s founder and chairman of the board.
Fiffk, whose firm provides services for Pre-Paid, agreed.
“The market for selling default accounts has probably heated up,” he said. “Now companies are more willing to sell – or buy – collection accounts.”
Debt buyers, he said, have more resources than consumers and they have exploited the weakness of the judicial system.
“It’s really a perversion of the way the justice system is supposed to work,” he said. “And the justice system hasn’t recognized that the system isn’t working.”
As an example, Fiffk cited statistics showing that during the first half of 2010, Pre-Paid’s independent provider law firms responded to more than 79,000 legal service requests from their member-customers on collection-related issues. That figure, he said, represents about 7 percent of Pre-Paid’s 1.1 million requests during the six-month period.
In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission reported it had received more than 88,000 consumer complaints about third-party debt collectors. Those complaints, coupled with in-house debt collector complaints, make up about one out of five FTC complaints about the industry.
Because many consumers don’t understand their legal rights – and because they don’t exercise them by going to court – Fiffk said that as many as 85 to 90 percent of the lawsuits result in a default judgment against the consumer.
“There’s a profitable business there,” he said. “And there’s lots of fuel for the fire. Whenever you can file these lawsuits, you’ve figured out that 85 to 90 percent of the time you get a default judgment. It’s an unfair game. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel.”
Credit counselors say industry collection practices became more aggressive as the economy turned sour.
“They are much more aggressive,” said Margo Mitchell, president and CEO of Tulsa’s Credit Counseling Centers of Oklahoma. “That may mean that many creditors are calling customers every day, some of them actually after-hours when they should not be calling and yes, some of them are suing much more quickly than in the past.”
Many consumers, she said, don’t go to court, which results in a default judgment.
“If they would go and make their case, then the collection agency may not automatically get that garnishment, or they may not be on the line for as much, if they go in front of the judge,” she said.
Fighting the process, Fiffk said, is a question of knowing the language and procedures involved in such litigation.
“Many times a customer was never properly notified about the lawsuit,” he said. “There’s a huge disparity on one side of the ‘V.’”
Other times, Fiffk said, debt collection agencies can’t produce proof of the debt.
“In many instances, these debt buyers are counting on uninformed consumers to simply pay up whether the debt is authentic or not,” he said.
In Oklahoma, like many parts of the country, attorneys say the number of collection actions is on the rise.
“We first saw a rise in collection efforts following changes in the bankruptcy laws of 2005,” said Mark Nelms, a shareholder with Riggs, Abney, Neal, Turpen, Orbison and Lewis. “I think there’s been a significant rise, certainly since we’ve had economic issues. And we’ve seen a huge rise in lawsuits filed in general consumer debts and foreclosures.”
Nelms said many consumers don’t understand their rights or lack the resources to take advantage of those rights.
“There is a lot of confusion,” he said. “Then you add on top of that, litigation. Going to court, for most individuals, is complicated and expensive, and what I’ve found over time, when individuals don’t have representation, they don’t respond or appear and then they have a default judgment against.”
Once the judgment is issued, he said, consumers face leans or garnishments or negative credit bureau reports.
Jeff Lippman, an attorney with the Maryland-based law firm of Weinstock, Friedman and Friedman, P.A. believes the problems for consumers are threefold: fear, ignorance and inaction.
“People get nervous when they receive a collection letter,” Lippman said. “This can quickly turn to fear when they are confronted with the prospect of a lawsuit. This may lead to paralysis and inaction. If they would only face the problem, armed with the right information and assistance, they would have a much better chance of resolving or challenging the issue.”
The best defense, Pre-Paid’s Stonecipher said, was legal.
“Talk to your attorney before you talk to theirs,” he said.
Complete URL: http://journalrecord.com/2010/12/15/wolves-at-the-door-law/
Published: December 15th, 2010
ADA – Debt-laden consumers are now being forced rapidly into court by collection firms as the U.S. debt collection industry increases its use of litigation as a debt collection tool.
Legal experts say the practice is widespread and it’s growing.
According to a report by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the system for resolving consumer debts is broken and major industry debt buyers – using data-driven debt processing tools – are now focusing on litigation and the justice system as means of collecting those debts.
This system, attorneys said, lets the corporate debt buyers skip some consumer communication and proceed directly to litigation.
“We’re seeing much more of it now than we ever did,” said Michael Fiffk, an attorney with the Pennsylvania law firm of Welch, Gold and Siegel, P.C. Those lawsuits, he said, highlight the weaknesses in this aspect of the justice system.
Though the telephone was originally the main tool utilized by collection agencies, many debt buyers have now turned their efforts to the courts to collect funds.
In a report entitled “The Debt Machine,” the National Consumer Law Center, a consumer advocacy organization, said debt buyers and other creditors have learned how to use small claims and other low-level courts “as a low-cost machine for turning claims into judgments against consumers who have fallen behind on payments.”
