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August
22, 2000
Teresa Kabot Announces UAEL Membership Drive!!! Hi Gang! It's that time of year again......... Announcing The Year 2000 UAEL Membership Contest! Quite simply sign up at least 6 new members and be eligible to win any one of the following prizes. First place chooses first, second place second and so on. Question - ? - What can I win? Answer - A -Membership Recruitment REWARDS -Complete Registration for the year 2001 Spring Education Conference in Scottsdale Arizona - - Hotel accommodations for 3 nights at the conference - - The Exclusive year 2001 Corporate Championship Belt - OR -Complete registration to the SEC in Scottsdale Arizona AND - - 3 nights accommodations at the Scottsdale DoubleTree - OR – A two night stay at the Doubletree - – Hyatt in Monterey AND dinner for two - AND – 2 tickets to the Monterey Aquarium - OR -A 2 night stay at the Monterey Bay Inn – a $420 Value - OR - Two night stay @ the Radisson Wilshire Plaza Hotel (Executive Suite) - OR ** NEW OPTION: ** FREE UAEL MEMBERSHIP - Choose to have your UAEL Membership paid for in full for the year 2001! Did I mention, round trip airfare to any of the cities above can be added on to the selection of the First Place Prize Winner! How to win: ?What do I have to do to win these cool prizes? A Quite simply, sign up at least 6 new members, and the person with the most recruits as of December 31st gets to choose first from our AMAZING prize selection! ? When do I start? A The contest runs from August 1st and goes through December 31st, 2000. ? Who can participate? A Any UAEL Member. ? How do I get Involved? A Just call Estalita at the UAEL office 510-444-9235 or Rudy Trebels at 847-404-6600, Or Theresa at 206-301-9960. We are here to help you win! ? How do I sign up new members? A All Participants will be sent a “Prospecting Package” which includes a list of prospects to call as well as ammunition for signing up new members. Wait until you see the newest list of UAEL Benefits of Membership! WOW! Also, the UAEL office in Oakland will help you send out packages to prospects and Assist you with answering questions about the benefits of membership. So let the games begin! your leasing buddy, Theresa kabot@lease-it.com Theresa M. Kabot, C.L.P. Kabot Commercial Leasing & Proud UAEL Member Seattle, USA 206.301.9960 Dell Financial to Remarket Off-Lease Equipment Via Internet Dell Financial Service (DFS), Dell Computer's integrated financing and asset recovery provider, and joint venture with the CIT Group, has launched a new business-to-business Internet site. The site, www.dfsdirectsales.com, is dedicated to selling its returned off-lease equipment at dramatically reduced prices. DFS' off-lease equipment is refurbished prior to sale and offers customers the security and convenience of doing business with a Dell-affiliated entity. Through this site, customers can view available inventory, place orders, choose from a variety of shipping and payment options (including credit card and 30 day terms for volume orders) and track orders. DFS offers discounts up to 5 percent off the posted price for customers placing volume orders. As an added benefit, customers can contract a DFS representative by phone or through email to discuss their future used equipment needs. Further, DFS has the capability to predict when specific configurations will be available through its integrated end-of-lease management systems. "We are offering these quality Dell systems to customers at an incredible discount and this site is the perfect way to do it," said Michael Watt, DFS president. "Customers looking to fill holes in their platform or for equipment to sustain them until their next extensive upgrade will find these refurbished systems satisfy their technology needs while fitting easily into their budgets," he added. Electronic Signatures Will Eliminate One of the Real Limits to the Expansion of our Business on the Internet In Conversation with Brett N. Silvers, Chairman and CEO, First International Bank via Biz/News: A pioneer in leveraging e-business in the financial industry, First International Bank is a recognized leader in looking after the vibrant small businesses that today’s mammoth financial institutions tend to ignore. This conversation with Silvers is part of an on-going series in which ebizChronicle.com explores key segments of the evolving e-business economy with senior industry executives. First International Bank had already carved out a space for itself in corporate banking before the Internet. This space is occupied by small industrial companies that require all the sophisticated products, which the huge financial institutions provide to their large global customers. “We recognized this years ago,” says Brett N. Silvers, who has steered the bank to its leadership position and runs it from his Hartford, Connecticut office. “These dynamic companies have sales in the range of $1 million to $50 million, are conservatively run and generally profitable, and are constantly trying to improve their infrastructure. Once we had identified them, we also discovered that these companies are quite sophisticated. Not just here, but all around the world,” he says. What this means in practice is they are used to working with computers, electronic data interchange (EDI), and now the Internet. These companies have had to ramp up the technology curve quickly to keep the business, in most cases provided by their technologically savvy customers higher up the supply chain. Having established itself as a provider to these companies pre-Internet and thereby establishing a first mover status, First International found that its web-based products simply expanded the points at which it could touch these companies. “These companies are generally family owned,” explains Silvers. “Whether they are in St. Louis, Brazil or India, they have adapted to the ways of their customers who are in many cases local operations of sophisticated multinationals.” These multinationals may have regional headquarters that insist on computerized purchase order and shipping documents, online receipts notification, and billing and other such automated processes. If their suppliers are not able to meet