Kit Menkin Leasing News

supplies businesses and consumers with information about the leasing industry. We have independent, unbiased, accurate, and fair news about leasing. Feel free to browse our site and learn everything you need to about leasing.

April, Wednesday 9, 2003
Headlines---

Hey, Have we Got a Leasing Recruiter for you???

    Pictures from the Past---1990----Summit National Software

        U.S. Treasury yields rise to highest in two weeks

            Low Rates Could Take a Toll on Banks

                Fed piecing together emergency economy plan

                    RW Professional Leasing ---Up-Date

                Abacus Leasing Sues Leasing News-up-date

    Consumer Credit Information

Highlights of Day in American History

(hey-hey-hey!!! We're back! )

        Tomorrow:

            The List is “Up-dated”

            Alexa Report, too

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Paul Menzel, CLP, Senior Vice President / General Manager Leasing Division, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, will be covering the Equipment Leasing Association National Funding Exhibition at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago, Illinois starting today through April 10^th----

The attendance is expected to reach 500 with 42 funders.

Reitman was good, but wait until you hear from Menzel:

http://www.utdallas.edu/police/wavs/glock.wav


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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hey, Have we Got a Leasing Recruiter for you???

We have an excellent Leasing Recruiter who wants to change companies.

Contact us and we will give you his name. He will make you a lot

of money.

Kitmenkin@leasingnews.org


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Pictures from the Past---1990----Summit National Software

http://two.leasingnews.org/Ads_from_the_past/summit_8_1990.jpg

(note: if you are not seeing this clearly, open your Explorer browser to

Tool—then internet options---then go to tools---then “advanced”

and scroll down to “enable automatic image resizing.” Make

it blank, do not allow “automatic image resizing.” No check

mark. You then will see the image as originally sent. Clearer,

easier to read. It may be “larger” than your screen, sometimes,

but you will be able to read all detail. Hit “apply.” Close

the browser and it will be in effect. You will see the

difference. editor)


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U.S. Treasury yields rise to highest in two weeks

Bloomberg News

NEW YORK - U.S. Treasuries fell, pushing yields to two-week highs, as some investors said the war may be over in weeks after coalition forces took Iraq's main presidential palace in Baghdad.

Investors ``are pricing in that Saddam will be out in the next couple of weeks,'' said Mark MacQueen, who helps manage $2.6 billion at Sage Advisory Services in Austin. ``A resolution to the conflict in Iraq is going to give people hope the economy will improve.''

The yield of the 10-year Treasury note rose two basis points to 3.98 percent, the highest since March 21, and it earlier reached 4.05 percent. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

Ten-year note yields may reach 4.25 percent within three months, said MacQueen, who has been buying agency and mortgage- backed debt and inflation-indexed Treasuries, known as TIPS. The 10- year note hasn't yielded 4.25 percent since December.

``We have equities going up, gold and oil going down,'' said Mitchell Stapley, who manages $5 billion in bonds at Fifth Third Investment Advisors in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ``The 10-year note could easily get back to 4.25 percent this week.''

Crude oil for May delivery fell 2.3 percent to $27.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and has tumbled 23 percent in four weeks. Gold, a haven in times of global turmoil, has lost 8.4 percent since then. It fell 1.2 percent Monday to $322.20 an ounce.

Stapley has been selling 10-year notes and is looking to buy corporate debt. He is holding onto two- year Treasuries because of a possible Federal Reserve interest-rate cut. ``If the economy doesn't rebound as soon as this war is over, the Fed might come into play,'' he said.


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Low Rates Could Take a Toll on Banks

By Matthew Goldstein

Senior Writer

Thestreet.com

With the nation's banks set to start reporting first-quarter earnings this week, some worry that the profit numbers may not be enough to justify investors' recent enthusiasm for financial stocks.

The Philadelphia KBW Bank Index is up 11% since mid-March, amid optimism on Wall Street that a quick end to the war in Iraq could mark the start of an economic revival and better days for the nation's lenders.

Yet there are signs that bank lending operations may now be getting crimped by low interest rates -- which led to a surge in home mortgage refinancing and helped banks navigate the recession. Some fear that banks might start reporting a decline in net interest income -- the difference between the interest rate banks charge on loans and their own borrowing costs.

