Consumer Finance

Consumer finance lender CashCall Inc. will get its name on top of City Plaza in Orange after agreeing to lease seven floors in the tower. In an expansion of its mortgage and finance offices, CashCall will rent 125,208 square feet in the 19-story tower at 1 City Blvd., landlord Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. said. Financial terms were not disclosed, but real estate experts familiar with the Orange County office market valued the seven-year deal at about $20 million. CashCall is one of Orange County's largest employers, with about 1,600 workers, Chief Executive J. Paul Reddam said.

Consumer finance lender CashCall Inc. will get its name on top of City Plaza in Orange after agreeing to lease seven floors in the tower. In an expansion of its mortgage and finance offices, CashCall will rent 125,208 square feet in the 19-story tower at 1 City Blvd., landlord Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. said. Financial terms were not disclosed, but real estate experts familiar with the Orange County office market valued the seven-year deal at about $20 million. CashCall is one of Orange County's largest employers, with about 1,600 workers, Chief Executive J. Paul Reddam said.

Bank One Corp., scaling back its business to regain investor confidence, sold its consumer finance unit and $2.15-billion loan portfolio to Household International Inc. for an undisclosed amount in cash. Banc One Financial Services has 97 offices in 29 states. Prospect Heights, Ill.-based Household, the third-largest U.S. finance company with 1,400 branches, said about 200 of Banc One's 1,100 employees will lose their jobs. The acquisition is expected to close at month's end.

The family, spread across Illinois, picked a convenient location for a Sunday lunch to celebrate Kathy Sondgeroth's 59th birthday. Turns out, it was convenient for Mitt Romney too. When they found out Romney was campaigning at the restaurant, they held on to their table, which was right in front of a fake barn and also the photo-perfect backdrop for the Republican presidential front-runner. Romney, noticing they were celebrating a birthday, led the restaurant in singing. And when he left, he hoisted 7-month-old Stryder.

Credit card late payments and charge-offs rose in November, according to Standard & Poor's. Charge-offs increased to 6.7%, a 44% jump compared with November 2007, S&P said. Payments more than 30 days late were at 5.1%, up 20% from a year earlier, the New York rating firm said.

The parent company of Great Western Savings & Loan has agreed to acquire the consumer finance operations of Leucadia National for an undisclosed amount, the two firms said Thursday. The move represents a second major expansion into consumer finance for Great Western Financial, a Beverly Hills holding company that is striving to become a broad-based, nationwide financial services company. Great Western Savings is the nation's third-largest savings and loan.

The nation's sixth-largest bank holding concern has agreed to sell half of its Japan Security Pacific Finance Co. to Mitsui & Co. for an undisclosed price. As a joint venture, the consumer finance unit will substantially increase the reach of Japan Security Pacific Finance, which has $200 million in assets and has been operating in Japan since 1978 but has only five branches.

General Electric Co.'s fourth-quarter profit topped estimates after the conglomerate's industrial order backlog rose to a record $200 billion. Profit from continuing operations of 39 cents a share, excluding some items, compared with the 38-cent average estimate from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, GE said Thursday. Revenue dropped 8%, including the sale of GE's NBCUniversal stake, to $38 billion, lower than the average analyst estimate of $40 billion. Sales were trimmed by about $1 billion because the fourth quarter had six fewer operating days than the year-earlier period, GE said.

American Express said it would immediately eliminate monthly fees on gift cards. Until now, the remaining value of an American Express gift card that was more than a year old declined by $2 a month. Gift cards have come under fire in recent years because they often come with fees for services such as activating or replacing them. Many also have expiration dates. The credit card law that President Obama signed in May prohibits gift cards from expiring for the first five years.

General Electric Co. said Monday it would stop offering loans for the purchase of consumer boats and motor homes. The company told boat and recreational-vehicle dealers that it would cease taking applications by July and underwriting new loans Aug. 1, said Cristy Williams, a spokeswoman for GE Money, the company's consumer finance arm. The company will continue to service its $3.6-billion loan portfolio.

Dillard's Inc. said Sunday that it had agreed to sell Dillard National Bank, which handles credit cards for the national department store chain, to GE Consumer Finance for about $1.25 billion. According to an announcement from Little Rock, Ark.-based Dillard's, GE Consumer Finance will assume $400 million in liabilities, purchase the owned-account receivables and pay an undisclosed premium. The transaction has been approved by both companies but is subject to regulatory review, Dillard's said.

The chairman of Wells Fargo & Co.'s consumer finance arm, which ran afoul of California regulators and consumer groups this year, said he was quitting for personal reasons. Dan Porter, 47, said that after 3 1/2 years at Des Moines-based Wells Fargo Financial, he had revitalized the business and that he wanted "a better balance in my life." Wells Fargo Financial repaid 15,000 borrowers in January when regulators found small overcharges on personal loans.

Inc., an Irvine consumer finance company, said second-quarter net income climbed to $739,000, or 4 cents a share, from $241,000, or 1 cent a share, for last year's second quarter. Revenue increased 67% to $27.2 million.

Inc., an Irvine consumer finance company, said second-quarter net income climbed to $739,000, or 4 cents a share, from $241,000, or 1 cent a share, for last year's second quarter. Revenue increased 67% to $27.2 million.

President Clinton on Sunday unveiled a proposal to improve protection of consumer privacy at a time of increasing computerization and consolidation within the financial services industry. The president's plan was drawn up to respond to dramatic changes that have allowed banks, insurers and securities firms to integrate their operations within a single financial services conglomerate. It goes beyond legislation Clinton signed in November modernizing the nation's banking system.