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| December 12, 2000 Headlines-- Announcement
from Steve Dallas To the employees, Select Advisors, brokers, investors, and friends of United Capital Leasing Corporation: We are saddened by the problems we have generated over the past few days. While much of this was beyond our control, we obviously played a part. We believe it important to let you know what happened, why, and what we intend to do. On November 22nd a deal memorandum was executed between ourselves and our funding partner. For over 60 days, we had been working on an agreement detailing the manner in which we would conduct future business together and tension was running hot. As is the situation at most leasing companies, portfolio performance was the major discussion. Unfortunately for us, three bad apples have had horrendous portfolio performance. We are pursuing these brokers through legal means. Unfortunately, for the otherwise good brokers in the marketplace - especially our Select Advisor group - there are always a few playing the game between the lines. Since inception, we have had the ability to underwrite transactions to internal guidelines. On November 22nd this changed and affected all transactions in for funding from November 1st. While our checks were already in the mail, our funding partner only funded transactions meeting their new guidelines. We are just now getting our hands around the magnitude of the problem and are doing our best to handle one issue at a time. As you might guess, everything we do has been affected. While we are still able to fund transactions, we have decided to take the following managerial steps: * Assist on every affected transaction and relationship * Attempt to repair the damaged relationship with our funding partner * Continue working on improving our portfolio's performance, and * Improve every process and procedure we have Whatever happens, we promise to face the fire. We will continue taking your calls, answer your questions as best we can and tell the truth. We will be taking the remainder of the year to get our house in order and plan to be back next year, stronger than ever. Again, we apologize for any pain we may have caused you and hope you have a wonderful holiday season. Sincerely, Steven D. Dallas, CEO United Capital Leasing Corporation 1310 RR 620 South, Suite C-15 PO Box 342409 Austin, Texas 78734 Phone: 888.449.3800 Ext.212 Fax: 512.263.6816 Email: sdallas@unitedcapital.com We
have received several e-mails offering to take United Capital deals, even on their
own paper, but have not published them as we would consider it advertising. There
are many well-established leasing companies who are looking for business. This
is a good time to look at the field of funders and give them a try. It is very
timely to hear from a dean in the Leasing Industry, Bob Rodi. editor Bob
Rodi: Capital Advice for United Capital Brokers ( Bob is president of the United Association of Equipment Leasing, but here he speaks as president of Lease Now ). I would like to give some advice to some of the brokers that responded on the woes of United Capital. If that funding source, or any funding source stiffs you on a transaction, buy the deal yourself. If you believe in it and you are truly interested in preserving a relationship with your vendor and customer then pay the vendor and collect the transaction yourself. It doesn't matter what you have to do to get there. Use equity in your house, credit cards, savings, whatever. The relationship you save by stepping up to the plate will more than compensate you for the transaction. It will also give you a taste of accepting some risk. You may find that taking that risk is a lot more rewarding than you thought. It will also demonstrate to the vendor that you are an ethical and upstanding member of the financial services community. If you do not fund the transaction all you prove to the vendor is that you know how to make the troubles of United Capital, or any other erstwhile funding source, their problem. If shouldn't be your customers' problem. Whether or not United Capital survives the vendor will remember you. You are the person they picked to do business with not United Capital. This is especially true if you documented the deal under your name. You did the deal in your name because you wanted the vendor and the lessee to think they were dealing with a principal and not "just a broker". How will you explain that you are the lessor in "name only" and that you really can't stand behind your approval? The second you put your name on the paper (if that's the way it was done) you accepted the responsibility for the transaction, if not legally then at least ethically and morally. Go down to your local bank and explain your business to them. See if they will give you a working capital line of $75 or 100K. Start by funding your small deals and then sell them on a discounted basis. In this way if you have a "funding source" that pulls out on you the transaction is documented on your paper, your vendor has been paid and you are collecting payments. After a few timely payments that transaction will be easier to sell. In the long run you will make more money in this business. You will also be respected for your ability to manage a relationship rather than the "next deal" only. If you are unwilling or unable to document a deal and then stand behind it, don't do it. Of course, you have to believe in the transaction. It can't be a transaction that you put together just because you thought you had a funding source for it. With each transaction you do, you should be able to ask yourself the following question: "Would I buy this credit if it were my own money?" If you can't answer "Yes" to that question it is