Leasing News

Changing of the guard: Outgoing Equipment Leasing Association Chairman Joe Lane, formerly of IBM, and incoming chairman Edward A. Dahlka, Jr., President, LaSalle National Leasing Group.

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Classified Ads---Jobs Wanted

Operations: Experienced Credit, Collections, lease and Finance operations. Manager w/ expertise in improving bottom line performance, excellent trainer, manager, motivator. Get result/ keep the customer coming back. Email:rgmorrill@comcast.net

Operations: Wayne, NJ

20+ heavily experienced collection/recovery VP looking to improve someone's bottom line. Proven, verifiable track record. Knowledge of all types of portfolio. Will relocate Email:cmate@nac.net

Receptionist: San Diego, CA.

An outgoing, people loving person. Can handle several tasks at once. 35 wpm, some receptionist exp.in high school office, &some comp. knowledge. email:dvynangel69@msn.com

Sales: St Lucie, FL

Sales, credit, doc. exp.w/top communications skills. Exp. large territory management from home office. Various industries; golf equipment, construction, ff&e, computer related, and others. Sales achiever. Email:David34983@aol.com

Sales: Phoenix, AZ

Sales professional with 10 years of leasing experience, seeking a direct leasing company. Currently in the IT leasing market with vendor relationships, Small/middle market arena. Email:cycling4fun2002@yahoo.com

Sales: Dallas, TX

Director, Business Development for international financial institutions. Global vendor programs with minimum sustainable volume of $24M annually. CFO and Treasury contacts with major technology and energy corporations.Email:tkorpolinski@ev1.net

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

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Fitch 11:00am Teleconference: Aircraft Leasing Industry

Today at 11:00 a.m. ,EDT, Fitch Ratings will host a teleconference to address several major issues within the aircraft leasing industry. The call will be led by Philip Walker who will provide and overview of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards #144 and conduct a review of the leasing companies. Also participating on the call will be analysts; Craig Fraser (aerospace and defense), William Warlick (Airlines), Donald Powell (EETCs), Sharon Haas (Banks) and Eileen Fahey (Securities Firms).

The events of the last two years have demonstrated the volatility inherent in the aircraft leasing industry and the need for a specialized skillset as Disney and Whirlpool have learned. While the drivers of success in aircraft leasing vary from company to company; one constant remains: cost. Cost is all encompassing and includes the price in which equipment is acquired, financed, maintained and monitored. Cost will be the primary driver as to who are the winners and losers in the aircraft leasing industry will be.

Domestic participants should call 1-877-897-0442 and international participants should dial 1-706-643-7396 five minutes prior to the 11:00 a.m. EST start time and give the title of the call - 'Fitch'. The call leader is Philip Walker. Interested parties who are not available for the teleconference will be able to hear a replay of the call starting on Thursday, Jan. 16 at 2:00 p.m. EST, until Jan. 21. Domestic listeners should dial 1-800-642-1687 and international participants should dial 1-706- 645-9291 and use the conference ID '7579090'.

Contact: Philip Walker (aircraft leasing) 1-212-908-0624, New York; Craig Fraser (aerospace and defense) 1-212-908-0310, New York; William Warlick (Airlines) 1-312-368-3141, Chicago; Donald Powell (EETCs) 1-212-908-0570, New York; Sharon Haas (Banks) 1-212-908-0362, New York or Eileen Fahey (Securities Firms) 1-312-368-5468, Chicago.

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United Equipment Leasing Association Loses One Member

The “official number” given to us for the end of last year count was 379 members.

Jim McCommon, UAEL media representative, told us the end of year

2002 is 378. He also sent us the enclosed press release:

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President Bette Kerhoulas, CLP, said ‘We were gratified that at a time of economic challenge and consolidation in our industry, that our membership stayed fairly level,”

Bill Grohe, Past UAEL President and current Membership Director said, “Involvement in Association activities adds value to the members’ professional strengths and abilities. Our educational programs (including 2 scheduled CLP Institutes for Leasing Professionals) and conferences (Spring Education Conference in Palm Desert and Annual Convention and Exposition in Portland) bring members into contact with the profession’s best practices and with the industry leaders who are developing those practices and making them work.

