European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 6, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday March 6, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page. 17money Piatt Efge today s tip having trouble saving Money every month Here a some expert advice. The Best savings plans Are automatic. So have. Your Bank Transfer a set amount from checking into savings every week or month. A most people done to have the discipline to save by themselves a said Henry Cormier a financial planner for ids american express. There Are always excuses but smart savers pay themselves first. Put savings at the top of your monthly list of Bills. A treat it like an electric Bill a advises Cormier a Only you re the electric  conversion rates London up tuesdays closing rates for the . Dollar to other currencies. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other local currencies in dollars Gold was quoted at $365.50 an ounce Silver at $3.83 British Pound. German Mark. French franc. A dutch Guilder. Belgian franc. Italian lira Swiss franc. Greek drachma turkish lira saudi arabian Nyal. Spanish peseta. Portuguese escudo Canadian Dollar austrian Schilling norwegian Krone. Danish Krone. These Are unofficial rates As re ported by wire service and banking sources and they Are listed to give some idea of daily currency fluctuations. The Only official rate concerns the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.49 wednesday based on tuesdays noontime Price fixing. A a a a. A. A. A at amp to files suit Over Navy contract by the new York times american Telephone and Telegraph co. On monday accused the general services administration of improperly awarding us sprint communications co. A contract to provide Telephone services to the Navy. A a a a. A at amp to contended that the Navy business Worth about $25 million a year belonged to at amp to under a 10-year, multimillion Dollar contract that the general services administration divided Between the two companies in 1988. In a protest filed monday with the Agency a Board of contract appeals at amp to asked that it be reassigned the Navy contract. Paul w. Costello a spokesman for the Gas said the Agency does not comment on Legal matters. March 4 March 5 .1.8970 19010 1 5345 1 5277 .5.2400 5.2025 1.7355. 1.7195 a a ,31.67 31.46 1 149 60 1,141.501 3365 1.3275 .,.165.70 164 40 .3.363.40 3.354.60 .3.7504 3.7505 95.85 95.00 134 55 133.10 .1.1548 1.1547 ,10.8300 10 73 ,6.0200. 5.9660 ,5.9140 5.8610 Dow Jones new York pull Dow Jones dosing Range of averages monday a Quot Low close 2097 03 2914 11 up 4 i 113523 114245 011 829 211 27 21202 0 1 1.32. 1034 20 1040 06 off 2 46 30 industrials 20 transport 15 utilities 65 stocks High 174 29501 �1160 26 21422 1053 72 change . Military May have lost millions to double Billing by Ron Mckinney staff writer. Wiesbaden Germany t a Rotterdam based company May have actually profited to the tune of $4.1 million in a double Billing scheme involving Coal deliveries to military bases in Germany. Criminal investigators with the inspector general a office in Wiesbaden who Are looking into five Coal contracts held by Anker Kolen Maat Schappie said the company double billed the government for More than $7.8 million Between 1984 and 1987, and delivered inferior Quality Coal in the process. The company and its president Willem Rottier denied any wrongdoing and filed suit in a u a claims court in 1989 for several million dollars in payments the government withheld while investigating the Case. That lawsuit was settled in the . Claims court in Washington two months ago Anker Kolen agreed to pay $1.45 million for the poor Quality of the Coal it delivered and relinquished its claims to any additional payments from the government. The . Government agreed to drop its double Billing claim against the company and stipulated that the court settlement would a constitute full satisfaction on All claims a including $4.1 million which investigators say the government is still owed. The controversy began in september 1988, when an employee at the . Army contracting Center in Frankfurt discovered apparent overpayment to the company. The payments involved de sense department contracts Worth $109 4 million for the delivery of Coal to army and air Force bases and housing areas in Central Germany. But investigators claimed that Anker Kolen charged the government $117.3 million for those contracts by submitting double Bills on some of the deliveries. Sharon Woods Thompson a special agent with the Ign a investigative service in Wiesbaden said the double Billing credit card rates went undetected because of a systemic problems at the contracting Center. A a lie Anker Kolen would give us a voucher to pay and nobody was really confirming that he had not submitted it someplace else. He did know about the double payments a Woods Thompson said. A. A a a a it Wasny to that somebody at the con trading Center was doing it on purpose. It was More that the system was very antiquated and not up to Speed. He played the system very very Well Quot she said of the dutch company which logs about $350 million in annual sales. A dutch prosecutor turned Down criminal charges in the Case because the a poor Quality control in bookkeeping at the Frankfurt contracting Center made a Victory in court improbable investigators said. A a a a a a. A