better to move on to the next transaction. I agree with the comments on the number of people who will drop out of this business in the coming year. We have to ask ourselves if that's really a bad thing. I also look at "The List" and see a great deal of opportunity. There are some major companies on that list. Some of them have merely changed but many others are totally gone. Unicapital alone took out a bunch of good sized lessors. Add all of those to the list and we are approaching 80 leasing companies in less than 2 years. There have to be a whole lot of vendors looking for leasing companies. I said it before. The first half of 2001 will be a blood bath. Don't worry too much about the banks though. They are having the same problems as other companies in Financial Services. Remember that the repeal of Glass-Stiegal took away a lot of the protection that regulation affords those banks. By June most of it will be over and the industry will begin to normalize. Maybe everybody will be a little more cautious in the next cycle, but I doubt it. Bob Rodi drlease@leasenow.com I'd
like to offer you another Mark Twain quote, probably more appropriate when you report the demise of a less endeared funding source: "I did not attend his funeral, but I sent a nice little note saying that I highly approved of it." Jim Flemming nationalbusinesscredit@yahoo.com Kit
---- Was Magnum PI really on the air for 18 years ??? Please re-check your facts.... this stuff is important to me .... (you may quote me..... I preferred the Rockford files....) Paul Torres BVCL AVP -- Credit T 650-294-6605 F 650-638-9889 www.BVCL.com ( A typo, the show ran from 1980 to 1988, not 1998. editor ). Leasing
Industry Releases Study Featuring High Tech Equipment IT Leasing Industry Expected to Grow to $16 Billion in 2003 ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. information technology (IT) equipment leasing industry revenues are expected to grow more than 49 percent in the next three years, from $10.706 billion in 1999 to $15.991 billion in 2003, according to the Status and Outlook for the U.S. IT Leasing Marketplace study, released by the Equipment Leasing Association (ELA). This growth will be fueled by acceleration in technology change and a decrease in technology equipment life cycles. The study identifies the fastest growing IT leasing sectors as data communications and software application leasing with 13.7 and 10.7 percent annual growth, respectively. The study also reveals that rapid change within the high tech equipment leasing industry will lead to a number of major changes in the ways that IT leasing is conducted. One of the most significant changes is the move away from a hardware-concentric model to one of financing implementations. "We anticipate a dramatic change within the high tech leasing industry in the next few years that will be driven by e-commerce and the increased introduction of new products among equipment vendors. These changes will allow technology equipment lessors to extend client relationships through expanded service offerings and provide companies with a cost-effective means of keeping up with rapidly changing technology needs," said Michael Fleming, ELA president. The study reports that the following market drivers will force smaller and midsize lessors to alter current practices to compete with larger independents: technology obsolescence, changing business fundamentals, the Internet and competition. To compete, smaller lessors will need to find a market niche, offer more value to customers, use new technology to their advantage and take risks with service providers and software and services financing. IT Leasing Industry Trends Include: * Immediate investment in e-commerce infrastructure is essential. The Internet is an essential businesses tool that enhances customer relationships and reduces the costs of business practices. * "New economy" lessors must be prepared to finance nontraditional products and offer innovative programs to serve "new economy" clients. * Partnerships are key to increasing revenues. To represent all the requirements of the Internet-based economy, lessors will need to build numerous vendor relationships and diversify their businesses. * The lines between technology leasing companies and capital equipment leasing will blur as customers' requirements evolve to a total leasing and service offering rather than solely equipment leasing. * Lessors must anticipate and be prepared to jump into new technology markets with growth potential. * Lessors should look to nontraditional partners and sources of funding, and expand their scope of lenders by working with multiple funding sources. * Global reach will become the key to success in this market. Companies should consider foreign or global lessor partnership strategies. Renowned technology consultant International Data Corporation (IDC) conducted this research project for ELA and Information Technology Resellers Association (ITRA) to better understand the status and direction of the IT leasing market in the United States. This study sought to define the size of the IT leasing market, forecast future growth, examine critical industry success factors and challenges, identify and analyze the role and position of key leasing industry players, assess financial indicator trends, examine the effect of major vendors' leasing strategies, and develop conclusions and recommendations for major industry sectors. Copies of Status and Outlook for the U.S. IT Leasing Marketplace may be purchased online at: http://www.elaonline.org/ELAstore/index.cfm?fuseaction=view-product&prod-id=80 . The study is $299 for ELA members and $499 for non-members. The Equipment Leasing Association (ELA) is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington, VA, representing more than 800 member companies, which provide a variety of asset-based financial products, primarily equipment leasing. By year-end of 2000, equipment leasing is estimated to be a $260 billion industry. SOURCE Equipment Leasing Association CO: Equipment Leasing Association; International Data Corporation ST: Virginia Farm
