Arlington, TX (PRWEB) February 03, 2012

SFG Finance LLC (http://www.sfgfinance.com), a purchaser of auto paper from BHPH dealers, new car franchise dealers, finance companies, banks and credit unions, today named PassTime USA (http://www.passtimeusa.com), the industry leader in high-tech GPS tracking and Automated Collection Technology solutions as its preferred vendor for its loan purchasing programs.

“SFG Finance recently launched a new loyalty program to help dealers thrive in today’s competitive environment by utilizing top companies in the industry that are the best at what they do. The program provides a real value-add and we are delighted to have an industry leader such as PassTime USA be associated with our program,” said SFG Finance COO Henry Gonzalez.

SFG Finance’s National Subprime Loan Portfolio Program purchases performing vehicle loans, providing needed capital and allowing dealers to achieve greater liquidity in their business ventures. Additionally, sellers of portfolios will be provided a credit toward the purchase of PassTime devices. “We feel by helping a dealer purchase an item they need, and are already using, we add value to their bottom line,” Gonzalez stated.

PassTime USA offers GPS tracking and its own Automated Collection Technology (ACT) solutions to its customers in the BHPH and subprime finance industry. Its wide range of products and services, superior 24/7 live customer support, and industry expertise provide customers with a complete package for protecting their assets and managing their portfolios.

“We are very excited about being selected as SFG’s preferred vendor for their new program,” said Jake Frank, co-founder of PassTime. “The ability to provide access to a company that specializes in buying BHPH portfolios is another valuable addition to the array of solutions we provide our customers.”

SFG Finance’s recently launched program purchases existing near prime, subprime, and BHPH auto loan portfolios from franchised and independent auto dealers, as well as finance companies. Portfolio sizes range from $500,000 to $150 million, are held on the balance sheet and serviced internally.

The program is highly efficient with a seven to ten day total turnaround from analysis to closing, and will target accounts with as little as 30 day seasoning. Since its inception SFG Finance has actively purchased and closed portfolios from dealers and finance companies in more than 30 states.

Funding for the program is made possible by SFG’s parent bank, with the additional advantage of a more stable cost of funds and without the need to securitize. SFG Finance offers complete transparency and up-front pricing based upon its superior analytics. A due diligence team will evaluate all loans in order to maximize the selling dealers’ return without interrupting the dealership’s existing business, ensuring a seamless transition.

About SFG Finance:

SFG Finance’s tagline is: Turning Paper into Profit … One Relationship at a Time. The company is an active purchaser of auto finance receivables and its executive management team has over 75 years of combined industry experience. It is a wholly owned affiliate of Southside Bank, one of the nation’s largest independent banks with $3.2 Billion in assets. SFG Finance buys sub-prime through near prime auto paper, servicing released, from banks, credit unions, auto dealers, and other financial institutions nationwide. The company’s aggressive pricing and experience across all credit spectrums make it an industry leader. For more information visit: http://www.sfgfinance.com or call: 866-590-7734.

Media Contact:

William Donnelly

817-635-5127

About PassTime

Headquartered in Littleton, Colorado, PassTime was founded in 1992; the PassTime Suite of Products is designed to improve customer payment performance and reduce default and repossession risks. In 1997, PassTime created its first Automated Collections Technology product. Over the next several years, a Suite of Products evolved that offer GPS tracking, wireless, and Automated Collection Technology products and services designed to meet the needs of a highly diverse industry of car dealers and special finance companies. PassTime solutions facilitate higher rates of return on financing based upon improved customer payment performance. PassTime prides itself on a 24/7 Customer Care Support Center for partners, lenders, dealerships, and end-user customers. Over the past decade, PassTime has sustained industry leadership with its innovative products and services. For more information about PassTime, please visit http://www.passtimeusa.com or call 877-PASSTIME. Contact Jeff Karg, director of corporate communications at jkarg(at)passtimeusa(dot)com.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/2/prweb9163574.htm

Article source: http://www.chron.com/business/press-releases/article/SFG-Finance-Names-PassTime-USA-its-Preferred-2993587.php

President Obama discusses the importance of protecting American consumers by making sure that banks, mortgage companies, loan providers, and other financial services providers play by the rules. January 6, 2012.

