CLAS Celebrates 35 Years of Business!

CLAS Information Services Celebrates 35th Anniversary

CLAS Information Services is pleased to share that this week marks our 35th anniversary!

CLAS formed in Sacramento, California in 1980 and quickly became a leading provider of UCC and corporate due diligence services to local law firms and commercial lending institutions. Since then, CLAS has extended its reach considerably and presently maintains support facilities in Los Angeles, California; Dover, Delaware; Olympia, Washington and London, England.

To our valued clients, THANK YOU for your business and ongoing support. We owe our success to your loyalty and appreciate each order you entrust to us.

To learn more about the products and services offered by CLAS, visit www.clasinfo.com or contact us at 800.952.5696 or connect@clasinfo.com.

CLAS Adds Five New States to DIY Search System

Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota Now Available 

CLAS Information Services is pleased to announce that we have added five new states to our DIY Search System™.  Users can now logon to www.clasinfo.com and perform searches in Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

See below for details on what lien types are included in the data:

Kansas: UCCs and Federal Tax Liens

Montana: UCCs

Nebraska: UCCs, Federal and State Tax Liens and Judgments

North Dakota: UCCs, Federal and State Tax Liens

South Dakota: UCCs and Federal Tax Liens

The CLAS DIY Search System™ provides users with anytime, anywhere access to perform UCC and lien searches, prepare customized search reports, print or save document images, generate similar name reports, access historical search results and more.

Want to learn more? Contact CLAS at 800.952.5696 or click here to schedule a free online system demonstration!

CLAS Welcomes Kacy Flowers to the Team!

 Welcome, Kacy!

CLAS Information Services is pleased to welcome Kacy Flowers to the team as Marketing and Sales Support Administrator. Kacy is a veteran public records research professional, beginning her work in the industry back in 1996. In the years since, Kacy has become an active writer, trainer, blog contributor and lecturer on topics relating to UCC searching and filing, pre-funding due diligence, risk management, corporate compliance and more.

“I have known CLAS by reputation for years,” says Kacy Flowers, “I am thrilled be a part of a group with so much experience and a clear commitment to service excellence. I can’t wait to see what we will accomplish!”

CLAS, a long established provider of public records research, specializes in supporting attorneys, paralegals, banks, lenders and service companies. Whether county, state, federal or international, we assist by preparing and filing corporate and UCC documents, conducting due diligence through the retrieval of corporate records and documents, and many other services. CLAS experts guide you through completing international formations, legalizations, authentications and apostilles. Our proprietary technology solutions let you choose responsive personalized customer support or online services. Support facilities in Delaware, Los Angeles, Sacramento and London allow us to serve you globally. Contact CLAS at 800-952-5696 or visit us online at www.clasinfo.com.

For sales or marketing inquiries, contact Kacy Flowers by phone at 800-952-5696 ext. 123 or by email at kacy@clasinfo.com.

Protect Your Position with UCC eZFILE®'s Name Monitoring Feature

UCC eZFILE®'s Name Monitoring feature helps you to keep tabs on your debtors.

When you file a UCC, you need to track changes that could undermine your position. This is especially important since Revised Article 9 became effective. With this revision, signatures are no longer required for UCC filings. This means that the possibility of a third party accidentally terminating your filings has increased, along with the possibility of fraud.

With UCC eZFILE®’s Name Monitoring feature, you now have a way to make sure you’re notified of subsequent filings on your UCCs, enabling you to respond quickly and protect your interests. This feature is available at a minimal cost and provides daily monitoring of debtor entities at the state level and monitoring of the UCC and/or Corporate databases. And monitoring protects you from more than just the actions of others. It also allows you to discover whether you have unintentionally terminated a filing yourself.

In addition to helping you to protect your position, we enable you to customize your monitoring options to mesh with your specific workflows. For example, you can choose to automatically monitor all of the debtor names in your UCC filings, or choose to monitor one name at a time as you need to. We also allow you to view a list of all the entity names you’re monitoring at any time.

To learn more about name monitoring, please contact us to schedule an online training session. If you don’t yet have a log in and password for UCC eZFILE®, we will set one up for you.

CLAS at the Crocker Symposium

Visit with CLAS at the Crocker Symposium

Kathy and Andrew are at the Crocker Symposium today! If you're there, remember to visit our table.

