News You Can Use - Running Your Business

Credit card fees can take a bite out of your profits. CSA members can lower their costs by up to 20% by enrolling in a special program. Enrollment is free and your credit card processing system will be reprogrammed for the cost savings at no expense to you.

For more information and a free, no obligation quote, please call 847-219-6711 or fax 815-455-5317.

Red Flags Rule Postponed Until November

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it would further delay enforcement of the "Red Flags" Rules by another three months, from August 1 to November 1, 2009. The commission also announced that it would be doing more to inform small businesses and other entities about compliance on this issue. The FTC also wants to smooth the way for easier compliance by offering additional resources and guidance to clarify whether businesses are covered and what they must do to comply.

"Although many covered entities have already developed and implemented appropriate, risk-based programs, some—particularly small businesses and entities with a low risk of identity theft—remain uncertain about their obligations," said the FTC in a release. "The additional compliance guidance that the Commission will make available shortly is designed to help them."

The FTC has provided a set of FAQs for the guidelines that address how the agency intends to enforce the Rules, noting that "Commission staff would be unlikely to recommend bringing a law enforcement action if entities know their customers or clients individually, or if they perform services in or around their customers' homes, or if they operate in sectors where identity theft is rare and they have not themselves been the target of identity theft."

The full set of FAQs can be found here.

Thank you to the Mid-America Lumbermen's Association for this updated information.

Georgia Lien Law Information Available

New Georgia Lien Laws
Busch & Reed Law provides a detailed explanation of the new Georgia Lien Laws that took effect on March 31, 2009. There is a new sample claim of lien form that you can customize for your own available. To obtain that via email, email lisagolden@gocsa.com . You can also see the forms below. Click the pictures to enlarge.

News You Can Use - Running Your Business

Feds Target Employers of Undocumented Workers
Builders must be able to verify that they and their subs meet immigration and hiring statutes
Source: BUILDER OnlinePublication date: June 15, 2009
By John Caulfield
Last week, Michael Sivage Homes and Communities was putting the final touches on new language in its contracts that include requirements that the builder's contractors and their workers comply with current immigration and hiring laws. Read more.

Liens on Properties and Funds are Two Different Things
By Jennifer Wolfe on June 12th, 2009
Liens are one of the most powerful collection tools available to workers in the construction industry. Mechanics Liens are inexpensive and hard-hitting, and perhaps one of the most effective ways to collect on non-paying projects. A properly filed construction lien can affect a property’s title, entangles multiple parties to your dispute, and helps get you paid. Suppliers, prime/sub/sub-sub contractors and laborers all have the rights to lien a property they performed work on.

Dealers confront healthcare costs
(Jun. 12) When a panel of high-performance retailers was asked: "How are you handling health care?" the audience of Do it Best dealers was paying close attention.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA) were among the healthcare insurance tools used by high performance retailers who participated in a panel discussion during the Do it Best May Market.

About halfway through the nearly two-hour discussion, titled "Extreme Retailing: Taking it to the next level," someone in the audience posed the question: "How are you guys handling health care?"

One of the most innovative answers came from Kyle Walters, president of Elliott's Hardware, a three-location hardware store retailer based in Dallas. "People are really key for us, and health care is always a challenge," Walters said. Read more.

HUD and CDC Push Healthy Homes Agenda
HUD deputy secretary Sims: "Our homes ought to be a place where we can raise our children without fear of making them sick."
Source: BUILDER OnlinePublication date: June 10, 2009
By Jenny Sullivan

Healthier homes can produce healthier Americans and a healthier U.S. economy.

That was the message in Washington Tuesday, where officials from the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) laid out some of the ways housing can affect public health, challenging the nation's builders, healthcare providers, community organizers, and citizens to play a more proactive role in reducing preventable diseases and accidents in the home. Read more.

News You Can Use - Running Your Business

Firing Line: Check Mate
Source: PROSALES Magazine
Publication date: June 10, 2009
By Tad Troilo

"I know my account is overdue," Rick told me on the phone before I even said hello. "But I can't pay you yet."
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because one of my customers can't pay me yet," he explained.
I asked him to follow up and let me know when he thought he could clean things up, and he told me he would call the customer who owed him money right now.
We hung up. My phone rang. It was Rick.
"I'm calling to see when you can pay me," he said.
"Why am I paying you?" I asked.
"Because your account is past due."
"I think you are confusing me with you," I told him. Read more.

New Dimensions: A Popular Dilemma
Even as you cut staff, invest in those remaining so you'll be ready for housing's recovery.

