The Personal BillPay Diaries

Carla Morelli, Panelist at SITC Outsource Your Life Program

Ever wonder what kind of options are available for making personal bills less of a chore? Wonder no more!

Attend Living an Outsourced Resourced Life, Success In the City's inaugural Diva Development event on 10/1/08. Carla Morelli, FreyerMartin's founder and President, and leader in the daily money management industry, joins HR powerhouse Kathy Albarado of Helios HR and Indra Brooks of On the Go 4 U to discuss how successful businesswomen can minimize stress and maximize performance through creative approaches to outsourcing personal and professional tasks.

Carla will talk about daily money management options, and how to choose the style of provider that's best for you. Ask all your questions, or speak privately after the event. Get more details here >

Don't forget to help FreyerMartin win $100,000! Vote (only) us into the Forbes.com Boost Your Business finals at http://boost08.perfectprize.com/voting/. Be sure to validate your vote. You may need to check your spam folder for the email - many people have found theirs there. Thanks for your support!

Credit Card Interest Rates

This week we dealt with a credit card company (who shall remain nameless for now...) that issued a great 7.99% fixed-rate Visa card to someone we work with. The cardholder used it for a balance transfer and was paying it down. Prior to using us, the cardholder had a few late payments - always before the next statement, but late all the same. With little time to pay attention to the account, the cardholder went over the limit once as well.

The card issuer jacked up the interest rate - without notice - to 34.99%. The cardholder was busy and didn't realize it for several months.

Being well-intended and able to pay, as our cardholder was, isn't enough. The card companies are looking for any chance to sock you with a predatory interest rate. They're also understandably worried that you're going to default.

They don't seem to get that their actions are either going to:

• guarantee that someone who isn't able to pay will end up defaulting and they won't see a dime of their money, or
• they're going to turn off someone who is able to pay but disgusted by their treatment, and they'll lose a customer at the earliest opportunity.

After a few months of timely payments, we were able to negotiate a lower interest rate with the promise of another review in six months, and a refund of a month's interest charges, but we can't do anything about credit dings that may have occurred.

So...though the credit card industry needs serious reform, you still need to be on your toes. Watch those due dates and don't max out a card just because it has an attractive interest rate. If something like this happens and you don't have another credit facility to move the balance to, you'll really be stuck.

Keep on top of your bills, and please vote (only) FreyerMartin into the final five of the Forbes.com business competition at http://boost08.perfectprize.com/voting/. We need your support!

Daily Money Management Primer Pt. 2: Ensuring Your Security

Once you've chosen a "style" of service (see Pt. 1), you'll want to ensure that your information is secure, and your private information remains so. This is where you will need to be diligent in your due diligence. Though most daily money managers are, in fact, ethical and honest (I'd give them my checkbook!), you can't alter the fact that you're dealing with people, complete with all the pros and cons it brings.

In every case, find out:

• Exactly what kind of insurance the provider carries: You want to see both general liability and professional liability (AKA errors and omissions). If you're particularly concerned about this, it's perfectly reasonable to ask what levels of coverage they carry.
• The provider's privacy policy: Ask what it is, how it's carried out, and how it's enforced. For example, privacy at our firm is such a serious issue for us that even my husband doesn't know who our clients are!
• How you have access to your information: If you've chosen a provider who comes to your location, make sure you know how where your physical and electronic files are stored, and confirm that you know how to access them. If you've chosen an off-site provider, ask how you get access to your accounting data and documents. Some, like us, put everything online for you, from documents and correspondence to activity reports and bank statements. Others put only a subset, and will upload other documents by request. That isn't a problem unless you're logged in a 2:00am and there's no one to ask for them. Others still will get copies to you on request by email, fax or mail. I personally want access to all of my information at any time, in a format I can readily use. For example, we put every document in an image file, and your accounting information is easily available in a QuickBooks file. 

If you've chosen a solo practitioner/on-site provider:

• Ask about contingency planning: Is there a backup person? What kind of screening went into that relationship, and how much information does that person have about you other than what is available at your location?
• Find out what leaves your location: Ask what kind of information is kept at the DMM's location. Bills? Usernames and passowords? Anything personally identifying? Where is it stored? Is it a home office, or commercial office space? Is the space shared with or accessible to anyone not engaged in providing your DMM service? How is the data secured? 

If you've chosen a firm/off-site provider:

• Understand their physical location. Is it a home office, commercial space, shared, private? Who could have access to the space that doesn't belong to the business?
• Know how are the files secured. Physical and computer files, during the day as well as after hours.
• Ask whether ANY work is done off-site. Are employees able to take work home or dial in? If so, what precautions are in place to ensure nothing is compromised when the employee is working in an environment that the provider doesn't control? It can be done, but some companies won't take the risk. In our company, for example, nothing client-related leaves the office. Employees who work with client data can't access it from outside.

