Leasing News Newsletter

was the foursome composed of (l to r) Gerry Ricco, President, Rockford Industries, Inc; Dale Willets, National Accounts Manager, Rockford Industries, Inc.; Mark Cusick National Accounts Manager, Rockford Industries, Inc.; Larry Hartman, Vice-President Rockford Industries, Inc.

[Headlines]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Classified Ads---Jobs Wanted

Sales: Scottsdale, AZ.

19+ years in middle-market-leasing. Concentrations in Medical/Manufacturing/IT& General in multiple geographic territories. Well versed in direct calling& closing efforts to C- Level& subordinate management. email:bill_peter@msn.com

Sales: Prairie Village, KS Have substantial deal flow and database of broker referral sources. Generated and closed over $22M LY. Seeking exclusive relationship w/direct founder. email:fiergl@aol.com

Sales: Philadelphia , PA Seeking an open opportunity to advance in the automotive, commercial leasing & finance industry......... email: alexe362002@yahoo.com

Sales: Orange County, CA.

Skilled deal-closer at above-average rates. Entrepreneurial. Accomplished lease-structurer specializing in transportation. Exp. in direct/ captive & syndicator environments servicing vendors, brokers, & end-users.

email:originator@sbcglobal.net

Sales: Louisville, KY

I have been in leasing/financing of construction, machine tool, and mfg equipment for 20+ years. Traveled KY, IN, OH and TN.

Email:kyle90@msn.com

Sales Manager: Atlanta, GA

30 years in transportation Finance with strong management/ sales background. Represented company on national & region markets. Started two successful operations- produce profits and growth. Email:pml@mindspring.com

Sales Manager: Seattle, WA

Senior level sales professional w/ (20) plus experience in mid market financing & leasing. The last (8) plus years being self employed in middle market brokerage. Email:markhenley@qwest.net

Sales Manager: New York, NY

I have over 25 years owning an independent leasing company that specialized in truck leasing. Tow trucks, Limos, ambulances, tractors, etc.. Email:rfleisher@rsrcapital.com

Sales Manager: Atlanta, GA

Professional. finance mgr. w/formal credit ed./ reg. vp/ secured/unsecured commercial loans/ direct end user network/equip. leasing/structuring small,mid,big ticket transactions. 10+ years NE & SE. Have vendor servicing w/existing and active network of accounts will bring with me. Email:AlanAustin2000@msn.com

full list at: http://65.209.205.32/LeasingNews/JobPostings.htm

[Headlines]

Weather Closes East Coast Leasing Companies as well as other businesses.

It’s no secret the blizzard curtailed President Day sales. It has brought all traffic to a virtual standstill in Washington, Baltimore, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and the rest of the Northeast Corridor.

In addition to the closed airports, halted or delayed bus and train schedule, you will find many businesses closed today.

If readers will let us know what is happening in their area, or have any

information to pass on about the opening of equipment leasing offices,

please let us know.

Latest Doppler:

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/radpic/wrindex0.htm

Latest Precipitation

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wrain.htm

Latest Satellite view:

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/satpic/wsatusa.htm

Airport Delays:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/today/sky.htm

Not all of us are snowed in. One of the first to sign up for the HTML newsletter

was my old friend, who is on the conference committee for the NAELB Chicago

Conference, and recently moved to Florida from the area. I asked him how

he was doing on President’s Day:

“Today it is 82 degrees, and beautiful... we are enjoying the use of our

swimming pool - yes, it is a much more relaxing lifestyle than what we had

in Illinois. The only bad thing is that our daughter and now GRANDDAUGHTER

are still in Illinois!!! :( It is hard on my wife, particularly to be so

far from her first grandchild.

“Hope all is well with you and yours.”

Sincerely,

Jon

Jon S. Haas, CLP

jonclp@triad-group.com

Office: (386)860-6537

Fax: (386)860-7374

Cell: (386)956-1001

[Headlines]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FDIC to Sell $5.7 MM So. Pac. Lease Portfolio

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will sell the remaining $5.7 MM lease portfolio of Southern Pacific Bank. The leases were originated by Southern Pacific BanCapital, a division of Southern Pacific Bank, which was closed by the California Commissioner of Financial Institutions on February 7.

The portfolio consists of 20 middle market leases in two pools--one of lease loans secured by equipment and the leases thereof; the second consists of direct finance leases. One workout agreement and two defaulted leases in the process of liquidation will also be offered.

