The NextChapter team is thrilled to announce our latest quarterly update: Fall '17 Release!
This release is shining a spotlight on the most requested feature to date. (drumroll...) MyChapter Debtor Portal!
In addition to this major feature release, we've spent our time building features and enhancements to save you time. In this release, you'll see that we've put a lot of focus on our ECF integration - allowing you to upload additional documents to the court through NextChapter AND speeding up the filing times with ECF by 20%! Speaking of importing, we have also added a feature called our Shell Case Import. This will allow you to import your full case list from another provider to create shell cases in NextChapter.
We’ve added updates from our user requests such as: option to add default creditors, improved our common creditor autocompletion, added the option to add more "other" expenses in Schedule J, add more income deductions and we created a new section for prior names, alternate names and business names to enter as many as needed.
Since our last quarterly release, we've spent a lot of time on Chapter 13 Plans. Not only have we added a dozen new plans to NextChapter, but we've also added the Chapter 13 National Form Plan - Official Form 113. This is a good way to get your feet wet with the new plan before it goes into effect.
Take a look at the Release Notes to learn more about the new features and enhancements.
Now let's highlight some of the major features and changes.
1. MyChapter Debtor Portal
MyChapter Debtor Portal is an online questionnaire for your clients. The portal allows your clients to enter all of the information themselves, saving you hours of time per case. The questionnaire is clean, simple and easy to use, just like NextChapter!
Once the information is submitted by your client, you can review and make updates before importing the data directly to the case in NextChapter.
Features:
Unlimited Access: With the purchase of the MyChapter Package, you and your clients have unlimited access to the debtor portal.
Mobile Friendly: Your clients can access and enter their information on a phone, tablet or any device, at any time.
Customize: You can add a custom welcome message and make it your own by adding your firm’s logo and contact information.
Document Collection: Your client can easily upload any documents necessary to prepare their case.
Review Tools: You can easily change all text from all upper case to normal case with the click of a button. Additional review and edit features coming soon.
2. National Chapter 13 Form Plan - Official Form 113
To help keep you and your firm ahead of the learning curve, NextChapter has added the Official Form 113 as a plan option for all firms who've purchased the Chapter 13 Plan Package. Many firms have expressed an interest in testing out the Form Plan, even if their district is opting out, since many elements will be uniform throughout all the plans.
To access the new form plan and your district's new plan when it becomes available, you will first need to purchase the Chapter 13 Package from your settings.
3. Default Creditors
NextChapter now allows you to save creditors as "default creditors" in the event that you have to disclose the same creditors on every single case. It's as easy as clicking a checkbox after you add the creditor to your common creditors list.
4. Common Creditor Autocompletion Enhancement
NextChapter works hard to build features that will save you time. When we evaluated one of the earliest features we built (our common creditor search) we realized it was not as user-friendly and time-saving as it could be so we changed it! The common creditor search has now changed to a common creditor autocompletion. When you being to type a creditor that you have saved in your common creditors list, it will automatically fill in the address fields. BOOM! Now that's what we call time-saving.
5. New Prior / Alternate Names Section
Requested by a few of our users, we created a new section for prior, alternate and business names to include as many as needed on a petition.
6. 20% Faster Filing Times With ECF
Working with ECF has never been easy but we try to make it as seamless as possible to file your bankruptcy cases through NextChapter. In the past few months, we've made a strong effort to increase our filing times and decrease our filing glitches. During this process, we were able to cut down on glitches almost entirely and increase filing times by 20%!
7. Shell Case Import Feature
NextChapter knows how difficult it can be to transition to a new platform, especially when you have so much data stored in your current program. In addition to allowing you to import your full common creditor list, we've added the option to import your full case list! If you're able to pull a full case list from your current software in a CSV format, that list can be imported to create "shell cases" in NextChapter and the following information will be updated in each from the list:
- Type of case
- Type of debtor
- District
- Date filed
- Case number
- Debtor and Joint Debtor full name
- Home, work and cell phone numbers
- Last 4 of SSN
- Email
- Status comments
- Mailing and residential addresses
- Business name
- Business addresses
- Attorney fees total, paid and due
The shell import is $50 per 100 cases and is an especially great value for our Pro Plan subscribers using NextChapter Notices because all of their notices will start to be saved into their old cases once imported in the program.
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To learn about these new features, sign up for our Customer Success webinars, chat with us in the app or send us an email to hello@nextchapterbk.com. We are always happy to help! And if you have an idea for a feature that would make your filing easier, please send us your suggestions so we can keep improving NextChapter.
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