Credit Implements MicroBilt's SDK Product; A Cost Effective New Software Solution
for Streamlining Enterprise-Wide Credit Decisions KENNESAW, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 2000--MicroBilt Corporation announced today the successful integration of their new Software Developers Kit (SDK) with The Farm Credit Bank of Texas, a nationwide network of cooperative lending institutions. The SDK is a cost effective and highly adaptable new program for integrating consumer or commercial credit report retrieval and automated decision-making into software applications or websites. Before implementing the SDK program, Farm Credit employees had to wait several minutes to retrieve the necessary credit information, interpret cryptic reports and count multiple items before they could initiate the loan-decision process. In addition, multiple points of data entry were required to acquire the data from third party client software. Over the past several years Farm Credit had tried numerous ways to speed up their multi- credit transactions. "We tried to acquire leased lines to speed up the transactions, but they were too expensive. We talked about writing credit report parsing software, but the labor costs and maintenance would have been through the roof, " explained David Fields, senior programmer/analyst for Farm Credit. "We found the SDK to be a complete solution to these problems. We now enjoy lightning fast response time, a common report format regardless of the bureau chosen, and pre-exposed data elements via COM objects," said Fields. "We integrated the SDK into our Loan Accounting system within hours and without breaking our budget. If you are looking for the type of power and speed that the Fortune 500 have, without the price tag that traditionally comes with it, you need to check out MicroBilt's SDK product." Farm Credit, the headquarters Bank of the Tenth District of the Farm Credit System, provides credit and financial services to farmers, ranchers, and their cooperatives. They are the largest single provider of competitively priced agricultural credit in the United States. MicroBilt (www.MicroBilt.com), formerly a First Data Corporation subsidiary, is headquartered in Kennesaw, Georgia with offices in Princeton, New Jersey, South Carolina and California. MicroBilt is a nationwide leader in credit bureau data retrieval providing credit solutions to the Financial (banking, mortgages, home equity, credit union, collections), Rental or Leasing, Health Care, Insurance, Law Enforcement, Educational (Universities, Colleges and institutions of higher learning) and Utilities (gas, electric, cellular, cable, residential phones) industries. MicroBilt services over 30,000 customers throughout the United States and Canada. For more information, contact MicroBilt Corporation, 1640 Airport Road, Suite 115, Kennesaw, GA 30144. Telephone: 800/884-4747. Or visit their website at www.microbilt.com. CONTACT: MicroBilt, Kennesaw Pamela Williams, 770/218/4400, ext.4558 Barco
Inc. to Offer eMarket Capital's EquipmentLeasing Service to Customers Innovative B2B Financial Services Company Enjoying Fast Start PHOENIXVILLE, Pa., Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- eMarket Capital, Inc. (http://www.emarketcapital.com) announced today that the Electronic Tooling Systems (ETS) division of Barco Inc., will offer its customers lease financing through eMarket Capital's patent-pending Internet service. eMarket Capital creates and maintains Web-based private-label leasing services for major equipment manufacturers. The company is not a lender or broker, but rather serves as an intermediary for the manufacturer, the customer and multiple lenders. Jonathan Moran, founder and CEO of eMarket Capital, explained, "We make it possible for manufacturers to provide their customers with a choice of competitive leasing options through an easy-to-use Web site. Customers get all the information they need to compare lease terms quickly and easily, so deals can close faster. It's a win-win situation for manufacturers and their customers." eMarket Capital's services are free to both manufacturers and their customers. The costs are borne by the lender, who pays a below-market origination fee when a deal is closed. According to Moran, major benefits to manufacturers include increased revenue, enhanced customer loyalty and the elimination of financial risks associated with standard leasing arrangements. Benefits like these convinced Barco ETS to offer eMarket Capital's services to customers. "Barco ETS is dedicated to helping our customers obtain new, state-of-the-art equipment necessary to meet the challenges of today's highly demanding electronics manufacturing industry," said David E. Stone, hardware product manager of Barco ETS. "eMarket Capital's easy-to-use 'best fit' leasing solution will be of great value in achieving this goal for our customers." The South Windsor, Conn., firm sells engineering solutions for generating and managing tools for the production of printed wiring boards. Barco ETS customers will apply for a lease through a secure site linked to the Barco ETS web site. eMarket Capital forwards the application to multiple lenders after filtering it to meet lender criteria, including credit-scoring criteria. Lenders respond within two business days. Lenders provide information that is not usually available to leasing customers, including