410 leasing professionals and their spouses/significant others attended the United Association of Equipment Leasing ( UAEL) Conference in Orlando, Florida from Wednesday, September 13 to Sunday, September 17, according to Joan Dalton, UAEL Executive Director.

Executive Vice-President and General Manager Dr. Raymond Williams, Ph.D., CAE., and his wife Trish seemed to be everywhere. They both found the conference both "exciting and well rewarding, see old friends, giving the opportunity to meet new people and see old friends."

Bob Rodi, CLP, Lease Now, congratulated incoming UAEL president Chuck Brazier, CLP, Centerpoint Financial at the Friday Luncheon Program and Annual Business Meeting.

Chuck Brazier was very emotional in the acceptance of the position, almost as emotional as Bob Rodi who said the end of December would be the completion of a six-year term going through the executive board chair to president. George J. Davis, CLP, Fortune Financial was saluted, who will be leaving the UAEL Executive Board as past president.

In his farewell address, Bob Rodi noted that the organization has 48% of its members from East of the Mississippi, and heralded the organization as being " truly national," growing from its former as solely a Western association.

He also repeated this theme in several instances: " I am proud that all members can vote." He mentioned leasing brokers, lessors, funders, service, and attorneys. He spoke on this theme for several minutes, which basically alludes to one major difference than the rival National Association of Lease Brokers tm, who only allow lease brokers to vote in elections of officers.

Membership Chairman Rudy Trebels, CLP, ICP Financial reported there were 465 paid members and UAEL had a 72% retention rate for members. Theresa Kabot, CLP, Kabot Commercial Leasing, past membership chairman and board liaison had to leave the conference early and was not at the meeting, we were all told, and her work in the past year was acknowledged and "greatly appreciated. " A new membership contest was announced with many serious prizes such as free UAEL membership, air flight to conference, free conference fees, hotel lodging, and other incentives to the top winners of the membership contest to be award at the Spring Conference (place and date not announced at UAEL.org site yet-while you are at it, change some of the out of date things like Dennis Doyon, Regional Chair from Colonial Pacific Leasing. He hasn't been there for quite some time).

Rodi leaves UAEL in very good financial shape. The December 31, 1999 audited financial statement was given to everyone at the luncheon. Unrestricted net assets at the end of the year went from $263,245 in 1998 to $362,727 in 1999. Member's dues gross income went from $317,758 in 1998 to $362,727 in 1999. Gross conference and meeting dues increased from$657,233 to $911,074 in 1999.

The Orlando conference had over 35 exhibitors with Friday afternoon and Saturday morning exclusively for appointments that attendees would sign up on a sheet the day before.

Randy Haug, vice-president of Lease Team, found Saturday to be the most active, although he said Friday was "thin," but the visitors were "serious people" who were not just walking down the aisles way. He was very happy. His company had just bought on Thursday www.novametric.com. , maker of " Lease Sales Manager,"

"This is a 'front end' to add to our Lease Team accounting package, " he explained. " It is in real time, with pricing engine, with private label abilities, credit scoring, documentation generator for use at a workstation or live on the website."

Haug said they now have a 300 client user base and with the new features available from "Lease Sales Manager" expects to dramatically grow this year. They formally were tied with System 1 (Capital Stream ), but have gone another direction to "…tie in both the back end and the front end."

Leasing News was "for the record" told by a person manning the Balboa Capital Booth that "Pat Byrne does still have an office here, available anytime he wants to use it." (We are still trying to get Pat Byrnes side of the story). The recent UAEL Newsline announces Dean Cox, CLP, to the position of Chief Executive Officer. The announcements states, " Mr. Cox plans to revolutionize...and to re-unite all departments into an integrated team. "

General Electric has brought Tilden Financial, and Trinity Leasing has purchases SFC Capital. FMA Finance has closed, and Advanta Financial admitted they are on the block for sale. " We are all hoping the buyer will keep us as a team, " one Advanta officer told me. " We don't have a portfolio as the bank places our leases elsewhere."

