A service worth looking into…

I hear about all sorts of services these says, some of which don’t make much sense to me or which seem to be pretty poor candidates for business success – the pooper scooper people come immediately to mind in that latter category. I mean, I know that people are busy these days, but give me break on that one. Do enough people really need someone to come to their home to scoop up pet poop to make that a viable business model? Maybe, maybe not.


I recently had a nice sit-down with a lady in one of my Chamber of Commerce groups that is with a nationwide outfit called The Fiscal Concierge, LLC. Their motto, “Live your life…We’ll pay the bills”, gives a fairly straightforward and easy to understand explanation about a key part of what they actually do for people and businesses. Basically they take over the responsibility of tracking and paying the monthly bills (the accounts payable) for people and businesses. In addition, for small to medium businesses, they also offer payroll services.


As I discussed this service with Debbie Stroup, the local rep for The Fiscal Concierge (click on the name to go to their corporate web site) it became clear why the family caregivers for an older person might want to use this service to make sure that bills get paid on time. The caregiver role can be overwhelming and taking this duty off of their plate helps immensely. It also makes sense for active seniors who might be off fulfilling life long dreams of travel not to have to worry about the bills going unpaid back home.


Unlike having automated bill paying set up through a bank, this concierge service pays all of your bills, not just those that offer automated payment and the concierge assigned monitors your bank account to make sure that there is enough money in the account to make the payments. Your concierge takes action to alert you or your caregivers when additional funds may need to be transferred into your account to cover the bills.


In addition Debbie mentioned that users of this service receive free identity theft protection from Lifelock (click here for more on the Lifelock identity protection services). These services end up providing great peace of mind to either group of seniors (and caregivers). Identity theft is a huge problem for all and especially for seniors.


Debbie also explained that many small to medium sized businesses find their Accounts Payable service to be a God-send and go on to also use their payroll services, which they offer through ADP Payroll. Small business owners have enough o worry about without having to spend time dealing with accounts payable and payroll issues. Maintaining a good record for making on-time payments is key to establishing the credit worthiness of any business. The Fiscal Concierge has also teamed up with Guardian to provide alarm services for small businesses at a very good rate to further protect your business. They could also provide the Guardian health monitoring services for homebound seniors.


So, as services go, The Fiscal Concierge seems to have very real value and is worth looking into if you are a caregiver for a senior or if you are an active, on-the-go senior. It also makes sense if you are a small to medium business owner. Give Debbie Stroup a call at (248) 366-4811 or email her at dstroup@thefiscon.com and tell her that you read about it on this blog. You won’t get any special discount, but Debbie will be happy to hear that her time spent explaining this all to me was worthwhile. I’m sure you’ll enjoy meeting Debbie, too and discussing your bill paying/accounts payable needs and maybe your payroll needs, if you are a small to medium business.