In many cases, however, the approval process takes longer than many homeowners can afford. But one expert believes it doesn’t have to be that way, and that there are solutions for homeowners whose applications seem stuck in the mud.

“Applying for a loan modification can be an extremely stressful process,” said Stephfan Nurse, CEO of Consumer Education (www.consumereducationonline.com), makers of Mortgage Reduction software designed to help people through the modification process. “Even if you send in your documents and your lender tells you everything is okay, you may still have a great amount of anxiety because you have no idea what the lender is doing with your file.

You may not know what the next step is and how long it takes to move through each step in the process. Your lender may tell you what the next step is, but you may not understand why it will take so long. There are reasons, however, why the process can get stuck, and there are ways to move that process along, if you understand what goes on behind the scenes.”

Nurse’s tips for making the process smoother include:

• Account Numbers – It often happens that when you fax your paperwork to your lender, the lender either says they lost your paperwork or they just didn’t receive it all. This isn’t because they are incompetent. It’s because they receive thousands of faxes each day, and they use an image scanning technology to capture them all and place them in the appropriate file. In that system, a cover sheet that has your account number on it will get placed correctly, but the following sheets that lack your account number can be easily misplaced. The solution is to put your account number on every page of your paperwork, so they have a better chance of placing all your paperwork in your file.

• Complete the Paperwork – When your file gets assigned to a document manager, typically about 30 days after you first applied for the modification, the document manager’s job is to check to make sure all your required documents are ready to be submitted to the negotiator/specialist for review. If you have an incomplete file, even if you’re missing just one single required document, the document manager will note your account as having an incomplete file and move on to the next file to review. At this point, a generic letter is automatically mailed to your home requesting the additional information your file lacks. This letter can take up to two weeks to get to you, and then another two to four weeks before they look at your updated information. The key is to never send an incomplete package to your lender. It can lead to a delay or even a flat out denial.

• Follow Up – Finally, follow up every week with your lender to make sure all the documents they have are up to date. Don’t worry about being a pest. After all, it’s your house on the line if things get stuck in neutral. If you do this consistently, you will avoid getting caught in the delay cycle.

“The process is like any other, and it can be rife with mistakes and bureaucratic snafus,” Nurse added. “But if you take the steps to reduce the opportunities for error, your application can move through the process much faster and you’ll have a much better chance at being approved.”

About Stephfan Nurse

Stephfan Nurse has been in the mortgage loan modification business since 2009. He worked for a law firm that specialized in foreclosure defense before he decided to open the doors of Consumer Education in 2010. The company’s Mortgage Reduction software uses the same algorithms as those used by lenders, so it is designed to help homeowners understand what it will take for them to be approved for a loan modification by their lenders or through HAMP.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.  _ The unemployment rate in California climbed again, hitting 12 percent in July as the state added just 4,500 payroll jobs for the month, officials said Friday.

The report by the state Employment Development Department showed much weaker job growth in July than June, continuing what has been a spotty economic recovery.

The jobless rate rose from 11.8 percent in June and hit 12 percent for the first time since March. Most industries added jobs, but big reductions in government payrolls shrank the net gain.

California still has the second-worst state unemployment rate in the nation, behind Nevada at 12.9 percent. The national rate in July dropped slightly to 9.1 percent.

A survey of California businesses in July counted 14.1 million payroll jobs, up by 189,400 jobs, or 1.4 percent, since July 2010.

That’s roughly enough to keep up with recent population growth in the state but not to recover from the loss of about a million jobs in the past five years during the housing bust and recession.

California continues to show wide economic variation from region to region.

The jobless rates in the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas stayed unchanged in July at 8.8 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively.

Los Angeles lost 30,600 jobs in the month and saw the jobless rate increase from 12 percent to 12.4 percent.

Inland areas hardest hit by the housing bust also stayed weak. The Stockton area lost 14,400 payroll jobs and saw unemployment rise from 16.6 percent to 17.5 percent. Imperial County, east of San Diego along the Mexico border, lost 1,600 jobs and saw the jobless rate climb from 29.7 percent to 30.8 percent.