The talk at the Advanta Financial Party Friday night seemed to center around being for sale, as all representatives were quite open about it. One person told me US Bancorp had looked at them, but decided to by Manifest. UPS Leasing and American Express Leasing, who were helped in formation by Advanta were not interested, I was told. Sierra Cities was talked about, and I have heard that DLG was hired to find a buyer, that UPS Leasing and American Express Leasing were very interested, but want to "steal" the company. This is a publically held company, so everyone is tight lipped about it. I understand it is more a "system buy" than interest in the portfolio.

There is news on several message boards about this, but we cannot get confirmation or denial, but we have been reporting that the sale has been "eminent" for several weeks (Leasing News is working on a story about Sierra Cities and is seeking comments from them. This is a top rated company, a leader on the internet and we hope to have a confirmed, accurate story ).

Norm Nelson, formerly head of Phoenix Venture Leasing, will be the new president and COO for Pentech Financial. A press release is being written for an announcement the beginning of October, but we have learned that Ben Millerbus, CLP, and past president of UAEL will be staying on as Chairman and CEO as well as Peter Eaton, Vice-President of Marketing, in charge of broker business. The company is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Campbell, California (six minutes from the Chairman's house in Los Gatos, he claims).

Nelson is reportedly bringing some Phoenix salesmen with him, and they have eyes on other top candidates in the US to build up the company's great success in the Venture Capital backed leasing marketplace.

I heard from a CIT source that they had offered the job to Nelson, but Millerbus made him a better deal. Millerbus would not confirm nor deny this. He says Nelson knows about Pentech, their niche in the marketplace, and while Pentech is smaller than CIT, wanted to be with the leader in the Venture Capital backed leasing industry.

" Even if venture capital were turned off right now, there is so much money other there right now we would not feel it for a year and a half to two years, " he said. " More important, there is more money being invested than last year and the end does not appear in site as success brings more success. I don't see it slowing down for at least three to five years, depending on many things, including the Asian marketplace which could catapult us into prosperity that we never realized."

Heller has entered the Venture Backed Leasing niche and it is reported CIT wants to move in this direction " in a big way."

Other Exhibit highlights included Securelease.net, a St. Charles, Missouri company, who have only five signed up so far, they say, but have a very impressive web presence to offer. $400 per month buys five passwords for leasing companies and brokers to add to their website for a full internet application, doing pricing, scoring, documentation, and communicating with vendors to follow the process. This is truly an independent internet identity for your company.

" Our purpose is to allow leasing companies to attract more vendor business, " Kirk Hall, Chief Technology Officer said. " We can give internet application to let the vendor follow the process as it develops by the leasing company.

Hall alluded to "not sharing files with others, even pointed this out in their literature as their number one goal: " Guaranteed protection of your data, " the letter to UAEL members stated.

" And we don't have the burn rate of some of these other internet software companies, so we can keep our prices low, " he told me. There are no application charges and adding additional vendor passwords (accounts) are $65 per month.

"Using the internet, the vendor will access your leasing program via a secured link on your web site." Securelease.net does not have an application program to go direct as it is designed only for vendors that the leasing company assigns to the program.

One of the problems discussed in the several excellent legal workshops was the need of a California Personal Property Broker License, even by internet companies or anyone who does business in this state. "

A telephone line is used, it is dialed up or connected to the system, and that makes it clear the transaction can be considered to be conducted in California, " according to Victor Harris, a very well respected leasing attorney.

Roger Marce, attorney and also representative for Manufacturers' Leasing Services, brought up a very recent ruling by the Federal Trade Commission that signed permission is needed to run "consumer credit. " Even if the lessee signs a personal guarantee, an attorney can argue the case that permission to run personal credit was not given before the approval. If the applicant is turned down, or falsely submitted, the leasing company may be subject to a class action suit or punitive damages, including consumer criminal charges. His theme, don't run any consumer credit without a signed application (the electronic signature is being considered but not applicable at this time, as this editor understood it.).