UAEL was established in 1974 as an association bringing together all segments of the leasing industry, including brokers, independent lessors, funders, bankers and service providers. It is the only leasing association that extends full voting privileges to all members.

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The press release from UAEL noted that all its members “have full voting privileges,” most likely a reference to the National Association of Equipment Leasing Brokers, where only brokers may vote in election of officer, not “funders.”

New UAEL Office Address:

78-120 Calle Estado Suite 201

La Quinta, CA 92253

Phone: (760) 564-2227

Fax: (760) 564-2206

Website: www.UAEL.org

newline@uael.org

advertising@uael.org

membership@uael.org

institute@uael.org

ethics@uael.org

2002 UAEL Staff

Joe Woodley

Chief Executive Officer / jwoodley@uael.org

Bill Grohe.

Director of Membership and Marketing / bill@uael.org

Originally the Western Association of Equipment Leasing (WAEL,) the

organization expanded to the East Coast. In recent years, the

membership has been "leveling off." The executive director

works out of Southern California with an administrative assistant

and the membership director works out of his office in San Francisco.

There are "off site" part-time employees, plus services hired

for specific operations, it is reported.

The Certified Leasing Professional ( CLP ) program started here was "spun

off" and is now a joint association sponsored and run "foundation.." There

are currently 231 Certified Leasing Professionals. http://www.clpfoundation.org/

UAEL evolved from "sigs," industry segments represented at the board level and at conferences, and from active regional meetings to "funding symposiums" conducted throughout the United States. "We got complaints from the funding source members about their employees doing too many regional meetings. It was too expensive for them to send all of their people to the regional meetings "(so we changed) from 24 regional meetings to the 6 super regional events," former president Bob Rodi, CPL, describes it.

Here is a message from President Betty Kerhoulas, CLP:

http://www.uael.org/about/benefits/

Dues:

Broker/Lessor ($0-10 million)...............................$ 595

Broker/Lessor ($10-20 million)..............................$ 995

Broker/Lessor (20+million)................ .................$ 1,295

Funder... ..................................................$ 1,995

Service Providers (less than 6 employees)...................$ 795

Service Providers (6 or more employees).....................$ 1,495

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Donna Mount Joins Wildwood Financial

We are pleased to announce the addition of Donna Mount to the Wildwood

Family. Donna has been brought on board as regional Vice President for

us in our Colorado Springs, Colorado office.

Her contact information is:

3107 West Colorado Ave., #176

Colorado Springs, CO 80904

Phone: 800-227-0274 (719) 633-3110

Fax: 888-836-8282 (719) 268-6903

Email: donna@wildwoodfinancial.com

Donna brings to Wildwood over 16 years of experience in Equipment

Leasing and Financing. You may remember her from Government Leasing

Company.

The Colorado Springs office will officially open January 27, 2003.

We are very excited about the addition of Donna to the Wildwood

Financial Group.

Bob Baker, CLP

President/CEO

Wildwood Financial Group, Ltd.

800-373-3581

ba <mailto:baker@wildwoodfinancial.com> ker@wildwoodfinancial.com

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Kit Menkin’s Top Ten Leasing Industry Rumors----

(please send to a colleague and ask them to subscribe, as we are trying

to build our readership. You may print any or all without our permission.)

10) Republic of South Carolina business is down two to three million dollars a month

since cutting off over 100 brokers. Reportedly management is not concerned as

they state they are more interested in quality, than volume. Their parent NetBank

is hungry for business, getting more aggressive in the mortgage marketplace.

The Atlanta Journal recently wrote a story mentioning the $80 million loss

at Commercial Money Market, in legal dispute now with the insurance underwriters, while other creditors line up in the bankruptcy proceedings in San Diego, California.

9) Matsco since being acquired by Greater Bay Bank has been getting tighter and

tighter with credit. It is reported they have not only slowed down approvals,

but expansion. Some think they are even getting out of several dental/medical

product segments. They are actively looking to purchase leasing portfolio’s from

lessors from $300,000 to $75,000, with credit on the lower side and rates

on the higher side, according to inside information. Greater Bay Bank stock has not been doing as well in the past ( that is being polite ).

8) Look for ex-Mellon to start/expand the Washington Mutual Leasing division.