The economic sputtering echoes the status of the U.S. economy. Jobless rates rose in more than half the states for the second month in a row.

Hopeful signs on hiring early in 2011 grew weaker after April, and stocks have plunged over the past several weeks amid growing fear that the economy will stay weak for a prolonged period.

KINGSTON, Jamaica _ When the afternoon bell rings at August Town Primary School, children kick around a plastic bottle filled with gravel instead of a soccer ball. When administrators need to buy a copier, they turn to parents, businesses or foreign embassies for donations.

Making do has become a way of life at the school as it has all across Jamaica, where paying off the nation’s punishing debt takes priority.

The country owes creditors $18.2 billion, which is more than its entire domestic economy produces in a year: 132 percent of gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund. That’s a heavier load than crisis-hit Italy, Spain or Ireland face, and nearly as high as Greece’s.

For years, over half the government’s budget has been dedicated to paying the debt, and that has forced the government to scrimp on schools, hospitals and infrastructure.

“The budget’s tight, there’s no question. But it’s been tight for a long while and we’ve had to learn to make things work as best as we can,” said August Town Vice Principal Dwight Peart at the low-slung concrete school in an impoverished valley community in the capital.

Roughly a third of the Caribbean island’s 2.8 million people live in squatter settlements, and there’s little money for housing aid. Public hospitals are hampered by a shortage of medical equipment. Roads are filled with potholes. The thousands of Jamaican dropouts from overcrowded schools become easy prey for drug and extortion gangs.

With the exception of the pearl-toned beaches of Jamaica’s resorts, no corner of the island has been spared by the debt monster.

Jamaica’s experience with austerity holds lessons for other nations struggling to cope with debt, says Mark Weisbrot of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research.

“Attempts to squeeze the economy in order to maintain unsustainably high debt service can lead to prolonged periods of stagnation and high unemployment.” He said Jamaica’s recent domestic debt restructuring erred by merely reducing some interest payments without writing down the principal.

It’s not the first, or even the worst time Jamaica has faced an avalanche of debt. The debt-to-GDP ratio soared to 262 percent at the start of the 1990s, according to a Jamaica-based think tank, the Caribbean Policy Research Institute.

Most of that, though, was owed to foreign governments and international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund at relatively low interest rates. Some of the debt owed to governments was written off. A spurt of growth in the late 1980s helped make the debt less of a burden, while a spike in inflation, which reached 80 percent in 1991, sharply devalued the domestic part of the debt.

Since then, the debt has been more challenging, partly because of Jamaica’s high domestic interest rates, said Damien King, executive director of the think tank. The government was paying as much as 28 percent a year on its domestic currency bonds until a few years ago, with the inflation rate hovering near 20 percent.

“Research shows that the entire increase was due to debt contracted by entities outside of central government, debt that the government subsequently had to assume responsibility for. The largest portion of it derived from bad private bank loans that the government absorbed as part of the resolution of the banking crisis of the late 1990s,” King said.

If the old crisis was caused by too much government intervention, the current one may have been caused by too little.

Before the 1990s banking crisis, Jamaica ended exchange controls while lifting restrictions on lending and interest. Local banks went on a spree of lending while interest rates shot to near 50 percent. Then, in 1996, the system crashed. Dozens of banks failed and the government stepped in to absorb the bad loans and keep the rest of the system from collapsing, taking pension funds along with it.

By 2010, Jamaica’s towering debt and the damaging impact of the global recession forced the government to seek assistance from the IMF. It helped the government carry out the debt restructuring and provided $1.27 billion in standby credits. It also unlocked funding from other global lending organizations, including $600 million from the Inter-American Development Bank and $450 million from the World Bank.

Yet roughly 60 percent of government spending goes to debt and an additional 30 percent goes to pay wages. That leaves just 10 percent for education, health, security and other functions.

The 2010 domestic debt-swap program lowered the government’s debt-service costs by $450 million a year. But it left the amount of capital owed untouched. The interest expense breakdown is about 70 percent for domestic debt and 30 percent for external debt.