Missed at the Friday night events was Ginny Young, Brava Capital, who generally organizes the best night party hosted by brokers. Even Ken Greene, the great piano player, took off to visit (his mother lives nearby Orlando, I was told). Thursday was the first timers evening cocktail party, followed by a general reception outside by the Buena Vista Bay at the Disney Contemporary resort. The Advanta Financial Party followed.

Friday say the Commercial Money Center party where they were giving a $100 bill to every raffle winner who was present. It seemed every 15 minutes. The room was packed. The GE/Colonial Pacific party was outside, at the same time, and most waited to see if they won before leaving for this event.

It was "strange but great" to sign in and be greeted by Cindy Spurdle, former executive director of The National Association of the Leasing Brokers tm. She was very happy, friendly, and appeared glad to see me. We have a "What Happened to…" feature about her here at Leasing News. I saw Gary Egan and Bob Bell, plus other NAELB members there. I asked them for comments about Cindy or Bob Rodi's speech, but they quickly changed the subject.

I missed the Saturday Night UAEL Dinner Party by Total Funding to watch the Oakland Raiders lose to the Denver Bronco's in 98 degree weather. Alan Collier, the president of Total Funding was not able to attend, his wife just having a baby boy, Sterling Nolan Collier. Many left early Saturday afternoon to avoid Hurricane Gordon, which was threatening to close the airport the next day.

The cost from going from California to the Orlando, Florida Conference for me was roughly $2,000 for air, hotel, and conference fees, not counting incidentals or the two days needed just to fly to the destination. There also was a three-hour time difference, so a 7am-committee meeting was really 4am California time. So this conference was for the dedicated professional who supports UAEL, and there were many. There were also several that took their families and made a week or longer vacation to visit the great sites. After my short visit, I could see why Tiger Woods choose Orlando, Florida

 

Kit Menkin

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Nominate your favorite Equipment Leasing Web Site for our Web Site Contest

If you are the first to nominate the site and it wins, we will not only give you credit, but send you a bottle of wine or box of chocolate

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40 Leasing Companies Major Changes

Advanta Financial 9/15/2000 ( on the block, for sale )
American Business Leasing ( gone )
Balboa Capital ( Founder Byrne says he was not pushed out/UAEL Newsline announces new CEO )
The Bancorp Group, Inc. (Southfield, MI) ( no longer in business )
Bankvest (bankrupt)
Bombadier ( reported having problems, not confirmed )
Charter Financial ( purchased by Wells Fargo 9/5/2000 )
Colonial Pacific ( 11/98 purchased by GE Capital )
Commerce Security ( closed to leasing broker program )
Copelco ( sold to Citibank )
Dana ( sold off, active as captive )
DVI Capital ( out of broker )
eLease ( management team let go )
FMA Finance 9/15/2000 ( reportedly closed )
Fidelity ( acquired by EAB, a wholly owned subsidiary of ABN AMRO Bank N.V., headquartered in the Netherlands, raising funds )
Finova ( out of market place )
Franklin Bank ( no more leases )
Imperial ( sold portfolio )
Lease Acceptance Corp---( ceases broker business 7/26/2000 )
Leasing Solutions ( bankrupt )
Liberty Leasing ( closed, California company )
Linc Capital ( out of vendor and broker business, Nasdaq halts stock sales, $13.4 loss last quarter )
Manifest Group--( 9/1/2000 purchased by US Bancorp Leasing and Financial, "...a win for     all the parties involved," Brian Bjella.
Matsco Financial ( purchased by Greater Bay Bank )
Merit Leasing ( gone )
Metwest Leasing, Spokane Wa. ( advising brokers that they have run out of funds so      they are unable to fund a transaction we have there for funding. )
Metrolease--reports closing operation, will not confirm nor deny; many serious rumors floating around the marketplace.)
NationsCredit, Business Leasing Group (1/29/99 sold to Textron**)
      *"The Business Leasing Group of Nations Credit was sold to Textron and we still do       broker business," Jim Merrilees.
New England Capital ( sold to Network Capital Alliance a division of Sovereign Bank.    Sovereign did hire two people who will run a sales office in CT, doing basically the    same deals with the same people as before. Little will change in that aspect.
Newcourt ( sold off )
Onset Capital ( Irwin buys 87% equity )
Orix purchased by Japan Leasing ( 6/1999)
Orix Vendor Operation ( closes small ticket vendor division in Portland, Oregon, "Business as usual (in New Jersey and with brokers)," says Steve Geller )
Phoenix ( both divisions )
Prime Capital ( "yes and no" sold off, may be negotiating )
Rockford ( sold to American Express )
SDI ( closed to broker programs )
SFC Capital ( 9/15/2000 purchased by Trinity Capital )
SierraCities ( post $7.7 million second quarter loss, rumors abound, including pending     sale )
Tilden Financial ( 8/15/2000 purchased by GE Capital
T&W ( bankrupt, lost their listing )
Transamerica ( sold )
Unicapital ( $11.4 million first quarter loss chairman,CEO,CFO resign, 38 employees cutback, 8/23 BSB to use other funders reported, rumor that BSB will be "spun off", not confirmed and appears to be in the rumor stage right now. Good news, 9/1 Bank of America extends revolving credit line to October 16,2000. ))
USA Capital Leasing ( gone-bk )