For many banks, net interest income is one of the main revenue drivers, especially for regional banks, which were some of the top-performing financial stocks last year. A decline in that important revenue segment could overshadow an expected improvement in the percentage of overdue and non-performing commercial loans in bank portfolios.

Just last week, Tennessee-based National Commerce Financial (NCF:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) warned it would miss first-quarter earnings estimates because of a shortfall of $5 million to $6 million in its lending operation, as a high number of borrowers opted for much cheaper floating- rate loans rather than fixed-rated ones. The warning has knocked 17% off National Commerce's stock price, and some say it could be a sign of things to come.

"Our biggest risk is that we underestimated the impact of net interest margin compression," said Michael Stead, a Wells Capital Management portfolio manager. "It's a distinct possibility the quarter may look worse than we anticipated."

Stead, who manages Wells' SIFE financial services fund, said he's lightening his position in a number of bank stocks in advance of their earnings releases. Stead declined to identify the stocks he was selling, but said the most vulnerable may be banks that offer customer-friendly free checking accounts. That's because those lenders don't have other fees to offset the decline in interest income.

Another risk for banks in the current low interest rate environment is a potential decline in value of their own investment portfolios, which are used to generate income and also offset the costs of their lending operations.

Of particular concern is the fact that a growing number of banks are putting more of their investment money into mortgage-backed securities. With interest rates so low, many mortgage-backed securities are being prepaid early and reinvested at lower rates -- and that means a smaller return for banks.

Michael Mayo, a Prudential Securities bank analyst, said this is a big concern for many banks, because mortgage-backed securities now account for roughly half of the banking industry's $1.3 trillion investment in securities. In a recent research report, he cautions investors to be on the lookout for "unexpected large margin declines" at banks that invest heavily in mortgage-backed securities.

Fed piecing together emergency economy plan

http://www.boston.com/business/news/2003/04/08/plan.htm

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RW Professional Leasing ---Up-Date

http://www.utdallas.edu/police/wavs/DragnetTheme.WAV

Readers ask us for an up-date, but similar to the Commercial Money Center

bankruptcy filing, the RW Professional arrests by the FBI are going through the judicial system as well as the suit bought by a consortium of community

banks allegedly charging fraud and misrepresentation by the company and its officers. We reported on NetBank and Lakeland bank:

http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/New_update_cmc.htm

http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/netbank_SEC_filing.htm

Here is the original story from Newsday regarding RW Professional Leasing:

RW Professional Leasing Arrests June 26, 2002

By Robert E. Kessler

News Day STAFF WRITER

Long Island

Four officials of an Island Park-based leasing company were arrested by FBI agents Friday on charges that they engaged in a complex series of schemes to defraud lending institutions around the country of millions of dollars in loans that were ostensibly meant to finance the leasing of medical equipment.

Agents hurriedly raided the offices of RW Leasing Services at 4584 Austin Blvd., Island Park, and a satellite office in Wellesley, Mass., because an informant told investigators the company's records were being destroyed, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Brown and an FBI affidavit filed in support of a search warrant.

One official of the firm said several officers were planning to flee to Greece with their families, according to the affidavit.

An ongoing investigation indicated that at least 12 banks nationwide had possible losses of more than $6.5 million, the affidavit said.

But the informant said that as many as 90 other loans may have been involved in the scheme, indicating the alleged fraud might be as large as $200 million.

Brown said in U.S. District Court in Central Islip late Friday that the case was "conservatively a tremendous fraud."

RW Leasing Services has specialized for 20 years in obtaining loans for physicians, dentists, veterinarians and optometrists to finance the long-term leasing of expensive medical equipment such as X-ray machines. The company then managed the leases, collecting payments on the loans and passing them on to the lending institutions, the affidavit said.

Among the various frauds in which the company allegedly engaged were: obtaining loans and not passing them on to their medical clients; obtaining loans for nonexistent practices and pocketing the money; and obtaining loans from several banks for the same lease.

Brad Simon, the attorney for the president of the company, Rochelle Besser, said his client was not guilty and he "will defend the case vigorously." Besser was held as a possible flight risk pending a hearing tomorrow in U.S. District Court in Central Islip.