You'll learn about how our Compliance Services, Lien & Litigation Packages, Independent Director & Manager services, and more, can help you streamline your transactions. You can also enter our drawing for a Google Nexus 7 tablet.*

If you weren't able to attend the symposium this year, you can also give us a call at 1.800.952.5696 or contact us to find out more.

*Find out more about our drawing in our December newsletter. You can subscribe here to receive our newsletter regularly.

CLAS Gold Sponsor 2014 Crocker Real Estate Symposium

Visit our booth at the Crocker Symposium, November 6, 2014.

Time is rapidly approaching for the 2014 Crocker Symposium! We're excited to be part of the event this year as a gold sponsor.

CLAS Information Services has provided quality support services for our business partners for over 34 years. While you're at the symposium, please make sure to stop by the CLAS booth to learn more about the ways we can enhance and streamline your transactions.

• Our Compliance Services provide the security of knowing all entities involved are in good standing long before closing.
• Our Lien & Litigation Package gives you information regarding prior liens (UCCs, Fixtures, Tax) and litigation (both state and federal) as well as bankruptcy, supplying important details for informed decisions.
• We offer statutory and special representation in addition to Independent Director and Manager services. Through our affiliation with NRAI (National Registered Agents, Inc.), we are able to provide these services at extremely competitive prices with the quick turnaround you require.

And with our Global Network, we can file and obtain corporate and UCC documents anywhere in the world where applicable.

If you won't be able to attend the symposium this year, remember that you can also give us a call at 1.800.952.5696, or contact us to find out more. Otherwise, we'll see you on November 6th!

CLAS Proud to Sponsor 2014 NPRRA Conference

CLAS is a proud gold sponsor of this year's National Public Records Research Association Conference, which will be held from October 9 to October 11 in Miami.

The conference will provide information about public records research trends and the latest technology changes affecting our industry.

Happy Anniversary to CLAS

As of Sunday, August 4, CLAS has been providing excellent service for 33 years. Happy anniversary to us!

When Employees Leave – How Your Service Company Can Help

When you lose an employee, can you find out everything they did with your service company?

We've talked before about reasons to use a public records service company, including improved priority for your filings at the Secretary of State's office and experienced reviews of your filings before you submit them. However, you may not have realized that a good service company can also help you deal more smoothly with employee turnover.

It's a fact that many companies are experiencing increased employee turnover. One of the challenges this creates is how to make certain that critical business knowledge doesn't get lost at the same time. In a recent example, one our our clients faced the daunting task of piecing together information after an employee had already left the company.

Although your service company can't know everything your outgoing employees handle, you should be able to count on them to provide you with as seamless a transition as possible with regard to the work you do with them.

• Consider whether you have a single contact person you can rely on, or whether you'll be shuffled from department to department to find out what you need to know.
• Also think about the average tenure of the employees at your service company. Obviously, if they experience high turnover themselves, you're going to have a more difficult time.

At a company like CLAS, where our senior employees have been with us for more than 15 years and the average tenure of an employee is over 10 years, you can count on getting help from someone with industry experience. In our example above, our client was able to work with one committed person who walked them through all aspects of their dealings with us. This meant they also had the advantage of working with someone who knew about their particular needs.

Whether you're faced with employees who are ready for retirement, much-dreaded layoffs or other circumstances, you need all the help you can get. A good service company can provide you with the additional support you need.

From CLAS to the Bar

Meet Monica Cornejo, Juvenile Dependency Attorney, McGeorge Law School graduate and former CLAS employee. Born in Santa Clara county and growing up in Sacramento, Monica chose to major in political science with a minor in ethnic studies, with the idea of going on to law school.

However, her first job after college with a small law firm was not a positive experience. Monica says, "The lady who owned it frequently yelled at her legal secretaries. It was a terrible environment." Monica started questioning whether a high-stress law career was what she wanted and took a year off to travel in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Costa Rica.

After she returned, a friend who worked in the industry suggested that she should apply for a position at CLAS. Monica says she hadn't heard much about the "hidden" industry of public records research and decided to give it a try. At CLAS, she worked first doing order verification and later doing UCC searches.

Monica explains, "In addition to the work I've done clerking at law firms, the work I did at CLAS helped to prepare me for law school. It required me to be organized and meticulous and extremely mindful of deadlines." Just as important to Monica, "Being exposed to CLAS's work environment was an entirely different experience. It brought home to me that the way matters are handled internally in a company sets the tone for how employees are going to interact with clients. CLAS's clients have a real advantage in working with people who are good at communicating with each other and work as a team for their clients' benefit."