any corrections, additions, or comments are appreciated. We hope to divide this list, making it more relevant, into a more recent list for the last 12 months and a list with changes over 12 months, and are working on dates of the changes above. Any help with dates would be greatly appreciated---editor.

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Lease2Save News

MARINA DEL REY, Calif., /PRNewswire/ -- Lease2Save.com, a unit of the FutureVest e-Finance Network, and recognized industry leader in online leasing solutions, has formed a strategic partnership with Tools USA, Inc., a division of Standard Tools. Under the agreement, Lease2Save.com will make available its business-to-business leasing exchange and leasing-enabling services to Tools USA's 43,000 capital equipment customers from the company's website www.toolsusa.com. Using Lease2Save.com's patent-pending Bidding Arena(TM) marketplace and on-line lease planning tools, Tools USA will enable their customers to identify a preferred financing option, generate a custom lease proposal and payment schedule, then have the nation's premier lenders compete for the applications all from one location.

The Lease2Save.com Bidding Arena allows business owners and equipment sales representatives to access multiple lending institutions from one location, each specializing in different credit profiles and equipment types. Participating lenders that match the applicant's credit profile can review the entire lease plan, company information, guarantor credit information and equipment information in real time, then offer a guaranteed rate factor bid. Finally, the winning lender can perform lease fulfillment on-line or off-line, depending on the applicant's preference. Customer contact information is kept confidential throughout the bidding process.

These services will enhance and simplify the financing options made available to companies purchasing capital equipment from ToolsUSA. "We are receiving over 45,000 page hits a day at ToolsUSA.com, however, we're selling less than 3% of our volume through our website, says Rich Horrocks, VP of Operations at Tools USA, Inc. After working with Lease2Save.com, we realized that we weren't offering our customers their preferred method of financing, on-line, and were forcing them to call us during normal work hours to complete their transaction, or use a credit card. Partnering with Lease2Save.com allows our customers to obtain financing entirely on-line, while ensuring they're receiving the best rates possible. We're very excited about this new option and are delighted that Lease2Save.com can provide us with the systems integration and services for FREE." "Lease2Save.com is providing a critical missing link in the e-procurement chain," said Brian Murray, President and co-founder of Lease2Save.com. "Eighty percent of all U.S. businesses are leasing some or all of their equipment and demand a seamless, online, e-commerce model without the inefficiencies that have been part of the traditional leasing process, or the unrealistic on-line models offered today. All participants involved, including lessees, vendors and lessors will benefit from Lease2Save.com's proprietary lease planning tools, rapid response and neutral auction environment. Finally, our affiliate program offers customized leasing solutions to equipment vendors for free."

About Lease2Save.com, Inc.

