Unbelievable Savings Opportunities!!!

As I read the newspapers, watch financial newscasts (isn't every newscast a de-facto financial newscast nowadays?) and see what is happening to people all around me, I am very proud of the fact that when I go to work every morning what I do actually helps people save money, improve their lifestyle and help them meet their financial needs.


It is obvious that the economy is not turning around anytime soon. Any economic or recovery prediction today is as good or bad as any other. My perspective on all this is different than many of the "experts" and "talking heads" because I believe, starting in August, 2005 that I had a ringside seat at the front end of this downturn. In my opinion, that was the "first shot across the bow". I was a SVP for a non-prime mortgage company at the time, arguably the #1 company in the space (without question the most reputable), and that month we set a new all time high for monthly production: in about 21 working days, we originated over $4 billion in mortgages. That is over $190M in new mortgages, per day for just our company (I think at the time we were 5th in market share, so there were 4 companies producing more). We anticipated booking that business and selling it off through our investment banking partners for about $112M. What did we sell it for? About $40M. What was our cost to produce it? About $80-90M. A pretty big swing and a lot of work to lose $40-$50M. From that point on my life has never been the same. Soon after, it was obvious that the market was forever changing, and that lending would drastically change. Quite simply, rates could not be increased enough to cover the losses that were starting to surface. Like everyone else, our company started raising rates, managing delinquency trends, ending unprofitable relationships, cutting certain programs, performing extra due-diligence, cutting costs, etc...and for a while it seemed to work. We actually turned a profit 2 quarters later and in July, 2006...if you think the $40-$50M loss was big, how about $100M less than a year later...wiping out an entire quarters worth of profit? So what happened if we were being so careful? The rules of the game were changing as we were still playing (sound familiar?) as banks, bond holders and investment bankers started holding companies accountable for "reps and warrants", and anything they could do to minimize losses. Although rates needed to increase and lending needed to slow down...nobody, and I mean nobody, expected loan buybacks and sale kick outs to increase the way they did. The $100M loss in 7/06...all due to buybacks and kick outs for appraisal values, early delinquency, borrower benefit and a few other items. This was almost 3 years ago!!

So, long before anybody would concede that the "R" word was happening, a recession was in full force in my world.

Why am I giving a history lesson of my mortgage business experience? As I look around me and see what is happening...as I watch CNBC, Bloomberg, House of Cards, listen to talk radio, etc..., it is those two experiences from 8/05 and 7/06 that I think about the most. Nobody knew the extent the mortgage market impacted the domestic and world economy. Nobody realized how short sighted the economic models on Wall Street were, although there were many lessons that could have been learned from the mortgage market crash in October, 1998 but that centered mostly on the mortgage industry...but there are many comparisons. Nobody had the foresight to see that what was happening in the mortgage business was a pre-cursor for what America would experience over the next several years.

The troubles and challenges companies are experiencing today have not been seen in decades. I am not stating anything new. However, I feel I am in a much better position today to be a productive member of society versus 2-3 years ago when I was forced into a defensive, protection mode, cutting programs and raising prices. I am proud of the fact that I offer "free" solutions that, if a company, banking institution or organization dedicate about 15 minutes to learn about, will save them and their employees/ members/ clients a lot of money, while getting tremendous products & services at the same time.

If you visit my website at http://www.suburbansolutionscorp.com/ you will see that we offer 4 main products: Discount Benefits, Supplemental Insurance, Affinity Credit Card Solutions and Mortgage Services. The website does a great job at detailing the value proposition and how they seamlessly integrate into any size organization, but I want to give a brief overview here.
1) Discount and Lifestyle Benefits: In my opinion, EVERY company in America, let me say that again, EVERY COMPANY IN AMERICA, should offer our Discount and Lifestyle Benefits platform. We "bundle" our programs together to offer low cost, high value products that save consumers on average anywhere from 15-60% from retail pricing. We offer this turn-key, web based, private labeled platform FOR FREE! The two battleship/ foundation products we offer are LifeLock Identity Theft Protection (how can you not have that...our information is everywhere and there are over 27000 ID thefts every day!) and TelaDoc. TelaDoc is a 24/7/365 phone access program to board certified doctors who will diagnose and prescribe medication over the phone! Think about it...no more waiting in a Dr. office for 45 minutes to get an antibiotic for something you already know what it is. One of the most amazing products I have ever seen and is probably up there with he wheel, fire and the contact lens as the best inventions of all time. Check out this video link on TelaDoc at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnDSFQ9SV_E ...the best thing...we offer this product with no per usage fee!!!

Why wouldn't every employer offer these products? It will reduce absence, increase productivity. Not only should every company in America offer these programs, EVERY CONSUMER IN AMERICA SHOULD OWN THEM!

2) Supplemental Insurance Products: Imagine having access to 16 insurance companies that are A-, A or A+ rated that effectively compete for business? Our portal offers the lowest affinity rates available anywhere in the country from 16 of the top insurance companies. If the quote seems unattractive there is no obligation to purchase, although that is very unlikely. From Health, Life, Disability and a host of others...provide 24/7/365 access to any insurance program one would want right at your employee/ member/ customer finger tips.

3) Affinity Credit Card Programs: Turn on the TV and look at how precious cash/ capital is today to any financial institution. Look at how every bank is being forced to look at their costs and properly manage risk. As with my mortgage example above, when delinquencies rise and approvals tighten, prices always increase...especially for non-collateralized lending like credit cards. How many credit card offers do you see at 20%? Our programs are turn-key, private labeled programs that requires no capital investment or credit card management infrastructure. We offer about a 12% rate, 1% cash back (with no restrictions) and a full points reward program that can be customized. Want more? How about a marketing portal where the issuing bank customizes their marketing that appears on the monthly statements...FOR FREE? Simply offer the card and get paid every time someone activates and uses it. No delinquency reserves or capital requirements. Want even more? How about Free marketing and promotional material? I am not kidding!

4) Mortgage Services: I have been in the mortgage business since I was a sophomore in high school and am coming up on my 24th year in the business. I have aligned with an organization that allows me to offer retail mortgages at unbelievable pricing...I purposely manage to a low overhead and pass those savings onto customers in the forms of low rates and fees. All of my business is through referral and what better way to get referrals...offer the best service at low prices. I believe I accomplish that.

So what does all this mean? It means that I have a tremendous platform to help you and your organization save money, and enhance your lifestyle and those of your employees/ members/ customers in these troubled times. Why spend $35 co-pays and an hours upon hours getting to/ from and waiting at a doctor's office when you can have TelaDoc? Why risk wasting 300 hours to fight it and taking on 3,000 pounds of frustration and get your identity stolen...we offer LifeLock at 50%+ discounts. As a banker, why sit through delinquency meetings and figure out reserve and loss ratios for a credit card program...take our affinity program for free! Why deal with loan officers at these large banks who have been in the business for five minutes, or have a car trunk full of business cards for the companies they used to work for? Tap into my 24 years of experience and history of best in class customer satisfaction results (per Gallup) and cost model to save tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars on your mortgage.

I said in my first post that I am not sure how to maximize this venue...I guess today is just a way of sharing experiences past, present and hopefully future. I look forward to hearing from and working with you.

Bob Germano
3/4/09
4:22pm