GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Wells Fargo to send refunds to troops, veterans

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Air Force Times

22February2011 12:57pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Nearly 60,000 service members and veterans who have refinanced their Veterans Affairs Department mortgage loans through Wells Fargo, Wachovia and SouthTrust will receive refunds as the result of a $10 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit, a Wells Fargo official said.

Those who may be eligible refinanced their loans between Jan. 20, 2004, and Oct. 7, 2010, said Wells Fargo spokeswoman Vickee Adams. On average, the refunds are expected to be about $175, she said; the amount will vary with each loan.

The settlement was reached as the result of a suit filed in Georgia alleging that Wells Fargo improperly rolled attorneys’ fees into expenses charged to veterans for things like title searches. Under VA rules, the lender must cover any costs for attorneys’ services other than for title work, and cannot bill the borrower for these charges.

In about a month, Wells Fargo will mail letters to each eligible service member and veteran who has participated in the refinancing program, Adams said. The letter will include information about how to apply for the refund, and where to go for more information. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Debt collector who targeted troops shut down

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Air Force Times

19February2011 11:30amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: (AP) - BUFFALO, N.Y. — A New York debt collector accused of targeting military families is out of business.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Friday that Stephanie Lowinger of Buffalo has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of scheming to defraud and has been permanently banned from future debt collection activities.

Investigators say Lowinger and collectors she employed falsely told members of military families that those on active duty faced arrest by military police and a dishonorable discharge if they didn’t pay alleged debts.

Also Friday, Schneiderman’s office announced monetary settlements with three other western New York debt collectors accused of violating regulations against bullying and threatening consumers.

The actions continue a crackdown by the state on abusive and illegal debt collection methods. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Netanyahu tries to play Egyptian military card - and gets Grad missiles

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: DEBKAfile

31January2011 6:25pmEST

GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, Jan 31 he feared Egypt could end up with a radical Islamic regime as in Iran that would "grind human rights to dust" and go against the interests all the peoples of the region share for peace and stability.

"Our main care is to preserve the peace," he stressed in his first comment on the Egyptian crisis at a joint conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The Israeli prime minister's words were widely interpreted as support for President Hosni Murakak, for three decades faithful defender of peace with Israel, rather than a reference to the tidal changes overtaking Egypt and potentially other authoritarian regimes in the Middle East.

He also made the gesture of allowing the first Egyptian 800 troops to enter Sinai since the military since the 1979 peace treaty demilitarized Sinai - as first disclosed by DEBKAfile.

The troops arrived Monday, Jan. 31, to back up Egyptian special police units under attack from Hamas intruders from the Gaza Strip, who were acting on orders from the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo.

The Israeli prime minister repeated the same old mistake of leaning on the Egyptian military, in the person of the former intelligence minister - now Vice President - Omar Suleiman to sort out the Hamas threat from the Gaza Strip and Sinai. (read full report)