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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Columbia Capital Corporation-Computerized Banking (CLCK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Arcane Lore who wrote (759)10/31/1998 10:06:00 AM
From: A66TALLguy  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1020
 
Arc: Doesn't Gallant own over 5M shares of CLCK?



To: Arcane Lore who wrote (759)11/1/1998 6:33:00 PM
From: Arcane Lore  Respond to of 1020
 
Post #1

This is the first of three posts that may provide some background on the FDIC complaint involving BestBank, its former CEO and president, and the two principal shareholders of CLCK.

A Western Pennsylvania Better Business Bureau alert from this spring:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jennifer Boerio

March 26, 1998

412-456-2735 ext 119 - media
412-456-2700 - public inquiries

BBB Warns: Get Facts Before Applying
for Credit/Travel Offer

Pittsburgh, March 26, 1998. The Better Business Bureau of Western Pennsylvania has begun to receive inquiries about a credit card offer that automatically enrolls applicants into a travel club out of Florida, using a Uniontown, Pennsylvania post office box. The BBB is investigating the offer and would like to hear from anyone who applied for the credit card and travel club.

The solicitation, from All Around Travel Club (AATC) of Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, offers few details about the travel club, stating that the one-time $498 membership fee provides access to "AATC's huge inventory of super discounted vacations." Vacations mentioned include Las Vegas, Orlando, Cancun and a cruise on the Sea Escape ship to the Bahamas.

According to the offer, through a "special arrangement" between AATC and BestBank of Boulder Colorado, the applicant will receive an unsecured VISA7 with a $600 starting credit line. After the price of the travel club and the $45 annual fee is charged to the account, the card holder is left with less than $80 credit.

BestBank, also known as BankCard Center, has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB of Denver due to numerous complaints reporting dissatisfaction with sales tactics, billing and fee disputes, and the inability to resolve problems and close accounts. BestBank has responded to most complaints, although consumers were not always satisfied with the firm's response. Some complaints remain
unanswered.

The BBB of Western Pennsylvania has sent two requests for information to the Uniontown post office box address and has not received a response. The BBB is continuing to try to obtain information about the company and travel club membership benefits. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services reports that it has received 14 complaints against AATC from 1996 through March 20, 1998. According to registration papers filed with the Florida agency, the vice president of AATC is the same person who is president of BestBank. ...


pittsburgh.bbb.org

Note that the last quoted sentence may be incorrect. According to Florida records that I have seen, Douglas R. Baetz is the VP of AATC while the former BestBank president (prior to the FDIC receivership) was Thomas A. Boyd according to the Denver Post article: denverpost.com.



To: Arcane Lore who wrote (759)11/1/1998 6:35:00 PM
From: Arcane Lore  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1020
 
Post #2

The Denver Post article referenced at the end of this post includes further details about the FDIC complaint involving BestBank, its former CEO and president, and Baetz and Gallant, the principal shareholders of CLCK. According to the article, the FDIC complaint involves the credit card program described in the BBB alert in #reply-6245751. Per the article, the cards were targeted for those with poor or no credit. Specifically, a successful applicant could not be in bankruptcy and could have no more than one delinquent account in the prior six months. The article describes a moderately complex chain of payments between BestBank, Century Financial and the All Around Travel Club (AATC): Those who joined AATC were given a BestBank Visa card with a $600 credit limit and were immediately charged the $498 AATC membership fee and the credit card's $45 annual fee, leaving $67 in available credit to the card holder. BestBank would then make a $543 payment to Century Financial. Century would then keep the $45 membership fee and send on the $498 to AATC. AATC would send back $398 to Century and forward a $25 card fee to BestBank. Of the $398 sent to Century, $30 would be sent to BestBank as a merchant fee. So if all these transactions went as described, the $543 would be divided up as follows:

Century: $413
AATC: $75
BestBank: $55


Note: The article calculates the amounts received by Century as $418 and $70, respectively, so there is an error of some sort in either my calculations or theirs.

The problems cited by the FDIC complaint (as described in the Denver Post article) centered around the reserves allocated for delinquencies:

... The agreement required Century Financial to purchase accounts that were more than 120 days delinquent. It was also required to maintain a reserve account equal to 4 percent of the total credit card receivables on the bank's books; reserves of 15 percent of the accounts 30 to 59 days delinquent; 25 percent of those 60 to 89 days delinquent; and 50 percent of those 90 to 120 days delinquent.

And after April 1, 1998, Century Financial was to pay BestBank 1 percent of new account balances to be added to the allowance for loan and lease losses.

But by May 29, 1998, the numbers weren't adding up, according to the complaint. The reserve account balance then was only $8.8 million, despite delinquencies of at least $179 million. Even if all of those accounts were less than 60 days late, the reserve balance should have been $26.85 million.