Monica is currently with the Children's Law Center here in Sacramento representing children who are county dependents, from newborns to 19-year-olds. She plans to continue focusing her career on public interest work and can be found on LinkedIn.

We're very happy for Monica's success and we look forward to seeing her continue to accomplish great things!

How Dan Is Getting in Shape with CLAS's Wellness Program

CLAS is proud to shine the spotlight this month on Dan McVicker, our senior Service Representative Support administrator. During his 11-year tenure, Dan has held several positions including runner, and has handled a variety of responsibilities, such as online ordering and UCC filings and searches.

Since CLAS rolled out its new fitness program, Dan has been a determined participant. Even before that he was committed to losing weight by making significant changes to his diet. Dan admits that in the past staying motivated to exercise had been a challenge. But CLAS's on-site exercise option, provided by Crossfit Envy, makes it convenient enough that he has been able to stick with it.Dan also appreciates the encouragement he and other participants give each other.

Dan lost 50 pounds before Thanksgiving, but he's allowing himself to break away from his low-carb diet over the holidays when he'll be visiting family. He says, "I try not to be obsessive about my diet, especially over the holidays. I've found that it's good to plan certain days that I'm going to 'cheat,' since that allows me to be sociable. But in the past, where I might have lost hope after 'cheating,' I now know that even if I go off my diet now and then, I can stick with the exercising and keep on track."

Another aspect of the program that Dan likes is the individualized approach Judy Kahler takes with rewards. Instead of setting the same goal for everyone, she often has her team members choose their own for a month and then awards prizes based on meeting them. Dan says, "This lets me focus on one area for a while, and then decide later if I need to re-visit it. It lets me experiment with what works for me and what doesn't."

Congratulations, Dan!

CLAS President's Message - December 2012

Maintaining Focus Despite Changes

I am incredulous that it is December. The year is almost over. Where have we been? Where are we going? More importantly, what have we accomplished? We have watched our political process in full force. We tire of the self-serving, uninspired rancor that seems to permeate every moment of our waking hours and we continue to wait for a return to values that resonate for the majority. In the meantime, we manage our businesses, share time with our loved ones, and find fulfillment in special moments and meaningful people.

At CLAS we have experienced a year of new beginnings and successes while maintaining the focus on our clients and our staff, without whom we would be just another company providing public records services. Our affiliation with Wolters Kluwer and CT Corporation this year has proven to be an excellent change. The merger of NRAI and “WK” has provided us with a myriad of new products and opportunities.

We now are able to continue to provide the level of service we have always provided but it is now combined with other tools and services available through this affiliation. We can provide Registered Agent services through NRAI or CT Corporation, help our clients decipher which alternative serves them or their clients better, and then continue to provide world-CLAS service as well. Our compliance department has grown significantly this year and we are pleased to assist our clients in maintaining entities that remain in good standing throughout the year. We also now have access to Intellectual property searches using Corsearch.

This year we also completed our own CLASInfo Pro^TM platform which allows our clients to keep track of their current and archived orders, complete a UCC filing with UCC eZFile^TM, search UCC's, do OFAC searches and place orders online. As Varsik Karapetyan trains each of our clients, we are finding more and more people using the system and excited about the ability to compile and manage all of their orders through one central repository. Our mantra continues to be, "How do we make it easier?" Our new blog, CLASnotes, is providing a continual supply of relevant articles and industry feedback and another opportunity for us to hear from you.

On a more personal level, we have found our employee health initiative to have yielded some dramatic results. We placed as a finalist in the Sacramento Business Journal Employers Health Competition. One of our staff has lost over 35 pounds and another over 20 with numerous other successes as well. With staff members who, in many cases, have been here for over 20 years, we want to insure good health for our team.

For me, the year has been a miraculous combination of teamwork and creativity combined with new leadership from Susan R. Jones, our COO. It has given me a chance to enjoy a little downtime and plan my wedding. All in all a great year!

Happy Holidays from the CLAS Team

As 2012 nears its close, we wish you all the very best. We appreciate your business and friendship and we look forward to working with you in 2013!

Who's Who:
Seated (from left): Nicole Jepsen, Judy Culver, Judy Kahler, Susan Jones, Kathy Culver.