7) GATX is reportedly going to close their San Francisco office, or greatly down size it, and consolidate the operation to their other office. Reason is cost of real estate in San Francisco, higher salaries, and if business is not up, find places to cut

overhead to maintain your profit margins.

6) The Thomas J. Depping Sierra Cities memo that the RW Professional portfolio was not a significant item “or risk” to notify American Express during the period of

time of the purchase has become a “collector’s item.” American Express,

when discovered “irregularities” in the portfolio, asked for an audit, and after a “due diligence,” ruled the Depping decision as “ a bad business judgment” and nothing more.

5) A.J. Batt has been trying to get his internet/contact software onto the marketplace since he retired from ATEL Capital. The only problem he has is he doesn’t want to spend money to promote it ( nothing new, right?)

4) His e-mail comes back, so it looks like Ted Clark is no longer at First Interstate Bank (which was taken over by UPS Leasing (remember, they said they wanted to concentrate on calling on UPS Leasing customers for equipment leasing business?)

3) Ditto--- Dennis Cesen

2) Preferred Leasing/Capitalwerts are going very strong, over 200 new

deals a month. McQuitty-Reader are back!!! and strong! Balboa look out.

1) Net Bank has formed a new division with Jim Merrilees heading it up in Portland. What Net Bank has effectively done is create a new BCL/Manifest structure. I would appreciate it if you not put my name on it, but Republic was the last pure broker funding source in the country. The same distrusts that applied to BCL/Manifest now apply to Republic since Net Bank owns them both. More to follow.

Note: These are rumors, any confirmation, denial, or comments are

certainly welcome, and invited. By the way, this was written Tuesday,

February 14^th, but not enough news to make a February 15^th issue. Editor

(please send to a colleague and ask them to subscribe, as we are trying

to build our readership. You may print any or all without our permission.)

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Merrilees joins NetBank.® Company Launches Leasing Finance Division For Business Equipment Vendors and Manufacturers

ATLANTA NetBank® (Nasdaq: NTBK), the first commercially successful Internet bank, Wednesday announced the formation of NetBank Capital, a business equipment finance division serving vendors and manufacturers. The division will specialize in small-ticket transactions ranging from $10,000 to $250,000 with the capability of funding transactions of up to $1 million.

NetBank hired Jim Merrilees, CLP, to lead the division. A 30-year veteran of the commercial leasing industry, Merrilees has held (many) senior management positions in the small-ticket market over the past sixteen years. His industry experience includes developing vendor programs and purchasing third-party broker business and portfolios. (He is presently a member of the Equipment

Leasing Association board of directors, and a past president of the United

Association of Equipment Leasing.)

“NetBank has always focused on providing its customers options for when and how they receive services,” said NetBank spokesman Matthew Shepherd. “This new division allows us to reach small business owners through a new outlet. Jim brings a customer-centric approach and is the perfect person to lead this initiative.”

NetBank Capital complements the bank’s existing equipment leasing operation and its plan to introduce a small business banking program this year. The division will operate out of Portland, OR, and can be reached at 503-598-2193.

About NetBank

NetBank is the country’s first commercially successful Internet bank and currently serves more than 150,000 customers in all 50 states and 20 foreign countries. NetBank offers a full line of financial services designed around the needs and lifestyles of its customers. Its branchless business model allows it to operate at a fraction of the cost of a traditional bank. Since it’s founding in 1996, NetBank has passed the cost savings to customers through more competitive deposit rates and free account services, such as online bill payment. Through its mortgage lending subsidiaries, Market Street Mortgage Corporation and RBMG, Inc., NetBank is a top 30 mortgage lender. NetBank, Equal Housing Lender and Member FDIC, is a primary operating subsidiary of NetBank, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTBK), a diversified financial services company. For more information on NetBank’s products and services, please visit www.netbank.com.

CONTACT:

Rich Jeffers

NetBank®

Phone Number: (678) 942-7596

E-mail: rjeffers@netbank.com

(courtesy ELAonline.com )

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Fed Panel: Still Unclear if Recession Over

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An elite economic research panel that monitors U.S. business cycles said on Wednesday it was still too early to tell if the recession that began in March 2001 had given way to recovery.

