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Pre-Paid Legal Services Announces 2009 2nd Quarter Membership and Recruiting Results

ADA, Okla. , July 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. (NYSE: PPD), reported new memberships produced and new sales associates enrolled for the 2009 second quarter. During the 2nd quarter of 2009, new sales associates enrolled decreased 3.6% compared to the second quarter of 2008. Memberships produced decreased by 9.1% while new membership fees written decreased by 9.3% and our active membership base decreased 3.9% compared to the comparable period of the previous year.

On a sequential quarterly basis, new associates enrolled increased 5.5%, new memberships produced decreased 0.3%, new membership fees written increased 2.5% and our active membership base decreased by 21,192 memberships.

                                                     Three Months Ended
    New Memberships:                           6/30/2009  3/31/2009 6/30/2008
    ---------------
    New legal service membership sales          118,050    117,635    127,804
    New "stand-alone" IDT membership
     sales                                        4,180      4,960      6,642
          Total new membership sales            122,230    122,595    134,446
                                                =======    =======    =======
    New "add-on" IDT membership sales            78,009     72,850     82,623
    Average Annual Membership fee               $328.79    $319.86    $329.44

    Active Memberships:
    -------------------
    Active legal service memberships at
     end of period                            1,419,092  1,438,519  1,481,051
    Active "stand-alone" IDT
     memberships at end of period (see
     note below)                                 86,779     88,544     85,588
          Total active memberships at end of
           period                             1,505,871  1,527,063  1,566,639
                                              =========  =========  =========
    Active "add-on" IDT memberships at
     end of period (see note below)             670,769    671,850    658,365

    New Sales Associates:
    ---------------------
    New sales associates recruited               25,172     23,871     26,102
    Average enrollment fee paid by new
     sales associates                           $120.98    $119.17     $98.93

    Average Membership fee in force:
    --------------------------------
    Average Annual Membership fee               $301.37    $300.81    $300.46

    Note - reflects 4,386 net transfers from "add-on" status to "stand-alone" status during the quarter

Our total active membership fees in force decreased approximately 3.6% during the last twelve months. Membership persistency rate (defined as the number of memberships in force at the end of a 12 month period as a percentage of the total of memberships in force at the beginning of such period, plus new memberships sold during such period) was 72.1% for the 12 month period ended June 30, 2009, a decrease from the 73.3% for the 12 month period ended June 30, 2008.

During the 2009 2nd quarter, we returned $524,824 to shareholders through the repurchase of 13,315 shares of common stock, at an average per share price of $39.42. Since April 1999, we have returned $421.2 million to shareholders through the purchase of 14.2 million shares, average price of $29.70 per share, and $17.1 million in dividends for a combined total of $438.3 million.

We anticipate announcing our 2009 second quarter financial results on Monday, July 27, 2009 after the market closes. The Company will conduct a conference call to present the first quarter results on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The conference call will be webcast on the investor relations' page of www.prepaidlegal.com. Questions may be submitted prior to the call via email to investor@pplsi.com.

About Us - We believe our products are one of a kind, life events legal service plans. Our plans provide for legal service benefits provided through a network of independent law firms across the U.S. andCanada, and include unlimited attorney consultation, will preparation, traffic violation defense, automobile-related criminal charges defense, letter writing, document preparation and review and a general trial defense benefit. We have an identity theft restoration product we think is also one of a kind due to the combination of our identity theft restoration partner and our provider law firms. More information about us and our products can be found at our homepage at www.prepaidlegal.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release, other than purely historical information, regarding our future plans and objectives and expected operating results, dividends and share repurchases and statements of the assumptions underlying such statements, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based on certain assumptions that may not be correct. They are subject to risks and uncertainties incident to our business that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in the reports and statements filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including (among others) those listed in our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K, and include the risks that our membership persistency or renewal rates may decline, that we may not be able to continue to grow our memberships and earnings, that we are dependent on the continued active participation of our principal executive officer, that pending or future litigation may have a material adverse effect on us if resolved unfavorably to us, that we may have compromises of our information security, that during an economic downturn in the economy consumer purchases of discretionary items may be affected which could materially harm our sales, retention rates, profitability and financial condition, that we could be adversely affected by regulatory developments, that competition could adversely affect us, that we are substantially dependent on our marketing force, that our stock price may be affected by short sellers, that we have been unable to increase our employee group membership sales and that our active premium in force is not indicative of future revenue as a result of changes in active memberships from cancellations and additional membership sales. Please refer to pages 15 - 17 of our 2008 Form 10-K and pages 7 and 8 of our March 31, 2009 Form 10-Q for a more complete description of these risks. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements in this release.

SOURCE Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.

Tags: ,FIN,LAW,CCA,OK-Pre-Paid-Legal-Ser

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