FAQ#1

If you are registered on the CM/ECF system, you already know how to use our interface. Simply fill out some basic information about the case including number, district, and debtor names, and then upload the actual files. It takes less than a minute to complete the entire process.

Your files are received by our server in two stages. The first is the information about the case and your law firm. That goes directly into our database for processing. The second piece of information is the actual uploaded files. These are saved on our hard drive. We'll get back to those in a moment.

After you have uploaded your information, you will receive a confirmation page. This will contain a tracking number, typically the date following by a transaction number (ex. 121303 081500 0001 December 13, 2003, 8:15 a.m. ,transaction # for the day). This will be the number used to track your job ticket from beginning to end. If you ever need to go back and learn more about a certain mailing, you need only email us with the transaction number and we can bring up all the documents.

Once your information is in our database, we go online to the ECF website for your Court. We obtain the creditor matrix and download it into the database.

With the creditor matrix in place, we print an envelope for each address on the Master Mailing List with your return address on it. If there is a defective address from the schedules, the envelope will return to your offices. Your ECF documents are printed on our high speed printers two up front and back. The pages are collated and placed in the stamped envelope for mailing with proper first class postage. Once the envelopes are stuffed and sealed, they are taken to the nearest United States Postal Distribution Center.

We create a certificate for you in pdf format listing the date and time when we sent the documents to the post office for mailing. The certificate comes to you along with an invoice for our services. The certificate lists the date of mailing, the parties the documents were mailed to, the list of documents, and the method of mailing (first class, certified, etc.). It provides all the evidence you need to show that the documents were mailed in a timely manner.

While it is doubtful that any districts are not making ECF filing mandatory for all attorneys, you can still use the www.certificateofservice.com system.

For documents that you want us to mail, we only accept pdf documents. This is because we don't want to have any problems with formatting or printing of your documents. Use the same pdf documents you used when you filed on ECF. For mailing lists, we will accept one column text, CSV, or pdf matrix.

Many years ago, I was sitting in my office at 2 a.m. cursing the volume of envelopes I was stuffing. I had been very productive lawyer that day filing not less than fifteen motions to approve or modify Chapter 13 plans. My efficiency was being rewarded with mind numbing envelope stuffing and copy making.

It struck me that attorneys and paralegals throughout the country were suffering the same fate and it was a task that was undeniably burdensome, wasteful, but absolutely necessary.

The idea of www.certificate of service.com was born.

Jay S. Jump
www.certificateofservice.com

Certificate of Service.com generates a generic proof of service much like the Court uses to distribute 341 notices and discharge notices. No specific format is generated for any district.

COS.com has never been challenged as being an improper method of service. Our service is used by creditors attorneys, debtors attorneys and trustees.

When COS.com is the party who retrieves the matrix from the ECF website, we serve EVERY party listed on the matrix that has a deliverable address. If you send us a matrix, we will send the information to only the parties you provide to us.

No, the latest version of ECF handles most address corrections and preferred address substitutions according to their own unique registration system. The mailing matrix for COS.com is only as good as the data generated by ECF.

Costs are billed based upon the number of pages in your motion that you are submitting. If you have a two page motion, you will be billed for two pages at our current rate of charge. For example, if the cost per page is fifteen cents per page and you submit a three page motion, then the cost of printing that motion would be forty five cents times the number of creditors to be mailed to. We bill at this rate to cover the cost of going to PACER and obtaining the matrix, creating the envelopes for your mailing, printing the documents, stuffing the documents in the envelope, affixing postage, and delivering to the post office. On top of that we also create a filable certificate of mailing for you to upload to ECF to show that the job went out to the matrix. Remember, we are not a copy shop, but a mailing service.

Postage is always billed at cost. The standard first class rate is forty one cents for a small letter. There are no set up fees for joining cos.com.

Special handling charges may apply if you want us to send certain letters certified or other customized work.

Version 3.0 merges many upload pages into one easy to follow page. In addition, we have changed the review page so you have an easier time making sure the job you uploaded was what you wanted to upload. On the back side of the system, we have made some minor changes to the processing system to speed up what is already an incredibly quick system.

You can read more about our v3.0 upgrade by clicking on the icon at right.