| Subject: Re: Why No Updates from MMFC??? |
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Date Posted: 11:53:37 05/13/05 Fri
In reply to:
's message, "Re: Why No Updates from MMFC???" on 11:51:14 05/13/05 Fri
Past News
View Latest News
November 24, 2003 - Dear Members:
I am still in progress with the European investment I mentioned in the last update, dated October 3, 2003.
Altho we were expecting to complete the final contract for this placement by the end of October, this has not occurred. I extended our time limit on it, as I was confident that we were still on track, and the reasons for the delay were acceptable to me. Also I was promised that payout would happen by mid-December in spite of the delay.
Since then, I have received a copy of one contract (pre-cursor to the final contract) from my partner and he said that they assured him again that we would be paid in mid-December, and that the final contract coming this week would set the exact time, terms and conditions. He said that he was very confident of successful completion, that this was a "done deal".
I will update you the moment we have the final contract, and within a few days of that, I expect to be able to post a payment schedule.
Sincerely,
James
October 3, 2003 - Dear Members:
The first thing to inform you of here, regrettably, is that there are no funds available for payments now, period. All our current funds are committed at this time.
In the August 20th update, I mentioned being in Europe for an investment there. I met with the principal in Europe again, early in September, and after 2 days of meetings and signing documents, we were on a schedule toward a final contract. Yesterday, I received a draft copy of that final contract. This is the good news I have been waiting for. A few more days will be spent going thru it thoroughly to make sure all the fine points are in order, and if they are, I will then approve it, and then wait to sign the final version, which, by pre-contract agreement, is scheduled to occur before the end of October. This is the best situation we have come across yet, and we are very hopeful, as it will serve to solve our present situation well. I am at source on this one, no brokers, intermediaries, facilitators, trade group representatives, managers, etc... only principal to principal.
There was a minimum amount needed in order to participate in that investment and I had to make a difficult decision about how to meet that minimum. I chose to use all available funds that we had on hand. As a result of that, we have now stopped making ALL payments. Again, please be assured that I am doing everything possible in the collective best interests of our whole membership.
I am determined to accomplish the outcome that we all want, and I am confident that I am on track to do so.
Sincerely,
James
August 20, 2003 - Dear Members:
You have been waiting for some encouraging news, that I believed I would have for you. I said that I would "hold off on details until I send out another update as soon as I am certain". Well, I am still not certain, but I will update you here some.
We have placed funds on two fronts. We are watching their performance very closely, and so far they are not delivering the returns we were hoping for (remember, it's always best efforts). On a more positive note, on another front, while we are experiencing the inevitable delay, we do expect placement shortly. I was at a meeting in Europe last week with a principal there and we are completing final details now for going forward.
Of all of the leads I was provided with by members, NONE of them produced anything (which tells me that even though some members say that they can get better returns elsewhere, all of the best referrals to me haven't proved these statements).
There is very little REAL opportunity out there for higher yields. In the last two years, the business of providing better than average returns has become like searching for a needle in the haystack. I have submitted documents for private placement to more than 60 entities in total (after preliminary due diligence) and have had contact with more than 200 brokers.
I have received complaints from some of you that I am not communicating enough. When there is something to communicate to the whole group I will, as I have been doing for more than two years. My focus on income for the club right now is critical and I have no time to answer emails or phone calls personally at this time.
I am continuously amazed at some of you who think I should be responsible for your personal emergencies. I am running a business here and I am responsible for making the best business decisions I can, to do with your investments and the club's financial wellbeing. I am NOT responsible for your personal financial affairs. I have helped where I could, but I am no longer in a position to do so. If some of you are depending on me to solve your personal problems, then you need to focus on the fact that you are responsible for your personal emergencies, not me. This is not an environment without risk.
To the many, many more of you who have not been inundating me with phone calls and emails, looking for details every step of the way, I thank and appreciate you very much indeed!
All members need to be assured that I am doing everything possible in our collective best interests.
Sincerely,
James
July 5, 2003 - Dear Members:
Dare I say it!
After many months of considerable effort and due diligence and conducting due diligence, I believe that within the next week or two, I will finally be able to share some good news with you, and that soon after that I expect that we will be back on track.
As it is a bit premature right now, I will hold off on details until I send out another update as soon as I am certain.
I am behind about 2 weeks on emails, and I have a long list of phonecalls wanting response. I am just not able to keep up with them at this time.
We have had some more mail and website server problems. These are hardware related, and as it is the weekend, we may not have it fixed until the first of the week. Remember that our backup email address is mmfc@email.com.
Sincerely,
James
June 9, 2003 - Dear Members:
Since my last update of May 17th my time has been continuously focused on the club's investments as stated, and still is. Volume of emails is still very high, and I am still not able to respond to them in as timely a fashion as I would normally. I recommend that some of you reread the update of May 17th, as I don't think you got the message.
