• Account Pros

• ACH Federal

• API Recruiting

• Area 203 [or Logic Marketing]

• Basenine [or Terenine]

• Credit Protection Depot

• Credit Payment Services

• Communications Processing Services

• Compro

• Collateralized Investment Services

• DiscountAdvances.com

• Eclipse in Action

• Firma 8

• Kingdom Site

• Lead Pile [or Cash Fast 123]

• Millennium Concepts

• MyCashNow.com

• PayDayMax.com

• Scenic City Legal Group

• Support Seven

• Woody Holdings

A company involved in an unlicensed payday lending operation recently lost an early legal bid to silence some of its former employees.

Terenine, which provides the IT backbone for a payday consortium controlled by former Rossville used-car dealer Carey Vaughn Brown, alleged in court that three ex-workers had revealed secret details of the group’s operations to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

The company is suing the former employees for what it claims are violations of nondisclosure contracts signed by the ex-workers who were quoted in a news story published in December. Terenine President David Carney said criticisms of Brown’s business operations in the article cost the company current and prospective clients.

However, Hamilton County Chancellor Jeffrey Atherton turned down a request for a temporary injunction. The suit now is on hold until the payday consortium can prove it is legally operating in Tennessee, attorneys said.

Business licenses

According to the secretary of state, Terenine, ACH Federal, Area 203, Firma 8, Kingdom Site, Scenic City Legal Group and Support Seven have licenses to operate a business in Tennessee.

But none of the payday entities from which the licensed companies emerged — including Credit Protection Depot, Credit Payment Services and Communications Processing Services — has received certificates of authority, state documents showed.

And none of Brown’s companies currently is licensed to make payday loans in Tennessee. However, Neil MacDonald, a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions, said “at least one of the entities is in a licensing process with the department.”

MacDonald added that “the department is involved in various stages of investigation” into some of Brown’s companies, though he didn’t respond to requests for elaboration.

Public knowledge

During a hearing in late January, Atherton ordered a reporter and the wife of a defendant from the courtroom after Terenine attorneys indicated they could call the two as witnesses.

Attorneys for the defendants sought to prove that the details revealed to the Times Free Press already were in the public domain.

The lawyers argued that many details were available from a 2005 deposition in which Brown outlined his business practices. Details about Brown’s businesses and their links with payday lenders also were disclosed in legal actions and investigations initiated by the Federal Trade Commission, as well as the states of New Hampshire, California and Oregon.

In the 2005 deposition, Brown described his use of foreign shell companies to protect himself from regulations and taxes.

“The servers are in Bermuda,” Brown said in the deposition. “That’s where the servers are — and where a lot of other corporations have their servers there, too.”

Return fire

The payday lending consortium has sustained return fire from ex-employees as well.

Former risk manager Joseph Chastain alleged in a lawsuit against Brown’s group that he lost his job after Brown’s umbrella company for the payday group — Credit Payment Services — threatened his employer with legal action if it continued to employ Chastain.

According to the complaint, CPS wrote a letter to Chastain’s then-employer, Check into Cash, claiming that Chastain was violating the terms of a noncompete agreement he’d previously entered into with CPS.

Chastain, however, says no agreement was signed, and any such agreement would be invalid because CPS “does not presently exist even if it may have existed at one point in time.”

No company officials at CPS or its affiliates were available for comment last week.

Chastain further alleged that insofar as it exists, “CPS is subject to Tennessee laws governing payday lending but nevertheless consistently and regularly operates in violation of those laws.”

He accused the company of violating the laws of Tennessee and “many other states,” even partnering with Indian reservations and offshore entities to hide its involvement in charging payday customers higher rates than allowed by law.

Tennessee allows licensed payday lenders to charge up to $15 on a $100 loan, but Brown’s websites, such as PayDayMax, DiscountAdvances and MyCashNow, charge more.