Source: PROSALES MagazinePublication date: June 10, 2009
By Mike Butts

After several recent conversations with clients and friends, I have to admit something to you: I'm a bit frightened about our future, but not because it's so hard to tell when housing construction will revive. Let me explain.

An industry friend and I recently were discussing ProSales' list of facility closings and how many of them were clients of mine and also located in my friend's region. Soon we were discussing the impact this would have on our industry as a whole. Later, I made a few other calls to suppliers, manufacturers, and other members of our supply chain. The results were astounding. Read more.

NLBMDA News - New Credit Card Law Impacts Retail Gift Cards

New Credit Card Law Impacts Retail Gift Cards
The recently enacted credit card legislation, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act contains a provision impacting retail gift cards and gift certificates. Specifically, the new law prohibits the imposition a dormancy fee, an inactivity charge or fee, or a service fee with respect to a gift certificate, store gift card, or general-use prepaid card unless certain disclosures are made. Read more.

Best Practices Wanted: Credit & Collections

CSA needs your help. We are compiling a "catch all" Best Practices Manual for A/R, COLLECTIONS AND CREDIT POLICIES. We are combining this information into a single source guide available to members.

Please take 10 minutes and help answer the following questions:

1. Do you have a credit policy? If so, please send in along with your credit application
2. How do you handle marginal accounts? Do you have a separate policy for marginal accounts?
3. Do you use a collection agency or attorney to collect debts?
4. When do you write off your accounts?
5. Do you use personal guarantees or joint check agreements?
6. Do you have a credit manager?
7. Do you have a call report system for A/R?
8. How do you track jobs that could be subject to liens? Do you include a policy for filing liens in a timely manner?

We're also looking for samples of the forms and form letters you use regarding credit and collections. Please submit electronically to lisagolden@gocsa.com or fax to the CSA office at 770-752-9726.

All samples will be stripped of identifying information before they are added to the guide.

News You Can Use

Gov't expands housing plan, off to slow start
Source: Associated Press/AP OnlinePublication date: May 14, 2009
By ALAN ZIBEL

For the past two months Rose Inman hoped she could benefit from President Barack Obama's plan to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. Now it appears to be too late.
Aurora Loan Services is set to foreclose on her home overlooking Seattle's Puget Sound on Friday. Despite numerous calls, e-mails and letters, she says she's only been able to have one phone conversation with a company representative. Read more.



75% in Survey Think Worst is Over in Housing Slump
Source: The Dallas Morning NewsPublication date: May 14, 2009
By Steve Brown, The Dallas Morning News

Three out of four U.S. homeowners think the worst is over in the housing market.
And half of the homeowners in Southern states -- including Texas -- say home prices will stabilize in their areas in the next six months, according to a new survey by Zillow.com.
Researchers for the Internet real estate marketing company quizzed almost 1,400 homeowners around the country in early April about where they thought the housing market was headed. Read more.

From the National Association of Credit Managers (NACM)
FTC Releases "Red Flags" Template for Entities That Have Low-risk of Identity Theft
To help entities that have a low risk of identity theft – such as businesses that know their customers personally – the Federal Trade Commission has created a template that guides such businesses and organizations in developing written identity theft prevention programs to comply with the Red Flags Rule. “Create Your Own Identity Theft Prevention Program: A Guided 4-Step Process,” is available at www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/redflagsrule/get-started.shtm. The template has guidance and instructions that enable companies to complete and print the fill-in-the-blank form online. Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, the Rule requires many businesses and organizations to implement a written Identity Theft Prevention Program to detect the warning signs (“red flags”) of identity theft. By identifying red flags, these entities will be in a better position to spot an imposter trying to defraud them by using someone else’s identity to get products and services.

Find templates here.

Impressions from Roundtables

By: Jim Moody, CAE
President

We’ve just concluded roundtable season at CSA, and I’m left with a few nuggets I’d like to share with the full membership.

- While 2008 was a horribly bad year for many people, there are a handful of folks who actually showed a profit.
- Cash is king.
- The more leveraged your business, the greater the likelihood that you will not be around to see the housing recovery.
- People who maintained a heavy retail presence even when Lowes and Home Depot entered their marketplaces bucked conventional wisdom, and some people mocked them. Of course, Noah was mocked by his townspeople when he started building the ark, too. Now who’s laughing? It’s pretty clear that those who have a good retail presence are the winners in this economy.
- Receivables continue to be a problem for a majority of dealers. Many people, however, seem to have come through their own credit crisis and are now seeing improvement. They’ve written off the debt that is uncollectable and tightened up their policies to ensure they don’t get in the same situation again. I know of at least one dealer who cuts off credit for any customer who hits the 30-day mark. Your head is in the sand if you think this will go away on its own. If you have a growing receivables problem, your business has a terminal illness. I’ve heard people say that tightening credit will run off what little business you have, but if you are delivering material and not being paid, you don’t really have any business to begin with.
- I don’t think I ran across any dealer who hadn’t reduced their employee count, but I did run across several who had eye-opening experiences at their roundtables. They thought they had cut all the fat out of their employee ranks until they looked at the numbers from their peers and realized they could indeed cut more. If your employment cost is more than 60% of your total expenses, that’s a red flag that you need to consider making further reductions.