Middle row: Frances Williams, Varsik Karapetyan, Jean Malcomson, Judi Leaird, Amanda Martinez, Teresa Altarriba, Andrew Tucker.

Back row: Dixie Johnson, Jeanna Allen, Jacob Schreibman, Scott Warner, Dena Weaver, Dan McVicker, Erin Burchard-Marron, Sandi Larsen, Javier Magaña, Christy McCullough, Sarah King.

Subscribe to CLAS's Blog Now for a Chance to Win

Did you know that if you subscribe to our blog before the end of November, you could win an iPod Shuffle and an iTunes gift card?

We've been providing lenders, attorneys and corporations with exceptional service for over 30 years. And now our blog, CLAS Notes, is available to help you stay up-to-date on industry news and much more!

CLAS Notes features industry related articles, free tips and tutorials, and a chance for you to share your questions and observations.

You can subscribe to our blog to receive update notification emails. And if you subscribe before the end of November, we'll enter you in our drawing for an iPod Shuffle* and iTunes gift card!

Follow CLAS Notes for news on the services CLAS offers, including:

• Corporate Filings and Retrievals
• Registered Agent Services
• Entity Management
• Due Diligence Searches
• UCC Filings and Searches
• And More

Looking for an additional chance to win? Click here to refer a colleague to CLAS or email Varsik Karapetyan (Varsik@clasinfo.com). Or give us a call at 800.952.5696. For each referral, we'll enter you again in our drawing.

*Apple is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion.

CLAS Makes It to the Finals in the 2012 Healthiest Employers Contest

Congratulations to us! CLAS Information Services was among the finalists in the Sacramento Business Journal's "2012 Healthiest Employers" contest.

We're very proud to have been a part of this event, which honors companies for their commitment to keeping their employees healthy.

Approximately a year old, CLAS's fitness program includes a tracker made by the San Francisco company, Fitbit Inc., and on site lunchtime training from a local company, CrossFit Envy. Our fitness program is a perfect example of why CLAS's experienced and knowledgeable employees tend to stay at CLAS.

How beneficial do you think workplace fitness programs are to businesses and their clients? Please share your thoughts in the comments. We'd love to hear from you!

(The Sacramento Business Journal also published a special publication regarding this event. To read more about it, click here.)

President's Message - October

It has been my experience over the years that employees do their best work when they are energized, healthy and motivated. The keys to their performance seem to be their level of job satisfaction as well as their physical and mental health. As the season changes I am reminded that with shorter days, colder temperatures and radical weather swings, illness increases and energy levels decline. Add into that the stress factors of life in a world that constantly resonates with hostility, anxiety and controversy. In the past we have just assumed that absenteeism will increase and productivity will be on the decline. We had little control over any of this.

This year we anticipate a positive change.

In April we instituted a fitness program which provides an opportunity for every employee, should they choose to participate. I purchased little "gizmos" called FITBITs for the entire staff. These amazing little devices not only record the number of steps taken, as does a pedometer, but also record intensity of activity, number of stairs climbed and mileage covered. They upload the information into a private group information center at www.fitbit.com where the staff can view everyone's individual progress.

With this tool we have created competitions and prizes for everything from mileage to increased activity. I also engaged a local CrossFit company, CrossFit Envy (www.crossfitenvy.com) to provide training at lunchtime twice a week. The result is a new energy in the company, weight loss and camaraderie. And as a byproduct, we're seeing improved health habits spilling over to family members as well. I have seen a few employees accomplish amazing changes and weight loss. The encouragement of a group keeps many of us on track when alone we may have lost interest.

In today's world where I often feel powerless to change anything or improve our collective lives, I have felt extremely rewarded that my investment has paid off. In fact, each month the participation increases and the goals are higher.

CLAS Wellness Program Is a Great Fit

CrossFit Envy coach Jared Hasleton trains CLAS employees. From left: Sarah

King, Jared Hasleton, Varsik Karapetyan, Jolene Thomas and Nicole Jepsen.

Only a few months ago, Scott Warner spent most of his days seated in front of his computer. He almost always worked through his lunch hour. But these days, our MIS Administrator is 20 pounds lighter and regularly walks at least 6 miles per day.

Sound impressive? He's still in second place compared to Fran Williams, whose courier duties enable her to walk about 7 miles per day. And they both need to watch out for Varsik Karapetyan, who is catching up with 5 miles per day.

