European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 30, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 20 b the stars and stripes monday december 30, 1991 Money matters the Liberty Lodge guest House at the military Ocean terminal in Bayonne n.j., is now open to accommodate Dod personnel visiting the new York City area. The new 40rodm facility is within walking distance to the terminal and features a Library fitness Center and diner. Each room has a color television. Kitchenettes suites and rooms equipped for disabled patrons Are also available. Room rates begin at $40 a night. Those wanting to stay at the guest House should make reservations up to 30 Days in Advance. For information Call 201 823-8700.conversion rates London up fridays 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 �353.15 an ounce Silver at $3.90. Dec. 24 dec. 27 British pound.,.1.8760 1.8772 German mark.1.508 1.5170 French franc.5.1725 5.1850 dutch guilder.1.7126 a belgian franc.31.25 a italian lira.1,151.40 1,151.80 Swiss franc.1.3435 1.3515 greek drachma.174.95 174.40 turkish lira.5,016.00 5.036.80 saudi arabian riyal.3.7501 3.7505 Spanish peseta.96.78 96.26 portuguese escudo.135.22 134.75 Canadian Dollar. 1.1568 1.1595 austrian Schilling .10.7475 10.65 norwegian krone.6.00 5.9620 danish krone.6.94 5.8990 these Are commercial rates and can be related Only to the use of foreign currency by . Forces for official business. The Only official rate concerns the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.48 through monday based on fridays noontime Price  by one magic s losing and sponsors los Angeles up advertisers have quietly backed away from magic Johnson in the seven weeks since the sex los Angeles lakers basketball Star announced he is carrying the aids virus. A i would be very surprised if any future advertising plans include him a said David Burns president of Burns sports celebrity service a Chicago consulting firm. Since Johnson a retirement nov. 7, Only Converse inc. And Spalding sports worldwide have indicated plans to feature Johnson in future product advertisements. Other advertisers that have used Johnson in the past year including target stores Kentucky Fried Chicken and Nestle Are either dropping the former Aba Star or reassessing and campaigns. Quot you done to put a sick person in an and particularly a fatally ill one. Its a fundamental Rule of advertising a Burns said. �?o1 say this sympathetically but that is the last spokesperson you would want to  �?o1 done to think he has a future in advertising new products a agreed Lloyd Kolmer a new York celebrity marketing expert. Quot advertisers done to want to be associated with negatives. And this is a very solemn negative. He might  one sports marketing expert estimates that Johnson a infection could ultimately Cost him More than $25 million in lost product endorsement fees. Phone scams fall through system s cracks study says Washington a a House report is culling for sweeping changes in the Way Federal regulators do business so they can put crooked Tel marketeers out of business. Fraud by Telephone costs . Consumers Between $3 billion and $15 billion per year and May Cost Long distance Telephone companies and financial institutions a such As Banks and credit card companies a an additional $1 billion a year according to the report issued sunday by the House government operations committee but government efforts to stump out telemarketing fraud have been inadequate according to the study because of a Lack of coordination among regulators and the absence of a Central Clearinghouse on telemarketing fraud. The report concluded that Telephone fraud is Quot a highly under reported criminal activity a with possibly As few As one in 10,000 victims complaining to authorities largely because of embarrassment about their gullibility. The scams run the Gamut from phony Gold mines and dry Oil Wells to get Rich Quick schemes involving such risky investments As precious metals Penny stocks or complicated Stock options. All arc peddled Over the Telephone by smooth talking High pressure sales people using tightly scripted pitches. The victims Are often elderly retired people or immigrants new to the . Marketplace. Fraudulent telemarketers know How to make their schemes fall through the regulatory gaps of state and Federal Agency jurisdictions a rep. Doug Barnard jr., a a. The report called for than 60 regulatory and legislative changes including q More criminal prosecutions of telemarketing fraud artists with convictions leading to prison time rather than civil actions by regulators that Only impose fines and court injunctions. A going after boiler room sales people As Well As the scam s operators because the employees just move on to another operation in another City or state. Creating a special inter Agency of who group on telemarketing and related frauds to coordinate investigations. Q starting a special unit within the Justice department to attack telemarketing fraud. A including other regulators and Law enforcement agencies in a data base already shared by the Etc and the nation association of attorneys general Bill Doyle q. The Bank at which i have my individual retirement account certificates of Deposit sent me a notice i can hardly believe. It reads in part As follows a a $25 Ira Transfer out fee will be assessed on All iras you close and Transfer out of our Bank. We will not charge the Ira Transfer out fee at your next maturity to allow you to make any changes in your Ira investments due to our new  is