car ins

Rochester calendar

Break of Day Toastmasters, Christ United Methodist Church, 400 Fifth Ave. S.W., Rochester. 255-3391. 7 a.m.-8 a.m. Improve your communication skills. Toastmasters meets each Wednesday in March. Contact: Angela Jackson.

Lenten Series, Faith United Methodist Church, Fourth Street Southwest and LaFayette, Eyota. 6 p.m. "Compassion and Caring for Others." Presenters will be Dr. Scott Steinmann and nurse Sheri Merten of Mayo Clinic's Orthopedics Department.

Google and More, Rochester Public Library, 101 Second St. S.E. 285-8000. 9:30 a.m. Learn about other Internet search tools. Register online, at the library or by calling 285-8002.

Olmsted County Youth Commission, Conference Rooms A/B, 2122 Campus Drive S.E., Rochester. 4:30 p.m.

Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals, city-county Government Center, council chambers, 151 Fourth St.

auto repair yourself

Press report: car salespeople use FSA regulation to 'flog car cover'

A report in the Guardian's Money supplement of 10 March said several car buyers had reported commission-hungry car salesmen making them sit through sales pitches for gap insurance by falsely claiming that Financial Services Authority rules require it.

Gap insurance covers the difference between an insurance company's offer if a car is written off or irrecoverably stolen, and the money still owed on a hire-purchase agreement. The Guardian report says such insurance from a car dealer costs £300-400, but half that amount if bought elsewhere; a web-based supplier called Clik4gap quotes £152 to cover a £10,000 car for three years.

The report said three buyers from a Honda dealership had complained of such pressure to buy gap insurance, but added that it was not uncommon elsewhere.

refinancing texas

LUKoil to obtain $250 mln loan refinancing facility

MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's largest crude producer LUKoil [RTS: LKOH] will obtain a $250 million loan refinancing facility, the company's press office said Tuesday.

LUKoil has instructed ABN Amro and Calyon Bank to arrange an unsecured loan facility at LIBOR + 0.40% per annum with a five-year maturity, the press office said.

The facility is intended to finance the remainder of the $765 million syndicated loan facility secured on export receivables, which the company obtained in 2003, the press office said.

LUKoil intends to use the new borrowing to restructure a part of its debt by replacing a relatively expensive secured facility with a less expensive unsecured loan, the press office said.

.

fixed rate home equity loan

New Century Stock Resumes Slide; GE Unit Curbs Loans (Update4)

March 9 (Bloomberg) -- New Century Financial Corp.'s stock fell for a second day, hitting its lowest level in more than eight years, as Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Kenneth Bruce predicted the mortgage company will go bankrupt.

Talks with lenders to save Irvine, California-based New Century aren't likely to succeed, Bruce wrote in a report today. New Century, the second-biggest U.S. ``subprime'' mortgage company, said yesterday it won't make any more loans as it tries to replace credit lines revoked by its backers. The shares tumbled 66 cents, or 17 percent, to $3.21 as of 4:26 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They traded as low as $2.96, the least since October 1998.

The company's ``next disclosure is likely a bankruptcy filing,'' Bruce wrote in a report today that carried a ``sell'' rating.