How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
Business News
- Details
- Written by: Editor
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Umpqua Bank, a subsidiary of Umpqua Holdings Corp., continues to expand its presence in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Umpqua Bank has expanded its Home Lending division in the area with three seasoned lenders to assist growing the bank’s Home Lending and construction lending presence in the Bay Area.
In 2013, Umpqua Bank opened a new store in downtown San Jose and will be opening a flagship location in San Francisco later this year.
As part of the expansion of its construction lending teams, Umpqua has selected Kevin Nunn as construction/renovation sales manager for the Northern California region.
Nunn specializes in home loan renovation products, including loan programs for energy efficient construction, and brings more than 20 years of experience in home lending.
Nunn will oversee Umpqua’s existing custom construction offerings as well as the roll out of new Umpqua construction loan programs including the FNMA HomeStyle renovation product, Energy Efficient Mortgage, FHA 203k Full and Streamline.
Umpqua also is expanding its San Jose team with the addition of Bryan VanHuystee as the flagship store’s mortgage sales manager.
VanHuystee brings more than 25 years of experience in mortgage lending and management to Umpqua. He and the store’s growing team of loan officers will leverage Umpqua’s ability to deliver rapid loan decisions and funding to give customers an advantage in the competitive Silicon Valley housing market.
Mark Young has been hired as an associate vice president and mortgage sales manager in the North Bay Area.
Young brings 20 years of mortgage industry experience and a background in sales management. He will oversee home lending teams, increasing Umpqua’s home lending presence and production throughout the North Bay Area.
“Umpqua offers a unique approach to home lending – one that combines responsive, high touch service with a full range of products and services – and we’re seeing robust demand for this kind of home lending throughout the Bay Area,” said Dan Starelli, senior vice president and regional manager for Umpqua Bank Home Lending in California and Nevada. “The addition of Kevin, Bryan and Mark allows us to continue serving our customers and communities, and we look forward to continuing our growth in the area.”
In addition to its San Jose and San Francisco store openings, Umpqua acquired Circle Bank in Q4 of 2012, increasing Umpqua’s North Bay presence with six additional stores in the area.
Umpqua Bank Home Lending is a full service lender offering a wide variety of home loan options for purchase and refinance including first time homebuyer, investment, custom construction and remodel, high balance and government financing programs. Umpqua Bank has more than 20 residential home lending offices across California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada and mortgage specialists in each of its more than 200 stores.
- Details
- Written by: Editor
Los Angeles attorney Luis J. Rodriguez was elected on Friday as president of the State Bar of California for 2013-2014.
He will be the first public defender and first Latino to hold the office.
Rodriguez, 46, will be sworn in as the 89th president of the 243,000-member organization at the State Bar’s annual meeting in October in San Jose.
He currently serves as vice president and ran unopposed in the Board of Trustees election.
Craig Holden, 43, a partner at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP of Los Angeles, was elected vice president. Heather Linn Rosing, 41, of Klindest PC in San Diego was elected treasurer.
Rodriguez, the son of Mexican immigrant parents, was born in Los Angeles and moved with his family to Ciudad Juarez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua when he was 3. About 10 years later, his family moved back to L.A., where Rodriguez attended public schools.
The first in his family to attend college, Rodriguez graduated with honors from Santa Clara University. He received his law degree from Santa Clara Law School. He has been an attorney with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office since 1994.
“Because of the obstacles that I faced and the support that I received from many, I have committed myself to being the voice for those who have no voice,” Rodriquez said.
Previous leadership roles include president of the Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County, president of the California La Raza Lawyers Association, president of the Latino Public Defenders Association, member of the California State Board of Education and chairman of the State Bar of California’s Council on Access and Fairness.
Rodriguez said that as president he will work to ensure that California courts are adequately funded and to protect the public against immigration fraud by attorneys.
Rodriguez is married and has two daughters.
- Details
- Written by: Editor
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Lake County Websites & Computer Repair in Middletown is offering a computer workshop beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 27.
It will be held at 15642 Armstrong St., in the Jazzercise Center (two blocks behind the post office).
“Everything Email” will focus on using online email accounts (i.e. gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) and client-based email (i.e. MS Outlook, Outlook Express, and Windows Live Mail).
They will discuss ways to get less spam, how to insert attachments and pictures, how to save attachments to folders on your computer, and how to automatically filter/sort incoming mail into custom folders.
The presenter, Mark Rudiger, is the owner of Lake County Websites & Computer Repair in Middletown and has more than 18 years of experience installing, trouble-shooting, and working with computers.
If you have a laptop, bring it along and connect to the high-speed Internet. If you don’t, you will still get all the same information as Rudiger’s laptop screen will be projected on a 120-inch screen so you can follow along.
Admission is $15 per person. Space is limited.
To keep informed and receive information on future workshops, go to www.facebook.com/lakecountywebsites and “Like” the page.
To register, email
- Details
- Written by: Editor
SACRAMENTO – State Controller John Chiang on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against a Missouri-based life insurance company for refusing to turn over records needed to audit the company, which is suspected of failing to pay life insurance benefits to the heirs of deceased policy holders.
“Through a series of audits, my office has seen a harmful and systemic trend in the insurance industry that often robs families of life insurance benefits after their loved ones have passed on,” Controller Chiang said. “Kemper has fought to keep its books closed, and refused to show that it has delivered on the company's promises to policyholders and their families. That is simply unacceptable, and my office will hold them accountable to both the law and to their customers.”
The complaint alleges that Kemper failed to turn over data needed for the controller to conduct audits, which will determine whether the company failed to pay deceased policyholders' beneficiaries or turn the proceeds over to be safeguarded in perpetuity by the State Controller's Unclaimed Property program.
This follows a similar complaint the controller filed against Texas-based ANICO Insurance in May of this year.
Controller Chiang began auditing insurance company practices in 2008, revealing an industry-wide practice of companies failing to pay death benefits to the beneficiaries of life insurance policies, despite having access to federal records indicating that policyholders had died.
This information is contained in the “Death Master File” – a database maintained by the Social Security Administration and regularly scanned by companies that sell and administer life insurance policies.
Despite having access to these records – and in many cases, having direct confirmation from family members that the policyholder had passed away – some companies would instead use the policies' cash reserves to continue paying premiums to the company. Once the cash reserves were depleted, the company would cancel the policy, leaving the beneficiaries empty-handed.
To date, Controller Chiang has reached global settlements with 18 life insurance companies, with an aggregate value of $266.7 million belonging to California beneficiaries, and an estimated $2.4 billion nationally.
These 18 companies – which write more than 50 percent of all the issued and active life insurance policies nationwide – have agreed to restore the value of expired life insurance policies and payout future benefits more quickly.
Kemper, however, has steadfastly refused to even make its records available to the controller's office.
The Kemper Corp. is the parent company of Mutual Savings and Life Insurance Co., Reliable Life Insurance Co., Reserve National Insurance Co., Union National Insurance Co. and United Insurance Co. of America.
Unclaimed property laws have been in place in every state since 1959 to protect private property from being lost during mergers or bankruptcies, drawn down by service or storage fees, or simply used by private businesses.
Administered by the controller, the California Unclaimed Property program generally provides that businesses must send lost or abandoned financial accounts to the State after three years of inactivity.
The controller maintains an unclaimed property database accessible by any California resident to identify all unclaimed property the state has collected on their behalf. The database is available at www.claimit.ca.gov .