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Kit
Menkin’s Leasing News
www.leasingnews.org Thursday,
May 23, 2002 Accurate,
fair and unbiased news for the equipment Leasing Industry
Headlines---- Commercial
Money Center, Las Vegas---Up-Date
Banks report big increase in bad loans, foreclosures
eLessors Opens Events Page---with Discounts
Treasury official calls threat of terrorist attack an 'economic wild
card'
Fraud Software Shared with Law Enforcement
MSM Capital—Bulletin Board Complaints
S&P Asgns Rtg to Central Leasing's Japanese ABS
Dell’s Latest Program for Consumers/Business
Former Financier Pleads Guilty---Vatican Involved?
Netscape—Solves Glitch, Goes for the Gusto ####
Denotes Press Release
Tomorrow---Classified Ads Survey
______________________________________________________________ Commercial
Money Center, Las Vegas---Up-Date Leasing
News is still getting e-mail and telephones on where to send payments,
get payoffs, get liens removed, find out what is happening, and
many vendors are standing in line to be paid. There
really isn't much happening these days. There are a few events in the
works, but the attorneys and FBI do not want Leasing News to comment
about them. The
officers of the corporation are in for some heavy duty lawsuits, and its
rumored jail time is in store for them. The FBI, at one time needing information
and help, says they don’t need any more. There
are several “sets” of attorneys working on this, and as one
insider told
us, “ Everything is pretty much in the hands of the lawyers now
and we all know
how quickly they like to work.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Banks
report big increase in bad loans, foreclosures
By
Dean Calbreath SAN
DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER Bad
loans and foreclosed properties nearly doubled for San Diego County
banks last year, as bankers found it harder to collect on their loans
in the sluggish economy. The
rise in troubled loans, which is occurring throughout the nation, does
not imply there's another banking crisis in the offing. Most banks remain
extremely profitable and have enough reserves to cover loan losses.
"Fortunately,
we're coming off 10 years of record earnings for banks, so they're in
a better position to deal with loan problems," said David Proko,
an analyst with Weiss Ratings, a financial-services evaluation firm
in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Instead,
the biggest impact may be a crackdown on lending. Banks are clamping
down on how much money they're lending and who they're lending it to,
which could put a damper on the economic recovery. "There's
already been a credit crunch over the past couple quarters," Proko
said. Nationwide,
nonperforming loans – meaning loans where the borrower has stopped
making payments – jumped 28 percent last year, rising from $48.8
billion in 2000 to $62.5 billion in 2001. Bad loans accounted for 9.4
percent of banks' capital and reserves at year-end, the highest level
in eight years. In
response, most large banks have slowed their lending. The top 25 banks,
including Citibank and Bank of America, clipped their loans outstanding
by more than 7 percent last year, according to federal data. Nevertheless,
problem loans continue to grow. The
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported this month that there has been
a "noteworthy" rise in risky lending to construction firms
and commercial real-estate projects. The FDIC said 20 percent of construction
companies are deferring interest payments on their loans. A similar
percentage of commercial real-estate borrowers are seeking loans with
risky balloon payments. "Increases
in these two underwriting practices may indicate that . . . demand is
slowing as prospective tenants delay occupancy," the FDIC warned.
For
banks with headquarters in San Diego County, the total amount of loan
losses and nonperforming loans rose from $61 million in 2000 to $116
million in 2001, according to data collected by Weiss Ratings. Many
of the problem loans came as banks lent money to borrowers outside the
area. At San Diego National Bank, for instance, most problem loans were
tied to projects in such far-flung locales as upstate New York, Tennessee,
Kentucky and Florida. "Most
of the impact came after Sept. 11, when the hospitality business slowed
down," said president Robert Horsman, whose bank often lends to
hotels and condominium projects. "All those markets seem to be
recovering, but the market has slowed down a bit for lending opportunities."
Despite
the loan problems out of state, Horsman's bank has been increasing its
loans in San Diego. In the past six months, it has lent more than $150
million to three condominium projects in Mission Valley, Hillcrest and
Horton Plaza. Locally,
the bank with the greatest lending problems has been First National
Bank, which had more than $20 million in nonperforming loans, foreclosures
and write-offs last year. The bank recently accepted a buyout offer
from First Community Bancorp in Rancho Santa Fe. Dan
Mathis, who took over as president of First National last year, said
the main problem was that in the late 1990s, the bank embarked on a
rapid growth strategy that involved joining other banks in large syndicated
loans, typically to fund mergers and acquisitions. "It
was a cheap way to grow, since it meant we didn't need a big staff to
originate the loans," he said. "But it also meant that we
didn't know our customers, who were often located outside San Diego.