These are a few of the things you should be aware of when selecting a DMM service. There are others, without question, but these make a great starting point.

Daily Money Management Primer Pt. 1: Styles of Service

Daily money managers, or DMMs, serve clients in a wide variety of ways.

At one end of the spectrum, are DMMs who come to your home (or location of your choosing), sort through your mail, organize what they need, and prepare either checks for your signature, or online bill pay payments for you to authorize and send. They are often solo practitioners, but a number of them are companies with employees or contractors who visit clients.

At the other end of the spectrum are providers like FreyerMartin (www.freyermartin.com) who offer what I call "full service" programs, meaning that while clients are welcome to be as involved as they'd like, the minimum required level of involvement and availability is designed to be quite low. Bills come directly to our lockbox and we authorize payments from an account funded by the client. We make calls for clients without needing them to be on the line, and do as much as possible, asking for their time only when necessary. Providers at this end of the spectrum are almost always companies with staff (either employees or contractors) and are usually located in commercial office space, though some allow employees to work virtually from their homes.

Regardless of style, the core service is always focused on paying your personal bills on time.

DMMs often provide other services as well. Those working with seniors typically also deal with Medicare, insurance claims, and other senior-related issues. Those working with affluent clients might handle the financial activity and accounting for vacation or rental properties. You'd be surprised at the "other" things DMMs have been asked to do!

When you're ready to outsource your personal bill paying, think carefully about which style makes you most comfortable. Solo practitioner? Firm? Employees? Contractors? Your location or theirs?

Feel free to contact me if you any questions - I'd be happy to help you sort through it!

Vote for FreyerMartin at Forbes.com!

Exciting news!!

We entered a business competition that Forbes is sponsoring. Of nearly 1,500 companies around the country, only 20 were selected by Forbes to advance to the semi-final round. FreyerMartin is one of those 20. Your help could be worth $100,000 to us.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for media exposure that will move forward our entire industry. Please help us advance to the final round by voting for us:

1. Go to http://boost08.perfectprize.com/voting/

2. Place a check next to “Vote for FreyerMartin”, scroll down to enter your name, etc., and click the green “Vote” button.

3. Check your email and click the validation link provided. (Mine went to my spam folder, so check there, too).  

All it takes is a valid email address. Please ask everyone you know to support us!!

The DMM Landscape

Daily money managers, or DMMs, are a marvelous resource for helping you manage the chaos that day-to-day finances can become when you aren't able to invest the time needed to keep them up to snuff. A DMM's core service is making sure your bills are paid. At a minimum, you get peace of mind and possibly even a boost in your credit score, since payments are consistently made on time. There are many more benefits, depending on your specific situation.

DMMs serve a broad range of client profiles: seniors, executives, physically or mentally disabled, frequent travelers - the list goes on. Their service delivery methods vary greatly. Some work at your house, some pick up items from you and work on them at another location, some have bills sent directly to them. Payment methods are also very different. Some DMMs will prepare payments but not make them, others use your bank's online bill pay, others still issue payments from funds you set aside either in a separate bank account, or in the provider's bank account.

If you're looking to outsource your bill paying, it's important to know which combination of choices makes you comfortable and suits your lifestyle. Each has pros and cons, so there's no wrong answer. Decide on "style" first, then move on to vetting a potential provider's background, security, and other credentials. Be sure to confirm their membership in the American Association of Daily Money Managers. They've recently started certifying DMMs; there are few who hold the certification at this time, but more will certainly be coming.

Welcome

Welcome to the Personal BillPay Diaries!

I'm the founder and President of FreyerMartin, a daily money management (aadmm.com) firm. As a leader in this young industry, I spend a lot of time just letting people know that personal bill-paying services exist. There are many ways in which our industry's service is delivered. Each appeals to different needs. All are useful.

FreyerMartin excels at serving clients around the globe who have heavy demands on their time and aren't always available to manage their household and personal bills, but understand the importance of clean finances and want to ensure they're well taken care of. Our typical client profile is an executive-level individual, a professional athlete or entertainer, and/or a heavy traveler.

We love our work. Knowing that what you do day in and day out makes a powerful, positive impact on every client you serve is a wonderful feeling. We've been fortunate enough to have fantastic clients, so the past five years have been a lot of fun.

Over the next week or so, we'll be sharing some industry background. Then we'll dive into the day-to-day experiences we see in the office. Our goal is to share our expertise with people who care about keeping clean finances. Client confidentiality and discretion are paramount in our firm, so we'll be sharing general observations - nothing that would cause a client to recongnize him/herself.

Please feel free to ask questions. We're here to answer!