Established in 1999, Lease2Save.com is an industry leader in online capital equipment leasing, ensuring business-to-business (B2B) customers a comprehensive, information-rich, neutral marketplace. Lease2Save.com's patent-pending applications allows users to identify an ideal financing solution, create a custom lease proposal and payment plan, then have the nation's premier lender's bid for the application. The lease origination can begin from any affiliate website or directly from www.Lease2Save.com. Participating lenders receive all the applicant information required to submit a guaranteed payment commitment, utilizing propriety credit reporting software and financial reporting applications.

About FutureVest, Inc.

FutureVest is an global e-finance company. FutureVest will provide insightful and relevant financial research and content, offer and sell publicly traded securities including IPOs, Mutual and Venture Funds, comprehensive consumer, commercial and merchant banking services, insurance and trust, as well as mortgage and lending products and services, all under one "roof," and all fully customer-accessible around the globe, 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. FutureVest is a Web Capital Ventures, Inc. portfolio company. Web Capital Ventures is a global business partner of IBM (NYSE:IBM).

About Tools USA

Tools USA is the marketing division of Standard Tools & Equipment, the nation's leading manufacturer of collision repair tools and equipment. The company offers the most complete line of pulling equipment, clamps, and frame systems available, making it the largest unit supplier of this equipment in the United States. For more than 20 years, Tools USA has provided equipment and supplies to the Auto Body repair industry on a direct selling basis. Manufacturer-direct distribution has allowed the company to become the industry's low cost provider. Their vision is to become a single-source provider with nationwide distribution to the Auto Body Repair Industry. Tools USA services body shops, car dealers, paint distributors, trucking companies, and government agencies. Standard Tools & Equipment was founded by Clyde White in 1979 and is located in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Statements in this release are made pursuant to the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties including, without limitation, continued acceptance of the Company's services, increased levels of competition for the Company and dependence on the performance of the Management of the Company.

Contact: Robert Cartagena of Lease2Save.com, Inc., 310-827-7879, fax, 310-827-7738, robertc@lease2save.com; or Rich Horrocks of Tools USA, Inc., 800-451-2425, fax, 800-637-2543, info@toolsusa.com

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Prairielaw.com Offers DocuTouch Secure Online Document Management and Digital Signature Application to Members

SEATTLE (BUSINESS WIRE) - DocuTouch(TM), a Seattle-based application service provider (ASP) specializing in secure online document management and digital signature technology, today announced a co-branded marketing relationship with Prairielaw.com, a consumer-based legal information site that educates people on the basics of law.

The browser-based application will be made available to Prairielaw.com users to leverage the time and cost benefits of managing legal paperwork online, including accepting legally binding digital signatures pursuant to the new E-SIGN Act signed by President Clinton in June. "Consumers involved in legal matters can find themselves buried in paperwork and tasks related to reviewing, revising, routing, auditing and archiving legal documents," said Kevin O'Keefe, founder of Prairielaw.com. "Conducting these activities within a secure online `virtual room' will allow consumers and their attorneys to collaborate on documents at Internet speed. Furthermore, the new E-SIGN Act, which goes into effect October 1st, gives digital signatures, when both parties agree to use them, the same legal status as traditional signatures. This promises to have a huge impact over time on the legal industry. For example, a contract that may have traditionally taken weeks to consummate, can be viewed, revised, approved, signed and permanently archived with an activity report within a few hours."

The new E-SIGN Act allows parties who agree to conduct business electronically to execute and sign legally binding contracts online ("A signature, contract, or other record relating to such transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form" S. 761, Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act). The DocuTouch application is designed especially for organizations that need immediate access to technology and will allow them to accept digital signatures without having to build their own system. The application features a patent-pending process for authenticating anonymous users over the Internet and strict document security. "We are extremely pleased to make our application available to Prairielaw.com users," said Mir Hajmiragha, founder and CEO of DocuTouch. "Prairielaw.com is dedicated to helping consumers easily access legal resources. It is our goal to assist in this effort by making the document management process less complicated. Prairelaw.com has taken a leadership position by embracing new document management and digital signature technology. In the not-too-distant future, we believe the entire legal industry will conduct core business practices online, saving clients time and money."