Being in that position, when you find out that the loans are having
problems, there's really nothing you can do but sit back and wait for
the problems to be resolved." Mathis
said that in the past six months, the bank has eliminated nearly all
its syndicated loans. "I think we've seen a rather dramatic improvement,"
he said. Nevertheless,
First Community Chairman John Eggemeyer said he will encourage tighter
lending practices after his buyout is complete. "We
have to make sure that all our loans going forward are made from a very
precise, well-disciplined credit culture – which is something I
don't think exists universally within the banking industry," he
said. "Then we have to bring that sense of discipline to the borrower.
It's not a function of becoming stingier. It's just a matter of becoming
more disciplined." Eggemeyer
said his philosophy is to "aggressively work with companies to
either have them resolve their problems or find another place to do
their banking. We have to show them we're very impatient to resolve
problem loans. People pay more attention to you when they know you're
going to call them every day and ask what's happening with their payments."
Eggemeyer
has a track record of turning banks around. When he took over Rancho
Santa Fe National Bank in 1994, it too had a high number of problem
loans, left over from the banking crisis of the early 1990s. Today,
it has one of the cleanest portfolios in San Diego, according to Weiss
Ratings. Dean
Calbreath: (619) 293-1891; dean.calbreath@uniontrib.com _________________________________________________________________ eLessors
Opens Events Page---with Discounts http://www.lessors.com/events.html __________________________________________________________________ Treasury
official calls threat of terrorist attack an 'economic wild card' By
Jeannine Aversa WASHINGTON
(AP) America's recovery from last year's recession is gaining strength
by the day but the threat of another terrorist attack is the big ''economic
wild card'' facing the country, a top Treasury official said Wednesday.
''We
do believe the economy is strong and growing stronger,'' said Deputy
Treasury Secretary Ken Dam. Factories are boosting production, consumers
are continuing to spend and are helping along the recovery and inflation
is tame, he noted. ''Terrorism,
however, remains an economic wild card,'' Dam said in remarks to the
World Economic Forum at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. ''Unfortunately,
we are almost certain to be attacked again,'' he said. Dam's
remarks follow a string of recent warning by top Bush administration
officials. Vice President Dick Cheney said last weekend the prospects
of a future terrorist attack in this country are ''almost a certainty.''
FBI
Director Robert Mueller this week said that suicide bombers like those
who have attacked public places in Israel will hit the United States
eventually. And, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said terrorists
inevitably will acquire weapons of mass destruction from countries like
Iraq, Iran or North Korea. A
key component to President Bush's war on terrorism is separating terrorists
from their money. That
effort is being overseen by the Treasury Department, which has ordered
U.S. banks to freeze financial assets belonging to people, groups and
businesess that the government believes support terrorists activities.
The United Nations has its own list of targeted entities including many
the U.S. has identified whose assets should be frozen. ''Frankly,
there's been a little falling off in the alacrity which with some countries
have been following the U.N. list,'' Dam said. He
believed part of the problem was that some countries don't have the
proper legal framework in place to take such blocking action. ''I would
just say that many countries still lack the legal basis for going forward,''
Dam said. Roughly
$116 million linked to terrorists has been blocked worldwide since the
Sept. 11 attacks, an amount that Dam recently referred to as disappointing.
In
related matters, Dam said Treasury in around a month will release a
revamped anti-money laundering strategy. The report may address the
problem of laundering dirty money through the sales of counterfeited
merchandise, he said. Efforts to cut terrorists off from their money
also probably will be included, officials say. Dam
also urged Congress to pass a federal backup plan for terrorism insurance,
something that has stalled on Capitol Hill. ''This
unprecedented gap in coverage has serious adverse consequences for our
economy. More specifically, it makes it more difficult to finance commercial
construction and more difficult to sell commercial real estate,'' he
said. However,
a recent survey by the Federal Reserve found that lack of terrorism
insurance wasn't having much effect on companies' ability to obtain
bank financing for big commercial projects such as stadiums and large
shopping malls. On
the Net: Treasury
Department: http://www.ustreas.gov ______________________________________________________________ FRAUD
SOFTWARE SHARED WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT The
Western Payments Alliance (WesPay), one of the nation’s largest
regional payments organizations, and Thomson Financial Publishing (TFP,
a sister company of Bank Technology News) announced recently that law
enforcement agencies will now have access to "FraudBAN," an
anti-fraud information network for the nation’ds financial institutions.
