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Please send to a colleague, as we are trying to build our readership. You may copy or quote anything without our permission. We are free. No banners, no paid advertising, no fees. We are dedicated to providing information to the equipment leasing industry and promote all leasing associations. Headlines---- CMC’s Bill Hanson to Return All Advance Rentals Mid-American Association of Equipment Lessors: 140 Members eLeasing/American Leasing & Financial Map of States Participating Streamlined Sales Tax Project---- Leasing News Bulletin Board Support Flex Lease, Piano, Texas Bulletin Board Up-Date Nordson Corporation Signs with eMarket Capital Highlights Equipment Leasing Association Newsletter
Fed chairman
visits the Oakland Raiders
### Denotes press release ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----announcement---- Sorry Readers, no Leasing News on Monday. Going to the 49er-Green Bay game at Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin and not taking my laptop with me. 49er needs our support, so we will be there to cheer on The Niners' to WIN!!! Kit Menkin, editor _____________________________________________________ CMC’s Bill Hanson to Return All Advance Rentals Over 113 tuned in to “Meet the Leasing News Maker” on Thursday at 1pm, California time. More than 60 stayed longer than an hour. The first time session was expected to bring 25 to 50 on line, but Bill Hanson of Commercial Money Center had a major announcement. “We are still experiencing delays and we've decided to give all the advance rentals back to the customer until we are ready to fund in 72 hours, “ he announced. “Starting today and going through next week… UPS starting today” “We are hoping 30-60 days and all lessees will be contacted to see if they want to move forward with the lease. If they do all broker commissions will be paid, “ he added. The audience appeared quite surprised. “Wow!! That is a big announcement! “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “I have seen many companies in my 20 years not "do the right thing” morally...I think giving back the money is rare” I have seen many companies in my 20 years not "do the right thing” morally...I think giving back the money is rare “ Ironically, September 11 was Bill Hanson’s 62nd birthday. “It has affected us greatly due to the banks concern about the Insurance companies maintaining their rating, “ he explained. The summer funding was to have been September 14th, it then was postponed several times to November 14th, and then to December 15th. ] “Some transactions that came in June funded in late July, the rest were waiting for the pool in September when tragedy hit...we funded over 100 million through June.” Hansen fielded many tough and direct questions: “Is CMC currently not funding transactions and effectively out of business until surety issues are resolved? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “Out of business is a strong word, we are far from out of business we are still accepting applications and intend on processing them and funding them We are returning everyone's advance rentals “ >> INTERVIEW [SUBMITTED QUESTION] “ So you are still accepting applications? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “YES, please support us and we will support the brokers.”
“ Everyone talks about CMC being the last resort, what does the credit look like and roughly what would be the rate “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “500 fair isaac..closed BK....several NSF's..... released tax liens and judgments.........we have a rate factor ...like renting an apartment .03630 for 64 months… we only have 64 months...we are trying to get our shorter leases back “ “It takes 5 to 6 weeks because we sell the transactions off in pools of 5 to 10 million and this is after all documents are correct “ “ Have faith CMC has shown good faith by returning the advance rentals and they will come through. And CMC in the last 3 and 1/2 years has funded over 300 million.” “Is the Tampa office going to remain open, I find it very convenient “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “We have NO current plans of closing any of our offices.” “Is CMC currently not funding transactions and effectively out of business until surety issues are resolved? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “Out of business is a strong word, we are far from out of business we are still accepting applications and intend on processing them and funding them We are returning everyone's advance rentals “ : “How, exactly, does CMC manage to insure against the obviously risky credits? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] The performance bond issued by the insurance company guarantees the banks each and every payment to the bank “Does this mean that ALL companies that have deals waiting for funding will be refunded their advance monies????? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “We will start with transaction in funding, when this process is done if we are still under a delay we will then issue the transaction in processing “ “I have heard stories about vendors having to wait for 30 days or longer to get paid, is this due to the nature of your credits or your funding sources “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “Yes, It takes 5 to 6 weeks because we sell the transactions off in pools of 5 to 10 million and this is after all documents are correct.” ] : “What about all the vendors who have delivered equipment 6 months ago? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “Good question, we have not given up on being able to fund these transactions and we feel most vendors will be paid We are refunding the lessees advance rentals, but still trying to move forward and fund them as soon as possible” ] “How do you suggest we handle the vendors who now have used equipment and no funding? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “We're giving you the money back so the lessee can control his or her destiny, while we try our hardest to get it funded ASAP “ “Why would a broker submit a deal if funding is unsure or never? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “Your job is to get approvals and we usually only like to look at deals that are headed for your trash can....SO, what's to lose? “ :”What's to loose? Only a good vendor relationship “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE That's why you have to be completely honest with your vendor. do you tell your vendor your taking to them to CMC?” “ How long before all checks are returned?” [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “We are cutting them as we speak” “Okay, what would you say to a lessee on funding? 30, 60 days, if at all?! “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “I'd say 30-60 days and that's what the letter will say that’s going to be with the check “ “When you said the advance rentals will be returned does that include the doc fees as well? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “No, we plan on funding these deals. Doc's and Quik Trac have been paid and done “ “ If they could make question to you is...Why did you bring them here? By keeping doc and quik trak fees, aren't you holding the lessee's feet to the fire to continue to work with you? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “First, we are not walking away from the lease and from our experience these lessees can't” “Approximately how many advance rentals will you be returning? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “All of them “ [SUBMITTED QUESTION] “Will you fax copy of lessee letter to broker? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “We are working on a letter for the broker and the vendor! We want to keep everybody working together! That's what America's all about “ “Since I was late.............is there even a "realistic" time frame for the deals that have been in the funding process for several months? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “To fund? 30-60 days...to get their money back? 2 to 10 days “ >> INTERVIEW [SUBMITTED QUESTION] “: Do you have any suggestions as to where to place some of these deals? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “Contact me and I will be more than happy in trying to help...1-800-856-0907 “ >> INTERVIEW “What are the odds of you being able to straighten everything out??? “ [Bill Hanson ANSWERS] “Excellent “ These are only excerpts from the transcript, which is not available to the public. Here is the “ Meet the Leasing News Maker “ introduction to Bill Hanson: I have been in the leasing industry since 1982 making me a 20-year veteran. I graduated from Ottawa University and have a Masters degree from Pittsburgh State. After completing my degree I went directly into teaching and coaching. I spent 15 years coaching basketball on all levels from High School to Professional Ball, working in the camp system with the Milwaukee Bucks. My coaching career came to a screeching halt in my early 30's, under doctor’s advice, after suffering a heart attack in 1973. My passion was coaching, but my love is my children (I have seven children and 12 grandchildren). So, the decision was easy to stop coaching with no regrets! I also thoroughly enjoy the leasing industry and care about the people involved. Leasing is similar to coaching with the aspect of being able to help people and I enjoy watching their business (skills) grow. I started my leasing career with Heritage Leasing under Ron Wagner and my life long friend Gil Evans. They sold Heritage to Imperial in 1995. I decided my skills in leasing were ready to branch out on their own and I started my own company in 1996. Once I worked out the kinks and started to roll, I brought my son, Ty on board. I know the old saying” that you shouldn't work with friends or family", but it's been a great experience for both of us and I highly recommend it! In 1999, we sold the company to Commercial Money Center. Commercial Money Center's goal is to become a one-stop do all leasing company. Right now, we are trying to capitalize the C and D market. Our niche is tying challenging credits in with surety bonds that enhance the transaction so we can sell them off to our banks! Trying to do the deals the mainstream WON'T can be difficult and challenging at times, but we are determined to get the challenged credit deals to fund timely and as simple as A B C!
Bill Hanson Leasing News is Planning the Next “Meet the Leasing News Maker” January 17th, Thursday, 1pm, California time (if readers on the East Coast, particularly, have a better day and time suggestion, please let us know: kitmenkin@leaisngnews.org ).
Mid-America Association of Equipment Lessors 140 Members Sorry for the delay and abridged information but I am traveling until Monday at which time I intend to give you more information on the MAEL. Membership is approximately 140 as of 12-31-01. Dues were $150 plus a $50 application fee (for new members) last year and will be $300 with no application fee (for any members). Our 2001 Annual Meeting was cancelled on 10-11-01 (because of 9-11 as it was to be in the Sears Tower). We believe we will combine last years meeting with our highly successful MAEL Invitational and Warm-Up Weekend scheduled for May 18-20, 2002 in Chicago. We had over 300 participants and sponsors in attendance last year at the leasing industry's largest golf related networking event. The 2002 Annual Meeting will be held in October in a smaller building or hotel in Chicago and we expect to have at least 200 in attendance Best regards, Clyde D. Cady President Facility Capital 333 West Wacker Drive Suite 1750 Chicago, IL 60606 cdcady@facilitycapital.com www.facilitycapital.com 312.541.6000 phone 312.541.1275 fax 312.399.9335 mobile eLeasing/American Leasing & Financial Several people have recently called me, including Barry Marks, to apprise me that lots of people are asking who the heck we are. If you will recall, the late Adrian Bulman and I were partners in American Leasing & Financial, Inc., Atlanta, GA. For information, if any interest to anyone, I have formed e-leasing, Inc., and have moved to Sarasota, FL. I am doing the same types of deals we did at American. Phone is 941-388-0160, fax 941-388-0170. I have not been receiving your newsletter recently so please update your records for this e-mail address and feel free to share the address with anyone but the Taliban.