"According to the most recent data, the U.S. economy continues to experience growth in output but declines in employment," the National Bureau of Economic Research said in a memo posted to its Web site.

"Recent data confirm our earlier conclusion that additional time is needed to be confident about the interpretation of the movements of the economy last year and this year," the NBER added.

The NBER's five-member Business Cycle Dating Committee has been poring over data to determine if the economic contraction that started nearly two years ago has ended and if so, when. Many analysts believe that a recovery likely began late in 2001 but the committee is holding back on making a definitive finding, in part because the economy has remained sluggish over the past year.

Robert Hall, chairman of the Dating Committee, has said that the group wants to rule out the possibility that the economy has suffered a renewed downturn. If that were the case, the group would have to determine if any renewed contraction amounted to a new recession or if it were a continuation of the 2001 downturn.

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Economic Growth Still Subdued, Fed Says

Further Rate Cuts Unlikely, Experts Say

By John M. Berry

Washington Post Staff Writer

The U.S. economy's slow growth has continued into the new year, the Federal Reserve's latest survey of economic conditions found. But few analysts or investors expect Fed officials to cut interest rates again when they meet in a policymaking session late this month.

The survey released yesterday, conducted by the Fed's 12 regional banks, found "subdued growth" in economic activity from mid-November through early January. The weakest report came from the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, where regional growth "remained anemic."

"Reports on consumer spending were consistently weak" across the country, the report said, with holiday sales mostly at or below last year's levels.

Another sign of the uncertain path of the economy was a statement issued yesterday by a committee of private economists of the National Bureau of Economic Research, which is the accepted arbiter of when recessions begin and end. It declined once again to declare that the recession that began in March 2001 has come to an end. More time is needed to be sure that a renewed slump would "be a separate recession, not a continuation of a past one," the committee said. The group was particularly troubled by the loss of 181,000 jobs in November and December.

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has used the term "soft patch" to describe the slowing of economic growth that began last summer. Even though the Fed's target for overnight interest rates was already at a 40-year low of 1.75 percent, Greenspan and other officials decided in early November to reduce the target to 1.25 percent. At a policymaking session last month they left the target unchanged and are expected to do so again at the conclusion of a two-day Fed meeting Jan. 29.

According to yields on futures contracts covering overnight interest rates, only about 8 percent of investors expect a further cut in rates then. One reason is that recent public statements by several Fed officials have included no hint that they would like to cut again.

"It looks to me as if the recovery is reasonably well positioned to continue, moderately but steadily," Cathy E. Minehan, president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, told a Vermont audience last week. "We just need to have some patience."

A few days earlier, Minehan's counterpart at the Atlanta Fed, Jack Guynn, gave this view of the new year: "I expect that if consumer spending and housing hold up and business profitability continues to firm, there is every reason to believe that GDP will grow around 3 percent -- slightly better than last year." And that growth, he added, "ought to be more broad-based . . . and less concentrated in particular sectors like housing and autos."

As the summary of the Fed's survey of economic conditions makes clear, however, recent growth has not been as strong as Fed policymakers predict for later in the year. Growth in the final three months of last year, for instance, probably was at an annual rate of only about 1 percent -- and some analysts have said it could be close to zero.

The survey summary said that in addition to weak consumer spending over the holiday period, "providers of nonfinancial services saw little change in existing weak demand, and business travel remained slow."

It added: "Home sales and residential construction remained at high levels but slowed a bit in some areas, and the widespread overhang of commercial real estate persisted."

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Federal Reserve Bank Region Comments

By Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) Here are excerpts from the economic outlooks of the Federal Reserve's 12 regional banks, which formed the basis for the central bank's appraisal on Wednesday that economic growth around the nation remained subdued as the new year began.

BOSTON: ''The economy remains soft, but business contacts appear to be somewhat more confident that they can cope with a period of slow activity than they were earlier in 2002. Most New England manufacturers report no increase in demand for their products. Retail respondents indicate sales were below expectations in the October-December period. Residential real estate markets are slowing, but perhaps only seasonally. Insurance companies cite gains.''