The process is a competitive sealed bid sale will be conducted by the FDIC, with electronic information available beginning February 24. Hard copy due diligence will be conducted at the former bank location in Torrance, California, from March 3 through March 21. The bid deadline has been set for March 26.

For more information call Louis J. Schneider, FDIC Resolutions and Receiverships Specialist, at 310-791-2578, e-mail lschneider@fdic.gov; or visit the FDIC web site at www.fdic.gov.

[Headlines]

More Inside about the So. Pac. Lease Portfolio-- John Kruse—

I'm glad the writer of the story for The Daily Breeze sent you his

piece on the subject,

http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/February%202003/02-12-03.htm#bad

but (like Paul Harvey says) "There Is More To The Story" on a historical basis and even a greater LEASING connection than what was noted in the article.

As I recall, one of your past newsletters, several months ago, noted that

Southern Pacific Bank was in trouble and maybe shut down. I assumed you had

some insight or insider information relative to their problems and/or their

involvement in the leasing industry, when you published that article.

(Our earliest mention of difficulties was: Southern Pacific Bancorp (3/2002) “for the time being” not going to be able to take any more intermediary business, according to W. Scott McCullum, Capital Advance Leasing. editor )

Southern Pacific Bank (formerly Southern Pacific Thrift & Loan)

has had a great deal of involvement in the equipment leasing arena over the

last 9 or 10 years.

In the latter part of 1993, Southern Pacific Thrift & Loan (SPT&L) started a

leasing division called Southern Pacific Leasing. Phil Walden (CEO of

Saddleback Financial fame after Unicapital's BK) was the Division's

President (and subsequent President of Imperial Business Credit, Inc.) In

1994, Southern Pacific Leasing was spun out of SPT&L, became a wholly owned

subsidiary of Imperial Credit Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ ICII and the holding

company of SPT&L) and was known as Imperial Business Credit, Inc. (IBCI).

About the same time, IBCI acquired all the assets/staff of First Concord

Acceptance Corp, Denver, CO., one of Gordon Robert's old operations.

Shortly after that acquisition, IBCI negotiated the purchase of about

$35,000,000 to $40,000,000 of small ticket leases from New Era Funding

(formerly Datronic Rental Corp.). Since I was heavily involved in that

acquisition, I got to know Bob Fisher (New Era's Credit Manager at the time)

very well. After that, IBCI acquired Ron Wagner's Heritage Leasing group in

San Diego including Bill Hansen (of CMC fame). The last major acquisition

IBCI made, which I, again, was heavily involved with, was in the latter part

of 1995 or first part of 1996 and that was the Avco small ticket leasing

group in Orange County. That group also had an office over in Atlanta, GA.

and their portfolio was about $101 million gross and about $90 million net.

IBCI was subsequently shut down in 1998 or 1999 during a

restructuring/recapitalization of ICII and its subsidiaries.

As you can see, Southern Pacific Bank and its parent, Imperial Credit

Industries, Inc. had an extensive involvement in equipment leasing, both

past and present. I'm not sure what will happen to ICII, as a result of

Southern Pacific Bank's closure, but ICII had other subsidiaries, besides

the Bank. ICII's stock has been delisted for more than a year, now and

currently trades at about $0.01 or less in the OTC-Bulletin Board market.

Kruse Financial Services

John Kruse

Managing Director

The List. http://www.leasingnews.org/list.htm

Actually, in several articles we have noted the first one to close down their operation, Ron Wagner at Commerce Securities, Sacramento, was well ahead of the pack. He could smell what was happening in the leasing industry and decided it was time to play golf. Perhaps it was his knowledge of what was happening at Southern Pacific, and what he could see at Advanta, Unicapital, United Capital, and Sierra Cities. Or perhaps he had a conversation with you John. Editor )

Note: This is not the same John Kruse who was at Capital Stream. I have been

trying for over two years to get this John Kruse to do a “Whatever Happened to...”

as it would be fascinating reading.

November 16,2000 Leasing News

Ron Wagner

Finally trapped the famous Ron Wagner down. He has a house in San Diego and one in the Desert, where he plays golf. He told me he is no longer with El Dorado Bank, parent of Commerce Security. He told me he had recommend Dave Copp, and considered himself now on a sabbatical. I wanted to reach him for a quote on a story we will run next week.