Thanks
Michael Losey (In addition to the year-end membership total, new dues, if any, we are also trying to up-date our eLease section ranking of such companies. There were also several readers who wanted to know what had happened to your company, so I am glad you responded. Editor) __________________________________________________________________ Map of States Participating Streamlined Sales Tax Project---- States participating in the Streamlined Sales Tax Project and Implementing States are featured in the following map produced by the Council On State Taxation (COST). Representing 530 multistate corporations, COST seeks to preserve and promote equitable nondiscriminatory state and local taxation of multijurisdictional business entities. The appointment of COST Tax Counsel Stephen Kranz, Esq. as the Delegate to Implementing States from the District of Columbia has been one of the successes gained by the private sector. http://www.leasingnews.org/meetings/Map_files/Map.doc Dennis Brown DBROWN@ELAMAIL.COM Equipment Leasing Association ________________________________________________________ Leasing News Bulletin Board Support I want to respond to objections of answering complaints of industry peers. As a funding source we have set programs for our brokers. When they don't work and there are questions as to why they don't work we are obligated to respond. No response brings suspect. Defensive response brings questions as to what is being hidden. We should not be afraid to present the facts unless we are hidding something. I will state again we all need to work together to keep our industry clean. If we prospect openly for brokers we should be ready to respond openly to questions. Kit, again I applaud you for your commitment to providing a great industry contact tool in the Leasing News. Keep up the good work. John Gallo john@mcleasing.com M & C Leasing Co., Inc. --- Thanks to you again for the valuable service you provide to our industry...your clearinghouse of information continues to offer at least some protection to the finance industry and its clients from the scams and shams which will always be just around the corner. The nefarious business practices of some within our leasing/finance family often ends up smearing us all with disdain and skepticism in the eyes of our clients and it should anger us all at least a little bit. However, while the likes of a Jeff Wetter/Flex Lease do cause me to flinch when I see the response of a client or vendor who has been bruised badly by sub-par business practices and/or sewer-level ethics, it certainly can and often does open some doors for ethical finance companies to present to both clients and vendors valid, verifiable references of stellar performance and positive relationship patterns which can have been proven over many years...it certainly does pay in the long run to just do it the right way from day one and stay with that path! It seems to me that Mr. Wetter needs no outside assistance from you or anyone else to "defame" his business....all he has to do is keep talking to people on the phone, projecting anger against others to deflect from discussion of truth and/or emailing Leasing News with threats of destruction by lawsuit and he will soon close his own "defame" deal! Best wishes to you and your team in 2002! God bless, Larry B. Turner Vision Capital Corporation 858-487-6530 lbt@visioncapitalcorp.com Flex Lease, Piano, Texas Bulletin Board Up-Date Flex Leasing, Piano, Texas Pays Half As it stands, our client paid us, on December 19, in full for the software due to this situation. She said I would be receiving 100% funding from Flex Lease anyway. At that point I am to refund her in full. I called her yesterday, prompted by your email; however, I could not reach her. She is quite busy as she has just gone live with her new software. I have since learned (today) that Flex Lease has paid her 50% and will fund us the other 50%. I have not heard again from Mr. Wetter or anyone from Flex Lease to this date nor have we received payment from Flex Lease. I will keep you abreast of the details as this progresses. Thank you for attempting to assist us in this matter. Best Regards, Alicia Paul Office Manager SimCrest, Inc. ---- Thank you for publishing the complaint and my response as I've written it. Hopefully others will adopt a "none of your business" response to leasingnews.org inquiries. Maybe not though, time will tell.
Also, you refer to us repeatedly as Flexleasing. We are not Flexleaing, we are Flex Lease. Flexleasing is a unrelated company out of Albuquerque owned by Chuck Griffith (they may be out of business, I am not sure). I think you owe it to Chuck to publish a clarification.