“Servicing the debt has undoubtedly absorbed fiscal resources that otherwise would likely have been deployed on infrastructure improvements as well as on needed social services,” said King, who is also head of the economics department at Jamaica’s University of the West Indies.

A sluggish global and local economy has frustrated Jamaica’s effort to grow its way out of the crisis. During the global recession, three of the country’s four alumina refineries were closed and revenues from tourism and Jamaicans working abroad slowed.

In recent months, the economy appears to be on a meager upswing. Recently, the country recorded first-quarter growth of 1.4 percent over the same period a year earlier. The inflation rate for the first five months of the year was 1.7 percent.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, whose Jamaica Labor Party came to power in 2007, argues that his government is finally putting the country on a solid economic pathway. This year it has divested money-losing entities such as Air Jamaica and its three remaining sugar factories, and Golding says a crackdown on gangs should improve the business climate.

With money short, Education Minister Andrew Holness said he is looking for foreign help in building schools.

“If China wants to build them _ (or) U.S., Canada, Saudi Arabia, Jamaicans _ it doesn’t matter to me,” he said.

Stephanie Black, the New York-based director of “Life and Debt,” an award-winning 2001 documentary that dissected the impact of globalization on Jamaica’s economy and skewered lending policies of international organizations like the IMF, said she does not feel the island’s economic situation has improved since her film was completed a decade ago.

“When one looks at the class divide within the country there is little mobility, (and) the high cost of daily living, low minimum wages, prevailing unemployment, lack of improvements in basic infrastructure, and widespread corruption makes it terribly challenging for too many who are still living hand to mouth,” Black said.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index sank 1 percent to 9,015.54 in morning trading. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.2 percent to 1,877.26, while mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3 percent to 2,600.51. Benchmarks in Taiwan and Malaysia were also lower.

But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.7 percent to 20,361.77, and Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.8 percent to 4,282.50. Shares in New Zealand and Singapore also rose.

Stocks around the world lost their steam Tuesday after muted German growth figures reinforced fears over the global economy.

Wall Street closed lower after a volatile day. The Dow dropped 0.7 percent to 11,405.93 _ the first time in seven trading days that the Dow rose or fell by less than 100 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1 percent to 1,192.76. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.2 percent to 2,523.45.

U.S. economic reports Tuesday were mixed. Housing remains weak, but factory output rose last month at its fastest pace since an earthquake in Japan disrupted global manufacturing in March.

Europe’s economy and debt troubles have been among global investors’ main concerns over the last year and a half. Some European countries have borrowed so much that they may need help repaying debt.

On Tuesday, the European Union reported that economic growth in the 17 countries that use the euro slowed to 0.2 percent between April and June from 0.8 percent the previous quarter. Germany’s growth fell to 0.1 percent from 1.3 percent.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in Paris to discuss the crisis but failed to calm worries about Europe’s debt problems.

The euro weakened to $1.4377 from $1.4397 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar slipped to 76.68 yen from 76.78 Japanese yen.