It was interested to speak to him and learn why they decided to close down Commerce Security Leasing. This is really a thumb nail of what he said, and I don't want to get it out of context. Commerce Security was one of the first to get out of the marketplace and in hindsight, was ahead of the trend that follows ( or is happening today ). Downsizing or just closing is prevalent and tightening of credit in all broker relationships is happening.

Ron said the margins weren't there, both brokers and vendors had learned the tricks of application only, telemarketers and the internet was bringing in leasing transaction with problems not covered by professionals and having relationships with lessees, brokers were expecting more and more with less and less margins and more and more problems and he could see the writing on the wall. Of course, Ron has been around longer than many with much experience in all phases of leasing.

I think he may get bored playing golf all the time, but it is Winter in the desert, and I bet he stays there while the weather is warm and waits until Spring to see what thaws out. He didn't tell me that, and I apologize to him if I left anything out or "misquoted" him, but that was the gist of the conversation.

And yes, I see "downsizing" becoming quite prevalent in the leasing industry and also see "different" times ahead, especially the first and perhaps the second quarter of next year. -

[Headlines]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

########## #################################

Noiel Fontaine New VP at Golden Eagle Leasing

Noiel Fontaine has accepted a position as Vice President General Equipment

Leasing & Broker Relationships for micro ticket lease transactions from

$500-$10,000 for Golden Eagle Leasing. The equipment Golden will accept ranges from automotive to

printing equipment and high tech. The credits range from A-C and Golden has

a start up program as well for new businesses.

Noiel has over 11 years of experience developing vendor and broker equipment

leasing relationships on a national basis, during this period he has

originated over $200 million in equipment lease fundings. Prior to joining

Golden Equipment Leasing in January of 2003, Noiel was General Sales Manager

for Leasecomm managing the national sales force for vendor and broker

development.

Previously, he has held positions with Crocker Capital as Vice President of

Vendor programs both in California and Massachusetts and Heller Financial as

an Assistant Vice President for Vendor programs. Noiel earned his MBA in

Finance from Babson Graduate School of Management in 1992.

Noiel is married with two young children and lives in Wayland, MA. He

confesses to being a die hard Red "1918" Sox fan and Patriots fan. Outside

of work he compete in triathlons and skis with his family in the white

mountains of New Hampshire.

Noiel Fontaine

Vice President General Equipment Leasing & Broker Relations

Golden Eagle Leasing

Phone 508-358-4162

Fax 508-358-0030

email NFontaine@Gehyc.com

www.Goldeneaglecredit.com

############## #####################################

____________________________________________________________

Hurray for Noiel!!!! Give him a call. Mention your read about him

in Leasing News. We wish him the best of luck in his new endeavor

When Leasecomm was closing down, he did his best to help out

brokers, clean up what he could, and was very pro-active. editor

[Headlines]

########### ##################################################

Fitch: Downgrades Accelerated In Q4; U.S. Bond Market Ends 2002 On Down Note

Fitch Ratings-: Following a third quarter reprieve, the pace of corporate credit deterioration picked up speed in the fourth quarter. Volume downgrades exceeded upgrades by a dollar margin of 20 to 1. In the fourth quarter, 8.2% of the U.S. corporate bond market was downgraded (affecting $203.3 billion in par value), .4% was upgraded ($10.2 billion in bonds) and .4% defaulted ($8.8 billion). In the third quarter, volume downgrades totaled 3.7%, upgrades 1.2%, and defaults 1.2%. The investment grade sector produced approximately 82% of fourth quarter downgrades compared with 55% of volume downgrades in the third quarter. On a relative scale, the dollar ratio of downgrades to upgrades was 20 to 1 for both the investment grade and speculative grade sectors. Fourth quarter highlights included:

--The mix of investment grade vs. non-investment grade bonds declined from Sept. 30, 2002 to Dec. 31, 2002. As of Sept. 30, 2002, 82.2% of the market was rated investment grade and 17.8% was rated speculative or non-investment grade. The ratio deteriorated to 81.2% investment grade, 18.8% speculative grade by Dec. 31, 2002;

--All rating categories experienced net downgrades in the fourth quarter. The worst performing rating pools were the 'AA' and 'B' categories. In the fourth quarter, 24.6% and 12.4% of 'AA' and 'B' bonds, respectively, were downgraded. The 'AA' rating pool was also the worst performing bucket in the third quarter; --In step with third quarter activity, volume downgrades were concentrated in banking & finance ($105.6 billion), energy ($23.4 billion), utilities ($17.8 billion), and telecommunications ($14.9 billion). The four sectors combined made up 80% of all volume downgrades in the fourth quarter;

--2002 new issuance was concentrated in longer term debt. Approximately 30.1% of 2002 new issuance was scheduled to mature by 2005, while 38% of 2001 new issuance was scheduled to mature in the subsequent three years. Investment grade companies in particular continued to extend debt maturities in response to the difficult operating and economic environment.