NEW YORK: ''The economy has been mixed since the last report with weakness in retail sales and some easing off in the housing market, but signs of a pickup in manufacturing and some stabilization in commercial real estate. Retailers mostly indicate that holiday and post-holiday sales were below plan. Both selling prices and merchandise costs were described as steady to lower than a year ago, but retail inventories were said to be at manageable levels.''

PHILADELPHIA: ''Business conditions were mixed in December. Manufacturers reported slight gains in new orders for the month compared with November. Retail sales of general merchandise during the Christmas shopping period barely matched the prior year's level, overall, and some stores had year-over-year declines. Auto sales were steady during most of December at around the same pace as in November, but they picked up near the end of the month.''

CLEVELAND: ''The economy continued to show mixed signals during the last six weeks of 2002. Although some deterioration in conditions was noted among contacts in the non-discount retail, automotive retail, steel and banking industries, it appeared that more contacts saw flat conditions or slight improvement. Both homebuilders and trucking and shipping contacts reported continued favorable conditions in their industries.''

RICHMOND: ''Economic growth remained sluggish in the weeks since our last report as modest growth in the services sector was tempered by sluggish growth in retail sales. Retail sales increased modestly in November, but growth was sluggish on balance. ... In manufacturing, shipments were flat and new orders showed fledgling growth in the weeks since our last report. District home sales remained exceptionally strong.''

ATLANTA: ''Economic activity remained subdued during late November and December. Merchants' sales were mixed and discounting was widespread over the holiday period. Auto sales, however, improved in December. ... Factory activity was sluggish, with new layoffs in some sectors and slowing production in others.''

CHICAGO: ''Economic activity remained soft toward the end of 2002. Consumer spending again was relatively soft and many retailers' expressed disappointment with holiday sales results. Business spending was also sluggish and capital expenditure plans for the new year were said to be cautious.''

ST. LOUIS: ''Contacts indicate that economic activity softened in recent weeks. In manufacturing, reports of plant closings, layoffs and cutbacks have increased. Retailers report that holiday sales were below expectations despite heavy discounting. The reduced consumer spending was attributed to a shortened shopping season, bad weather and a weak economy.''

MINNEAPOLIS: ''Economic activity was subdued from mid-November through early January. Tourism, agriculture and commercial construction activities were down. Consumer spending and energy were flat. However, manufacturing, home building and mining grew. Over this period, labor markets tightened slightly while overall wage and price increases were modest. Significant price increases were noted in employee benefits, natural gas and gasoline.''

KANSAS CITY: ''The economy was very sluggish in December. Holiday retail sales were little changed from a year ago. Energy activity failed to rise despite higher prices and commercial real estate activity remained soft. Moreover, motor vehicle sales eased again and manufacturing activity weakened after showing signs of stabilizing in the fall. ... In the farm economy many ranchers and farmers continued to suffer from drought conditions.''

DALLAS: ''Economic activity remained anemic from mid-November through early January. Demand was weak for most manufacturing and service firms. Construction activity continued to soften. Retailers were disappointed by holiday sales. Although there was a slight pickup in energy activity, the gains were substantially less than would have been expected given the sharp increases in energy prices. ... Respondents said that the uncertainty about war with Iraq continues to restrain business investment.''

SAN FRANCISCO: ''Contacts reported sluggish growth in economic activity during late November and December with little change in most industries from trends reported in the previous survey. Regarding prices, reports indicated widespread heavy discounting among retailers with little upward pressure on prices. Increases in wages and salaries were modest and employers passed on some of the increases in health care costs to workers.''

On the Net:

Federal Reserve: http://www.federalreserve.gov

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Fitch Webcast/Teleconf: 2003 ABS Outlook - Replay Information

NEW YORK----Fitch Ratings hosted a conference call today discussing its 2003 asset-backed securitizations (ABS) credit outlook and performance update at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Managing and senior directors from Fitch's ABS group presented 2003 forecasts and gave an overview of 2002 performance for the following asset types:

-Aircraft

-Equipment Leasing

-Auto Loans and Leases

-Student Loans

-Credit Cards

In addition to a general outlook for the aforementioned asset classes, Fitch analysts commented on specific issuers in each sector.

To access the webcast replay, go to 'www.mshow.com.' Under 'Join a Show,' entrants should then type in sho