On Saturday night, the mailserver that provides service to my email (not the club's) went offline. I am now moving that domain to another webhosting company and expect that my email address will be working again within 24-72 hours.
Be assured that we have progressed further than where we were on May 17th, the date of my last update, and that progress is positive, and we are close (hopefully!) to being back on track.
Sincerely,
James
May 17, 2003 - Dear Members:
Before individually replying to the hundreds of emails in my inbox and our message center, I'm writing this update to explain the current situation in detail.
Many members have asked in individual emails for more information on how we are doing to resolve our transition period. So here is an overview of what we have been contending with. This overview is designed to ELIMINATE these individual emails, not to provide a reason to enquire with EVEN MORE emails on the information provided here. If that happens, I will have no choice but to IGNORE THEM, as my time right now still needs to be focused on the club's investments.
Since our March 23, 2003 announcement, we received more than 100 recommendations from our members. Even though our criteria for recommendations were clear and straight, we have been able to verify only 3 situations that I firmly think (subject to not discovering anything contradictory at this stage) will produce the results we are looking for.
Consequently, about 97% of the referrals did not lead to anything real. As great as many of them appeared to be in the beginning, upon close scrutiny, there was nothing there to back them up. Unfortunately, with many of these referrals, we spent a great deal of time and expense going down the path of great promise to find nothing at the end. Others turned out to be the classic "bait and switch" routine. Here's how this works. Initially it is stated emphatically that the funds would always remain in our own sole signatory account, that it would take less than a week to pass compliance, and then we would receive our final contract and be in trade a few days after that. Then there would be delay with compliance (wide range of excuses, best being very busy with many applicants) and a couple weeks or more would go by. Then we may be informed that we have been approved by compliance, but the program has closed or shut down (wide range of excuses again, best being too many applicants, or it became too public). Then comes the switch, they now have a great new program, however, you have to move the funds, but that's OK as it will be risk free. Then upon proper due diligence (requires a great deal of experience and skill) you will find out that it was not at all risk free.
Most recommendations promised direct contact to the trading entity, or program manager or facilitator direct to the trade group. NOT ONE OF ALL THE REFERRALS led to anyone but a broker initially. In one case, as an example, we went 5 brokers deep, each one having said that they were direct to the facilitator and trade group, and then with the 5th broker promising us a contract and a call from the trade group in Europe that never came. To get started with the process, you need to submit paperwork, and lots of it, and then a trip to the notary and often to the courier. Then with the next process, you may get a different set of documents to complete and so on. This becomes very tedious and time consuming, especially when most of them lead nowhere.
In another instance, we had over 30 club members emphatically declare to me that XXXXX was THE answer, meeting all of our criteria. We progressed through no less than 7 different brokers, who were not connected to each other, but were all connected to XXXXX. Once we had direct contact with a principal of XXXXX, we discovered fairly quickly that they were just another broker "looking like" a trade group. Not only that, but they pointed to another broker, that in turn pointed to yet another broker!
We can appreciate your disappointment when we dropped the interest rates, and now some of you are due your principal back and you are not getting paid. We can appreciate the difficulties that some of you are having waiting to get paid now. I hope that you can also appreciate the difficulties we are encountering. Before we made the March 23rd announcement, we waited for a $4Million payment that wasn't delivered as promised. It changed everything, very suddenly and unexpectantly. We have had to really dig in since then to make this work, and we are.
Those of you who have loan payments due and are not receiving them, are naturally asking when you will receive them. Given what I have said already, I want to be cautious not to create another set of expectations that cannot be met due to circumstances beyond my control. I mentioned earlier that we have identified and are in process with 3 real situations. That is the GOOD NEWS! I believe (but cannot be absolutely certain) that we will be in a position to resume principal payments within 3 to 4 weeks. Why this time frame? Because, assuming everything continues smoothly, it will take that long to receive proceeds from any one of these transactions.
This process of investigation and due diligence is extremely intense, requiring complete focus without distraction. As such, it has been impossible for me to keep up with the ever increasing amounts of email. One of my challenges has been that I have always liked being on the front line, having good personal contact with a great many members. Unfortunately at this time, I just cannot keep that up at the pace demanded of me.
Another challenging situation is that there appears to be a great many members having "emergencies" at this time. In the past, I have always honoured requests for full payout of loans in genuine emergency situations, never having said no to a single one in the more than three years that MMFC has been in operation. We averaged about 10 emergency payouts per year. In the past few weeks, we have had more than 100 requests for "emergency" payouts, many of them not even explaining what the emergency is. Now I am sensitive to someone in an emergency situation and always look to see how I can help. Even if I can't make a payout, there is usually some other way that I can help. So I have been taking time to enquire about their "emergency", and of course this is very valuable time I am taking away from my priority of getting the club's investments working. On close scrutiny, very few if not all of the so called "emergencies" are real emergencies at all. They are members doing what they can to get their loan payouts, not thinking about and respecting the rest of the members, or the safety of the club. We are a club trying to do the best we can, not a bank.