Others arrested were Besser's brothers, senior vice president Barry Drayer and Roger Drayer, whose title was not given; and Jennifer Tarantino, Roger Drayer's daughter, a company employee. They were released on varying bails.

The latest for RW Professional was for a conference hearing

before the trail set for March 28, but the government was granted ... (53-11

motion for a short adjournment of the 3/328/03 status conference as to RW Professional (1), Rochelle Besser (2), Barry Drayer (3),reset 3/28/03 status conference for 4/11/03 @ 9:00ao a.m. for RW Professional, Rochelle Besser, Barry Drayer before USDJ Spatt (signed by Judge Arthur D. Spatt, on 3/20/03)EDO #53 (lac) (Entry date 03/26/03)

3/27 54 SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT as to RW Professional (1) count(s) 1s, 2s-6s, 7s,Rochell Besser (2) counts(s) ls, 2s-6s, 7s, Barry Drayer (3) counts 1s,2s-6s, 7s, Roger Drayer (4) counts(s) 1, Adam Drayer (5) counts(s) 1, Susan Cottrell(5) count(s) 1, Payaddi Shivashankar(7) counts(s) 1, 4-6. (lac)

Arrest warrants where the issued and signed by Magistrate Judge E. Thomas Boyle for Payaddi Shivashankar, Roger Drayer, Adam Drayer and Susan Cotrell.

The other parties evidently remain in "house arrest" with electronic surveillance, required "court permission" to leave their residence.

as per Criminal Dociter for Case # 02-CR-767-ALL

USA v. RW Professional, et. al.

http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/RW_update.htm

http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/RWprofessional_1.htm


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Abacus Leasing Sues Leasing News—up-date

http://www.utdallas.edu/police/wavs/DragnetJob.WAV

Paul I. Perlman of Hodgson Russ Attorneys, LLP, Buffalo, New York has been hired to present our side as to the posting of the Bulletin Board Complaint.

We have received a Judge assignment (Judge Donna Siwek) and a date for the oral argument of the motion (May 8, 2003 at 9:30 a.m.) in the County of Erie, New York.

http://www.utdallas.edu/police/wavs/Dragnetfreeze.WAV

Readers not familiar with the story, please go here:

http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/abacus.htm

http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/abacus-letter.htm

 

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Consumer Credit Information

There is an email making the leasing rounds regarding consumer

credit information available after July to all. It simply is an “internet

hoax.”

Here is the Attorney General of California on the subject:

http://caag.state.ca.us/consumers/alerts/basic_facts.htm

For further clarification, here is

what Experian, one of the world's largest credit reporting

agencies, has to say about this "hoax" that is circulating:

http://www.experian.com/consumer/images/email_title.gif



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Highlights of Day in American History

    1731-“ War of Jenkin’s Ear.” Spanish guardacosta boarded and plundered the British ship Rebecca off Jamaica, and, among other outrages, cut off the ear of English master mariner Robert Jenkins. This had repercussions in the southern Colonies. It took several years to brew. Smuggling was quite common on the open seas, including plundering of smaller ships. The war took its name from Robert Jenkins, captain of the ship Rebecca, who claimed Spanish coast guards had cut off his ear in 1731. He exhibited the ear in the House of Commons and so aroused public opinion that the government of the British Prime Minister Robert Walpole reluctantly declared war on October 23,1739. Basically, the war was one of commercial rivalry between England and Spain By the treaty of Utrech(1713), which ended Queen Anne’s War, Britain was to be allowed to participate in slave traffic with the Spanish colonies. A special Spanish fleet, however, interfered with this activity and the Spanish also objected to the English logwooders operating on the coast of Honduras. The other cause of the war was the continued dispute over the boundary of Spanish Florida in relation to Georgia. As soon as war was declared, Gov. James Edwoard Oglethorpe called on citizens of Georgia and South Carolina to join in an invasion of Florida. The Spanish retaliated by attempting to invade those colonies by sea. By 1739, Oglethorpe had completed military fortifications on Amelia, Cumberland, St. Andrew’s, and St. Simon’s islands as a line of defense against possible Spanish encroachment. he also had reached peace agreements with the Creeks and other Indian tribes in the region. 