Employee disclosures

In his court testimony, Terenine President David Carney said his company had lost at least one client and other prospective clients after the Times Free Press article was published. The company claims it suffered damage to its reputation as a result of the recent employee leaks.

“These individuals have gone out, talked to the newspaper and discussed entities they say are customers,” said attorney Hillary Klein, representing Terenine.

Evidence showed that some initial nondisclosure agreements were signed between workers and Credit Payment Services, or CPS. To make things more complicated, CPS also is an acronym for Communications Processing Services, or Compro — an earlier name for the payday loan group.

Despite his role as president of Terenine, Carney maintained he had little direct knowledge of Terenine’s ties to CPS, didn’t know the role of one of its employees, and was unaware of Terenine’s origins as the IT department for the payday group.

“I don’t know definitively about what company it spun off of,” Carney said when questioned about Terenine’s ties to CPS.

Inconsistencies

Carney’s testimony contrasted with a 2010 interview he gave to the Times Free Press, in which he told a reporter that “We really started as a department within a family of businesses a couple of years ago.”

“Prior to 2010, [Terenine] was more of an IT department that was focused on providing services to affiliated businesses,” Carney said at the time.

Defense lawyers jumped on the apparent inconsistency.

“What right does [Terenine] have to file suit on behalf of a company you don’t know about or what they do?” asked Steve Dobson, an attorney for a former employee.

Article source: http://timesfreepress.com/news/2012/feb/05/payday-lender-embroiled-in-lawsuits/

Editor, the Tribune: In a recent column, Gerri Guzman made exaggerated claims of the impact of the ballot initiative to end 400 percent interest rates. What she failed to say is that her group is funded by the payday loan industry, the same group that sent threatening letters to churches across the state. Churches are speaking out in favor of capping the rate because they are all too familiar with the stories of real Missourians who come to them seeking help to escape these predatory loans.

Payday lenders and supporters of their 400 percent loans also don’t mention that the primary reason someone takes out a new payday loan is to pay off an old payday loan. Only 2 percent of payday loans go to borrowers who take out one payday loan, pay it back and don’t return for a year. The rest of their business depends on borrowers paying fees to the tune of $317 million every year.

Payday loans and other similar high-cost financial products leave borrowers worse off than if they had never even walked in the door. Their sky-high interest rates and short-term due dates create an endless cycle of debt leading to bankruptcy, delinquency on bills and other financial havoc.

Missourians can use more options for helping bridge an occasional financial gap — like fair credit, savings opportunities and decent wages. What they don’t need is abusive credit at 400 percent interest rates. The ballot initiative will curtail the out-of-control rates of payday loans and other high-cost loans.

Dan Murphy
707 Mount Vernon Ave.

Copyright 2012 Columbia Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Article source: http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/feb/05/payday-loan-advocate-omits-pertinent-facts/

By Nicholas Comfort and Aaron Kirchfeld

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — Deutsche Bank AG shunned the three- year loans the European Central Bank offered to banks in December on concern taking the funds could damage its reputation with customers, said Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann.

“The fact that we have never taken any money from the government has made us from a reputational point of view so attractive to so many clients in the world that we would be very reluctant to give that up,” Ackermann, 63, said on a conference call yesterday.

The ECB awarded 489 billion euros ($643 billion) in 1,134- day loans on Dec. 21 to keep credit flowing to the economy as Europe’s debt crisis made institutions wary of each other and drove up borrowing costs. The ECB said 523 banks asked for the funds, which will be lent at the average of its benchmark interest rate — currently 1 percent — over the period of the loans starting the following day.

“I kind of agree with Ackermann’s stance,” said Matthew Clark, a London-based analyst at Keefe, Bruyette Woods. “The idea that central bank money could be taken and used to generate profits rather than to reduce risk is politically contentious. It’s best to avoid it if you don’t need it.”

Deutsche Bank’s decision to avoid the loans follows the disclosure of its borrowings from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s emergency-loan program during the height of the credit crunch in 2008. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s unprecedented effort to bolster the economy included lending banks and other companies as much as $1.2 trillion of public money.