Please publish this entire e-mail.
Thank you.
Jeff Wetter jwetter@flexlease.com www.flexlease.com Thank you. Jeff Wetter jwetter@flexlease.com ---- Chuck is out of business. I did an exit interview with him, and we reported that here at Leasing News.. It is also on the List http://www.leasingnews.org/list.htm “(a subsidiary of Griffin and Associates),Albuquerque, New Mexico (4/2001) Merger falls apart, Chuck decides to take early retirement. (3/2001) closing office, to merge with another company, "announcement soon," say Chuck Griffin “ We are an industry electronic newspaper and web site. We have been requested by readers to put alerts and complaints on line. We try to be fair by giving both sides. Many of the complaints are settled before going to the bulletin board, as newspapers are also “ombudsman.” Our readership grows each day because the readers want to know what is happening in their industry. I meant Flex leasing, abbreviating it, but to clear up any confusion, we have corrected the on line version, the bulletin board posting, and re-print it now to fulfill your request. Kit Menkin editor/publisher Flex Lease, Plano, Texas Board Complaint January 10,2002 December 18, 2001 Our client (name withheld) has completed documents with Flex Lease in Plano, Texas. On the go-ahead of Jeff Wetter, President of Flex Lease, we ordered and installed the software expecting payment upon installation. We have been calling him since December 5 for this payment that is due to us. He rarely returns calls or emails but the few times he has called was to give us three false promises of payment dates. Last Wednesday he told us the check would be delivered to us on Monday (Yesterday). I called twice on Friday to confirm that everything looked good, but he didn't return my calls. I called three times yesterday; leaving voice mails, and sent a follow up email. He didn't take or return any of my calls yesterday or send me a reply email. I see he checked email on Friday and even replied to someone on your site on Friday. He appears to be avoiding my emails and phone calls. I called him this morning; I had to leave another voice mail, and told him I would advise our client if I didn't hear back from him by noon. Noon has come and gone. I advised my client that she would be liable for the payment because Flex Lease is not returning calls or sending a check. She in turn has called him and he didn't pick up the phone for her either. I just spoke with her and he hasn't returned her call yet, either. What do you know about this company? Do they fund the leases themselves? Are they always so evasive? This is our first and only encounter with this company. I know we will never work through them again because of their lack of enough professionalism to return a phone call or fund a check for that matter. Just to let you know, I've tried his assistant Janie each time also in case he was just busy, except yesterday and today. But with the pattern, it just appears he is choosing not to take or return my calls.
Best Regards, Alicia Paul, NCR Office Manager Sim Crest, Inc. 12222 Merit Dr., Suite 1850 Dallas, TX 75251 972-770-4651 Leasing News attempted to contact Flex Lease, Plano, Texas to confirm, deny, or explain their side of this complaint. We sent several e-mails. Here is one of them: Re: Bulletin Board Complaint We started this process with this complaint and have been trying to resolve this as it appears to be a legitimate complaint. If they have delivered and installed and the lease was signed off on December 5, they are concerned when they will be paid. I don't know if you are a broker on this and it was assigned elsewhere, but am trying to resolve this peaceable. . We next received.
December 20,2002 I heard back from Jeff Wetter, Flex Lease, today. Here is an overview of our conversation. He was less than professional, again. He asked me why I was harassing him. I said "I will not take blame for your lack of communication.", he said "shut up and let me say one damn thing." I said, "You will not address me like that." Then he raised his voice and said quite nastily, that we are the lowest on his list of priorities now and he doesn't t intend to give us payment any time soon nor does he care if we get payment at all. I told him, "Do not raise your voice at me. It's this whole lack of professionalism that is seeing to the fact that you will never work with us or any of our clients again." He said, still in a loud voice, "I don't give a damn! You listen to me!" I said, "Who do you think you are? I will be hanging up now." Click.
I m really interested in knowing what you know about this person and this company. In the five years that I have worked with leasing companies to finance software for my clients, I ve never even once had an experience like this.