By
Helen Loveless

Last updated at 9:46 PM on 4th February 2012

Tesco is being forced to bow to the power of Amazon and undercut its own website prices in order to compete in the online marketplace.

Under a new policy of disclosure by Amazon, the supermarket giant has been revealed as the ultimate seller of a range of goods – including DVDs and computer games – marketed on Amazon under the trading name of Oakwood Distribution Ltd. Oakwood is a subsidiary of Tesco.

An investigation by Financial Mail found that the price of numerous items, including a box set of the first BBC series of Downton Abbey and a Super Mario computer game, were far cheaper when sold by Oakwood Distribution on Amazon than through the Tesco website.

Change of name: Consumers who believe they are supporting independent businesses may not be pleased to find out they are shopping with Tesco

For example, Downton Abbey is
retailing at £7.43 plus £1.26 delivery, a total of £8.69, on Amazon, but
£9.97 on Tesco’s site. The Super Mario 3D Nintendo game costs £29.12
via Oakwood on Amazon and £34.97 from Tesco online.

Tesco has regularly been criticised for squeezing suppliers to push the prices on its shelves to rock bottom levels.

Now it seems Amazon’s demands that
retailers do not sell more cheaply anywhere, not even on their own
sites, may be turning the tables on the supermarket.

Consumers who believe they are supporting independent businesses may not be pleased to find out they are shopping with Tesco.

Critics have accused Tesco of using a
different company name to masquerade as a small business on Amazon,
claiming this allows it to slip under the radar of consumers who actively choose not to buy from Tesco.

A spokesman for pressure group
Tescopoly said: ‘Tesco has already demonstrated a similar method of
operating on the High Street through the One Stop chain of convenience
stores. This would appear to be another example of Tesco trying to sell
more to consumers who think they are getting an independent choice.’

Tesco said: ‘It is public knowledge
that Oakwood is part of Tesco. Where we have excess stock it is sold
competitively through third-party marketplaces. Many customers prefer to
shop direct with Tesco for additional benefits.’

Consumers can check the identity of sellers through Amazon by using the site’s new Detailed Seller Information button.

Last week, Amazon reported a savage
fall in profits from $416 million (£263 million) to $177 million for the
fourth quarter of 2011.

The figure was $800 million below analysts’ expectations, prompting a nine per cent fall in the share price.

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Article source: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2096451/Supermarket-giant-Tesco-uses-sell-online-retailer-Amazon.html?ITO=1490

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Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan is facing opposition to his decision to cut fuel subsidies, which saw petrol prices double overnight when the decision was made at the start of the year. Labour unions have now called for a nationwide strike to begin on Monday. This comes following a series of demonstrations held over the past week. Sectarian violence in the country has also worsened recently, causing a rise in tensions on the street. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance minister, spoke to Al Jazeera from the capital Abuja.

The decision came despite comments that a deal to restructure Greece’s massive debt was close.

Greek officials had earlier built up the possibility of a Monday meeting of the Eurogroup to move forward on a second bailout, which is dependent on a deal with private creditors to cut 100 billion euros ($130 billion) off its debt.

But time to reach a deal is running short.

Greece and its EU partners have set a February 13 deadline to begin a bond swap with private creditors to avoid a default by Athens on 14.5 billion euros in debt payments due March 20.

Greek Finance Minister Evengelos Venizelos had told Greek TV that talks on the writedown would be concluded with a view to a Monday meeting, which numerous officials said was pencilled in as a teleconference call.

But the head of the eurozone finance ministers, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, later issued a statement saying there would be no Eurogroup meeting on Monday.

However, “a Eurogroup meeting may be scheduled later in the week,” he added.

In Berlin, meanwhile, a German government spokesman said that the conditions were not yet ripe for full talks among finance ministers of the 17-nation currency union.

Eurozone governments and banks have both been playing hardball for weeks in their bid to reduce by at least half the 200 billion euros in privately held Greek debt. The country’s overall debt stands at 350 billion euros.

In Athens, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said in a statement Friday that Greece had nearly completed negotiations on a eurozone bailout dependent in the first instance on a debt writedown.

