The City of Brotherly Love is not showing much to its small business community. At least that is the reputation that Philadelphia is gaining due to stories just like this one. On August 25, it was reported that Philly inspectors… Continue reading this article, and get more legal news and information, at FindLaw.com.
Also tagged article, brotherly, brotherly-love, cupcake lady, permitting, philadelphia, philly, reputationThe city of Philadelphia is going micro. The cash-strapped city has decided one way to increase revenues will be to require all bloggers to acquire a business license. All blogs with profit making potential via ads or other means must… Continue reading this article, and get more legal news and information, at FindLaw.com.
Also tagged business license, decided-one, increase-revenues, means, philadelphia, potential-via, privilege licenseThis week a coalition of owners, trade groups and even a dancer or two from Missouri’s adult entertainment industry filed a lawsuit challenging the law set to heavily restrict their businesses. Senate Bills 586 and 617 were signed into law… Continue reading this article, and get more legal news and information, at FindLaw.com.
Also tagged 617-were, article, businesses, dancer-or-two, heavily-restrict, industry-filed, licenses, missouri, the-law, week, zoningPresident Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 or “CARD Act” on May 22, 2009. The legislation aims , “…to establish fair and transparent practices relating to the extension of credit under an open end consumer credit plan…” After the passage of the CARD Act, consumers gained a number of protections regarding how the credit card companies operate. Gone are the days of two-cycle billing and APR increases for being one day late on a payment. Now, with a few exceptions, credit card companies cannot raise interest rates on existing balances, and they must provide additional advance notice on all hikes. Credit card companies must also adhere to fee restrictions and set up a payment allocation that is more fair and allow more time to pay. These new protections can be great for personal credit card users. However, many consumers who are business owners also frequently use business credit cards in addition to or in place of personal credit cards. It is worth knowing that business credit cards are exempted from the CARD Act. While business credit cards come with some advantages, there are also drawbacks. For example, many business credit card companies make the owner guarantee the debt personally. Therefore, the business owner is still responsible for the debt even if the company goes out of business. This is especially problematic for a business owner that gives out several business credit cards to employees. Additionally, despite the fact that you are using a business credit card, your business debt could end up on your personal credit report. This could seriously impact your credit if bills get paid late or your business goes under. Many business owners might be tempted to go ahead and use their personal credit cards for business expenses so that they can receive the protections of the CARD Act. But that has drawbacks as well. First, you generally cannot use the interest on a consumer credit card as a business expense tax write off. Second, using a personal credit card for business expenses creates major accounting problems as it becomes very difficult to determine what is a personal and what is a business expense. Make sure that you are familiar with the CARD Act and the differences between personal and business credit cards so you can adjust the way you manage your business finances appropriately. Related Resources: Business Credit Cards Carry Disadvantages (Thestreet.com) Business credit cards not affected by act (KCStar.com) Text of H.R. 627: Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (Govtrack.us) Business Bankruptcy Information Center (provided by Jon B. Clarke, P.C. ) Busniess Formation (provided by Kaplan & Associates, L.L.P. )
Also tagged accountability, business-owners, cards-carry, consumer-credit, credit-card, debt, financing, protections, starting a businessThe various sectors of the economy are clamoring to find out… is the worst behind us? And small business is no exception. Having been particularly affected by the economic downturn– which limited financing opportunities and forced entrepreneurs to make difficult decisions regarding hiring, firing, and closing– U.S. small business has been looking to economic forecasts to determine whether to get ready for more rain or whether it’s okay to put the umbrella away. According to over 80% of professional forecasters from the National Association of Business Economists (NABE), the most severe recession in over 70 years is over. But before you break out the bubbly and start a small business standing wave, you should know that though the recession was not as deep and as long as it could have been, analysts anticipate that its recovery will also not be as fast and dramatic as Main Street might hope. Output for all of 2009 