Best Regards, Alicia Paul Office Manager SimCrest, Inc.; Leasing News continued to follow this, asking for a comment to the Bulletin Board Complaint. In following up the original complaint, we informed Flex Lease, Plano, Texasing that we were going to state they had "no comment". in the Bulletin Board Posting: January 10 You obviously feel very empowered in your position. Once again, for the record, my comment/response to the vendor's complaint is that I do not comment to LeasingNews.org. I feel that it is none of LeasingNews.org's business. Any of your reader's are welcome to e-mail me if they would like my side of this complaint. This is my comment, do not print that I have no comment. All you have to do is print the vendor's complaint then state, "Jeff Wetter at Flex Lease stated that he does not comment to LeasingNews.org as he feels it is none of our business. He stated that readers can e-mail him directly if they would like his side of the complaint". There, I've written it for you. Please publish it like this. Couldn't be easier for you. I you publish the complaint then state that I have no comment, your readers will interpret this as a defacto admission of guilt on my part. This will harm my business and my reputation. My competition will use the article against me to win lessees and vendors we both compete for. Please don't do this to me. Why are you so afraid to print that I do not comment to LeasingNews.org? Afraid of others doing the same? Afraid of losing illegitimate power? I have saved every e-mail between us. They make it very clear that I have told you repeatedly what my comment and response to your inquiry is. If you publish the complaint then state that I have "no comment" as you say you intend to do, I will sue you for intentionally attempting to defame my business. Thank you. Jeff Wetter jwetter@flexlease.com www.flexlease.com ______________________________________________________________ ##### ############################# ################ Nordson Corporation Signs with eMarket Capital for Equipment Financing Innovative Web-Based Program Streamlines Customer Financing Process (King of Prussia, PA– eMarket Capital (www.emarketcapital.com) announced today that it has signed an agreement with Nordson Corporation, the world’s leading precision dispensing systems manufacturer, to make its proprietary on-line financing support available to Nordson customers. eMarket Capital is a Web-based service that facilitates the financing of capital equipment for manufacturers of consumer and industrial products. "eMarket Capital’s experience in providing convenient and flexible financial solutions to customers was key to forming this partnership," stated Ray Cushing, Nordson Treasurer. "Innovative on-line and off-line application and information management solutions will allow our customers to quickly choose between competitive proposals from multiple matched lenders," Cushing added. Based in Ohio, Nordson Corporation’s products are used worldwide in the appliance, container, converting, electronics, food and beverage, furniture, medical, metal finishing, nonwovens, packaging and pharmaceutical industries. Nordson markets its products through a direct operations network in 31 countries; more than 50 percent of the company’s revenues are generated from operations outside the United States. "Nordson represents the best in their market segments on a global basis," said Dean Stolberg, eMarket Capital Vice President. "We look forward to a mutually beneficial partnership with this manufacturing leader."
How eMarket Capital Works eMarket Capital provides private-label financing services that help manufacturers finalize more transactions by making competitive financing available to their customers. The company establishes a customized financing Web site for each client. Each site is operated under the manufacturer's brand name and includes a limited number of lenders who are experienced in equipment financing and who can collectively cater to a broad range of credit situations. The service targets capital equipment purchases from $5,000 to $1 million. Transactions in this range represent over 50 percent of the overall market, which analysts expect to grow 5 to 8 percent a year. Customers fill out an on-line or faxable application, then receive multiple offers from selected program lenders. Offers are submitted to the customer in a format that simplifies the process by making an "apples-to-apples" comparison. Lenders pay a below-market origination fee only when they complete a deal through one of the Web sites. Additional information can be obtained at www.emarketcapital.com or by calling 1-800-994-4369. ### eMarket Capital Corporate Fact Sheet Headquarters 681 Moore Road, Suite 321 King of Prussia, PA 19406 Telephone: 610-354-8820 Fax: 610-354-8835 E-mail: info@emarketcapital.com Web site: www.emarketcapital.com Founded/ Ownership eMarket Capital is a privately held company founded in 1999 by a group of leasing industry veterans led by Jonathan Moran, formerly with GE Capital. Overview eMarket Capital provides customized, private-label, Internet-based leasing services to equipment manufacturers. Manufacturers who use our services can offer competitive lease financing to their customers through private bid auctions among a limited number of carefully selected, highly motivated lenders. Providing competitive leasing services to their customers means that manufacturers can close deals faster while providing a higher level of customer satisfaction. Lenders benefit, too, because they see a continuous flow of qualified deals at a lower-than-normal acquisition cost. The company has been beta testing its sites since July 2000 and released the second version of its proprietary software in December 2000. Markets eMarket Capital serves manufacturers that sell equipment valued at $5,000 to $1 million. Leases in this amount are best suited to the quick turnaround nature of the Internet. While the company serves manufacturers in many industries, it has a special focus on medical equipment and industrial equipment. |