The
decision, designed to accelerate the war on financial fraud in the wake
of Sept. 11, enables law enforcement officials to use the FraudBAN database
as a routine part of their investigations and to check reported fraud
against an online repository of 7,000 cases involving more than 25,000
bogus checks and other check fraud.. Until
now, FraudBAN was accessible to law enforcement officials only when
contacted by financial institutions. WesPay
and TFP, a unit of Thomson Corp., decided to open the service
to law enforcement following a successful pilot program involving
the U.S. Secret Service and the Anaheim (CA) Police Department. Leasing
News Bulletin Board Complaints---MSM Capital, Irvine, California
“Platinum Equipment Card” Most
of the complaints are settled with our help before reaching the Leasing
News Bulletin Board. Most come from the “end user.,” Vendors
also contact us when
they have not been paid. When using a browser, our Bulletin Board Complaint
comes up very high in most search engines. Also when seeking information
about a leasing company, Leasing News is high on the searches because
the browsers work by how many hits. No
one else reports the complaints and it appears we are the only place to
go when a lessee or vendor has a problem with a leasing company. We
didn’t plan it that way. It just happened. We
also get “alerts” about brokers, vendors, and funders from
readers, who are quite
diligent and are interested in protecting their livelihood. Perhaps
several want
to close a sale by pointing out the poor history of their competitor.
There also
does not appear to be a universal place to go to make a “legitimate”
complaint. As
an “omsbudsman,” Leasing News generally receives about six
or more complaints a week. Leasing News does not automatically post
them. We always obtain the “other side’s” story. Sometimes
they are “civil disputes”, meaning the issues need to be settled
in a court of law. Most of them form a pattern. It happened with Unicapital,
United Capital, Metrolease, Terminal Leasing, SDI Capital, just to name
a few. They fall into a pattern. Leasing
News also only consider complaints where there can be a resolution or
posting on the Bulletin Board. It is not unusual to consult on Advisory
Board on such issues. Here
are some recent ones where money was returned (We are leaving out the name
of the company who returned the “advance rents” or “deposit”:
as the matter was settled and therefore does not appear in the Bulletin
Board). “Yes,
this was resolved. They finally sent a check and it didn't bounce!
I would
not recommend these guys to anyone!!!! After all the run-around they
gave
us, they only responded when contacted by you. “Thanks
again for all your help.” “Kit,
I did get a check for the full amount less $250. I assume it was for doc
fees although his contract limited doc fees to $200. I figured these guys
to be crooks anyway and was not ready to do battle for $50 so I'll just scratch
them off my lease list and get on with life. “If
this kind of reporting is what you like to do, you have my permission to
print this.” Marc
Wilaby mwilaby@attbi.com “We
finally received the check from ******. It was a cashiers check
so it should clear without any problems. Thanks again for your help
and for the service you provide to people like us. “Thank
You, “ Greg
Vass “I
spoke to who I needed to speak with this morning. Although they still feel
that we should retain the commitment for his next transaction, I got them
to agree to issue a full refund to the customer. We are not in the business
to retain deposits; we don't do business like that. Please email me
your fax number so I can fax you over a copy of the refund check as
soon as
it is issued. It will be cut today.” Name
With Held Leasing
News has a lot of these “compliments, “ but we don’t
publish them, as
there are settled issues. Both parties have resolved their dispute.