What caused these changes? Like many employers, we know that having a healthy workforce is good for business. And having a fitness program that's fun, convenient and social means more employees participate.

Just under a year old, our fitness program includes a tracker made by the San Francisco firm, Fitbit Inc., and on site lunchtime training from a local company, CrossFit Envy.

Along with the opportunity to participate in CrossFit workouts twice per week, participants can wear their Fitbit tracker throughout the day. It measures the number of steps taken, miles traveled, stairs climbed, calories burned and more. Then it uploads the information automatically to an online database. The immediate feedback the device provides has motivated our team. As Scott say, "We're taking steps for no reason. We're parking farther away."

The rewards are obvious. With an experienced team whose average tenure is 14 years, we're all aware of the benefits of exercise as we age. Additionally, being able to compare stats online makes friendly competition and company sponsored prizes possible.

The increase in morale has been noticeable. "It's always been a close group," says Susan Jones, our Executive Vice President. "But now there's more laughing and joking around. There's this friendly competitive environment, on a more personal level."

New Ways to Save Time With UCC eZFILE®

As of Tuesday, September 11, 2012, UCC eZFILE® will have two new features designed to make our system even easier to use:

Filing Defaults

You will now be able to set many of the fields in your UCC filings to automatically contain your default information, saving you time and eliminating possible errors. Just go to your "My Information" tab in UCC eZFILE® and fill out the fields. Then when you open new filings, these fields will already be filled in.

The one exception is the collateral description field. This will only automatically fill in for UCC-1 filings, because UCC-3 filings rarely need to restate the collateral from the original filing.

Collateral Descriptions

Tired of wasting time trying to calculate how much of your collateral description will fit on one page? UCC eZFILE® now figures it out for you. Just paste the full description into the field, and the system automatically creates additional pages as necessary.

If you need to have your description start on the second page instead of the first one, that's fine too. You can paste it in the field on the second page, and UCC eZFILE® will calculate whether or not you need a third page. The system can perform these calculations for up to five pages.

Questions? Please post a comment below, or contact us at 1.800.952.5696. You can also email Kathy Culver at Kathy@clasinfo.com or Amanda Martinez at Amanda@clasinfo.com.

Rewards for Referrals Program

We have a winner...

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Referral drawing. The winner of the Flip Video Camera is Stacey Kil, in Buena Park, California. Congratulations, Stacey!

...and you could be next!

Due to the excellent response, we've decided to hold another drawing. This time the prize will be an Amazon Kindle.* If you have colleagues you think would benefit from the quality of service CLAS provides, please let them know about us!

To enter, call or email Varsik Karapetyan at Varsik@clasinfo.com through the end of September to let us know which colleagues you'd like us to contact. Or if you prefer, you can have your colleagues contact or call us directly at 1.800.952.5696 and mention that you referred them.

Either way, for each referral we receive from you, we'll add your name to our drawing.

The winner of the Amazon Kindle* will be announced in our next newsletter. Thank you all again for your support.

Would you like an additional chance to win? "Like" our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/CLASINFO, and we'll enter your name again in our drawing!

*Kindle is a trademark of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. Kindle devices are given away on behalf of CLAS Information Services. Amazon is not a sponsor of this event.

Experience You Can Count On

MEET OUR SENIORS; Top row, from left: Judi Leaird, Senior Service Representative (15+ years), Sandi Larsen, Service Department Manager (20+ years), Judy Culver, Compliance Manager (15+ years), Frances Williams, Operations Support (20+ years). Bottom row, from left: Dena Weaver, Senior Service Representative (15+ years), Jeanna Allen, Accounting Manager / Human Resources (15+ years), Christy McCullough, Director of Operations (20+ years), Kathy Culver, Director of Client Relations (20+ years).

A common refrain within this industry is the concern that there is significant turnover in staff and little long-term expertise at service companies. Clients call and are either greeted by voice mail systems or they talk to service people who have little industry experience.

Your engagement with CLAS will begin with a human answering your call and will continue with a referral to another who can answer or research most any industry question. We have made it a priority over our 32-year history to train our own people and then to create a work environment that makes them want to stay. Our group of senior employees who have been with us for more than 15 years maintain that standard and use their expertise to train our newer employees. The average tenure of a CLAS employee exceeds 10 years.