Greetings CaribPress Family! I shared previously that this year we are focusing on Profit!  It hit me at the end of that article, that we did not clearly identify the definition of profit.  For the record according to www.businessdictionary.com  profit  = The surplus remaining after total costs are deducted from total revenue, and the basis on which tax is computed and dividend is paid. It is the best known measure of success in an enterprise.
Profit is reflected in reduction in liabilities, increase in assets, and/or increase in owners’ equity. It furnishes resources for investing in future operations, and its absence may result in the extinction of a company. As an indicator of comparative performance, however, it is less valuable than return on investment (ROI). Also called earnings, gain, or income.
When was the last time you evaluated the profitability of your organization?  Here are a few useful ratios to use to determine the profitability of your organization: Gross profit divided by sales [GP/S]; Net income after taxes divided by sales [NIAT/S]; Net income after taxes divided by total assets [NIAT/A]; and Net Income after taxes/equity [NIAT/E].
Opportunities abound during this economic downturn for entrepreneurs with viable businesses.  Investment capital is all around, as well as discounted resources.  The missing ingredient is entrepreneurs who are properly prepared to take advantage of the opportunity.  Recently I attended a workshop where firms made pitches to investors for funding.  The set up was similar to a “Shark Tank” episode where each owner had a limited time to present and the panel of investors raised questions then determined if they would be willing to invest in the organization.  The investors had a desire to invest, yet the common challenge for most of the entrepreneurs was in discussing the financial health of their venture – profitability or the barriers to the same. Having an unprofitable venture was not necessarily a deal breaker; however the lack of understanding regarding possible solutions to that reality was. The investors were more impressed with entrepreneurs who stated for example: “My firm has not made a profit as of yet due to the dollars invested in research and development to perfect our product.  Now that we have a perfected patented product, we are seeking xyz investment dollars to move forward with a market test.”
The investment criteria included the path of first – seeking “friends and family,” angels, then second tier investments.  Additionally, it was important to have formed a solid core management and advisory board for organizational support.  Finally, the investors wanted a clear understanding of the use of funds, cash flow to either pay dividends or service debt, and the exit strategy.
So do you have a venture that’s investment ready? If so, send me an email and I’ll give you some feedback on resources available to support the growth of your firm!
Remember, if you have specific questions regarding raising capital, equity and debt financing, or other business management issues, please send me an email.
Profit!
Stephanie.Ardrey@caribpress.com
Coming soon: “Show Me the Money: The 9Ps To Profit!” by Stephanie Ardrey, MAOM

“High unemployment has forced an increasing number of people to enter or re-enter the job market,” said EEOC Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien.  “As a result, an ever increasing number of job applicants and workers are being exposed to employment screening tools, such as credit checks, that could unfairly exclude them from job opportunities.  Today’s discussion provided important input into our agency’s work to ensure that the workplace is made free of all barriers to equal opportunity.”

The Commission heard from a diverse set of experts. Chi Chi Wu of the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) expressed grave concerns that the use of credit histories is mushrooming at the time of economic instability for many Americans, noting that the use of credit histories “create[s] a fundamental ‘Catch-22’ for job applicants,” especially during this period of high unemployment and high foreclosures, both of which have a negative impact on credit.”  She observed, “You can’t re-establish your credit if you can’t get a job, and you can’t get a job if you’ve got bad credit.”  This view was echoed by several of the witnesses.

Sarah Crawford of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever from the National Council of Negro Women explained that the use of credit histories in the employment context can have a disparate impact on a range of protected groups, including people of color, women, and people with disabilities.  While the use of credit checks as employment screens increases, Crawford cited studies that show credit history is a poor predictor of job performance.  Additionally, she pointed out that many credit reports are riddled with errors or incomplete information, a view that was echoed by Wu of the NCLC, making whatever predictive value they might have even less reliable.

Representatives from the business community—Michael Eastman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Christine V. Walters of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) and Pamela Quigley Devata of the law firm Seyfarth Shaw, LLP—told the Commission that the use of credit histories is permissible by law, limited in scope, and predictive in certain situations of reliability.

Walters of SHRM said that “13 percent of organizations conduct credit checks on all job candidates … [and] another 47 percent … consider credit history … for select jobs,” but for those employers, “credit histories are but one piece of the puzzle.”  It is the experience of SHRM member companies that very few utilize credit histories for every single job opening.  Devata asserted that the use of credit histories is driven, in part, by the need for background information on potential employees in a current environment when it is difficult to obtain any but the most basic information in job references.

However, Dr. Michael Aamodt, an industrial psychologist, said that although there is considerable research that supports the use of credit scores in making consumer decisions, there is little research exploring the implications of using credit checks in the employment context.  Given the potential for discriminatory exclusion, he concluded that it would be wise to use an applicant’s credit history only within the context of a thorough background check.

This meeting is one of several throughout the year that will examine barriers to employment and their potential adverse impact on protected groups.  The statements of all the panelists, along with their biographies, can be found on the EEOC’s website at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/meetings/10-20-10/index.cfm.  A complete transcript of the testimony will be posted later.