a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a the Ign a final report on the Case was not written until last week an inv stiga. Tor said and was not a Factor in the negotiations leading to the court settlement. Following Standard practices the 1g refused to provide a copy of the report to the stars and stripes. Woods to a Epson said the government recouped $3.7 million in overpayment by withholding $2.5 million in payments owed to Anker Kolen and by accepting a $1.2 million Check from the company in june 1989. V if investigators Are right that leaves the government $4.1 million in the Hole. However officials at the Frankfurt contracting Center disagreed with the Ign a findings. Charles Forbes the contracting officer who handled Anker Kolens contracts claimed that the contracting office has recouped $6.8 million on the contested contracts. He said the United states was willing to drop further claims against the dutch firm because it was the a Best settlement the government could get because of organizational problems at the contracting if you re among the millions of americans who belong to a credit Union it might make sense to get your credit card there instead of applying at a Bank or other financial institution. The reason is simple. Credit unions charge interest of Only 15.3 percent per year on their cards on the average while the average for commercial Banks is 18.8 percent according to a recent Survey by Bank Bate Monitor an Industry newsletter. And Only 38 percent of the credit unions charge an annual membership fee. Compared to 91 percent of the Banks. Below is a breakdown of fees and interest on cards offered to service members by various institutions in Europe. Merchants National Bank is not listed. It does not Issue credit cards overseas. Andrews Federal credit Union visa Gold visa rates 15.5% 15.5% annual fees $5.00 _ $25.00 a the $5 fee is waived for those with sure pay and those Over 60 years of age. Finance Center Federal credit Union visa 15.9% 13.9% none none Gold visa l. Bate is tied to prime lending rate. Current rate is 15.9%, prime plus 5.9% global credit Union Mastercard 15.96% $18.00 Keesler Federal credit Union 7 rates annual fees. Mastercard 15.72% none service Federal credit Union visa 5.5% none Pentagon Federal credit Union visa Gold visa cafes 14.9% none 14.9% $15.00 visa and 16.9% Mastercard none for the 1st year a a a second year fee is $20. Fee is waived with $3,000 in purchases the previous year. Source individual institutions a amps Wes Booher Center. A Forbes said the government has received two checks from Anker Kolen totalling $23 million and it halted $4.5 million in payments owed to the company. Forbes also disputed the in s claim that More than $78 million was overpaid although he could not say How much was overpaid. Anker Kolen had a inadvertently at one time or another submitted double vouchers a Forbes said a its nothing that any other contractor  do from time to time. The government accounting. Is supposed to catch that sort of thing. If you have this much business going it could happen  Rattler said he was never contacted by the government about the possibility of double Billing and launched his own audit As soon As he heard that a . Investigation was under Way. His review found that a on one contract we received More Money than we were supposed to receive a he said. Anker Kolen reimbursed the Money a $1.2 million a a although the government was a a substantially behind on payments dating Back to 1984, Rottier said. A we did t want to Cloud the Issue. We wanted an absolutely Clear record a he said. Anker Kolen held Coal contracts for ii years until the government stockpiled enough Coal to eliminate the need for More deliveries. One result of the Coal squabble was that the Frankfurt contracting Center a turned itself around after a visit from the in audit team from Washington it adopted More checks and Hul ances said Tom Conaty the special agent in charge of the Ign a investigative service Marlene Mills the contracting Center employee who initially uncovered the alleged double Billing received a $10,000 department of defense inspector general Cash award. Washington Toad staff Worflar Chuck Vlinch contributed to Thia Raport automakers seek Relief from controls Detroit up the loaders of the nations big three automakers quietly met with key government a a officials in Washington last week to seek Relief from what one spokesman culled a the piling on of  confirmed monday that Robert c. Stempel of general motors corp., Harold Poling of Ford motor co., and Lee Iacocca of Chrysler corp. Met with top Cabinet officials including White House chief of staff John Sununu and fed chairman Alan Greenspan. Although Industry leaders routinely meet with government officials one company spokesman said last weeks sessions were attended by All three executives at once. Discussions included a wide Range of issues that automakers insist May Hurt productivity and profits. The timing and the High level of the visit May also be significant As automaker ers seek to exert maximum influence on lawmakers because of pending legislation on fuel Economy and clean air As Well As reinforce How the recession and Gulf crisis have decimated . Vehicle sales. Automakers did no to publicize the meetings and were still hesitant monday to detail what was discussed