Here's where I stand...
I know what we are attempting to do can be done. I know that the arena where we want to be successfully invested, is real. If I didn't, it makes sense that I wouldn't be doing it. Access and broker non-performance has been the primary problem. I am confident that we have access and will get the results we need.
One final comment on this matter. We have chosen at the moment to suspend loan payouts until we are able to make all the payouts. We will not pay out some members and not others. If we deplete our capital now, it will be counterproductive to us qualifying for real opportunities, as the more capital we have, the better our chances are of being taken seriously. If we deplete our capital and can't qualify, we might just as well shut down the club and liquidate the assets.
All active loans will continue to receive monthly interest payouts. Loans at the end of their terms that were not reloaned and are not yet paid back, will also receive interest payments as a conciliatory gesture for us not making the loan repayment when due. Those interest payments (at current monthly rate, presently 0.5%) will be automatically deposited into your Freedom Cash Account (FCA). To request withdraw from your FCA, choose the Withdraw link under the Freedom Cash Account title on the FCA page and follow instructions from there.
Some members have asked what they will receive when their loan repayment is made. The answer is... they will receive at least the original principal amount loaned. Interest plus bonus (rollover option) will be paid provided we are able to do so. Remember that interest plus bonus has always been on a best efforts basis and is not guaranteeed. Having said that, it is my full intention to honour these arrangements if I am able to do so. That is what I am working on at the moment.
Referral fees are only paid when the referred loans receive interest payments.
Altho I am far behind with responding to emails, I will answer them all eventually, and you can expect my reponses to be brief. I am also unable to respond to the many phone messages. I promise you, I am doing the best I can to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.
Sincerely,
James
April 26, 2003 - Dear Members:
Since the last update to you, we have made even more progress. However, it will be another 1 to 3 weeks, before I will be able to predict accurately the end of our transition period. To make that prediction, I want first to have final contracts in hand from the entities that we are presently working with. We are very close to that. If things do unfold as they are promised to us, it may be as quick as a few weeks to get back to normal. What we have experienced in the last year however, is that most times delay is the norm. We are dealing with financial institutions in a climate regulated by 2 PATRIOT Acts and the war in Iraq. We are now hopeful that things will operate more smoothly and on time now, because the war in Iraq is over.
We stand by our integrity and we are doing everything we possibly can to get us back on track as quickly as possible.
Please note - We have a small server glitch and sometimes our MMFC website is not accessable for a short time. When it happens, it only requires a reboot and so is up again immediately when someone notices. This may continue for a while until the malfunctioning part is replaced within the next week or so.
Keeping up with emails and phonecalls continues to be a difficult challenge for me during this time, as I still need to be focused on the club's investments.
Thank you for your patience, understanding, and support. I appreciate it very much.
Sincerely,
James
April 4, 2003 - Dear Members:
We are making progress and we are being very diligent to make this transition as smooth and timely as possible.
Just about all of my time has been spent following up on all of the many recommendations (100+) that have come into the club. That is a lot of work and it's been particularly difficult, because only a few of those giving us leads really paid attention to the criteria we set. Many of you, I have not responded too, either because your information was too vague, too far off the criteria, or we have already had several leads to the same place. I will answer all those emails eventually. I will say that some of those we have on the table, we find very promising. It will take time to prove them out.
I have a long list of phonecalls to make to members. It is still difficult for me to take the time right now to do that, altho I have been calling a few each day and I will catch up. This is still a critical time for me to focus on our club's investment activity.
Your support and understanding has been very good. Thank you. Most of you have been thru some bumps before with us, 2 and 3 years ago and understand that it is not always straight ahead.
One thing I need to make clear here, is that loans are set to automatically payout at the end of their terms. There is no need for you to do anything except make sure your payout instructions are clear in your online account (see View Loans page). You do not need to send us email notification to be paid out. However if you do wish to raloan, then you do need to notify us now. On followup loans (reloans) and new loans from now on, it will be different. A year from now, loans will automatically reloan and if you want to withdraw all or part of their value, then you will need to give us 30 days notice.
In the interest of our club's long term success, I do ask that you do reloan as much as you comfortably can, and it will help us get thru this transition more quickly. On that note, I remind you that there will be no penalty, no loss of time, no interruption in your monthly interest payouts or credits (rollover option), if you reloan anytime right up to when your payout is due. We would appreciate as much advance notice as possible, however.
Sincerely,
James
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