The EEOC enforces the nation’s laws against employment discrimination.  More information is available on the Commission’s website at www.eeoc.gov.

In California, there’s always one ballot measure that does the opposite of what it says and that is this one. AB 32 is a jobs creator. Half a million people are working in California right now in clean tech and clean energy fields, because of the leadership that California’s legislature has shown. That’s the truth. And all this is is Texas oil money trying to knock out Silicon Valley as a competitor for the energy future in America. That’s all it is. If this were really about jobs in California…Californians would be putting money [into the proposition]. All the money here is coming from Texas.

Prop. 23 has the support of small business interest groups, including the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce. The group says that AB 32 won’t really help small businesses, it will just enrich Silicon Valley venture capitalists.

Silicon Valley types don’t install solar panels. That’s done by small contractors. Retrofitting and upgrading homes so they don’t waste energy, that’s done by small contractors. One thing you know for sure is that small businesses don‘t run oil platforms and… California small businesses won’t be running any oil platforms in Texas, so it doesn’t make sense to jump into bed with them. The next round of job creation and the next set of entrepreneurial opportunities are going to be coming from the industries of tomorrow. California right now has a tremendous head start and it would be foolish to throw that head start away.

Everyone wants to know where are the green jobs – they are hopeful that there will be green jobs, but they can’t access them. It’s a real frustration. What would you tell them?

One of the challenges we have is that green jobs are very visible in the political conversation…as a political concept, but they are not very visible as an economic fact. For instance, there are 80,000 coal miners in America in the old energy economy. There are already 80,000 people who are working in the wind industry in America and the solar industry supports an additional 46,000 jobs, so there are already more people with green jobs… in wind and solar than we have coal miners. Most people don’t know that.

You don’t have people on television doing those jobs, and they are newer jobs. No one doubts (coal mining jobs) , because you’ve seen those for hundreds of years. So part of it is people are less aware of the jobs that are being created. And the other part is we do need more of these jobs. Though we are in a tough economy without the federal government having passed the right bills, they are growing. And we won’t get them if as soon as we put the right laws in place, before the investments can actually get locked in, we start changing the laws again.

What happens if Prop. 23 fails, but the governor suspends it for one year as Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has suggested?

Any delay in implementation is a delay in clean energy job creation, a roadblock for clean tech investors and a dream come true for China.

What kills jobs more than anything is an uncertain legal environment where the laws are changed around every year, so that businesses don’t know where they should invest or disinvest or grow or cut back. That’s why this whole Prop. 23 is so dangerous. You’ve got people who are right now investing in California. And just as the train is beginning to move down the tracks, you’ve got people who want to knock it into the ditch and say they are doing that to create jobs. But, how would you ever create jobs by eliminating the policies that are attracting capital and replacing the bill with nothing?

A recent Field Poll found that ethnic voters, who could play a decisive role in passing the measure, were still on the fence on Prop. 23 – what would you say to these voting groups?

This is again one of those trickster ballot measures that says all the right things and does all the wrong things. It does require voters to do a double take to figure out this thing would be a catastrophe for California’s job future. I’m not surprised people are divided or confused. It’s designed to be confusing. They pretend that this doesn’t eliminate the climate legislation, and just postpones it, but it postpones it essentially forever, because the conditions under which it would ever come back into force, almost never occur in California’s economy. It pretends that it’s about protecting jobs, when it’s really about killing the only jobs creation machine in California.

What do Texas oil companies have to gain from Prop. 23?

If Californians invent cleaner technology that doesn’t rely on oil, Texas oil companies lose a ton of money. That’s why they are willing to spend a ton of money on a tricky ballot measure. In California politics, follow the money. You can polish up any language and get it on the ballot measure but look at the fine print and look where the money is coming from and that’s all you need to know.

Van Jones is co-founder of Green for All and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

Jamaican Businessman in Jail (Illustration)

David Smith, who allegedly ran a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme though an investment group called Olint, was sentenced after pleading guilty Thursday to two counts of money laundering and two counts of conspiracy to defraud.