The complaint said Century Financial performed certain bookkeeping maneuvers to make accounts appear current without any payments by cardholders.

Nearly 370,000 accounts, about 74 percent of the total active credit cards, were improperly credited during the first half of this year and Mattar and Boyd knew of the practice, according to the complaint. ...


denverpost.com

According to the CLCK 10-K for 1997, "Century Financial Group, Inc., is owned by the Company's primary shareholders, Glenn Gallant and Douglas Baetz."

sec.gov

Also, according to Florida Division of Corporation records, Baetz and Gallant are respectively the Vice President and Secretary of All Around Travel Club ( see #reply-6245780 ).



To: Arcane Lore who wrote (759)11/1/1998 6:37:00 PM
From: Arcane Lore  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1020
 
Post #3

The two prior posts referred to the All Around Travel Club. Officer/Directors of this organization include Baetz and Gallant according to Florida Division of Corporation records:

CORP NUMBER: P96000034584 CORP NAME: ALL AROUND TRAVEL CLUB INC
TITLE: S NAME: GALLANT, GLENN M
7177 W. OAKLAND PARK BLVD.
LAUDERHILL, FL 33313
TITLE: T NAME: FUHRMEISTER, J. CHRISTOPHER
7177 W. OAKLAND PARK BLVD.LAUDERHILL, FL 33313
TITLE: VP NAME: BAETZ, DOUGLAS R
7177 W. OAKLAND PARK BLVD.
LAUDERHILL, FL 33313
TITLE: P NAME: MANSUETO, MICHAEL
3020 N.W. 33 AVENUE
LAUDERHILL LAKES, FL 33311

This can be confirmed by going to the Florida Division of Coroporations search page at ccfcorp.dos.state.fl.us. Click on the "Officer / Registered Agent Name" button, enter "Baetz, Doug" (without the quotes) as the search string and click on the "Search" button. You should see the following list of companies which have Douglas Baetz as an officer or director:

AGENT OFFICER/RA NAME DOCUMENT # BUS. ENTITY
1. BAETZ, DOUG P97000096101 CLUB SEAESCAPE, IN
2. BAETZ, DOUG V40389 WORLD SWATH INC.
3. BAETZ, DOUGLAS F98000002760 NETWORK HOLDINGS I
4. BAETZ, DOUGLAS F98000002823 VENCOR MARKETING,
5. BAETZ, DOUGLAS R F97000001569 CRUISE CHARTER LTD
6. BAETZ, DOUGLAS R F97000004056 NEW SEAESCAPE CRUI
7. BAETZ, DOUGLAS R F98000003658 GLOBAL TELESYS COR
8. BAETZ, DOUGLAS R F98000003723 COLUMBIA FIRST COR
9. BAETZ, DOUGLAS R F98000003776 THE CENTURY GROUP,
10. BAETZ, DOUGLAS R F98000004443 MARITIME MANAGEMEN
11. BAETZ, DOUGLAS R M39895 TAIWAN COMPUTER TR
12. BAETZ, DOUGLAS R P93000059859 MERSEA SHIPS I, IN
13. BAETZ, DOUGLAS R P94000010039 611 TRUMAN, INC.
14. BAETZ, DOUGLAS R P96000015667 G&D PROPERTIES, IN
15. BAETZ, DOUGLAS R P96000034584 ALL AROUND TRAVEL
16. BAETZ, DOUGLAS R P96000034838 RALEIGH INVESTMENT

With the exception of #11 and #13, all of the other listed business also have Glenn M. Gallant, the other principal shareholder of CLCK, as an officer/director. Note that the list includes CLCK and also The Century Group mentioned in the Denver Post article:

Missing from the above list (due to what almost certainly is a typographical error) is Belair Financial Services, Inc. which lists Douglas Beatz and Glenn Gallant as officer/directors.



To: Arcane Lore who wrote (759)11/2/1998 8:20:00 AM
From: Arcane Lore  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 1020
 
FDIC sues execs of Boulder's BestBank

... Mattar's Nevada-based corporation, Effective Management Systems Inc., also was named as a defendant. Other defendants are Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Century Financial Group and its primary shareholders, Douglas R. Baetz and Glenn M. Gallant.

These defendants helped BestBank issue credit cards through their All Around Travel Club, a discounted travel program that contacted potential customers by direct mail and telephone, offering $500 memberships. Those who joined were entitled to an unsecured BestBank Visa card with a $600 line of credit at 18 percent interest.

The FDIC alleges that defendants schemed to defraud BestBank by hiding massive sub-prime lending losses. The complaint also says the defendants continued expanding the program even as losses were mounting. ...


insidedenver.com
=====

FDIC files suit against bank execs

Complaints focus on defunct bank's policies regarding credit cards


bouldernews.com