Officials at Ada-based Pre-Paid Legal Services said the lawsuits are often used to frighten consumers.
“This approach is flawed because it taxes the court system with an overabundance of collection suits and because it’s often utilized as a ‘scare tactic’ against consumers,” said Harland C. Stonecipher, Pre-Paid’s founder and chairman of the board.
Fiffk, whose firm provides services for Pre-Paid, agreed.
“The market for selling default accounts has probably heated up,” he said. “Now companies are more willing to sell – or buy – collection accounts.”
Debt buyers, he said, have more resources than consumers and they have exploited the weakness of the judicial system.
“It’s really a perversion of the way the justice system is supposed to work,” he said. “And the justice system hasn’t recognized that the system isn’t working.”
As an example, Fiffk cited statistics showing that during the first half of 2010, Pre-Paid’s independent provider law firms responded to more than 79,000 legal service requests from their member-customers on collection-related issues. That figure, he said, represents about 7 percent of Pre-Paid’s 1.1 million requests during the six-month period.
In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission reported it had received more than 88,000 consumer complaints about third-party debt collectors. Those complaints, coupled with in-house debt collector complaints, make up about one out of five FTC complaints about the industry.
Because many consumers don’t understand their legal rights – and because they don’t exercise them by going to court – Fiffk said that as many as 85 to 90 percent of the lawsuits result in a default judgment against the consumer.
“There’s a profitable business there,” he said. “And there’s lots of fuel for the fire. Whenever you can file these lawsuits, you’ve figured out that 85 to 90 percent of the time you get a default judgment. It’s an unfair game. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel.”
Credit counselors say industry collection practices became more aggressive as the economy turned sour.
“They are much more aggressive,” said Margo Mitchell, president and CEO of Tulsa’s Credit Counseling Centers of Oklahoma. “That may mean that many creditors are calling customers every day, some of them actually after-hours when they should not be calling and yes, some of them are suing much more quickly than in the past.”
Many consumers, she said, don’t go to court, which results in a default judgment.
“If they would go and make their case, then the collection agency may not automatically get that garnishment, or they may not be on the line for as much, if they go in front of the judge,” she said.
Fighting the process, Fiffk said, is a question of knowing the language and procedures involved in such litigation.
“Many times a customer was never properly notified about the lawsuit,” he said. “There’s a huge disparity on one side of the ‘V.’”
Other times, Fiffk said, debt collection agencies can’t produce proof of the debt.
“In many instances, these debt buyers are counting on uninformed consumers to simply pay up whether the debt is authentic or not,” he said.
In Oklahoma, like many parts of the country, attorneys say the number of collection actions is on the rise.
“We first saw a rise in collection efforts following changes in the bankruptcy laws of 2005,” said Mark Nelms, a shareholder with Riggs, Abney, Neal, Turpen, Orbison and Lewis. “I think there’s been a significant rise, certainly since we’ve had economic issues. And we’ve seen a huge rise in lawsuits filed in general consumer debts and foreclosures.”
Nelms said many consumers don’t understand their rights or lack the resources to take advantage of those rights.
“There is a lot of confusion,” he said. “Then you add on top of that, litigation. Going to court, for most individuals, is complicated and expensive, and what I’ve found over time, when individuals don’t have representation, they don’t respond or appear and then they have a default judgment against.”
Once the judgment is issued, he said, consumers face leans or garnishments or negative credit bureau reports.
Jeff Lippman, an attorney with the Maryland-based law firm of Weinstock, Friedman and Friedman, P.A. believes the problems for consumers are threefold: fear, ignorance and inaction.
“People get nervous when they receive a collection letter,” Lippman said. “This can quickly turn to fear when they are confronted with the prospect of a lawsuit. This may lead to paralysis and inaction. If they would only face the problem, armed with the right information and assistance, they would have a much better chance of resolving or challenging the issue.”
The best defense, Pre-Paid’s Stonecipher said, was legal.
“Talk to your attorney before you talk to theirs,” he said.
Complete URL: http://journalrecord.com/2010/12/15/wolves-at-the-door-law/
Monday, December 13, 2010
Solutions for Business from Pre-Paid Legal
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Friday, December 10, 2010
PPD Offers Solution to Debt Collection Litigation
During the first half of 2010, Pre-Paid Legal Services independent provider law firms responded to more than 79,000 legal service requests from PPD members (customers) related to collection issues, or seven percent of the 1.1 million requests during the six-month period.
Repairing the System
In its July 2010 report, "Repairing a Broken System," the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said, "The system for resolving disputes about consumer debts is broken."
While at one time, the telephone was the primary tool utilized by collection agencies, major industry debt buyers -- using data-driven debt processing tools -- are now focusing on litigation and the justice system as means of collecting debts. Using this systemic process, the corporate debt buyers may skip some consumer communication and proceed directly to litigation.