The staffing issue makes a good transition to another item I’d like to mention. I get a newsletter from Ruth Kellick-Grubbs. Ruth is a consultant in the industry and a good friend of CSA. She made a point recently that I thought was really important.

Many dealers are “holding on” during the storm, just waiting for the recovery. But none of us really know when the storm will abate. Yes, it does appear that the general economy is in the midst of turning around, but all of us understand that new home construction will lag the rest of the economy. Further, we don’t really know just how much boom there will be on the other side of the recession. Ruth suggests that you consider today’s market the new normal. You have to find a way to be profitable in today’s economy.

That’s easier said than done, but cutting payroll is a good place to start. It seems to me that for many dealers, there is still room to cut.

And that leads me to my final item this week. Since this column was such a downer, I thought I’d end on a humorous note, even though it does deal with staff reductions. I found this in Donald Cooper’s newsletter (http://www.donaldcooper.com/). Here, he relates a story about how NOT to lay people off:

"At 4 p.m. one day last week, the fire alarm rang at a large office building in Singapore. All 5,000 employees rushed out of the building onto the street. A
loud speaker made the following announcement….

Dear Employees, with melting heart I am making this announcement that for many of you this will be your last evacuation drill. Due to the recession, we are laying off almost 50% of employees.

While moving back into the building, if your ID card does not work, then you are among those laid off and all your belongings will be couriered to you tomorrow. We followed this approach as we didn’t want to fill e-mail boxes with layoff mails and good-bye mails in thousands… and also to avoid any fight inside the office.

Hope you have a nice career ahead. Now, please move in and try your luck.”

Poetry Corner

The old man stood at the Pearly Gates, his face was scared and old
He stood before the man of fate for admission to the fold
“What have you done” Saint Peter said “to gain admission here?”
“I was in the lumber business for many a many a year.”
Saint Peter lifted up his arm and gently rang the bell.
“Come in and choose your harp, you’ve had your share of hell.”

From Brian and Sam your association Credit Card Guys

NLBMDA ALERT: FTC Grants Three-Month Delay in Enforcement of Red Flags Rule

From NLBMDA

The Federal Trade Commission has announced another delay in its enforcement of the "Red Flags" Rule, which requires creditors to have Identity Theft Prevention Programs. The FTC is now delaying enforcement of the new rule until August 1, 2009, to give creditors additional time in which to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. The original deadline was November 1, 2008.

On November 9, 2007, the FTC published the final Identity Theft Red Flags regulations and guidelines. The rule, promulgated pursuant to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA), requires creditors to develop and implement written "identity theft prevention programs." The programs must provide for the identification, detection, and response to patterns, practices, or specific activities - known as "red flags" - that could indicate identity theft.

The FTC apparently agrees with NLBMDA and several other trade groups that voiced concerns with the FTC regarding ambiguities in the new rule and the lack of specific guidance from the FTC for businesses that may extend types of credit to its business customers.

"Given the ongoing debate about whether Congress wrote this provision too broadly, delaying enforcement of the Red Flags Rule will allow industries and associations to share guidance with their members, provide low-risk entities an opportunity to use the template in developing their programs, and give Congress time to consider the issue further," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said.

NLBMDA has prepared a sample Red Flags Compliance Program for LBM dealers, which can be downloaded here. Additional information on the rule can be found on the NLBMDA website, www.dealer.org, in the "Government Affairs" section. See the full text of the FTC release announcing the delay in enforcement at: http://www2.ftc.gov/opa/2009/04/redflagsrule.shtm. They have also now established a compliance site for businesses at http://www.ftc.gov/redflagsrule.

Share Your Best Practices on Credit and Collections

CSA is creating an online resource focusing on credit and collections best practices and we need your input.

Please submit samples of your credit and collections best practices including your company's credit philosophy, your procedures for processing credit applications, collections and denial of credit, samples of your credit applications, form letters and other materials you use to provide credit to your customers and to collect the money owed to your company.