Most often
the “advance rental” is returned. There
are also complaints where the lessee has said he was not longer interested,
due to the time length or for other reasons; however, a commitment letter
specifically was in place stating that if the lessee backed out, they
would lose the “commitment fee.” While
there may have been other “extenuating circumstances,” we
have told the applicant
its purpose and it does not appear they are entitled to the money back. The
situation is not common, but it does happen. There are also companies who
obtain a commitment fee that is not returnable whether the lease is turned
down or goes forward. Leasing News considers that a “civil dispute.” The
great majority of the complaints concern “advance rentals”
or “deposits” not being
returned after they have been promised a lease, perhaps have even signed
lease documents, but the vendor has not been paid and the leasing company
will not return the money. These are not brokers, but leasing companies
who may have their own lines of credit/warehouse leases, or sell them
off on a recourse or non-recourse basis. We
have a pretty high batting average for settling these complaints, which
often takes
weeks to settle. Sometimes they take over a month. We also are not
always successful. Case in point, as Rod Serling would say: “MSM
Capital, Irvine, California” http://www.msmcapital.com/about.html All
these complaints were discussed with Mike Cingari, president of MSM
Capital. He acknowledged receiving them, the faxes, and there were several
conversations about them. In the last one, he said, “ Who asked
you? “ “You are ruining the leasing industry?” “I
talked to ***** and no one can control you,
and no one likes what your write.” When
asked if Mr. Cingari, former president of Colonial Pacific Leasing, formerly
with Pitney-Bowes, had anything he wanted to say, he told us
“no.” Asked if he wanted us to say he had “no comment,”
he specifically told Leasing News not to state that. He requested we
print he was “not available.” The
first complaint, we were able to resolve:
Last July I was put in touch with MSM Capital
Corporation to get a lease for a new machine for my small company.
I negotiated
with John Power (949-453-7500 X7517) for a lease that was to be approximately
$650 a month. I sent them a check for $1500 and they sent the
paperwork to be signed. The paperwork said the lease would be over
$800 a month.
I called and cancelled and asked for my money back. I was told it would
be sent immediately. Well, it's been MANY months and I haven't seen
a
check. Both my wife and I have called and called with no response.
We even
left a message for Michael Cingari (X7510) who is listed as their President
and
CEO with no response. In the last conversation with John Power, he
said
he would send us the check the last week in December 2001. Can you
help us? Robert
Latonie
7 Old Road
East Granby
CT Yes,
this was resolved. They finally sent a check and it didn't bounce!
I would
not recommend these guys to anyone!!!! After all the run-around they
gave
us, they only responded when contacted by you. Thanks
again for all your help. Yes,
you most certainly may quote me! Mr.
Cingari was not available. ---- ---
(This
one we got $1,000 back, but that is all to date:)
Leon
M. Padell, Filterfresh, Tampa Seeks
$7,392 as “amount past due.” This started in August, 2001,
when he applied for a $143,190.80 loan. MSM deposited the check on
August 27,2001 and then told them the next day the “bank had turned
down the loan.” On October9,2001, MSM sent another quote on a
smaller dollar amount, $20,112.29, but Leon Padell, president of FilterFish,
said he did not like the rate, plus where was his $7,392 deposit. “We
have been calling them frequently, but 9 out of 10 calls we get their
answering machine...When I did get to talk to someone out there, they
usually say that they are “looking into it.!” “
On April 4,2002, we sent this information to the Attorney General, Department
of Justice, Consumer Complaint Dept., but havening heard back form anyone
at this time. “On
or about April 10, we received a $1,000 check dated April 4 from MSM
without any letter or not or whatever. On the stub of the check, their
(sic) is an indication “REFUND PYMT# 1” In
his six page fax, he produced the original sales letter from Robert
A. Pardini, the commitment letter, copy of the check deposited by MSM,
copy of complaint to the California attorney general, and “refund
payment #1” from MSM Capital. Mr.
Cingari was not available. ---- --------
(Some
money was returned here ) Steven
Kaiser, President, County Paving Company, Concord, Calif. “I
made the deal with the equipment agency, they fronted me the machine,
and Rob Pardini with MSM asked me to FED EX overnight a check for the
first and last lease payments of $2792.08 on 1/15/92 to expedite the
lease. After waiting impatiently for three weeks, I get a call from
the dealer on 2/04/02. Saying they had gotten a call form MSM stating
we were turned down. “Then
I got the call from an MSM agent. I didn’t know coldly(sic) saying
we were turned down. I asked her to send our check back ASAP.=, so
we could use it elsewhere. She said she would apply for a new check
but it did not arrive. We called our bank and discovered that MSM had
cashed our check the first of the week. The equipment dealer was ready
to take the paver back but they were suspicious of MSM and waited for
us to apply elsewhere (we were approved the first week and funded the
second week). After many calls to Rob Pardini, I was told to speak with
the boss, Mike Cingari. He
apologized, telling me he was in a money crisis, and would not run out
of us, and sent us $700. I received one more $700 check. I am still
owed $1,392.08 and not happy. Mr.