More than a dozen other charges were dropped as part of a plea deal that calls for prosecutors to drop theft charges against his wife, Tracy Smith, according to defense attorney Oliver Smith, who is not related to his client.

The attorney said Smith also took the deal so he can focus on defending himself against fraud, money laundering and other charges included in a 23-count indictment handed down last month by a court in Orlando, Florida.

“He wants to focus on dealing with the matters before him,” Smith said late Thursday.

Defense lawyers have indicated that Smith will not fight extradition if it is requested by the United States.

The financier moved to this British Atlantic territory after Jamaican authorities raided his company’s Kingston office in 2006 and barred it from operating in the country. He was arrested in the Turks and Caicos last year.

The indictment in Florida alleges Smith created a company infrastructure in Jamaica to disguise the fact that client funds were not being traded for foreign currency as promised. Instead, prosecutors say, he transferred millions to his personal bank accounts to finance a lavish lifestyle.

CaribPress: Tell our readers about Calvin Dunn.

Calvin Dunn: I am 23-years-old, born and raised in South Los Angeles.  Both parents emigrated from Belize – My mom in her teens, and dad in his early twenties.  I have two older brothers who are both college graduates.  I graduated from catholic high school in 2004 (Mary Star of the Sea).  Catholic school was a good stepping stone and foundation to help gain entry into a school such as UCLA.

CPress: How did you find out about the Jackie Robinson Foundation (JRF) and scholarship opportunities?

CDunn: It was my senior year in high school and I was looking to attend college.  I found out by doing Internet searches for scholarships for African Americans and came across the Jackie Robinson website.  I was accepted to UCLA and the financial support from JRF was a big deciding factor for me to attend UCLA.  College is expensive and the expense is another barrier for people of color to be able to afford college.  Out of all the schools that I was considering, I received the most money to attend UCLA.

CPress: How has it been for you as a JRF Scholar?

CDunn: It has been amazing.  Just beyond the financial aspects, it changed my life.  I would not have experienced college and I think I would have had trouble completing college if I did not have that far-reaching support from the JRF foundation.  And I say that because the foundation exposed us to so many things, so many people that I never thought I would meet.  I met vice presidents of companies, doctors, lawyers, people who come from similar walks of life, such as me.  I met people who have come through the Jackie Robinson Foundation and seeing where they have ended up.  It was very inspiring for my peers and me.  We were exposed to things we did not know were out there.  It taught me to dream big and let me know that I was not alone; Knowing that anything I wanted to achieve would be possible because there are people out there doing them.

CPress: What are your long term goals?

CDunn: My long term goal is to attend graduate school.  My talent lies in Computers.  I will be starting Boston University as a graduate student in October to obtain a Masters in Computer Information Systems.  Throughout my undergraduate years at UCLA, computer information system was not always my focus.  I was kind of ignoring my skills in computers.  I spent a good part of my college career doing independent IT work for companies.  It was during my senior year that I figured out that I wanted to pursue computers.

CPress: If you were commissioned to write a survival guide for new grads, what would be included?

CDunn: Be Flexible; Determine where you think you will fit in your career path; be able to sample career paths and gain experiences while you are in college; Look for internship opportunities; Network with professional organizations and connections; and finally, work with your Jackie Robinson Foundation contacts.

CPress: What are you hearing from graduate class about the job outlook?

CDunn: I am hearing that it is difficult finding jobs.  With a shortage of jobs, now is the time to stay in school and pursue higher education, until the economy picks up.  I have some friends that were tired of looking for jobs, so they just went back to school.  This seems to be the trend.

The Jackie Robinson Foundation (JRF), a highly touted organization which provides financial grants and support services to deserving college students, will host the 5th Anniversary JAZZ on the Grass benefit concert (JAZZ) on Saturday, October 2, 2010 at 2 p.m. in Sherman Oaks, California at the estate Lynne and Oz Scott, renowned director and producer.

