All American
Be sure to place your order with US companies. The US has security laws that protect the consumer from having their information distributed or used inappropriately. If you happen to deal with a company that looks like an American business, but actually operates from abroad then you could be putting you and your company at risk. The last thing you want is your credit card information to be sold in a foreign country.
Business affiliations
Businesses like to place their business affiliations and organization membership logos on their website and other marketing material. These sign help to relax potential customers because it makes customers feel like they are working with a legitimate company. It is very important that you take these memberships at face value and dig a little deeper to verify that this company is actually a member of these organizations.
For example, when you see the Better Business Bureau logo on a web site, you probably breathe a sigh of relief. Take a few minutes to contact the Better Business Bureau via phone or online to verify the company’s membership status and to make sure that there haven’t been any complaints filed against them. It will take only a few minutes of your time and can save you a huge headache in the long-run.
Many organizations have stringent guidelines that a company must adhere to in order to become a member. For example, the local chapter of the Chamber of Commerce may require that the company provide a copy of their business license, in order to ensure the company is a legally operating entity. These types of procedures are for the protection of the consumer, so utilize the public information available to you and verify everything!
Link: http://www.bcscredit.com/activefilings/
ActiveFilings.com has partnered with Business Credit Services to help you get started building your business credit.
Business Credit Services is offering a free gift to all ActiveFilings.com customers who would like to learn more about separating personal credit from business credit.
The Business Credit Assessment (Valued at $199.95) will take your business through a complete credit assessment to find out how your business stands in the eyes of the credit grantors.
Many small business owners fail to recognize the importance of establishing good business credit; please don't be one of them.
Take your business to the next level by taking advantage of this free offer today!
We are very excited to announce a brand new benefit for our customers.
Effective today, each new business formation customer will have a pre-approved line of financing of up to $2,000 to be used toward the technological platform of his or her new company.
This project that starts today is expected to be offered to all our current and previous customers.
The company that has made this financing possible is GoEforms Technologies. GoEforms, and will finance 70% of any project that involves using GeEforms products and services such as website design, ecommerce systems, intranet development, software development, and more for 12 months.
For instance, if a corporate website cost $ 500.00, ActiveFilings customers will only have to pay in advance to GoEforms $150.00 to get started, and then 12 payments of $ 36.46 per month.
This loan is granted to business; which means that the personal credit from the owners or guarantees will not be required. This way, new companies will start building their credit from the very beginning.
Some of the GoEforms Technologies products that our customers will be able to implement are:
As a software company, GoEforms is set to provide a wide range of services under diverse technologies based on the customer’s needs.
During this beta stage, GoEforms will fund $100,000 and it will be the only provider. After this initial period and upon the results achieved, it is expected to add more providers and vendors from other fields as well as to increase the credit line per customer and payment terms.
Requirements to Access these loans are very easy:
1) To be an Active Filings customer;
2) To sign an application form;
3) To attach a voided copy of a corporate check.
Payments will be debited from the corporate checking account so customers will not have to worry about sending checks or paying by other methods.
Active Filings will inform its customers through an email and letter included with all orders. We will also provide to GoEforms the name of the company and the date of incorporation so our customers will establish direct communication with the GoEforms representatives. Customers will able to request a free quotation and to start working on their projects.
Our customers will have 30 days from the company’s creation to opt in for this credit line. If they don’t wish to use it, they will have nothing to do since the offering will expire after 30 days.
We believe this is a unique opportunity for our customers, particularly in a time where obtaining funding is not easy. This way, a lot of new companies will have the technological tools that are available to big and established corporations. Undoubtedly our customers will be able to compete from a much more strategic and comfortable position.
This agreement between Active Filings and GoEforms Technologies affirms one more time, our full commitment with the American Entrepreneur.
Deal with real business entities.
Just because an incorporation company has a web site doesn’t mean that it is a legitimate business entity.
There are many “incorporate.com” companies online that are simply that, a web site. You should thoroughly research the company you are thinking about using to incorporate your business to make sure they are a formal business entity (corporation or LLC).
You can investigate a company by contacting the Better Business Bureau and State Attorney’s Office where the business is physically located to find out if any complaints have been filed against them. You can even go as far as to look up their business license to verify that it is current. Business licenses can be verified with the state in which the business is operating.
Link: http://www.activefilings.com/en/services/fastquote.htm
The time has finally come! The implementation of the third chapter of our system, which is probably the most wide-ranging Case Tracking and Document Management system on the market has allowed us to review our expenses and pass the savings on to you!