‘Learned Our Lesson’

Deutsche Bank tapped the Fed’s program for as much as $66 billion in November 2008, according to a Bloomberg News compilation of data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, months of litigation and an act of Congress. The largest borrower, Morgan Stanley, got as much as $107.3 billion, while Citigroup Inc. took $99.5 billion.

“We learned our lesson during the Fed activity, where we were encouraged to borrow money from the Fed on a confidential level and later on the list was disclosed, and we heard that we had to accept help from the government,” Ackermann said. “We just don’t want to do that, and that’s why we have not participated in the first” ECB tender.

Deutsche Bank said in December that it wouldn’t cut back on lending as it raises capital to meet European regulatory requirements designed to bolster confidence in the industry.

‘Carry Trades’

Taking the loans would be advantageous from a “pure financial standpoint,” Deutsche Bank Chief Financial Officer Stefan Krause said on the conference call. “In terms of the bank’s liquidity and its access to the market, we really wouldn’t need these programs.”

“We will always consider and counterbalance the financial decision, which obviously at some of the costs that these programs are run is quite substantial for the bank, versus what you could call the reputational issue,” Krause said.

Yields on government bonds in Italy and Spain have fallen since the ECB’s tender, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has suggested banks could use the low-cost loans to buy more government debt.

“I’m normally not a friend of carry trades, and I don’t think that we would borrow money to buy sovereign risks even if there is an attractive spread,” Ackermann told analysts.

–Editor: Frank Connelly, Angela Cullen

To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Comfort in Frankfurt at ncomfort1@bloomberg.net; Aaron Kirchfeld in Frankfurt at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net

Article source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-03/ackermann-shunned-ecb-loans-on-reputation-risk-for-deutsche-bank.html

By Nicholas Comfort and Aaron Kirchfeld

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — Deutsche Bank AG shunned the three- year loans the European Central Bank offered to banks in December on concern taking the funds could damage its reputation with customers, said Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann.

“The fact that we have never taken any money from the government has made us from a reputational point of view so attractive to so many clients in the world that we would be very reluctant to give that up,” Ackermann, 63, said on a conference call yesterday.

The ECB awarded 489 billion euros ($643 billion) in 1,134- day loans on Dec. 21 to keep credit flowing to the economy as Europe’s debt crisis made institutions wary of each other and drove up borrowing costs. The ECB said 523 banks asked for the funds, which will be lent at the average of its benchmark interest rate — currently 1 percent — over the period of the loans starting the following day.

“I kind of agree with Ackermann’s stance,” said Matthew Clark, a London-based analyst at Keefe, Bruyette Woods. “The idea that central bank money could be taken and used to generate profits rather than to reduce risk is politically contentious. It’s best to avoid it if you don’t need it.”

Deutsche Bank’s decision to avoid the loans follows the disclosure of its borrowings from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s emergency-loan program during the height of the credit crunch in 2008. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s unprecedented effort to bolster the economy included lending banks and other companies as much as $1.2 trillion of public money.

‘Learned Our Lesson’

Deutsche Bank tapped the Fed’s program for as much as $66 billion in November 2008, according to a Bloomberg News compilation of data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, months of litigation and an act of Congress. The largest borrower, Morgan Stanley, got as much as $107.3 billion, while Citigroup Inc. took $99.5 billion.

“We learned our lesson during the Fed activity, where we were encouraged to borrow money from the Fed on a confidential level and later on the list was disclosed, and we heard that we had to accept help from the government,” Ackermann said. “We just don’t want to do that, and that’s why we have not participated in the first” ECB tender.

Deutsche Bank said in December that it wouldn’t cut back on lending as it raises capital to meet European regulatory requirements designed to bolster confidence in the industry.