is thought to contract 2.5% and then rebound the following year by 2.6%. And businesses are pegged to lead the road to recovery by infusing their depleted inventories with new stock, spurring manufacturing, shipping, and trade. For small businesses engaged in international commerce, analysts predict that the mighty U.S. dollar will take a further hit in 2009 and 2010 but will begin showing improvement thereafter. Unemployment is also slated to continue its upward trend with a project maxing-out around 10% with recovery taking two or more years. For small businesses in a position to hire, talented candidates will be plentiful. If the pundits are to be trusted, the post-Great Depression may be over. And after spending the past two years weathering the storm, the task of rebuilding may not be easy but it has the potential to be aptly rewarding. Related Resources: Worst of the U.S. recession over: survey (Reuters) SBA Loans: Watch the Online Primer (FindLaw’s Free Enterprise) SBA Loan Report Card: 2009 Fiscal Year in Review (FindLaw’s Free Enterprise) Employee Claims in an Employer’s Bankruptcy (provided by Previant, Goldberg, Uelmen, Gratz, Miller & Brueggeman, S.C. )
Also tagged bankruptcy, brueggeman, business, economic stimulus, employee-claims, loans, national, online, online-primer, plant-closures, potential, rain-or-whether, small-business, streetYour business works hard to perform and deliver. So what do you do when you don’t receive payment for goods delivered or services rendered? It’s a question that takes on a new urgency in times of economic challenge. Your company has available a variety of options and depending on your size, type of business, and ability to continue operations, what is best for your business may not be the same as what is best for the business next door. Here are 6 options on how your small business can collect unpaid debt: 1. Use Self-Help Remedies to Collect, and Stay Out of Court. If you have a good working relationship with the debtors, the clients owing you payment, you may consider contacting them directly. You can set up a mutually-agreed upon payment plan, factoring in any interest incurred for the late payment. If the discussion would benefit from a neutral third party, consider retaining a mediator with debt-recovery experience to facilitate a resolution. 2. Engage a Collection Agency to Do the Collecting For Your Business. In many cases, you may not have luck negotiating payment with the debtor. If you are still looking to stay out of court, consider transferring the account to a collection agency to recover the debt. Debt recovery by collection agencies are regulated by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and if the collection agency violates the act, it may be the debtor who will receive a payment. 3. Secure transactions to Increase Likelihood of Payment of Bad Debt. The debtor can give your business a claim to its property to secure payment of the debt. In a joust between creditors for claim to a property, secured creditors will be given priority over unsecured creditors. To become a secured creditor, your company will have to jump through a few additional legal hoops, involving filing certain documents in court. 4. Take It Up in Court. Two common pre-judgment remedies are replevin and attachment, also known as garnishment. In replevin, the creditor takes hold of the title to property that is central to the owed debt, and may recover the property if the debt is not paid. Attachment, governed by state statutes, is a court-issued order that authorizes the creditor to take title of the debtor’s property or to take the property itself. Both replevin and attachment are considered extraordinary measures by the court. If the prejudgment options do not deliver results, your business has the court-based option of suing the debtor. A creditor is entitled to an enforceable judgment if it can prove its case or if the debtor does not contest the claim. 5. Lien It Up. Liens come in various types. In general, a lien will give the creditor an interest in the debtor’s property. Common liens such as the materialman’s and mechanics’ liens are two examples. In some circumstances, a creditor with either of these liens can foreclose on the debtor’s property and then sell it to recover the debt. 6. Initiate Involuntary Bankruptcy Proceedings. When a few creditors are owed by a single debtor, they can get together and initiate involuntary bankruptcy proceedings against the debtor. The debtor may then be ordered by the court to liquidate its assets to pay off debts or it may be able to establish a reorganization and repayment plan that is filed with the court. Related Resources: Creditors’ Rights and Collection Options (FindLaw) Debt Collection – Overview (FindLaw) Credit and Collections: Two Approaches (FindLaw) Collecting on Judgments FAQ (provided by Levey Filler Rodriguez Kelso & De Bianchi LLP )
Also tagged bankruptcy & debt, billing, business, clients, collecting debt, court, debtor, levey-filler, payment, rights, rodriguez-kelso, small business contracts