About DocuTouch

Formed in 1998, DocuTouch (www.docutouch.com) is a Seattle-based, privately held ASP (Application Service Provider) that offers corporations and individuals technology needed to manage and digitally sign legally binding documents. The company recently released a patent-pending Microsoft Word 2000 Add-In that will allow users to digitally sign documents at the paragraph level. The company's application features a patent-pending process for authenticating anonymous users on the Internet. DocuTouch ensures document security utilizing a proprietary RSA Security Inc. Bsafe(R)-enabled encryption scheme. The company presently represents more than 1000 users in financial services, insurance, leasing, legal, professional services and real estate verticals. The company's strategic partners include DataChannel, JurisdictionUSA, LoanStreet.com, Microsoft, NowDocs, Palm.Net, Ricoh, UPS and Webforia. Earlier this year, PC Magazine rated the DocuTouch application "as solid as Fort Knox." The company recently closed a multi-million dollar round of investment funding led by Timberline (the Northwest affiliate of Draper Fisher Jurvetson), joined by Irwin Ventures (an affiliate of Irwin Financial) and Mitsui & Co., Ltd (a leading world trading and investment company in Japan).

Another feature of the application is the DocuTouch Secure Print & Deliver service. Documents on the DocuTouch site can be digitally signed, notarized and sent to UPS to be printed for Next Day Air delivery. The service is browser-based, requires no downloads, and is priced from $19.95 for the first 100 pages.

About Prairielaw

Established in 1998, Prairielaw (www.prairielaw.com) is the dominant law site for the common citizen wanting legal information in a language they can understand. It is an online community that provides consumers with easy access to legal resources so they may be empowered by the information they find. Its law channels and message boards have attracted hundreds of thousands of consumers and professionals with similar experiences to help each other with legal issues online. The company has closed $2.1 million in funding in a series of offerings led by eFund International. Other investors include early management and backers of Microsoft, Visio and InterNap. For more information about Prairielaw.com, please visit http://www.prairielaw.com.

DocuTouch(TM) and DocuSign(TM) are trademarks of Astus Corporation, all other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contact: DocuTouch Katherine Ord, 206/505-5830 kord@docutouch.com or Prairielaw Kevin McNett, 206/624-3861

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    First Republic Bank Opens New Leasing Division for Business Equipment Financing

    PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 19, 2000--Commercial customers of First Republic Bank (NASDAQ:FRBK) can now finance up to $1 million in equipment through the bank's new leasing arm, First Republic Leasing.

    Republic First Bancorp, Inc. today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, First Republic Bank, has established First Republic Leasing as a unit within the bank to deliver leasing products for business equipment financing from $5,000 to $1 million.

    The small-ticket lease product broadens the scope of financial services offered to the bank's commercial and municipal customers, while providing additional growth and income to First Republic Bank. Equipment leasing becomes the bank's fourth new commercial lending product this year, joining construction financing, small business administration financing and asset-based lending.

    "We constantly seek opportunities to provide our commercial customers with a full product array," said First Republic CEO Bob Davis. "Recognizing that more and more businesses today lease their essential business equipment, we felt our clients should have access to these leasing services."

     Leasing offers a financing alternative that often keeps debt lines free for emergency cash flow and investment needs. Leasing may also present off-balance-sheet financing with tax advantages. Today, eight out of 10 U.S. companies lease some or all of their equipment. In 1999, it is estimated that leasing accounted for 30 percent of all business investment, or $226 billion.

     First Republic Bank, Philadelphia and Republic First Bank of Delaware are full-service, state-chartered commercial banks and members of the Federal Reserve System, with deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

    The banks provide diversified financial products through their eight offices located in Abington, Ardmore, Bala Cynwyd, East Norriton, Philadelphia and a sister bank, Republic First Bank of Delaware, in Wilmington.

CONTACT: First Republic Bank by The Brownstein Group Dan O'Neill, 215/735-3470, x102