All materials will have their identifying information removed before they are added to the resource guide so if you submit materials, your company's name will be removed before it is added to the resources available for download.

Please submit any best practies (procedures, forms, ideas, materials) to the CSA office. You can submit those items electronically to lisagolden@gocsa.com, fax to 770-752-9726 (attn: Lisa Golden) or mail to CSA, 1850 Lake Park Drive, Suite 200, Smyrna, GA 30080.

We hope to hear from you very soon. Your input is very important and it will help us to build the best online credit and collections resource available to the building materials industry.

For more information, please call 678.213.2164.

Red Flags Rule: How to Use the How To Guide

If you click on the picture, it will take you to a PDF of the How-to Guide for Business. Once there, you will find the most helpful how to information beginning on page 14 of the Guide.


HOW TO COMPLY: A FOUR STEP PROCESS

Step One: Identify relevant red fl ags. Identify the red fl ags of identity theft you’re likely to come across in your business.

Step Two: Detect red fl ags. Set up procedures to detect those red fl ags in your day-to-day operations.

Step Three: Prevent and mitigate identity theft. If you spot the red fl ags you’ve identifi ed, respond appropri- ately to prevent and mitigate the harm done.

Step Four: Update your Program. The risks of identity theft can change rapidly, so it’s important to keep your Program current and educate your staff .

Get the free guide here. (Remember - the really helpful info starts on page 14!)

Overview of Red Flags Rule

This is an excerpt from the Fighting Fraud with the Red Flags Rule How-to Guide for Business

The Red Flags Rule sets out how certain businesses and organizations must develop, implement, and administer their Identity Theft Prevention Programs.

Your program must include four basic elements, which help you to address the threat of identity theft.

#1 - Policies and Procedures for Identifying Red Flags
Your program must include reasonable policies and procedures to identify the "red flags" of identity theft you may run across in the day-to-day operation of your business.

Red flags are suspicious patterns or practices, or specifi c activities, that indicate the possibility of identity theft.

For example, if a customer has to provide some form of identifi cation to open an account with your company, an ID that looks like it might be fake would be a "red fl ag" for your business.

#2 - Detection of Red Flags
Your program must be designed to detect the red fl ags you’ve identified.

For example, if you’ve identified fake IDs as a red flag, you must have procedures in place to detect possible fake, forged, or altered identifi cation.

#3 - How Will You Deal with Red Flags?
Your program must spell out appropriate actions you’ll take when you detect red flags.

#4 - How Will You Re-Evaluate Your Program and Modify It, As Needed?
Identity theft is an ever-changing threat so you must address how you will re-evaluate your program periodically to reflect new risks from this crime.

Just getting something down on paper won’t reduce the risk of identity theft. That’s why the Red Flags Rule sets out requirements on how to incorporate your Program into the daily operations of your business.

Your board of directors (or a committee of the board) has to approve your first written program. If you don’t have a board, approval is up to an appropriate senior-level employee.

Your program must state who’s responsible for implementing and administering it effectively.

Because your employees have a role to play in preventing and detecting identity theft, your Program also must include appropriate staff training.

If you outsource or subcontract parts of your operations that would be covered by the Rule, your Program also must address how you’ll monitor your contractors’ compliance.

The Red Flags Rule gives you the flexibility to design a program appropriate for your company – its size and potential risks of identity theft.

While some businesses and organizations may need a comprehensive program that addresses a high risk of identity theft in a complex organization, others with a low risk of identity theft could have a more streamlined program.

Red Flags Rule In Effect May 1, 2009

The Red Flags Rule requires many businesses and organizations to implement a written Identity Theft Prevention Program designed to detect the warning signs – or "red flags" – of identity theft in their day-to-day operations. Are you covered by the Red Flags Rule? Read Fighting Fraud with the Red Flags Rule: A How-To Guide for Business to:

*Find out if the rule applies to your business or organization;
*Get practical tips on spotting the red flags of identity theft, taking steps to prevent the crime, and mitigating the damage it inflicts; and
*Learn how to put in place your written Identity Theft Prevention Program.

By identifying red flags in advance, you'll be better equipped to spot suspicious patterns when they arise and take steps to prevent a red flag from escalating into a costly episode of identity theft. Take advantage of other resources on this site to educate your employees and colleagues about complying with the Red Flags Rule.

To learn more, visit this website put together by the Federal Trade Commission.

The full guide is here as a PDF file.

This article by The “Red Flags” Rule: Are You Complying with New Requirements for Fighting Identity Theft? by Tiffany George and Pavneet Singh is an easy to read explanation of who must comply and how they must do it.