annual percentage rate and net present value. Using this "apples-to-apples" comparison, the customer chooses the most appropriate lease. Moran pointed out that while the customer applies for the lease over the Internet, eMarket Capital is a very high-touch, service oriented business. "We have experienced people working directly with manufacturers and their customers to make sure deals close smoothly," he said. "And while the lease transaction is Internet-based, the equipment sale doesn't have to be -- and it most cases, won't be. Most high-ticket equipment sales involve a lot of personal selling. So the equipment manufacturer's sales representative completes the sale just like always, then refers the customer to the Web site." eMarket Capital focuses on leasing transactions in the $5,000 to $1 million range which composes more than half of the $200 billion yearly leasing market. "These deals are typically less complicated and more suited to the quick turnaround nature of the Internet," Moran said. "Drill presses, electron microscopes, computer networks and medical laser equipment are just a few of the items that hundreds of thousands of companies will acquire through lease financing this year." eMarket Capital is a privately held company. Internet Capital Group, (Nasdaq: ICGE), (http://www.internetcapital.com), a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce company, recently announced that it has taken a stake in eMarket Capital for approximately $5 million in cash. For more information visit the eMarket Capital's Web site at http://www.emarketcapital.com or telephone, 800-994-4369. SOURCE eMarket Capital, Inc. CO: eMarket Capital, Inc. Capital
Stream Employs Best Software as Employee Retention Tops List for Fast-Growing
Companies RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 2000-- Best Software Forecasts Growth in Demand for Automated HR Solutions According to HR Executive Magazine's 2000 survey on retention, the concern is growing and the challenge increasing for companies to develop employee retention solutions. The estimates also show career growth and development to be the two most important benefits a company could use to increase employee retention. "The fast-paced nature of today's business marketplace is changing the way companies select, manage and retain their workforce," said Himanshu Palsule, vice president and general manager of middle-market products for Best Software, Inc. "Now that advanced business process capabilities are becoming easier and more affordable to install, both small- and mid-sized companies are rapidly adopting technology as a means to streamline the retention function." High-tech, fast-growth companies are among the neediest. According to Deloitte and Touche, a leading professional services firm, that conducted a survey among technology CEOs, nearly 70 percent polled agree that the ability to both hire and retain qualified people directly impacts the livelihood of their business. However, today, HR executives of those companies continue to juggle a variety of largely administrative-related tasks and issues and, as a result, often have little time to devote to more strategic functions such as attracting, developing and mentoring key talent. To address the growing need to retain and develop employees, Best Software has produced and installed a variety of scalable solutions for the entire spectrum of the retention process. The Abra Alert(TM) feature of Best Software's fully-integrated Abra Suite(R) HR information system (HRIS), for example, streamlines and electronically manages communications throughout an employee's career cycle. "Abra Alerts is the industry's only fully-integrated HRIS application designed to automate and proactively manage today's workforce - from the first day to the last day and every career move in between," said Palsule. "It directs the right information to the right people quickly and easily, without user intervention." Capital Stream, a leading provider of e-commerce solutions for the leasing and commercial finance industries, was one of the first companies to implement the application, and has already realized the benefits of a more streamlined HR administration process, according to Melanie Vargas, Capital Stream's vice president of human resources. "Staff levels are rapidly increasing to fuel our recent growth," said Vargas. "Abra Alerts keeps our managers informed about their employees' work history and other key data." Abra(R) solutions help relieve the strain on multi-tasked HR departments. HR executives save time and increase productivity by eliminating the manual preparation associated with managing each employee's career path. About Best Software Best Software, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Sage Group plc, is a leading provider of solutions which help organizations transform the way they manage their people, assets and planning. With more than 50,000 customers worldwide and offices throughout North America, it develops scalable, cost-effective solutions which complement core financial management systems and support the full spectrum of Microsoft platforms, including Windows(R) 95, Windows(R) 98, Windows NT(R) and BackOffice(R). For further information, call 800/368-2499, send an email to vacustserve@bestsoftware.com, or access our Web site at www.bestsoftware.com. Best Software, the Best logo, Abra and Abra Suite are registered trademarks, and Abra Alerts is a trademark of Best Software, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CONTACT: Best Software Brian Muys, 703/709-5200, x3829 brian-muys@bestsoftware.com or Duffey Communications Matt Wright/Jan Sisko, 404/266-2600 mattw@duffey.com/jsisko@duffey.com
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