my crisis i'm your host vivian jaspar do you know anyone who's been injured or hurt and then they just couldn't work and they wondered how could they take advantage of their disability insurance well we're really fortunate to have with us here today nancy kavi she is a nationwide a risk and private disability insurance attorney who has just written a new go to book the disability insurance claims survival guide for professionals she knows firsthand what it is like to make a difficult decision to stop working apply for benefits and take on the disability insurance company welcome nancy thank you for having me thank you for sharing with us some information that likely will change so many people's because when they get denied by their insurance company what do they do they are paralyzed they don't know what they do and you're here to dispel that why did you write this book this is the book my mother and father never had my dad is world was a world war two and a viewer corps pilot who fought in the pacific and when he came home he got married raised a family like most veterans did he went to work at the family insurance brokerage business and purchased a disability insurance policy so that if he became disabled he would be able to provide an income but when he was diagnosed with leukemia had to make a difficult decision to stop working and you know back in the in the day there wasn't a book that explain to even a professional how to apply for disability benefits the games the carriers were going to play and what they needed to know so this book i've written in honor of my mother and father i'm sure they feel honored especially thinking your father for his service in world war two but i'm sure most people are and i won't call people naive but they trust the system but you pay surance well your monthly premiums and you expect that they'll do the right thing and then of course pay a claim when there is a just claim and you're saying that's not really the case that is not the case there are many pitfalls in the disability insurance claims process and even start at the beginning before you stop working unfortunately people don't know what's in their disability insurance policy so before you stop working you should get a copy of the policy and figure out what do you have to prove to get those benefits because in this way a carrier isn't going to just send you a check fedex because you sent in an application but isn't that the whole point of insurance and what they advertise i mean that is exactly the purpose of getting it we are right there is a federal judge by the name of judge s lynn who said look when disability carriers make the decision as to whether they're going to pay or deny they don't let simple things like facts get in the way of their profit isn't that stunning you have a federal judge who says this isn't a level playing field and it isn't and you need to know that from the very beginning from the time you purchase the policy to the time you start working for the time you apply and then dealing with the insurance company if they deny your benefits i think most people don't realize that you should even have an attorney for that purpose because why should you need it you know you just hope that you day do the right thing and not even think about it until you do have an injury that causes you not to be able to work right all right i share that frustration and i know firsthand what my mother and father went through going to the disability carrier every month with forms hoping that they would pay benefits but you know  golden rule in golden rule the golden rule when you have you know the goal it's not what you and i were taught the golden rule was you mean don't treat others as you like to be treated that golden rule that's not the golden rule all day the golden rule that a disability insurance company uses is they'll collect your gold and they'll invest in real estate because they want to make lots of money for their shareholders but when you apply for benefits guess what happens they deny it they rule that you're not entitled to your ben what rule could it possibly be that's the golden rule again i think that you need to get a copy of that disability insurance policy because it will walk you through what it is you need to do to get your benefits and there could be exclusions for all sorts of medical conditions that might limit what you get there can be were doctrines in your benefits for the receipt of social security benefits there might be a mental nervous limitation that limits benefits  limitation what does that mean there is no uniform disability policy united states vivian so we have to look at every policy and there is a limitation called a mental nervous limitation and it says that if you're disabled because of a compression  d your benefits can be limited to just two years and so these are the kinds of things you need to know before you stop working and apply for benefits how long am i going to get my benefits i mean that could happen for any reason what if somebody has a trifecta of situations in their life the basically could lend lend itself to a nervous breakdown you don't know when that's going to happen you could be psychologically some person one day and some kind of tragedy could strike and that could cause that so isn't that something you should make sure that's not or in your policy before you get there before you sign on the line and start paying premiums absolutely but many policies are purchased through employers and employers h r departments don't know what are in these policies and to make them more affordable for their employees there are these mental nervous policy limitation provisions that limit the benefits to two years there's something even worse and you want to know what that is what's worse than that a social security disability offset so the policy says look we'll pay you your disability benefits with one hand but with this hand we'll reduce the amount of your benefits by any money you or your children receive for social security disability benefits so the right hand pays and the left hand takes it away so then you have a balancing act which ultimately can make it more difficult to meet your financial obligations which is the entire reason for having this policy correct but you need to know all