these technological challenges, these companies are simply able to replace them – in their country or another country. “Since we developed our online $5-million financing capabilities, we have had plenty of interested parties,” says Silvers. In fact, the bank has done so well with its core business of lending to small industrial companies, originating over $550 million in loans just in 1999 alone, that the U.S. Commerce Department awarded it the President’s “E” Award For Export Service in May 2000. First International has capitalized on a trend that began at the U.S. Ex-Im Bank in 1992. It was a turning point in the agency’s support for small businesses. The agency today aggressively backs small business loans, such as working capital loans to help U.S. companies fill export orders, and inventory and equipment loans to help foreign companies purchase goods made in the U.S. Silvers notes that the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation also recently entered the small business scene with a new program that guarantees and insures small U.S. companies interested in direct foreign investing. Since joining the company in 1988, Silvers has been the primary catalyst for First International’s rise to one of the world’s leading Ex-Im Bank, SBA and USDA lenders. “Are the Internet and e-business a revolution?” we asked Mr. Silvers. An unequivocal “yes” was the answer. But there was one thing missing in this revolution according to Silvers – the ability to close online. And, this deficiency is on its way to being corrected, at least in the United States under legislation just passed by Congress, which provides the legal basis for signing documents on-line. “Electronic signatures was a major missing piece for us and other financiers, one of the real limits and institutional barriers to actually making loans online,” continues Silvers. He explains that the new law will have a huge impact on how e-business is done. For instance, most people think electronic signatures are important for closing documents only. What about the transmission of signed credit applications and financial statements, which are required of companies before loans are made? It’s not unusual to draw new prospects to online corporate lending products via the web, and then wait for days if not weeks to get signed financials which have legal standing. This will soon be possible. This is just a small example of how First International Bank will leverage its products internationally through e-business. First International Bank operates through 15 offices in the United States and has representatives in 14 international markets. Its loan portfolio at the end of 1999 was $1.1 billion. After nearly 13 years at the helm, Brett Silvers believes the Internet will demolish many of the marketing barriers, which previously impacted small financial institutions and kept them out of the global economy. “We know our customers and their needs backwards and forwards. These needs are practically the same worldwide. The larger banks often won’t make credit products available in the relatively small size we specialize in. And, if we have been growing and profitable in the “stagecoach” days, just think what we are about to do in the Internet age,” concludes Silvers. Brett N. Silvers is Chairman and CEO of First International Bank and Chairman, President and CEO of its parent company, First International Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq: FNCE), based in Hartford, Connecticut. Silvers is a recognized expert in global finance who has established First International as a leader in SBA, USDA and Ex-Im Bank guaranteed lending to small and medium size industrial companies. First International has more than 200 employees and a managed loan portfolio of more than $1.1 billion. iOwn to cut off mortgage loans, lay off 100 staff Officials at iOwn.com, an early innovator in the online mortgage lending business, Tuesday announced the layoff of more than 100 employees, and said the company will not accept any new loan applications. Ned Hoyt, CEO of the San Francisco-based online mortgage broker, said the 4-year-old company will switch to a referral model, whereby customers who come to the Web site to research loan rates can be connected to local mortgage brokers and lenders. Hoyt said iOwn is committed to closing the loans of all customers who have locked a rate with the company and have set a date for escrow to close. About 300 to 400 customers currently have applications in process, he said. The company once had about 280 employees, and fewer than 150 will remain after the layoffs, Hoyt said. Begun in 1996 as HomeShark, the company changed its name to iOwn in 1999. It was one of the first sites that allowed consumers to compare loan rates as well as search listings of for-sale homes online. Earlier this summer, iOwn canceled a planned $63 million initial public offering, saying it was not in stockholders' best interests to go forward with the IPO. Hoyt said Tuesday that it was a hard decision to shut down iOwn's lending operations, ``but it was the right thing to do for the success of the company long term.'' Beyond.com faces delisting by Nasdaq ( I personally have had problems ordering on line from this company and am not surprised--editor ) Beyond.com Inc. of Santa Clara, a Web-based software retailer and services company whose shares have fallen 95 percent in the past year, said its shares may be pulled from the Nasdaq stock market because certain requirements are no longer being met. The company said its shares would be delisted Sept. 14 if it doesn't meet the market standards for stock price and assets, or pursue an appeal, according to a regulatory filing. Beyond.com must have a minimum closing bid price of $5 a share and certain assets of at least $4 million to continue trading, the filing said. Its closing stock price hasn't been above 5 since March 30. The company said it is taking steps to solve the problem. ``We don't anticipate a delisting at this point,'' said Curtis Cluff, chief financial officer. He said the company believes it can meet asset requirements through a bond exchange that will result in a gain on the forgiveness of debt.
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