In its July 2010 report, "The Debt Machine," the National Consumer Law Center, a consumer advocacy organization, said, "Lenders, debt buyers and other creditors have learned how to use small claims and other low-level courts as a low-cost machine for turning claims into judgments against consumers who have fallen behind on payments."
"This approach is flawed because it taxes the court system with an over abundance of collection suits and because it's often utilized as a 'scare tactic' against consumers," said Harland C. Stonecipher, founder and Chairman of the Board of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
PPD Provider Attorney Perspectives
Jeff Lippman, an attorney with Weinstock, Friedman & Friedman, P.A. (www.weinstocklegal.com), PPD's independent provider law firm for Maryland and Washington, D.C., believes the problems for consumers are three fold: fear, ignorance and inaction.
"People get nervous when they receive a collection letter. This can quickly turn to fear when they are confronted with the prospect of a lawsuit. This may lead to paralysis and inaction," he said. "If they would only face the problem, armed with the right information and assistance, they would have a much better chance of resolving or challenging the issue," Lippman said.
Michael Fiffik, an attorney with Welch, Gold & Siegel, P.C. (www.wgspc.com), PPD's provider law firm for Pennsylvania, believes this approach to collections highlights the weaknesses in this aspect of the justice system.
"Neither the consumer nor the collection agency are properly served by this approach. Poorly gathered collection data from the collection agencies and uninformed, under represented consumers equals a recipe for injustice," Fiffik said. "It's garbage in and garbage out. This is not justice under the law," he said.
Evans, Lowenstein, Shimanovsky & Moscardini, Ltd. (www.elsm.com) Attorney David Bloom - the PPD provider law firm for Illinois -- has said, "Creditors have a right to collect the debts that are owed to them, but they should not be able to garnish wages or take other such actions unless they can absolutely prove that the debt is owed."
According to Bloom, "In many cases, it's simply a question of knowing the language and procedures involved in such litigation.
"One PPD member contacted our office about a debt he didn't think he owed. Under his Pre-Paid Legal Service plan, we drafted a letter to the attorney for the collection firm requesting proof of the debt. They couldn't produce these documents and therefore they dropped the legal action," Bloom said. "In all too many instances, these debt buyers and their legal counsel are counting on uninformed consumers to simply pay up whether the debt is authentic or not," he said.
In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission received an estimated 88,200 consumer complaints about third-party debt collectors, and coupled with in-house debt collector complaints, this totals an estimated one out of five complaints to the FTC about this industry.
Given these numbers and the aggressive methods now being used particularly among debt buyers, Chairman Stonecipher offers some simple, practical advice.
"Talk to your attorney before you talk to theirs, and if you don't have one, Pre-Paid Legal Services can help," he said.
About PPD Provider Law Firm Network System -- PPD maintains a rigorous monitoring system and conducts surveys which provide feedback on the customer service experience of PPD members with the provider law firms. This is one of the distinguishing characteristics of PPD's "Provider Law Firm Network System." The average tenure for provider law firms in the PPD network is more than 12 years.
About PPD -- We believe our products are one of a kind, life events legal service plans. Our plans provide for legal service benefits provided through a network of independent law firms across the U.S. and Canada, and include unlimited attorney consultation, will preparation, traffic violation defense, automobile-related criminal charges defense, letter writing, document preparation and review and a general trial defense benefit. We have an identity theft restoration product we think is also one of a kind due to the combination of our identity theft restoration partner and our provider law firms. More information about us and our products can be found at our homepage at http://www.prepaidlegal.com.
Forward-Looking Statements -- Statements in this press release, other than purely historical information, regarding our future plans and objectives and expected operating results, dividends and share repurchases and statements of the assumptions underlying such statements, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based on certain assumptions that may not be correct. They are subject to risks and uncertainties incident to our business that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in the reports and statements filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including (among others) those listed in our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K, and include the risks that our membership persistency or renewal rates may decline, that we may not be able to continue to grow our memberships and earnings, that we are dependent on the continued active participation of our principal executive officer, that pending or future litigation may have a material adverse effect on us if resolved unfavorably to us, that we may have compromises of our information security, that consumer purchases of discretionary items may be impacted by a downturn in the economy, that we could be adversely affected by regulatory developments, that competition could adversely affect us, that we are substantially dependent on our marketing force, that our stock price may be affected by short sellers, that we have been unable to increase our employee group membership sales, that our active premium in force is not indicative of future revenue as a result of changes in active memberships from cancellations and additional membership sales and that we have repurchased more than half of our outstanding shares. Please refer to pages 16 through 19 of our 2009 Form 10-K and pages 7 and 8 of our June 30, 2010 Form 10-Q for a more complete description of these risks. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements in this release.
For More Information:
George Snyder, PR Director
580-421-6339 (desk)
580-310-4067 (cell)
georgesnyder@pplsi.com
PPL Business Plan -- Debt Collection Included in your Service
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Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Identity Theft protection on a daily basis
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Friday, December 3, 2010
Business Services - Budget Friendly
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Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Beware of this online Identity Theft trick
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