‘Carry Trades’

Taking the loans would be advantageous from a “pure financial standpoint,” Deutsche Bank Chief Financial Officer Stefan Krause said on the conference call. “In terms of the bank’s liquidity and its access to the market, we really wouldn’t need these programs.”

“We will always consider and counterbalance the financial decision, which obviously at some of the costs that these programs are run is quite substantial for the bank, versus what you could call the reputational issue,” Krause said.

Yields on government bonds in Italy and Spain have fallen since the ECB’s tender, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has suggested banks could use the low-cost loans to buy more government debt.

“I’m normally not a friend of carry trades, and I don’t think that we would borrow money to buy sovereign risks even if there is an attractive spread,” Ackermann told analysts.

–Editor: Frank Connelly, Angela Cullen

To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Comfort in Frankfurt at ncomfort1@bloomberg.net; Aaron Kirchfeld in Frankfurt at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net

Article source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-04/ackermann-shunned-ecb-loans-on-reputation-risk-for-deutsche-bank.html

SFGate
February 4, 2012 04:00 AM
Copyright SFGate. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/02/04/prweb9164230.DTL

“I’m not ready to give up,” Sergio Marchionne, CEO of
Chrysler, told reporters yesterday at the National Automobile
Dealers Association convention in Las Vegas. “The department
has not indicated an unwillingness to lend.”

Chrysler, majority owned by Fiat SpA (F), continues to hold
talks with the U.S. about the program, which encourages
production of fuel-efficient vehicles, Marchionne said. He
reiterated that the amount that Auburn, Hills, Michigan-based
Chrysler may be able to borrow has been reduced to less than the
$3.5 billion the company sought last year.

“The due diligence process that they have inside the
Department of Energy is one which is reflective of a series of
concerns, part of which are maybe attributable to recent events
and some of the deals they’ve done,” Marchionne said.

Ener1 Inc. (HEVV), the maker of batteries for electric cars that
received a $118 million Energy Department grant to make
electric-car batteries, last month filed for bankruptcy
protection after defaulting on bond debt amid Asian competition.
Ener1’s bankruptcy follows the failure of at least two U.S.
government-backed renewable energy companies, solar panel maker
Solyndra LLC and energy storage company Beacon Power Corp.

Natural Gas

Marchionne plans to introduce compressed natural gas-
powered vehicles in the U.S. to meet 2025 standards calling for
the average fuel economy to rise to 54.5 miles per gallon. He
said at the Detroit auto show last month that Chrysler plans to
begin sales of natural-gas powered pickups to fleet customers as
soon as this year.

“I can make them faster than you can think,” Marchionne
said yesterday. “We’re going to start showing the product, and
then we’ll see whether people will take them.”

The dealers association, based in McLean, Virginia, has
said it expects attendance of more than 20,000 at its convention
this year. Marchionne said in a keynote speech that Chrysler
dealers are the “most profitable they have been in a decade,”
without elaborating.

Chrysler’s dealer body is about 85 percent profitable now
compared with 70 percent in 2009, Ralph Kisiel, a company
spokesman, said in an e-mail.

Marchionne also is chief executive officer of Turin-based
Fiat.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Craig Trudell in Las Vegas at
ctrudell1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jamie Butters at
jbutters@bloomberg.net

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Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-05/chrysler-continues-to-seek-u-s-energy-loans.html

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – In response to growing consumer interest and demand, PayDayCentral.net has decided to provide information on a state-by-state basis for regulations that are specifically applicable to payday lending. Instant payday loans have become very popular today, due to the economic hardships being faced by many, but this has also opened the door to unethical and illegal lending practices.

PayDayCentral.net, operated by David Turner, features an innovative interactive tool that allows visitors to select the state where they live. The tool then pulls from a backend database to display a quick-to-read yet informative summary of the laws of their state that apply to payday lenders.

