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- Written by: Editor
“This company charged its customers exorbitant interest rates for car loans and then waged an illegal campaign of harassment and intimidation when they couldn’t pay up,” Attorney General Brown said. “Now Lobel must stop its abusive tactics and comply with the law.”
Lobel Financial is headquartered in Anaheim but makes loans to customers in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, the Bay Area, the Central Valley and other areas of the state.
Lobel provides financing to people with poor credit who purchase vehicles through used-car dealerships. The typical interest rate of their loans is between 21 to 23 percent. Lobel performed its own debt collection efforts when consumers failed to make the required payments.
In 2007, the California Attorney General’s Office initiated an investigation into Lobel’s debt collection practices. The investigation found that Lobel frequently violated California’s Fair Debt Collection Act by:
• Calling its customers repeatedly and allowing the phone to ring continuously;
• Calling a customer’s employer and family members; and
• Using a false name when calling.
Additionally, the company used more sophisticated “pretexting” tactics to obtain confidential information of their customers.
For instance, Lobel deceived ATT Wireless into providing confidential telecommunications records of at least 190 California ATT customers.
Lobel also used a calling card scam to con consumers into providing their calling information. Lobel had a third-party vendor send the customer a “free” phone card; the company would then obtain information about the calls made by the customer using the calling card.
Hundreds of California consumers across the State were victimized by Lobel’s constant harassment and illegal debt collection activities.
Lobel Financial will pay $150,000 in civil penalties and $100,000 to the State for attorneys’ fees and costs.
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Hosts Tony and Peggy Barthel have special tasty St. Paddy Day's Treats planned.
The evening's festivities are open for chamber members and prospective members, however everyone needs to RSVP, so there will be sufficient treats for all.
The cost is $10/person and given the enthusiasm of the Barthels' for anything and everything, St. Patrick's Day should be quite an experience.
There will be music, laughter and all-out hilarity with an Irish twist you won't want to miss. One of the highlights of the evening will be the drawing at 7 p.m. of the winning ticket for the seven-day trip to Mi Casa at Kona on Hawaii; don't forget the trip includes airfare for two.
Please RSVP by Monday, March 16 at 5 p.m. to 263-5092 or to
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT – A well-known local real estate business has changed its name and is gearing up for the traditional sales season that's just around the corner.
The vintage-looking office on the corner of Main and 11th streets now has a new name – Vintage Realty.
Lowell Grant said his business shed its affiliation with Century 21 late last year following the end of a 10-year franchise agreement with the real estate giant.
He said Nov. 15, 2008, was “our independence day.”
That's when the business name officially switched to Vintage Realty.
He'd been planning the move to an independent company for six years. Grant said he had been looking forward to the change.
He said the reaction to his company's new name has been very positive.
Grant has been a fixture on the local real estate stage in Lake County for decades.
He's brought to the work an interesting life history – his family is filled with talented performers and musicians who came to this country in the last century willing to work hard for a better life.
Grant doesn't have much hair these days, but he likes to recount his days as a long-haired youngster who flew around in planes collecting data on weather. He is currently a member of the Lake County Air Quality Management District Hearing Board.
Since then, he's become a prominent figure in the local business community, settling into Lake County with shorter hair and raising a son and a daughter. His family now includes a granddaughter who clearly has grandpa wrapped around her little finger.
He served on the board of trustees for Upper Lake Elementary School for many years, and in January sparked a community-wide debate when he went to the Board of Supervisors to ask them to get the ball rolling on a serious study of consolidating the county's seven school districts.
The board eventually passed a resolution supporting the formation of a feasibility committee to study the issue, which the Lake County Office of Education is heading up. Grant will be serving on that committee.
Branding is key to business, but Grant thinks a change of name is the right step.
For one, it will allow him to create a more community-based identity, and his decisions about promotions and marketing will be in his hands here, not in a corporate office hundreds – or thousands – of miles away.
Grant has been around long enough to know that change happens, and can be good
The old rules of business these days also appear to be out the window.
In the “old days,” he said, real estate agents and brokers needed the leverage of a large corporation to get reach customers, but now the Internet can help make up for that.
Grant believes the Internet has helped level the playing field when it comes to reaching customers, and that benefits independent companies like his.
The challenging real estate market hasn't left Grant's office untouched.
“At the market's peak we had 15 agents,” he said. “Now there are five of us – Debbie Robison, Jim Cooper, Lona Choate and Carol Batho, in addition to myself.”
He added, “I'm really proud of this whole group.”
True to the company's name, Grant has an appreciation for all things vintage.
The office building that houses Vintage Realty, built on the corner of Main and 11th streets, will be six years old this month. It's a handsome building that mirrors the old-fashioned look of downtown, with clear echoes of the design of the Carnegie Library.
“I think we have the best location and most attractive real estate office of any in Lake County,” Grant said.
Grant said that 2009 marks his 20th year in local real estate. Despite the challenging times for his industry, he's seen tough times before and is looking forward to better days ahead.
“We offer experience, market knowledge and honesty to help you sell in a very competitive market as well as the promise to help buyers find the best property and the best price possible,” he said. “This is a time of great opportunity for those with the courage to take advantage of the greatest buyer's market of our lifetime. The old saying, 'Buy low and sell high,' sounds easy, but it means that you need to buy when very few others are willing to.”
Visit Grant's newly renamed business online at www.vintagelakeport.com.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Peter and Maryann Schmid, owners of The Lodge at Blue Lakes, will host the events at the lodge on March 19, April 2, April 16, May 7 and May 21 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The 6,000-square-foot Special Events Center at The Lodge At Blue Lakes has been lovingly refurbished by the Schmids.
Located at the site of The Lodge At Blue Lakes’ former restaurant, Lake County’s newest special events center offers panoramic views of scenic Blue Lakes, plus the Magic Ballroom, the Ice Bar and the Waterscape Deck with gazebo.
Please RSVP with Sylvia at The Lodge at Blue Lakes, 5135 W. Highway 20, Upper Lake, telephone 275-2181 or online at www.thelodgeatbluelakes.com.
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