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The catch-22 in the bankruptcy business is how your clients pay you if you help them prove they're broke. So this is a huge need. You need to put FREE in big r
by mchannon 8y ago
The catch-22 in the bankruptcy business is how your clients pay you if you help them prove they're broke. So this is a huge need.
You need to put FREE in big red letters at the top of your webpage. It's on there a few times but buried so it doesn't stand out. The word "non-profit" also needs to be more prominently mentioned.
Whether it's sneaky medical billing or identity fraud, the about-to-be-bankrupt are _really_ gun-shy about being scammed and this additional marketing effort would pay huge dividends.
Most people don't realize how crooked the whole "education course" thing is. Congress in its infinite ignorance decided that bankruptcies were due to lack of education (easily debunked) but that doesn't stop them from making every single chapter 7 applicant take hours of compulsory courses. Do you offer the courses as a free standalone product (one that's accredited)? That'd be a huge selling point by itself.
"Turbotax for Bankruptcy" carries a lot of negative connotations, because you're not rent-seeking regulatory captors. Should make it "free turbotax for bankruptcy".
Just as a small percentage of turbotax filers have to deal with audits, hearings, and the occasional fraud trial, would be interesting to hear how you all deal with the bankruptcy court analogs.
- rpavuluri 8y agoThis is all great advice. We try to stress "free" and "nonprofit" but should definitely do more. As you likely know, all of our users have to attend a "341 hearing" at the court, where the trustee who oversees their case verifies the information in the user's forms. We have a video of a mock 341 hearing that prepares our users for this meeting, which they've found very helpful.
- baking 8y agoI helped my brother-in-law file without an attorney a number of years ago and I found that even though he is very intelligent, his case was simple, and I walked him through it he had tremendous difficulty representing himself in court and understanding the process to the level of detail needed to answer even simple questions put to him by the judge. Perhaps your videos could help people who have trouble thinking abstractly.
- rpavuluri 8y agoAwesome idea. We have several videos up on Youtube now and hope to expand in the coming months.
- crwalker 8y agoYes on negative connotations: the title "Turbotax for Bankruptcy" made me think this would be a hit piece on an unscrupulous vendor.