this Legal a. Yes. Banks and other Ira trustees Are permitted to charge any fees they like provided they do not break contracts. A cd of course is a contract. You leave Money with the Bank for an agreed upon period of time. The Bank agrees to pay you a specified rate of interest for that time a and not to Levy any fees not disclosed when the cd was opened. So the Bank can to charge a Transfer out fee on any Ira cd you had before the new charge was instituted. But it can Levy such a charge on Ira cd you obtain a by rolling Over maturing cd or with new Money a after that charge goes into elect. If you Are steaming mad about this As your letter indicates you can take your Ira out of that Bank As each cd matures. That Way you will avoid the $25 a amps Sharon Kilday Tarrant the House Commerce consumer and monetary affairs subcommittee which conducted a two year study of telemarketing fraud heard testimony last year from a 90-year-old widow who lost $760,000 to a precious metals company that used High pressure sales tactics. There was additional testimony from an 84-Ycar-old retired schoolteacher from Georgia who lost her life savings of $20,000 to salesmen pitching investments in a phony movie making company. Often the scams Are run out of so per cd Transfer out fee. Assuming you do that make sure you get that Money into an Ira elsewhere within 60 Days. If you delay longer than that you have to pay regular income tax and a 10-percent penalty tax on your nest egg. Also Check Ira sponsors you Are considering moving the Money to to see what fees they Levy. Q. When closing out All her accounts at the credit Union of the company where she worked for 20 years my wife encountered one annoying problem. In requesting the accumulated funds in her Ira and the cd she was notified the cd would withhold $100 As a handling fee. The application she used to enrol in the Ira states that $100 a May Quot be withheld not that it necessarily would. This tells me the policy is arbitrary. Additionally we Are aware of a number of situations similar to my wife s and in most cases the Ira funds were returned without a handling fee deduction. Is the cd allowed to deduct the handling fee in my wife s ease a. Sure. At the time she opened the Ira your wife was informed there might be such a fee. That prior notice lets the cd off the Hook and gives it the right to sock your wife Tor $100. Called a boiler room operations a rented office space that can be shut Down on Short notice where salespeople using Banks of phones make hundreds of solicitation Calls. Part of the problem the report concluded is that there is no Central data base for complaints about telemarketing fraud so regulators and Law enforcement officials done to have a True picture of How much fraud is going on. A the report also faulted the jurisdictional gaps Between the Justice department which has the Power of criminal prosecution the Federal Trade commission which investigates unfair or deceptive sales practices in a number of industries the securities and Exchange commission which oversees Stock Bond and Mutual fund sales and the commodity futures trading commission which regulates the futures contracts of commodities such As Silver or soybeans. A fraudulent telemarketers know How to make their schemes fall through the regulatory gaps of state and Federal Agency jurisdictions a said rep. Doug Barnard jr., d-ga., the subcommittee chairman. He noted that telemarketing is regulated largely by the product offered for Sale so if the Sec comes Down hard on Stock scam artists the marketeers simply move into another area such As bogus land sales or worthless Oil and Gas drilling rights leases. Crooked operations can also pull up stakes and move to another jurisdiction when state regulators turn up the heat. Quot telemarketing fraud is not receiving at All the amount of attention and investigative and prosecutor Al resources it deserves by Federal Law enforcement and regulatory agencies a Barnard said. The panel also said it was considering legislation that would extend the it cd a authority Over telemarketing fraud and allow the states to file Federal lawsuits against those accused of violating Etc rules. Similar Bills have been considered but never passed by Congress. A Telephone advertising consumer rights Bill passed by both the House and Senate last month would curb intrusive telemarketing Calls. The fact that the cd levied that fee in some Ira closing cases and not in others does no to change matters. The cd has the authority to Lay on that fee. Based on your letter the cd does seem to be arbitrary a or worse a in its policy on Ira closings. But other than complain to the cuts officers there a nothing your wife or you can do about it. Q. My cd mature at the end of the month. If i reinvest this Money at maturity. Can i continue with the same 7.5 percent interest my cd now pay or do i have to take the current interest which i see has gone Down to about 5 percent i rely on this interest to supplement my Low social Security benefits. A. You la have to accept the lower interest now available. You can troll Over maturing cd at their old rates. You re in the same fix As Many other people who enjoyed High interest previously paid on cd by Banks savings and loan association and credit unions and depended on that interest to make ends meet. You can get 6 percent or a bit better by putting your Money into cd with maturities of three years or longer. But you would be locked in with those rates until the cd mature. C Keg features Syndicate