If you were one of those people who thought that effectively applied technology could not benefit people on day-to-day tasks, you were wrong.
ActiveFilings.com was the first company in our sector to obtain Hacker Safe certification; soon after we became pioneers in the Biometrics security field, an internal security system which allows for a user to access the system via fingerprint reader only.
Soon after, we added the automated generation of documents and forms for most of the state filings as well as the IRS forms when we partnered with GoEforms.com last year.
All of these innovations have allowed us to expand and offer our services to our competitors, law offices and CPAs in the 50 states of the union.
The price reduction achieved this Monday, March 10, 2008 is really important. Our "Full" Plan, which was originally $429.00, is now $299.00. Our “Essential” plan which was $169.00 is now $89.00 and each one of the additional services which can be ordered a la carte along with the Essential plan, have also been reduced.
We are very proud of our achievement, and we are certain that by turning them into direct savings to our customers, we are contributing to the general improvement of the country’s economy, as well as giving more entrepreneurs a chance to realize “the American Dream”.
It’s spring! a beautiful time for all, but for business owners it’s also time to renew your licenses to continue operating as a corporation or LLC. Every state is different, but generally, spring is the optimal time to take care of license renewal.
Renewing the license usually consists of updating the corporate information of the corporation or LLC , and in most cases a fee is also involved. Some states call it “franchise tax” or “annual report”.
Every business owner must file these reports on an annual basis to fulfill a basic requirement, so that the company can hold the status of “Good Standing” with the Secretary of State.
Now is the time to change your registered agent, corporate address, directors or managers without having to pay additional fees for articles of amendment.
Depending on the State, the notice will be sent to the Registered Agent or will be directly mailed to the corporate address. Be advised that if you don’t file within the time frame stipulated, penalties might apply and in some cases can also be raised.
Another thing you want to take into consideration is your Registered Agent. If you are currently using a private company to provide you with those services and you have an unpaid bill, be advised that they will continue to receive notices on your behalf but will not forward them until you have paid the amount owed. Also in most cases, they will send you past due notices and eventually resign due to lack of payment putting your company in default.
If you are not sure of the status of a company, you may request a "certificate of good standing”. It wouldn’t be the first time that our customers forget to file the annual report and then call us to assist them to “reinstate” their company.
Some States will give you a “grace period” before dissolving your company, but once this takes effect, the corporate name you were using will be available to anyone who wishes to use it as their legal name… And you will still have to deal with the possibility of service of process putting your personal assets on risk.
Always remember: Starting your own business opens the doors to a world of possibilities, but it also comes along with many responsibilities.
Roberto Neuberger.
February came and went, and it provided enough information to make public the new rankings for “AF’s Top Ten Most Entrepreneurial States” of the Union
The following table represents our ranking, based on the number of processed business formations at Active Filings during the month of February.
1- FLORIDA - 21%
2 - TEXAS - 14%
3 - CALIFORNIA - 14%
4 - NEW JERSEY - 10%
5 - DELAWARE - 10%
6 - NEW YORK - 7%
7 - UTAH - 7%
8 - NEVADA - 7%
9 - OHIO - 7%
10 - MASSACHUSETTS - 3%
It is interesting to point out that our company does not employ target-advertising methods, or specific search engine advertising campaigns for any particular state. This fact helps to validate the ranking of our featured top 10 for February 2008.
In a shrinking market you have the opportunity to see who is who.
There are competitors out there trying to take advantage of our good name and reputation. They are using our corporate and domain name as keywords to show their ads when our customers search on Google, Yahoo and MSN Live for us.
We are talking about
101incorporate.com
IncNow.com
TheDelawareCompany.com
These companies don’t care about ethics. They violate trademarks in order to steal customers. Some of them don't even care about cheating customers and overcharging state filings fees, as in the case of 101incorporate.com who shows a FL filing fee of $145 when the state actually charges $70.
We have hired the firm of Tomas Kucera, PA to protect our rights and prevent them of continuing their illegal practices.
When prospects click on “sponsored links”, don’t they realize the kind of companies they may be dealing with?
In business as in life there is only one way to act: the right way. You cannot go through the life erasing with one hand what you wrote with the other.
All businesses and consumers have a need for useful, constructive, authentic feedback. That's why we have implemented the RatePoint Consumer Approval Program. This new tool provides a way for our consumers to let their voice be heard by the people they do business with and fellow consumers.
We have no control about the opinion of our customers. Their comments cannot be edited by us, which makes this system a great way to measure our performance as a company.
This is an example (a real one) of a customer review:
Good and bad reviews help us to keep the track and to look for improvement on continue basis.