Can You Spare A Loan?
Bostonians still have Yovette Mumford to kick around – at least for a few more months, anyway.
Mumford, who orchestrated the $11.7 million purchase of the Boston Yacht Haven marina on Commercial Wharf in 2005, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week. The filing came just hours before Mumford was to lose the marina to a foreclosure auction. Northern Bank & Trust had tried to liquidate the North End marina after Mumford defaulted on a $10.1 million mortgage.
Mumford has been a source of comedic fodder in Boston’s business community for some time. Her exploits (allegedly!) include: Squeezing a jilted lover out of the Yacht Haven’s ownership group, defrauding the Big Dig by skimming taxes and sticking the infrastructure project with her babysitting bills, and leaving a raft of unpaid bills, bounced checks and broken loans in her wake. She was, at one time, the sister-in-law of Congressman Ed Markey. A former Boston Globe business columnist once dubbed Mumford "the woman who could yet launch a thousand columns."
Mumford recently emerged from a stretch in state prison on a fraud charge. She had altered a letter from her probation officer to make it appear as if the Big Dig charges had been dismissed, instead of landing her in the clink. She then floated the forged letter on to Northern Bank. The bank had grown, shall we say, uneasy after seeing Mumford’s financial foibles splashed all over the Globe. (In this case, we’re taking "foible" to mean "nearly losing your home after refusing to pay off a $6.4 million lawsuit judgment – to your own family.") That unease was surely compounded by the fact that Northern Bank had financed the marina with an extremely generous 90 percent loan-to-value mortgage.
Even while behind bars, Mumford was working feverishly to advance a redevelopment plan for the 100-slip marina. Her Commercial Wharf neighbors had repeatedly batted down plans to turn the prime 4.75-acre site into a condo development or a boutique hotel. Mumford’s bankruptcy filing keeps those dreams alive, too. All she needs is a loan.
Misery Loved By Company
With America’s capital and credit markets tighter than The Teller’s budget (ed. note: The Teller has no budget), many companies are defaulting on debt payments left and right, filing for bankruptcy and falling into foreclosure.
But one sector of commercial finance is booming: commercial debt management. And that’s why companies like American Finasco Inc. are ready to ride in and save the day. They will take those harassing phone calls from creditors, collection agencies and attorneys so you don’t have to. They have a team of attorneys in their network ready to work for your company for less than the average attorney.
Unlike other commercial debt management companies, American Finasco doesn’t require monthly escrow payments – they earn a percentage on every dollar of debt they reduce.
Of course, this means the more you save, the more you owe American Finasco. They’re willing to settle your debts with other people because, hopefully, instead of paying nobody, you’ll start paying them.
But that’s mostly just semantics, and avoiding bankruptcy is undeniably attractive. What The Teller wants to know is why the company doesn’t tap the gold inside the name "Finasco" for their motto? Instead of "National Strength….Local Presence" as it stands now, we’d prefer: "We add an ‘n’ to your fiasco to save you money!"
Maybe The Teller should stick to Telling and leave marketing to, say, The Marketer.
Never Bring A Knife To An RV Fight
As fans of The Teller might remember (hi, Mom! I’ll be home for dinner!), two weeks ago in this space we laid out a plan to revive the American financial system by the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA). RVIA explained, via a nice little video, that RV financing would surely lead banks out of their troubles because the RV industry is set for growth, making dealership-level loans a good investment, and RV consumer loans have extremely low default rates. RV financing seemed to be a foolproof plan for financial growth.
Well it turns out that may not have been the whole story. It seems the RV industry may have been looking for new lenders, not to help America, but instead because their old ones were bilking them out of millions of dollars.
Gigi Stetler, a South Florida RV dealership owner who also claims to be the only female dealership "founder" in the country, has called shenanigans on the RV Finance industry’s two giants, GE Finance and Textron. Stetler said the two institutions began charging interest on RVs not only before dealerships received their inventory, but before the money was even fronted to the manufacturers.
Stetler, who is described as a "48-year-old single mother and stabbing survivor" in her presser, has filed lawsuits against the two lenders in Broward County, Fla., claiming she has paid millions of dollars of unfair and unlawful interest. She promises to expose GE Finance and Textron, and assures us "she is not going away."
Frankly, The Teller believes her. If she can survive parenthood and a knife fight, these shady lenders had better take notice, do their homework and brush their teeth before bed. Either that, or buy a gun.