“Suppose you were looking for payday loans in Michigan,” says Turner. “You can visit our site and pull up information that you really need to know before you walk into your payday loan office. Things like the maximum amount of finance charges, the limit that you can borrow, the highest interest rate that your lender can charge you, as well as the longest time you can wait before you will be required to repay the loan. Knowing this information is critical — that’s why we are providing it.”

Turner, elaborating on the current state of regulations across the U.S., maintains that the situation is very confusing: “Most people do not even know that every state in the union has its own unique set of regulations that cover all aspects of payday lending and financing. And these laws can vary in significant ways. A person who got a payday loan in one state, and who now resides in another state, may assume that the same laws apply everywhere. That’s a big mistake. Don’t assume that you are covered by the same regulations, because you are not.”

One of the things that makes his payday loan site different, according to Turner, is that the other sites just present general information. “The other sites try to focus on the basics of payday lending. They are also presenting you with a lot of advertising from their sponsors. In my mind, that hardly establishes a reputation as an unbiased and objective source of information for consumers. What they are really doing is trying to persuade you to use the services of their advertised lenders, like those who advertise payday loans in Michigan, because when you do, they receive a commission or affiliate payment.

“But if you are, on the other hand, looking for payday loans in Florida or payday loans in Virginia, what you really need to know is not information about payday loans in general, what you need to know is the specific laws that are applicable to the state where you live. What can the lender change? How much can you borrow? What is the maximum interest rate? How many loan rollovers can you have? This is the information that matters, and most payday loan sites simply don’t provide it. But our site does.”

According to Turner, using this site can actually save the consumer precious time. “It often happens that someone finds a payday loan company that they like. Their terms and conditions are attractive. The consumer spends a lot of time researching but when they try to contact them, they find out that the company is not licensed to do payday lending in their state, forcing them to start over.” Turner elaborates: “Rather than trying to push specific lenders, we provide summary information on the best half-dozen or so payday loan programs and lenders for each and every state. Our approach is to just provide useful information and let each consumer make their own decisions on who to contact. An informed borrower is less likely to become a victim of predatory lending practices.”

PayDayCentral.net was formed with the conviction that the more information a consumer has available to them, in one place, the better educated a borrower they will be. State laws change very frequently, and PayDayCentral.net puts all this information in a single location, so that you, the consumer, will always know what the laws are in your state.

MEDIA CONTACT:
David Turner
618 409 7666
mail@paydaycentral.net 
http://www.paydaycentral.net/

This press release was issued through eReleases(R).  For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/paydaycentral-net-many-consumers-not-124000275.html

Payday Express, a UK provider of payday loans online, has announced the implementation of a new and improved staff induction plan.
 
The move was made to ensure that staff training and development remains high on the agenda for Payday Express, a business that prides itself on understanding the value of ensuring all staff are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to effectively and efficiently carry out their roles.
 
Richard Turner, HR adviser at Payday Express, said: “Payday Express is passionate about learning and development and makes every effort to ensure that this starts from the moment a new recruit joins the organisation.”
 
The induction, which marks the start of a training programme, involves being introduced to the company, its mission statement and its principles, before being given extensive training on anti-money laundering, data protection, customer service, learning styles and other key skills and knowledge areas.
 
After a revamp of the process by operations manager Sarah Carroll and group trainer Emma Furlong, the induction is now much more interactive and people-focussed – a change that has been introduced to ensure all new starters feel part of the team straight away. While the old induction programme involved open discussions, the new one takes interaction to a new level by incorporating group break-out tasks and quizzes designed to ensure that information has been taken in and understood.
 
The process also involves interaction between experienced team leaders and new starters, after which each group of new employees must deliver a presentation on what they understand about the different roles and teams within the company to be.
 
Sarah Carroll of Payday Express said: “Getting the new starters to engage with tenured staff is very effective as it means they’re not passively absorbing information and instead are actively participating in their own learning. 
 
“So far this has proved to be a successful addition to our induction programme,” she added.
 
