European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 19, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday june 19, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 17money matters today s tip designating the beneficiary of a life insurance policy is generally an easy task. But confusion can result if you want to Divide the proceeds of an estate among various family members and heirs. If you re unsure How your beneficiary designation is recorded Check your policies. Military Legal affairs offices can also help sort out life insurance  rates London up tuesdays 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 $370.00 an ounce Silver at $4.50. 1 june 17 june 18 i British Pound. 1 6235 1.6105 it German Mark 1 7985 1.8115 French franc 6115 6.168 dutch Guilder. 2 028 2.043 belgian franc. 37 0103 37.3275 italian lira. 1,342 65 1.350.90 Swiss franc. 1 5465 1.5575 greek drachma. 196 01 197.37 f. Turkish lira. 4,254 20 4.281.10 saudi arabian Nyal. 3 75 3.7501 Spanish peseta. 113 10 113.70 portuguese escudo. 159 22 160.05. Canadian Dollar. 1 1425. 1.1413 Quot a austrian Schilling. 12 66 12.759 norwegian Krone. 7 041 7.096. Danish Krone. 6 9455 6.994 these Are unofficial rates As reported 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 1.77 through wednesday based on tuesdays noontime  York Exchange new York up a the 15 most Active stocks in new York Stock Exchange composite trading on monday. Slock sales last net chg. Computer Assoc 2,293,400 10% up a general motors. 1,645,700 43% off ism corp. 1,627,400 99% off % Mcdonalds corp i 613,800 32% off % Pepsico inc 1,609,600 30% unch mrs inter inc 1,606,400 7% Oft % Glaxo holdings a 1,408,900 a 42%. Off  Rwjr Nabisco hid 1,351,100 11 up it get corp 1,331,600 29% off % us Marathon 1,296,700 24 up % Philip Morris 1,247,600 66�?T% Oft % Conner Perl Perl. 1,170.300 16% off % Chase Manhattan 1,115,700 19% off i mrs mkt inc mtr 1,061,800 7% Oft i at amp to company 1,055.000 37%. Up  american Exchange new York up the 10 most Active stocks in american Stock Exchange composite trading monday. Stock sales last net chg. Wang labs inc b 523,400 3%. Unch Conti air Hodgs 353,900 2 unch Ivan corp 235.700 27% off % Energy service 221.000 3% up % Amdahl corp 213,000 15% unch Echo Bay mines 202,300 9 up % Elan corp pc 184,600 33%. Up am swat mtg inv 180.100 8 off % Alza corp 178,400 58% off 1 Phil Long d Tel a 175,300 a 19% a off 1�?T/4 Dow Jones new York up Dow Jones closing Range of averages monday 30 industrials 20 transport 15 utilities 65 stocks High 3021.69 1245 42 210.39 1087 80 Low 2977 86 1221.61 208.19 1071.16 close 2993.96 1226 02 208.56 1075 85 change off 6 49 off 8 64 off 1.64 off 4.72 legislation seeks to simplify calculating interest payments by Albert b. Crenshaw the Washington Post Washington. A figuring out which Bank pays the highest interest on your Money ought to be fairly easy. You find out what interest rates Are being paid and take the highest right unfortunately it Isnit that simple. In fact to Isnit simple at All. The advertised rate is Only the beginning. Banks have literally dozens of ways of calculating interest each of which can raise or lower a sometimes dramatically a the amount of Money actually paid at a Given interest rate. To determine what your Money will really earn you need to know not Only the rate but also How often the interest is compounded and on what balance. Compounding a in effect the frequency with which you Are credited with1 interest earned and can begin earning interest on interest a can be daily weekly monthly quarterly or whatever the Bank chooses. And even the time periods vary. You probably think that there Are 365 Days in a year but your Bank May think there Are 360. A v.? then there a the question of How much Money you have in the account. Here again there Are Many different ways of looking at it. You May think you have $1,000 in your account. But if your Bank uses the a i Nestable balance method of figuring interest it sees Only $880, the portion it uses to calculate interest. Worse if it uses the a flow balance method it May see Only say $45, if your balance dropped that Low during the compounding period. The situation has become so Complex a and in the eyes of some so deceptive a that a a consumer today really has no Means to calculate How much Money they Willa consumer today really has no Means to calculate How much Money they will really have at the end of a Given  a rep. Richard h. Lehman really have at the end of a Given time a said rep. Richard h. Lehman a Calif. The result Lehman said is that institutions compete with a teaser ads and other promotions that suggest they pay High rates while they Are in fact manipulating the calculations to reduce what they actually pay depositors. Lehman and some other members of Congress Are pressing to give Consumers a fighting Chance. The House banking committees consumer affairs subcommittee recently approved a Bill that would require Banks and savings institutions to disclose in Clear written form the technique they use for calculating interest. The institutions would have to disclose the annual percentage yield on interest bearing deposits. This Means that Banks would have to give a figure for the interest that would