    1865- At 1:30 PM General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant, commander-in-chief of the Union Army, ending four years of civil war. The meeting took place in the house of Wilmer McLean at the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Confederate soldiers were permitted to keep their horses and go free to their homes, while Confederate officers were allowed to retain their swords and side arms as well. Grant wrote the terms of surrender. Formal surrender took place at the Courthouse on April 12. Death toll for the Civil War is estimated at 500,000 men.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/apr09.html

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0409.html#article

    1866- a Civil Rights act was passed over President Andrew Johnson's veto, who wanted to "punish the South" instead of follow President Lincoln's reconstruction plan. The act granted citizenship to all persons born in the U.S., except Indians. It declared that all citizens had the same civil rights and provided for the punishment of persons who prevented free exercise of these rights. The Fourteenth Amendment was proposed when the constitutionality of the first section of this act was questioned.

    1971—Top Hits

Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) - The Temptations

For All We Know - Carpenters

What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye

After the Fire is Gone - Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn

    1977 - The Swedish pop group Abba made its debut at number one on the American pop charts, as "Dancing Queen" became the most popular record in the U.S. http://abba.muziek.net/

    1979 - the 51st Annual Academy Awards ceremony at Los Angeles’ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (L.A. Music Center), with Johnny Carson as the host. The Best Picture, "The Deer Hunter" (Barry Spikings, Michael Deeley, Michael Cimino, John Peverall, producers), also won for Best Director (Michael Cimino); Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Walken); Best Film Editing (Peter Zinner); and Best Sound (Richard Portman, William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin, C. Darin Knight). The Best Actor and Actress awards for performances in "Coming Home" were awarded to Jon Voight and Jane Fonda, respectively. This 1978 film also won a golden statuette for Best Writing/Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Nancy Dowd, Waldo Salt, Robert C. Jones). The intense "Midnight Express" won for Best Music/Original Score (Giorgio Moroder)and Best Writing/Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Oliver Stone). The Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role went to Maggie Smith in "California Suite", the Best Music/Song Oscar, for "Last Dance" from "Thank God It’s Friday", went to Paul Jabara.. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0149424.html

    1984 – The 56^th Annual Academy of Awards at the DorothyChandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, with Johnny Carson as host. "Terms of Endearment" (James L. Brooks, producer) was voted Best Picture of 1983. "Terms" also won for Best Director (James L. Brooks, again ... and, again for Best Writing/Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium);and Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson); and for Best Actress (Shirley MacLaine). MacLaine had been nominated five times over 26 years before winning the statuette. Of course, since she could see into the future, she knew that this would happen. Robert Duvall picked up the Best Actor Award ("Tender Mercies") and the Best Supporting Actress title was bestowed on Linda Hunt for "The Year of Living Dangerously". A foreign film, "Fanny och Alexander", won three Academy Awards: Best Costume Design (Marik Vos-Lundh), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (Anna Asp, Susanne Lingheim), & Best Cinematography (Sven Nykvist). Another film that endeared itself to audiences in 1983 was "The Right Stuff", honored for Best Music/Original Score (Bill Conti); Best Effects/Sound Effects Editing (Jay Boekelheide); Best Film Editing (Glenn Farr, Lisa Fruchtman, Stephen A. Rotter, Douglas Stewart, Tom Rolf); and Best Sound (Mark Berger, Thomas Scott, Randy Thom, David MacMillan). Put the whole evening together and you get the Best Music/Song: "Flashdance...What a Feeling" (Giorgio Moroder-music, Keith Forsey and Irene Cara-lyrics) from the movie, "Flashdance". http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0149580.html

    1987-Top Hits

Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight - Genesis

Come Go with Me - Expose

Ocean Front Property - George Strait

    1993-the Colorado Rockies played their first official National League game defeating the Montreal Expos, 11-4, behind first-inning home runs from leadoff hitter Eric Young and Charles Hayes. 80,277 fans packed Denver’s Mile High Stadium to set a major league Opening Day attendance record, surpassing the 78,672 who saw the san Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers open the 1958 season at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

NBA Finals Champions This Date

    1959- Boston Celtics

    1960-Boston Celtics

Stanley Cup Champions This Date

    1932—Toronto Maple Leafs

    1935—Montreal Maroons

    1946-Montreal Canadiens

http://www.utdallas.edu/police/wavs/hstlavsta.wav

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