The report, '2002 Ends on a Down Note for the U.S. Bond Market' is available on the Fitch Ratings web site at 'www.fitchratings.com' in the 'Credit Market Research' section under 'Research', or by contacting the Ratings Desk at 1-800-893-4824.

Contact: Mariarosa Verde 1-212-908-0791 or Paul Mancuso 1-212-908-0225, New York.

[Headlines]

############ #############################################

First Day: New HTML e-Mail Newsletter Format

by Christopher “Kit” Menkin

Maria Martinez-Wong is at her computer at 6:00am, Monday through

Friday the new 2.8gig CPU computer and cable internet connection we provide for her. The purpose is to post the website edition for East Coast readers. At the same time, she is going to send out the HTML Leasing News version along with the new “Day in American Leasing History.” If you have not notices, she posts in the upper right side the time she has finished posting the day’s edition on the website.

Subscribers will note Leasing News is basically a duplicate of the web site, sent

by e-mail, where you can click on headlines to go to the stories. You can also

scroll the stories, too, just like the web site. You also have access to all the features on the web site with the click of a mouse. This was not available in the text version. We can now also format the news with more news links and pictures.

For readers with questions, when I am “on line,” you can ask questions “live.”

Telephone calls result in playing telephone tag or due to the time difference

of East Coast and West Coast, are often left in “voice mail.” This new feature

should speed up the process for subscribers, who we are trying to treat as

“First Class Passengers.”

The new format will give me time to work on stories and also create a

more streamline format.. While three other leasing sites use a service to collect and post to the internet, due to our size, format, we must do this ourselves.

We looked for almost a month to find software that would automate

our process. We do not just print press release headlines with a link to the press release.

Thanks should also go to Carl Moberg of Streakwave Technology, who

wrote the basic programs. Not just the contact forms, but he also

maintains all the classified ads on his web server. The “Kit Menkin

Live” he wrote. He did all the “code” work. Maria did the graphics.

As of today, we have “This Day in American History” is now only sent

to subscribers. Now you can hit the period of time and go to this

section. The format is now more “headlines” before the subject.

There is less writing, more links, and the headline approach. It was getting too long and cumbersome. Putting in this new format will allow several changes to occur over the next few months into a more rapid and easier to read format, plus allow readers to learn more about a subject, see pictures, if you are interested. You have the choice in a more readable format.

Readers who view Leasing News on the web site solely may not know that in the past

the e-mail version had ““Day in American History” as my signature.

It grew over the years into 11 to 12 pages daily. It was becoming

to large to maintain, plus send in text format.

Due to the time and costs involved, it is now available only to HTML subscribers.

It basically is an incentive for readers to pay to subscribe. As an added bonus,

even though it does not have the “look” of the new version, subscribers may

receive in text format, as it is sent out earlier than the HTML edition. This

is primarily for the benefit of our East Coast readers.

I would like to thank the people who participated in our beta test, who

gave us feed back. We consider the format still under development,

but basically accomplishing the first step that we wanted to achieve.

Bob Baker, Wildwood Financial, St. Louis, MO

Steve Crane, Bank of the West, Walnut Creek, CA

Phil Dushay, Global Leasing, New York, NY

Steve Geller, Leasing Solutions LLC, Wesley Hills, NY

Ken Greene, Attorney, Greenbrae, CA

Bruce Kropschot, Kropschot Financial Services, Vero Beach, FL

Charlie Lester, LPI Financial, Marietta, GA

Barry Reitman, Keystone Leasing, Blooming Grove, NY

Bob Rodi, LeaseNow, Warrendale, PA

Jeffrey Taylor, Bountiful, Utah

Bob Teichman, Teichman Financial Training, Sausalito,CA

Rob Yohe, Yohe and Associates, Stilwell, KS

Ginny Young, Brava Capital, Orange, CA

Go here to learn more about our new HTML subscription version:

http://www.leasingnews.org/contact_us_news.htm

[Headlines]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NAELB---Friday Last Day for Hotel Discount for March Conference

2003 Conference Committee

Shari L. Lipski (Chairperson)

Edwin C. Sigel, Ltd.