“We are in the final phase of a very critical procedure to form Greece’s new economic programme and complete a loan deal that will lighten the load of the public debt and ensure the country’s financing for many years to come,” he said.

In Brussels, Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for the European Union’s top economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn, also said they believed that a deal was “within reach.”

Finance ministers from Germany, France, the Netherlands and Finland were holding talks in Berlin on Friday on the Greek deal.

Josef Ackermann, the head of Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest private bank, and chairman of the Institute of International Finance leading creditors in the talks, said Thursday he might head to Athens this weekend to try to close the deal.

The goal is to reduce Greece’s debts to an IMF target of 120 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020, from the current 160 percent.

Thereafter, as Altafaj confirmed, a new Greek programme of further austerity and reform will come into play, and will look at “all aspects” of labour-market reform, which could involve a reduction of minimum wages for Greek workers.

“Everything is up for negotiation, nothing is imposed,” Altafaj said.

Banks say the debt-swap proposed over the longer term means they would in essence lose 70 percent of their investments.

The debt reduction would then enable talks to proceed on a fresh 130-billion-euro bailout by the eurozone, EU and IMF partners for Athens.

However, a row is ongoing over a shortfall said by officials to be of about 15 billion euros.

This may need to be made up by public creditors, although the exact picture will only become clear once the deal on so-called Private Sector Involvement (PSI) is settled.

A proposal is on the table with ministries to cover this Official Sector Involvement (OSI) part of the deal.

But the OSI approach could jeopardise an ECB programme of bond-buying that has kept bigger, heavily-indebted economies in Italy or Spain away from trouble.

Experts have also warned that Portugal might require its own debt restructuring or second bailout later this year.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/crisis-hit-greeks-moved-16-bn-euros-abroad-133632125.html

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Tom Ferguson: Financial Fraud Commission could be used to slow down investigations taking place at the State level

By
James Salmon

Last updated at 9:31 PM on 3rd February 2012

The whistleblower who exposed irresponsible lending at HBOS that led to its near collapse has called for former boss Sir James Crosby to be stripped of his knighthood.

Despite his role in the downfall of the bank, Crosby is hauling in nearly £1.2million in salaries from chairmanships and his pension from HBOS.

Whistleblower Paul Moore was sacked as head of risk by Crosby in 2005 after revealing the excessive risk-taking at the bank and its ‘dangerous’ sales culture.

Crosby left the bank the next year and was appointed deputy chairman of City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, by Gordon Brown.

He resigned in 2009 after Moore appeared before the Treasury Select Committee and accused Crosby of ignoring his warnings.

In the wake of the decision to strip Fred Goodwin of his knighthood, Moore has joined calls on the Government to annul the knighthoods of Crosby and other bankers implicated in the financial crisis.

Crosby’s knighthood was awarded in 2006 for services to the financial industry. Moore said: ‘I’m not in this for revenge.

But Sir James was in the unique position of being on both sides of the failure at HBOS. He was chief executive while these practices were occurring at HBOS and was deputy chairman at the FSA which failed to spot the crisis.’

Earlier this week Tory aparty deputy chairman Michael Fallon raised the prospect of a similar move against executives in Lloyds-HBOS after the FSA completes a report into the takeover.

Furious Lloyds shareholders are also calling for the head of former chairman Sir Victor Blank, who oversaw the ill-fated HBOS takeover.

But yesterday, sources close to the secretive forfeiture committee which annulled Goodwin’s knighthood suggested other top bankers’ gongs were safe.

It described Goodwin as an ‘exceptional’ case. Since leaving the FSA Crosby, who has a £572,000 a year pension from HBOS, has become chairman of IT giant Misys, which nets him a £180,000 salary.

He also recieves a salary of £432,806 as chairman at catering firm Compass Group. Meanwhile Moore is calling for an independent investigation into HBOS’s downfall, fearing that the FSA’s probe will be a whitewash.

He said: ‘The FSA has been completely conflicted in its investigations into RBS and HBOS.

There needs to be a proper forensic investigation.

The individuals involved should be subjected to enforcement action and have their knighthoods stripped away.’ Crosby declined to comment.

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Article source: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2096213/Strip-Sir-James-Crosby-knighthood-says-HBOS-whistleblower.html?ITO=1490

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