Coming Home

This employee blog was originally established to write about success stories, so this particular post will do just that.

I recently completed work on a DRS (Debt Relief Services) client.  For those of you who do not know, we have a special arm of Second Wind Consultants called Debt Relief Services.  This is a non-profit entity, run by Norman Schell, facilitated by Norman and our workout staff to provide the same expertise and knowledge as a traditional workout for individuals and families who cannot pay.

These are your 90 year old grandmothers who are trying to keep the bank at bay and her home off the auction block while raising the child of her children for one reason or another.  These are your retired war veterans who were nailed in Katrina and used an SBA disaster loan to put his life back together, only to have his veterans pension cut and now that same life is falling apart and being picked over by the government he fought for.  These are you average men and women who simply do not even have the few pennies left to our traditional clients, but need help just as much.

The examples were fairly extreme, but the point is the same, DRS is in place because we cannot turn anyone away.  It is to critical to these men and women who have nowhere else to turn, but need the specialized knowledge we possess to get them through the maze of the SBA system.

My client was an average family man.  He worked hard and saved money for a few decades and then decided he didn’t like having a boss.  Real estate was booming and so he flipped a house.  When that worked well, he flipped another.  A few houses in, he decided he enjoyed painting and some of the other rehab projects more than he enjoyed buying and selling properties and created his own business.  He grew his hobby to be fairly successful and was doing well.  When the bubble burst and the housing industry fell apart, he was left with no contracts to sustain his current employment.  He invested all of his personal capital to protect his dream, but it was not enough.  This client’s family told me about how he went sleepless for night after night, trying to find a solution to his problem, but eventually he had to cut staff.  He cut until he was the only employee and his equipment was down to just what he could use.  When that did not work, the bank followed procedure and liquidated his business assets, followed by what he held personally.  They took his home for the equity and he was left with two children, jobless, and homeless.  His wife stood by him and supported their family with her employment in a small apartment when he found our office.  This was two years after losing his business.

Six weeks of work created a suitable offer in compromise package.  The client and I proposed the offer to the SBA representative directly as the bank had charged the man off as non-collectable and sent it to the department of treasury for collection.  The following seven months were constant affidavits, documents, conversations, and at times, arguments.  We complied with every need expressed by the SBA agent and finally just this month got an email stating acceptance of his meager offer.  An offer that was barely even enough to be called pennies on the dollar.

Now normally this is a bittersweet moment as the client is extremely happy that we have succeeded, but it is kind of a let down that the SBA generally only sends over a short email and not an official looking document.  Occasionally, when they are feeling very motivated, the email comes on letterhead.

The client called me today after he had a chance to send off the payment, and get confirmation that this particular nightmare was over.  He had me speak with his wife and children who thanked me and our office for helping them succeed and showing them what was needed.  He took back the phone and said, “When I finally got that last piece of paper and walked into the apartment to tell my family it felt like I was actually coming home for the first time in years.  I got to finally leave the office behind.”

I will admit, this is probably the first client that I felt personally involved with to this level.  The man had been a voice in my ear weekly for the better part of a year.  I listened to his problems and learned what his kids were like.  I knew things about his wife, she would probably rather I never learned.  I spent a saturday afternoon on the phone with this man, calming him down, while I refurbished a dresser for my then, soon to be born, daughter’s nursery.

Cases like this are why we have a Debt Relief Services.  They are why Don holds meetings in the office to make sure we do not lose the high context he established.  These cases are why we, as a company, cannot leave anyone behind that needs the help we provide.

For a final note all I can say is this.  If you are someone looking for help and do not know where to turn on a debt issue, any debt, SBA or otherwise… call.  speak with someone in this office or at the very least read Don’s blogs.  The information is all there for free.  His book is available through amazon and other sources if you still have a business and want to know what to do.  We are here to help.  Our knowledge is here.  Our commitment is here.  Your answer is here.