really be paid after All the twists and turns have been taken into account. In addition the met sure would prohibit the a i Nestable balance method of computing interest. Y under this method which applies to interest bearing chocking accounts Banks done to pay interest on 12 percent of the depositors balance. The rationale for this is a regulatory requirement that compels them to set aside 12 percent in a Reserve to protect against a surge of withdrawals. Since this Reserve cannot be invested and thus earns the Bank nothing the Bank figures it should t pay interest on it. Consumer groups applauded the banking subcommittees measure As a step in the right direction but they expressed concern that it would not go far enough. Edmund Mierzwinski of the . Public interest research group told the subcommittee that he and other consumer advocates would like to see the Bill prohibit other a a onerous methods of interest calculation. Mierzwinski expressed concern that Banks might simply switch to something like the a flow balance Quot method in which interest is calculated on the lowest balance in the account. To illustrate he said if an account had .�$1,000 in it every Day of the month except the last Day when it dropped to $45 under the Low balance method interest would be paid on Only $45. But an institution that used the average daily balance would pay interest on $968. Representatives of the banking Industry said that most Banks use the average daily balance method and already disclose their calculations. Russell s. Dunman of the first Alabama Bank testifying for the american Bankers association called the measure a regulatory  Dunman and Joe blew president of the consumer Bankers association also opposed the measure because it does not apply to Mutual funds which compete with Banks for Many of the same dollars. Clothing customers agree cafes should Stock basics by Chuck Roberts staff writer Ramstein a Germany cafes is asking customers for suggestions before placing its orders in a few weeks for Spring and summer clothes for 1992, the top cafes clothing manager in Europe told a group of people Here monday that customer input is needed throughout Europe to get the right clothes in the right stores. Ray Gilliam asked a group of about 20 men and women to give their local Exchange managers specific information about what brands they would like to see in their local exchanges. Gilliam warned that stores that done to provide specific information when ordering will be sent a random assortment of fashions from the fashion distribution Center in Dallas. The women who had gathered from the Kaiserslautern military Community had a variety of specific requests but they All agreed that cafes needs to get Back to the basics. They said they wanted less Christian dior and More clothes such As Basic blouses or skirts that can be bought at reasonable prices. One customer described what they wanted As a knockabout  Jewelle Burch was so determined to get this Point across that she wore a White Blouse and a Brown Cotton skirt to the forum so that managers could see for themselves what customers mean by basic.,. Burcl and the others said they Felt that too much display space in the stores is devoted to High priced items. The women also requested that special display space be devoted to Petite and larger sizes and that cafes decrease the variety of shoes it buys and increase the size selection. At the end of his presentation Gilliam gave the women a preview of what new fashions customers can expect to see in cafes stores this fall. The list includes a sweaters especially in Europe where the weather is often cold and Rainy. Cotton sweaters will be popular because they can be worn with or without a shirt underneath. A baggy pants will continue to be a popular item Gilliam said. Skirts also will contain More material with the length of skirts dipping As Low As the Middle of the calf Gilliam said. A faded Denim will continue to fade but Gilliam said the dark Blue color will be coming Back in style again. A rounding out the list were ties with wild designs Stirrup pants for women pants suits and dresses with  on Loans Rise a by the Washington Post Washington although there Are growing indications the recession is easing a new report on Bank loan delinquencies suggests Many american households Are still having trouble managing their debts. The study by the american Bankers association showed that More borrowers fell behind on their consumer loan payments during the first three months of the year. The slippage was apparent in a wide Range of debt including car Loans personal Loans and credit cards. Overall the delinquency rates were highest in the Northeast with 5.61 percent of All consumer Loans delinquent in new Hampshire for example. Massachusetts was next with 5.38 percent followed by new York with 4,15 percent. In Arizona by contrast Only 1.25 percent of Loans were behind. Aba chief economist Robert Dugger attributed the rising delinquencies to a higher unemployment and lower personal income resulting from the  but he also noted that delinquencies traditionally Rise during the first Quarter of the. Year a because Many Consumers who let Holiday spending get the Best of them play catch up for a few