Customer Study No. 1: Senior Customer & Caregiver
Note: This story is based on an actual scenario involving two of our customers, but some details have been changed to protect their privacy.

Ida, a senior woman with a mild case of dementia, lived in Massachusetts. Her only daughter, Rita, was a resident of Washington, D.C.

Once a month, Rita flew up to Boston to visit her mother. During one stay, Ida complained that her bills were getting confusing and aggravating. At Ida's request, Rita spent most of her visit sorting through mail and trying to make sense of the bills and financial statements. This became typical of her visits.

Several times Rita found double payments of a single medical bill. She also uncovered numerous payments to credit card companies and home shopping channels, and even a recently issued credit card. Lastly, she discovered several large donations to multiple charities that she was not familiar with.

Rita grew concerned that a stranger could exploit her mother financially. She also worried that Ida could miss a bill, leading to an important utility or service getting shut off. Even more troublesome was the thought that a medical bill could get overlooked, causing Ida to go without her necessary medications and coverage.

As she leafed through the mountain of bills, Rita became more and more frustrated. It was difficult for her to research the charges and receipts because many of the vendors were impossible to reach and/or were closed during her weekend visits.

Rita considered her options. She knew her mother was not interested in entering an assisted living facility and that moving her closer to D.C. was not an option. Rita recognized that if the bills and her mother's finances could be better managed, she could ensure Ida could live independently longer. She wanted to help her mother continue to live with integrity while also improving the quality of her monthly visits.

Rita decided to hire Commonwealth Cash Management to handle Ida's Personal Cash Management. Now that CCM is involved, Ida's bills are paid on time and her correspondence organized for Rita's review when she visits. Of course, Rita keeps tabs on her mother's financial situation and the CCM Client Assistant's bill-payment progress by using mycashmanageronline.com. Any time she wants, Rita can view her mother's account and see a history of bill payments, upcoming bills and account balances.

Ida, meanwhile, avoids the confusion of distinguishing true bills from junk mail and unsolicited invoices, medical bills from medical statements, and real checks from "convenience checks" from creditors that hold high interest rates. Her dedicated Client Assistant handles all of these issues for her. And since CCM manages the bookkeeping details, Rita can actually spend time enjoying Ida's company during visits and not dealing with endless paperwork.