Cingari was not available. ---- (
We have not been successful on this one) Please
remember, that I'm still hoping to get $1,440 back.... We've
been through a very nasty and unprofessional experience with MSM Capital,
which is not over, as we are yet to receive two month payment with a
$100 fee back (total of $1,440), which was promised to us by one of
the leasing agents, namely John Power. Let
me explain what happened in detail.
I contacted MSM Capital on behalf of my friend (undisclosed) who needed
to obtain a lease for the equipment. I was given something like a credit
card for the equipment purchase. When I called I was put through to
a leasing agent, John Power. Within the next couple of hours I provided
him with a leasing application and receipt for the equipment. The next
day (!) I received a platinum express agreement with the name of the
equipment, monthly payment amount and request for the first and last
month payment plus $100 dollars. All the paperwork was completed and
FedExed to MSM Capital promptly on April 22. John Power confirmed the
receipt of the paperwork on April 19th and said that the check is going
to be mailed the same date. On Tuesday, after the check was supposedly
mailed, the vendor contacted me with the question about the location
of the paperwork, as the machinery was about to be put in production.
After that I think I can write volumes on different explanations that
were produced by MSM Capital employee John Power, (including his trip
to Las Vegas, his secretary's surgery, his own sickness and two extra
weeks that it took him to figure out if the paperwork was fedexed or
sent via regular mail), (I'm surprised that he did not give birth during
that time!), and as you will see later that the paperwork had never
been sent out!
Finally, yesterday, May 20, the vendor, who called John Power directly,
informed me (not MSM capital! And one month later, after the agreement
was signed on our part), that MSM was not interested in the deal at
all! I called John Power, whom I could reach ONLY if I pretended to
be a new applicant for the lease, who told me that he is not really
sure what happened, but the deal did not go through, promising that
the check for the first and last month of the lease would be refunded
and sent overnight. Hoping to hear from John Power of MSM Capital about
the refund of our money I called him today, May 21, again. This time
the story was slightly different - he only submitted the request to
his comptroller (which could be done only on Tuesdays and Thursdays!)
I tried to call the comptroller – she was not in the office at
all, so I left a message… When I asked John why I was not informed
earlier on the status of the "deal" his only response was
that there had been a lot of "miscommunication"... I was concerned
about the refund, so I asked if it is going to be the same run-around
as with the “deal”, because then, I told him, I’m considering
contacting the attorney. His response was very quick: “Do not call
me again!” And he hung up. IS THAT NORMAL BUSINESS PRACTICE??? At
this point, we are still hanging out in the air by $1,440. At this point
I feel like I don't need any explanations - I just need to get the money
back and catch up for a month that was lost in obtaining the lease for
the equipment that by now has been built and awaiting shipment. My question
is: is MSM Capital in business of providing their clients with funding,
or are they is business of obtaining THEIR funding from the clients?
Helen
Shvedkova Mr.
Cingari was not available. ---- ----
(
nor this one) From:
Benny Hall I
was referred to you to have my deposit of $700.00 refunded. This deposit
was made with MSM Capital on June 21,2001. I have talked to several
representatives at MSM Capital including the owner Mike Cingari. I
was told to put my request in writing and fax it to them which I have
done twice and I have confirmations that they received it both times.
This has gone on too long and I want my funds returned ASAP. A check
can be mailed to Benny F. Hall & Sons, P O Box 62, Hallwood, VA
23359. If you have any questions, you can call me at 757-824-5551.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter. --- On
March 22, 2002 I Emailed you concerning a refund on a deposit I made
with MSM Capital for $700.00 on June 21, 2001 to activate a line of
credit. I was having trouble getting the refund and I still am. The
same day that I Emailed you I got a call from John Powers at MSM Capital.
He was very understanding (so I thought) and said the buck stopped right
there with him and he would help me. The last time I talked to him
was about a month ago and he was going to find my original papers that
stated I was entitled to this refund. I explained that I had the cancelled
check and could fax that to him. He told me that he would get back
with me and I haven't heard a thing. I have left two messages for him
to call me back, but I have not heard from him. If you could help me
again in trying to get this $700.00 back I would appreciate it. Thank
you very much. Benny
Hall Karen
Hall (May
20, 2002) No,
it is not settled. I thought it would be settled after I Emailed you
the first time and they called back the same day. Is there anything
you can do
to get them moving on it again? Or do you have any suggestions for
us so that we can maybe get some results? Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you. Benny
Hall Mr.
Cingari was not available. |