this before you either purchase the policy or you are applying for the benefits because many times i give people bad news and say look i know you're disabled but let me tell you what happens in this policy because we have to set your financial expectations appropriately as an employee can you then ask them if you can modify the policy even if you want to pay me more money to make it a better policy for your needs the answer is no because you don't own the policy your employer owns the policy but what you should be doing if you can afford it is to have an individual disability insurance policy that you buy through the own your own agent and you can paler your insurance to whatever your needs are so for example if you're a physician you intentionally get an own occupation  policy you want to have a policy that's tailored to you and your personal needs is it really going to be affordable for so on to get an attorney is it really necessary to get the to get your benefits yes i mean it's aside i mean the fact is they should be getting paid out but you're paying again you should get a bit of the same but i don't think it's important i don't certainly there are times in the life of policy where claims get denied it's the transition between short term to long term disability and many policies the definition of disability changes after two years from an inability to do your own occupation any occupation so guess what happens i get patients and i can put it well guess what happens so that transition they deny the claim if you don't have a lawyer during the appeals process you can absolute your claim because you only have one hundred eighty days in which to file an appeal and if you don't file the appeal and you go to court you know what the judge is going to say why don't you file the clear within one hundred again because you didn't exhaust your administrative remedies and give the carrier a right to correct a decision if you're out of court and you lose and of course you can say to the judge but i didn't know because ignorance is never an excuse you're correct unfortunately you're correct it seems to me what you're saying that the government or the laws or formulated to not protect individual people but the insurance companies is that because of lobbyist or am i just not understanding your responses is that really the case though yes yes  discretion is binding the insurance companies discussion right they have the right to determine the terms of the policy and whether you're disabled and if you disagree and you ultimately end up in federal court they say to the judge you have a handcuff we have the discretion and unless it's something called our rich area and capricious it's difficult for a federal judge to overturn even if they wanted to a claims denial it's that standard overview so if we had congress out of the original the arbitrary and capricious standard we'd be great now there are a number of states in the united states whose state insurance commissioners prohibit that discretionary clause and guess what it becomes a level playing field for the policyholder and the insurance company professionals they've taken the time to cultivate their career obtain their education and now they've had a family who relies on them and their income it is extremely really important they get not just the right policy but that they even have disability insurance so thank you very much for writing the book that will guide them to getting the right of course policy for them before they even need to file the claim but if they ever need to that we now know that you're a great resource to help them make sure the insurance companies do what they're supposed to be doing nancy thank you very much and please remember if something happens to you or someone you love and you have a disability claim don't leave it up to the insurance companies to hold your life in their hands contact a highly specialized attorney who knows exactly what to do to get the benefits that you deserve after for business credit is one of the most important tools for success small business owners can have in their portfolio and i'm here today very fortunately to have an expert in how small business owners can act more like large corporation and utilize business credit to their advantage here with me today is se de se welcome to the show and thank you for helping small business owners last and profit and thrive in their businesses by using finance to their benefit thank you for having me on the show and launching this book i know your passion for small businesses in helping them achieve to stop their crisis and i thought this would be the perfect place to launch this book with a view from an advocate standpoint well we're very excited because i know this can change in pivot small business owners who might be getting started or launching to a new level in their business understand that overcoming the financial hurdle is what would help them make or break or even hire a bigger staff or get the marketing or whatever they need to get to a higher level of success and you are going to be what helps them come percent absolutely in your opening you said that business credit was one of the most important to the small business going to have an import folia you're absolutely right shockingly ninety nine percent of small businesses do not have business credit nor do they know how to go back steps in it i am really shocked about that how is it virtually every single small business owner does not understand that how's that possible two issues one there is no unilateral lending process across the spectrum between banks credit unions credit reporting companies no one sinked the second thing is small business owners think the business credit is a misnomer they think that you have to use your personal credit to get business credit and that's not the case yes is there anyone currently out there educating small business owners and that has got to the s b a or s p d see or any other business advisory to small business owners no no no possibly what is the answer behind why ninety nine percent this is what gave me the wherewithal to write this book i went to a conference years ago and it was basically how to bring funding to small business owners in this conference room full of two hundred people you have all of you