Heather Von Bargen

Caladesi Capital

Carl Rubin

ComCo Equipment Leasing

Bob Otterbacher

OBL Financial

Brad Peterson

USBancorp

Marci Kimball-Slage

ACC Capital Corp.

Ken Goodman

Dimension Funding

Rick Wilbur

Media Capital Associates, LLC

Ginny Young

Brava Capital

Bob Arnowitt

First Capital Equipment Leasing Corp.

David Rothenberg

Lease One Systems

Jay Coles

Leasing Associates

Chris Cooper

Alternative Capital

Barry Marks

Berkowitz, Lefkovits, Isom & Kushner

Jon Haas, CLP

Cyence International

There are a series of excellent workshops. We don’t have the space

to list them all, and suggest you download the brochure.

NAELB Annual Meeting

HOTEL R E G I S T R A T I O N D E A D L I N E

February 21—

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION DEADLINE

February 21 ( after this date, add a $100 to the figures below)

Broker $425 Funder $575

(membership in any leasing association qualifies you

to attend. Also if you decided to join NAELB, $150

credit toward your membership dues).

The event is being held:

March 20-23, 2003

Hyatt Regency Oakbrook

Chicago, Illinois

If you haven't made your hotel reservations, now is the time. Call the general Hyatt reservations at 800-233-1234 and make your reservations for the Hyatt Regency Oakbrook. Book your reservation on-line, or just take a look at the hotel and amenities by clicking on http://oakbrook.hyatt.com/property/index.jhtml. We have a special rate of $124 for any NAELB meeting participant. When you call, mention NAELB. This special rate cannot be guaranteed after February 21, 2003.

http://www.naelb.org/conf2003_regform.pdf

Airlines:

Book your flight today and save. The best airline rates are the ones that are booked early. Visit your preferred airline of

choice and book your flight to Chicago O'Hare International Airport (11 miles from hotel) or Chicago Midway (15 miles from

hotel).

Networking:

Members tell us that one of the best opportunities to network and meet others in the brokerage community is at the NAELB

Annual Conference. Don't wait any longer, register today and save $$! After February 21, registration fees increase by $100.

For more information on this meeting and to register click the following link: www.naelb.org/ events.shtml

http://www.naelb.org/events.shtml

http://www.naelb.org/conf2003_regform.pdf

Gerry Egan

President

NAELB

President

TecSource, Inc.

5621 Departure Drive, Suite 113

Raleigh, NC 27616

Phone: 919-790-1266

Fax: 919-790-2262

E-Mail:GerryEgan@ForEquipmentLeasing.com

[Headlines]

___________________________________________________________

Ramona Capriglione Now a CLP

The CLP Foundation is pleased to extend congratulations to our newest Certified Lease Professional, Ramona Capriglione, CLP with Wildwood Financial Group, Ltd.

The CLP Foundation is the official governing body for the Certified Lease Professional ("CLP") Program. The CLP designation sets the standard for professionalism in the leasing industry. This designation identifies and recognizes individuals within the leasing industry who have demonstrated their competency through continued education, testing and conduct. The letters "CLP" behind their name represent a visible recognition of this professional achievement and status.

For further information about the CLP Foundation and the CLP Program please contact:

Cindy Spurdle, Executive Director

CLP Foundation

PH: 610/687-0213

FAX: 610/687-4111

Email: cindy@clpfoundation.org

[Headlines]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Business Leasing News Latest Edition

In case you do not already know, the February edition of Business Leasing

News is available at

http://pblaw.com/newsletters/bln/Release/bln_2003_02.htm.

The lead story this month relates to the new FASB changes affecting off-balance sheet entities. It is critical that the leasing community understand that these

rules affect private and public companies, and that the period to effect

restructuring is very short. Many synthetic leases, for example, will end up

on the balance sheet of the "primary beneficiary," which is usually the

lessee.

Other articles this month cover issues on sale leasebacks, venture

capital investing, and the President's economic plan as it affect leasing,

with supporting sites and articles.

Your reporting is as interesting as always. Keep up the good

work.

All the best,

David

David G. Mayer