today i was meeting with one of my favorite clients, who are making their second purchase with me. the time came for them to be pre-approved for a loan on their primary residence, which they will then use as an atm to buy their new residence, for cash.
my client's big concern was passing their info to the loan processor securely. the processor uses gmail and my buyer uses yahoo. neither is a secure site (https) to send credit card info, tax returns, w-2s etc. i used my favorite and free ethernet trick to solve this problem.
i discovered this because i have a big house, and we have computers on each floor i have a ton of docs i have to keep permanently for each client and no desire to store them physically, or even on my hard drive. so when i need to print something in my office, but it's on my upstairs computer, i attach said item to an email as a draft. the great thing is that you can attach as many files as you want to a draft. you can't send a large email, but you can save a large draft, and open it on any computer with matching software.
i also do this when i have a large doc i have to print, and i don't want to do it at my own expense. i can save a doc and print it at my office, and let my company pay for it. they make big money from my efforts; i have the right to ask them to bear the expense of printing a 160 page set of HOA docs for my new owner!
it occurred to me that this is the best way to send something to the cloud, as well. i have an account with my email provider with all my photos, another with my tax returns and yet another with other significant, but less private or important docs.
the beauty of this is that the email that has my very personal financial info, is also available to my CPA. we each have the password to an account created only for this purpose, eg. my2011taxes@.....com. within it, i create a draft with my financial work stored on it for each of the schedules, and another for my income statements- w-2's, 1099's, 1098's . if he has a question he just adds it to the draft's subject. when each schedule is completed, i can attach any supporting docs, spread sheets, scanned receipts etc. i can then send the file to myself, from myself, within the same email address, making a permanent record. i can access it from anywhere, but no one else can except my cpa.
it occurred to me that this has wider applications. anytime you want to share any info with someone else, you can create an account and attach your info to a draft. (legal and legit. purposes only!)
Today my client was being asked to send his personal info, which would allow anyone to completely steal his identity, should his or the recipient's email address be compromised. He balked, fairly.
So we created a new account, and had the recipient create the password, so it could be easily remembered by the person who needed the info. Then we attached a bunch of docs, which were too large to email, onto a draft. we made a second draft for the credit card info. Instantly, the processor who was logged in simultaneously, had all the info at his fingertips. He didn't even have to wait for an email! And, as the transaction progresses, they will have a secure place to send updated statements, etc. it never has to be downloaded onto anyone else's computer either! Plus it can be printed if a hard copy is needed for any reason, without ever storing it. When the transaction is complete, buyer has the option to change the password and have a record of everything all in one place permanently, or just delete the drafts.
It's funny how a situation of inconvenience in my home, became the solution to a really challenging problem!
It also just dawned on me that my previous employer, charged each buyer and seller $330 to do essentially the exact same thing!!!
