European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 8, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Allotment abuse p by George Eberl staff Miter a rate companies Are using the military finance system As a Bill thousands of Gli in Europe pay monthly Bills to commercial Busi Nesses via the military allotment finance centers Send to accounts in a handful of stateside the Banks Are authorized by the Mili tary account holders signatures to automatically Transfer the incoming Money to toe commercial this  changeling of allotments pays off a Broad Range of products in Europe clothing from of Post Loans Lor charter flights and Furni stereo and photo equip China and 10 name a Btl Nesses like thai arrangement Lor two principal it zoos it Nancei the credit and it Catt bookkeeping part of the latter winds of being handled by the finance Era ten at Tae taxpayers payments by allotment reduce a firms worry that a customer May target to or upend the Money and wind up unable to a sen Leperson can Stop an allotment re payments Are completed for before payments Are even but businesses consider this less a to happen than having customers neglect to pay flt is left up to them military officials repeatedly say the allotment system is not intended As a Bill but they also admit they can Tell service personnel what to do with Money in accounts fed by the allot an Effort is now being made by the usar Kur finance and accounting office to Stop at least part of the now finance and accounting spokesman George Beckett said a proposal has been made re Quiring Ess and below to be counselled by heir company commanders or first sergeants before savings or life insurance allotments May be the Counselor signature would be quire As evidence of for practical these so called accounts Are Cash conduits Between finance and the Europe basal sell ers of products dozens o cd paying of Ufa priced merchandise or with monthly allotment admit they do it receive monthly Bank statement despite i heir statin u Accra no Beckett said the governing military regulation does not describe what constitutes on in Many these service people Are assessed banking charges in addition to loan or Purchase repayments and often stiff interest the Start and published three stories last year about commercial exploitation of the allotment and now u it is Styli business As usual for firms and Banks which Are chief beneficiaries of Many thousands of military Sav Ings military finance and Law enforcement authorities have been aware of this Bill paying gimmick for some the army criminal investigation division Cid initiated research into allotments and related Anas in late Usa eur and Legal officials were made aware of the situation soon Early last year Sis Learned that sales people for some Book firms helped go customers set up stateside Bank accounts to Channel allotment payments to because of the Cid the Amy finance Center at Benjamin refused to answer query about the number of monthly allot ment checks going to the Stamford National Bank and the Cape cod Bank and this information was later Given to by the although Stamford has a population of about handling More than monthly last of the Cid inform lion there is a fear of trampling on the rights of gis which would appear to include the right to be there were at least two t formation paper which stripes focus ing which use the Cid paper the boutiques eater i ranking Black but interviews was less a Factor than i the Market seemed Between Young Macks and clothing store operators s same thing their customers predominantly Paul chief of t Region investigations papers radar conclusion very scientific was based on t lodged complaints against a Dot As Well As the Type of clothing i who said he paper with the approval of the criminal investigation said he i def How Many service menus questioned by his another divergent finding t mint described All the allotment counts As open this i open As it was c Stamford National Bank Are those which i you forgot to Page As the stars and stripes february