Rooted in the Robinson legacy of promoting social causes through art, JAZZ boasts four hours of live musical performances, cuisine, and a silent auction featuring vacation packages, sports, and music memorabilia.  Hosted by comedian/actor Chris Spencer, JAZZ raises funds for JRF’s comprehensive program including financial support, mentoring, and professional development.  With a nearly 100 percent graduation rate, JRF has earned the distinction as one of the nation’s most effective scholarship organizations.

For more information on JRF, sponsorship/advertising opportunities, and full line-up of performers, please visit http://www.jackierobinson.org/events or call 213.330.7726.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) _ Puerto Rico is embarking on a test project for converting algae to oil as part of a campaign to lessen the U.S. territory’s dependence on expensive imported oil.

A local company running the program that was announced Thursday said it expects to harvest eight types of algae from more than 2,000 acres (809 hectares) at an abandoned shrimp farm it is taking over in the northern coastal city of Dorado.

Puerto Rico’s power company, the Electric Energy Authority, will mix the algae oil produced by the project with diesel and other types of fuel to produce electricity, agency spokesman Carlos Monroig said.

The goal is to produce more than 2 million gallons of oil a year.

“This is a first step,” Monroig said. “We have to lower the price of fuel and power.”

Puerto Rico depends on oil-fired power plants for 70 percent of its electricity, and the government has been seeking alternate energy sources, including natural gas.

Bio-Lipids of Puerto Rico, the company running the algae conversion project, said it expects to begin harvesting algae in four months and start extracting oil from the microorganisms in eight months.

Workers will infuse the algae fields with carbon dioxide gas extracted from the Bacardi rum company’s fermentation process and from the state power authority’s electricity plants.

Company CEO Jorge Gaskins said he has done small-scale algae projects in Brazil and the United States over the past six years.

The yearlong project is budgeted at $10 million, but the first phase is starting with $1.6 million.

Puerto Rico’s energy authority has pledged $1 million, and $600,000 has been put up by the National Science Foundation, Bacardi and several universities, Gaskins said.

Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, now has no further payments due to the Washington-based lending institution.

The bank said Friday the debt cancellation was made possible by contributions from Japan, Canada and 11 European nations.

Since the earthquake, the bank said, it has provided Haiti $479 million in grants for recovery and development through June 2011.

A "we take credit/debit cards" sign at a market sales stand.

Last month I had the pleasure of traveling to Las Vegas to attend a seminar offered by Earn.Com. The purpose of this trip was to learn first hand from this group how small firms should address the lack of credit options in the financial market place.

The seminar offered clear indications that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive even as it is being severely tested in the current economic downturn. Indeed, not all of the firms there were facing tough financial times — some are even thriving in certain niches.

Yet even firms enjoying strong results agreed that having the correct credit strategy is essential for the long-term health of a business. Many of the presenters repeated that the best time to build a credit strategy is when you are not in need of immediate financing. Yes, you read correctly — you look for options when you don’t need them. This is so that you are in the best position to secure favorable terms.

A good credit strategy can lead to strong cash flow. That should create the possibility for you to hold or use your cash for as long as possible while collecting on your accounts receivable as quickly as possible. This can give you the ability to purchase equipment, supplies and other materials necessary to produce your product out of cash flow. Ideally, you want to produce your product, get it to your customers and have them pay you before you have to pay for the materials required to produce the product.

Part of any cash-flow analysis includes a look at how your company receives payments, and I spoke with Michelle McBride at PayBizness.com about the value of having a merchant account to handle credit-card payments as part of a cash-flow strategy.

What motivated you to launch PayBizness.com?

I saw a huge need in the marketplace to assist and educate small businesses on how to grow their sales volume and revenue base by accepting credit card transactions from their customers. Research has shown that a business can boost their sales volume by an average of 30% or more when accepting credit cards from their customers. I launched Pay Bizness in 2008 to provide cost-effective credit card and check processing solutions to small business owners. Our merchant account fees are very affordable and we can save business owners an average of 40% in merchant fees that switch from their existing merchant account provider to Pay Bizness. We offer merchant accounts to businesses of all types (retail, wholesale, e-commerce or mobile), whether you are a newly established business, in operation for some time, and regardless of your past credit history. Our motto is that “we don’t quit until we fit your business with a merchant account”!