Group trainer at the payday loan company, Emma Furlong, said: “The induction is beneficial as it provides a great platform for new starters to integrate into the company, and gives them knowledge and insight into company values and functions to foster the right mindset for their role and future career.”
 
[ENDS]
 
About Payday Express:
Payday Express is one of the UK’s leading payday advance loans specialists, offering an online service to help employed people across the country get access to emergency payday loans. The company is committed to responsible lending and provides customers with a discreet and reliable service that will cover their short-term credit needs.
 
For further information contact:
Ashleigh Slade
Telephone: 0800 652 4661
Email: enquiries@paydayexpress.co.uk  
Website: http://www.paydayexpress.co.uk
 
 

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Article source: http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=152328

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
In response to growing consumer interest and demand, PayDayCentral.net has decided to provide information on a state-by-state basis for regulations that are specifically applicable to payday lending. Instant payday loans have become very popular today, due to the economic hardships being faced by many, but this has also opened the door to unethical and illegal lending practices.

PayDayCentral.net, operated by David Turner, features an innovative interactive tool that allows visitors to select the state where they live. The tool then pulls from a backend database to display a quick-to-read yet informative summary of the laws of their state that apply to payday lenders.

“Suppose you were looking for payday loans in Michigan,” says Turner. “You can visit our site and pull up information that you really need to know before you walk into your payday loan office. Things like the maximum amount of finance charges, the limit that you can borrow, the highest interest rate that your lender can charge you, as well as the longest time you can wait before you will be required to repay the loan. Knowing this information is critical — that’s why we are providing it.”

Turner, elaborating on the current state of regulations across the U.S., maintains that the situation is very confusing: “Most people do not even know that every state in the union has its own unique set of regulations that cover all aspects of payday lending and financing. And these laws can vary in significant ways. A person who got a payday loan in one state, and who now resides in another state, may assume that the same laws apply everywhere. That’s a big mistake. Don’t assume that you are covered by the same regulations, because you are not.”

One of the things that makes his payday loan site different, according to Turner, is that the other sites just present general information. “The other sites try to focus on the basics of payday lending. They are also presenting you with a lot of advertising from their sponsors. In my mind, that hardly establishes a reputation as an unbiased and objective source of information for consumers. What they are really doing is trying to persuade you to use the services of their advertised lenders, like those who advertise payday loans in Michigan, because when you do, they receive a commission or affiliate payment.

“But if you are, on the other hand, looking for payday loans in Florida or payday loans in Virginia, what you really need to know is not information about payday loans in general, what you need to know is the specific laws that are applicable to the state where you live. What can the lender change? How much can you borrow? What is the maximum interest rate? How many loan rollovers can you have? This is the information that matters, and most payday loan sites simply don’t provide it. But our site does.”

According to Turner, using this site can actually save the consumer precious time. “It often happens that someone finds a payday loan company that they like. Their terms and conditions are attractive. The consumer spends a lot of time researching but when they try to contact them, they find out that the company is not licensed to do payday lending in their state, forcing them to start over.” Turner elaborates: “Rather than trying to push specific lenders, we provide summary information on the best half-dozen or so payday loan programs and lenders for each and every state. Our approach is to just provide useful information and let each consumer make their own decisions on who to contact. An informed borrower is less likely to become a victim of predatory lending practices.”

PayDayCentral.net was formed with the conviction that the more information a consumer has available to them, in one place, the better educated a borrower they will be. State laws change very frequently, and PayDayCentral.net puts all this information in a single location, so that you, the consumer, will always know what the laws are in your state.

MEDIA CONTACT: David Turner 618 409 7666 mail@paydaycentral.net

http://www.paydaycentral.net/

This press release was issued through eReleases(R). For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at
http://www.ereleases.com .

SOURCE PayDayCentral.net

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/paydaycentralnet-many-consumers-not-adequately-informed-on-laws-relating-to-payday-loans-2012-02-03

Article source: http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2012/02/02/mps-question-loans-chief-s-tax-move-84229-30252996/