after a bit all that you just name including the federal reserve the f b i see bank of america chase and they were talking about business credit so for an hour they talked about how the small business owner with me business credit to make the business grow and finally after an hour i raise my hand and i said i have a question can anyone in the room tell me how to go about do not understand the playing field it's a maze how did they ever get approved for any business loan then well here's something that happened then president bush passed the patriot act well in the patriot act there's a section section three twenty six and it's called basically identity verification right this is what happens now when you go into a bank and you open up a business checking account you have to give them your social security number wasn't it was not well no it wasn't it wasn't this all came about because they wanted to stop terrorists from money laundering financial transaction fraud so now it's that way you have to give the social security number and what has happened over the years is banks of pretty much just m your social security number that piece to start building your business credit what was the situation prior to nine eleven because i would think as a business owner you would be utilize your ten number your tax id number no the difference you know your tax id numbers like your social security number of the forty dollars or less of your social security number right for tax collecting purposes privacy identity that's what your tax id number is for but isn't it used in the same manner for obtaining a lo and bradstreet is the oldest business data collecting company in america since the eight lately can hundreds what is their purpose their purpose is to report your business credit now where do they make money because i'm always of the mindset is i want to know well for example when you see a free website for anything and somebody tell me there's a favor up site i don't trust it until i understand how they can make money ok a website can have advertising that like sense to me right how does that inbred state who provides them for free make money simple i get very question until i know that you know it's real simple done in brasserie once they provide you a duns number they have services that they provide you products that they provide you credit builder products is what they called is it it worth  structure if you're an escort if you're an l l c it's interesting that not it's interesting that you bring that up yes it does how l l c should have to understand of only been around since the eighty's ok so how does that change how you interact with v numbers ok dun and bradstreet when they provide actually your nine digit duns number it's really based on your business but not only your business but your business type not to structure your business type so your nascent codes your north american industry standard codes most small business owners don't know what they are in this country cash is no longer king credit is credit is king did after people realize that no a lot of business owners are like well i don't want debt that is exactly my point i manage debt is good debt and you can grow your business through managed debt for a small business owners credit or the business entity right if you're sole proprietor does that still count or put your business towards your business no ok so you have to be an established see or s corp you need to be a structured corporation so that includes the escort  taxation the only difference is you have to file your intentions with that wrist i think it's from eighty three thirty eight that you plan to file with through as a small business would pass through taxation but because corporations are more structured and what said i've that you set up with the secretary of state you have your board members listed you have your principles listed correct two things creditors care about stability stability you said two things corporate creditors care about correct stability and accountability ok i want to be able to touch you when i meet you and other words i want to be able to call and talk to a live person that's a member of that cooperation and stability i want you to be making money i want you to be a stable company and i want you to have a pulse box that's used as a business address i think where many people don't know what they're doing but they won a successful business and they're not going to get it right and they're looking like oh my god i have no idea right now they're saying to you know a powerful about the book is i give you more than twenty five corporate creditors in the book with instructions that tell you how to set up business credit with those corporate credit this is a very easy have to it's a visa very very very easy how to use you just said we could buy a piece of real estate so you want to buy a commercial property ye i think people still realize or think in their midst perhaps misunderstanding really is that you have to buy in your own name and then schrans for it to the business name can you actually do the purchase with a mortgage under the ten number for the business itself as an  i've been a real estate developer and a real estate investor and i have bought company properties under my company name so many people wanted to do it that way for their own purposes and perhaps they were misinformed right that they wanted to buy a commercial property but in their own name as a business owner and then they transferred it will think of it like this and this is one of the things i a great example that i use if coca cola corp wanted to go and get a billion dollar loan the c f o doesn't sign for as the guarantor but president of the company doesn't sign for that ok coca cola buys that property based on coca cola is credibility so we need to be more like company and now look where they are when they are going to done that without utilizing corporate credit structure absolutely thank you very much i see that is fantastic information vivian thank you for having me on the show and really check out the book because absent any serious business owner even if they've been making this credit mistakes for many years they can start making changes now and start fresh and do better going forward absolutely right now thank you