What are the benefits gained for entrepreneurs by establishing a merchant account?

A merchant account gives a business owner a “mark of credibility and legitimacy” in the marketplace. Accepting credit cards at your business is one of the “basic” services that all businesses should provide to customers because it offers the customer flexibility and convenience in paying for their purchases. As we become more of a “cashless society,” the dependence on credit and debit cards will become a staple for most businesses that want to boost their revenue and profit.

How does the merchant account process work?

The merchant account is a bank checking account that is setup to enable the business to accept the funds (monies) associated with credit card transactions. The funds are transferred from the customer’s account to the business owner’s account within 2 business days of the customer sale. Merchant accounts are setup to process MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express transactions. In addition to the merchant checking account, the business will also receive a monthly paper or electronic statement which will detail the monthly credit/debit card transactions and the associated processing fees.

What are some of the issues firms face with establishing a merchant account?

Personal credit scores (FICO) are considered by the bank when opening up a merchant account for a business, regardless if the business has a Tax ID# and is a legal entity such as a Corporation or LLC. Most banks are looking for FICO scores that are higher than 500 to be considered for a merchant account. There are some exceptions to this standard, and business owners that fall below this threshold can still apply for merchant accounts through a select list of “high risk” banks.

What trends are you seeing among small firms as in terms of risks, and/or maintaining a merchant account?

One of the trends that we are seeing is that some business owners don’t recognize the importance of setting up a merchant account and only accept cash or checks from their customers. The problem that we’re seeing with “cash only”-based businesses is that they lose the ability to grow their sales base because customers don’t always have the available cash to pay for purchases and the business often has a “weak” accounting process to track their cash sales. With a merchant account, there is more structure to the revenue that is earned because of the tracking-and-reporting nature of the merchant account. Another trend we see is that some business owners try to process their sales through another business owner’s merchant account. This is illegal and can result in the owner of the merchant account to lose their merchant account.

What is the profile of your primary consumers in terms of key industries, years in business, geography, etc?

Our customers fall into the following key industries: retail stores, online stores (e-commerce) and mobile businesses such as personal coaches, cabs and limos, clothing and jewelry sellers, authors and caterers.

Remember, if you have specific questions regarding raising capital, equity and debt financing, or other business management issues, please send me an email.

To your prosperity!

Stephanie.Ardrey@caribpress.com

Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

Janet Frank, 58, was hired in 2007 to oversee State Fund after its president was ousted in a scandal. The organization is part government-run but financed by private business.

Frank was awarded an annual salary of $450,000 plus a slew of other incentives including a signing bonus of nearly $140,000 to help her move from Colorado. She never moved to California and instead commuted from her Denver-area home _ a commute that was partly offset by a $99,000 annual stipend.

Frank’s salary illustrates a conflict within a public-private enterprise. Most of State Fund’s 7,400 workers’ salary is limited by Civil Service rules, but top executives are exempt and can earn much more.

State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, the regulator of State Fund, said he was disturbed by Frank’s pay. He said he would order an audit to see if there was “anything that’s been inappropriate or wrong with regards to the way they’ve compensated their senior team.”

Agency officials said that during her tenure, Frank helped stabilize State Fund by making it more efficient and improving customer service and computer technology.

Frank, who worked at several private insurance companies before joining State Fund, declined to be interviewed.

“It has nothing to do with me,” she told the Times. “I’m a private citizen.”

Frank was hired to run State Fund after problems emerged in 2006, when its board uncovered potential conflicts of interest and self-dealing by its members and executives.

Other executives were also hired to help turn State Fund around and she was not the only one who was highly paid and allowed to commute from another state.

Frank quit the agency in November and within two months went to work for a competitor.

State Fund, formally called the State Compensation Insurance Fund, was created in 1914 so businesses that private insurers deem too risky to cover have a venue from which to buy policies the law requires them to have.

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