Car Insurance

Not many people have the money available to buy a vehicle with cash and therefore need to take out an auto loan when they want to buy a new or used car or truck. There are traditional means of getting the loan you need, such as going to the bank and applying for a loan. Some dealerships also offer financing and you can choose the vehicle you want and apply for the loan from the dealer or the company. In most cases you have to submit the application and wait for at least a day to see whether or not you will get the money you need. You can also apply for a car loan online without having to go through the hassle of speaking to a loans officer.

In order to qualify for a loan, you do need to have an income. Whether you go to a bank directly or deal with a lender online, you will need to submit verification of your income so that the lender knows you have the means of repaying the loan. In order to get the best deal with the loan, you should compare interest rates with several lenders. For your convenience, when you apply online, most lending sites have a calculator on the site so that you can see the interest rate and enter the amount of money you want to borrow for the auto you want. In order to get an accurate picture, you should have a car picked out so that you know exactly how much money you will need to borrow. Then when you enter the amount in the calculator, you will see what your monthly payment will be. This helps you determine if you can afford the car or if you need to set your sights a little bit lower by choosing a cheaper model.

Some of the lenders have criteria you must meet in order to qualify. For example, they may not approve loans for used cars or older models or for private sales. This is something that you can check by reading the information provided on the site. Even though you apply online, you can choose to speak to someone to get more information. This person will also be able to help you with aspects of the application process you may not understand.

The damage might have been contained but for another unwise move during the Carter Administration’s last year: the increase in the federal deposit insurance limit from $40,000 to $100,000. This attracted more deposits than the S&L system could reasonably invest, setting the stage for the con artists that eventually killed much of it.

Not that deposit insurance is inherently bad. In principle it can be privatized, with premiums varying according to the risk involved, much like auto or theft insurance. Such insurance would be quickly terminated whenever, in the eyes of the insurer, the risk became excessive.

The problem with federal deposit insurance is that premiums are the same for all lenders, conservative and high flier alike. As a result, incompetent S&L managers, engaging in the most irresponsible investment strategies, are being subsidized by risk-averse professionals. This subsidy also creates perverse incentives for depositors, who are induced to shift funds out of healthy S&Ls to the riskier institutions which typically offer higher rates. Subsidized insurance allows both the institutions and their depositors to play the “heads I win, tails you lose” game.

Unfortunately, in pounding out the bailout bill last summer Congress paid obsessive attention to whether the costs should be on- or off-budget, to capital requirements, and to junk bonds. Federal deposit insurance was, ominously, untouched.

Deanne Prochnow, an immigrant from Colombia, was hired in early September as manager of Hispanic relations at Community Bank-Wheaton/Glen Ellyn, Ill. She grew up with a savings account and oven worked at a bank in Colombia, When she came to the United States 26 years ago, she didn’t have to take a leap of faith as others from Central and South America do when they attempt to use the North American banking system.

Many of them “don’t have trust in the bank,” Prochnow said. The banking system in some countries is unreliable, she said.

Prochnow’s role at Community Bank is to set up a business plan for Hispanic banking. “We’re at the very beginning stages,” she said. “The nice tiling about it is I already have the backing from the managers.”

Donald Fischer, chairman, president and CEO of Community Bank, said the bank authorized the hiring of a manager of Hispanic relations a year ago at its strategic planning meeting. “Our largest growing ethnic group is Hispanic. They’re under-served and ill-served,” Fischer said. However, rinding the right person to fill the position took time. “I heard of her through a friend. She had training at Nordstrom’s which is known for its customer service,” Fischer said.

“We are a community bank,” Prochnow said. “We are here to serve the community - the Latin community is growing around us. We want to serve them as well as we serve everybody else. Hispanic banking is an unknown thing. I just don’t think there was a market before now.”

One of the first steps Community Bank has taken, beyond hiring Prochnow, is accepting the matricula consular card - a form of ID given out by the Mexican consulate - as an acceptable form of identification. As of 2004, about one-third of all banking offices in the United States were accepting this as a form of ID to open accounts. The IRS is working with banks, according to the Federal Reserve, to tie those using matricula cards to a taxpayer ID number to report interest earned. While Chicago, according to the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, is leading the way in accepting the matricula card, many banks nationwide still are unsure of its acceptability to regulators and their own vulnerability to increased risk. “We really investigated what the martricula was about.” Prochnow said.

The bank also is in the initial stages of working with the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, a two-year school where 15 percent of the student body is Hispanic, to provide education regarding financial services. The school is one of the largest two-year colleges in the nation with approximately 32,000 students.

As for the rest of the Hispanic banking focus, “We’re really excited about it…it’s going to take awhile for this program to be full-blown. It’s really, really important to understand the culture and relate to it,” she said, and “one of our biggest points is education.”

“We felt that we could serve them through education - how to handle a checking account or auto loan and through that gain their trust and business,” Fischer said. “We feel that we can both benefit from sharing good financial practices and increase our own growth and prosperity. This initiative is a broad one for us and significant for our growth.”

Community Bank currently has three offices with a fourth one set to open in fall, 2007, in northern Wheaton/southern Carol Stream.

Abstract

The chemical composition of the essential oil of ripe berries (11.8% v/w) and leaves (0.9% v/w) of Piper cubeba L. fils. (Piperaceae) was investigated by GC and GC/MS. Sabinene (9.1%), ?-elemene (9.4%), ?-caryophyllene (3.1%), epi-cubebol (4.3%), and cubebol (5.6%) were the main components of the berry oil. trans-Sabinene hydrate (8.2%), ?-caryophyllene (5.0%), epi-cubebol (4.2%), ?-cadinene (16.6%) and cubebol (4.8%) were the main components of the leaf oil. No large qualitative differences were found in the composition between berry and leaf oil, although the berries contained a considerable amount of constituents in traces (

Key Word Index

Piper cubeba, Piperaceae, essential oil composition, ?-cadinene.

Introduction

The genus Piper belongs to the Piperaceae, a family with more than 700 species throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Piper cubeba, (in Indonesia known as kamukus), is a plant native to Java and Borneo that produces spicy berries (cubeb berries). It is now also cultivated in several other tropical areas, including East Africa. In Indonesia P. cubeba is valued as a medicinal plant (1,2).

Many species of the genus Piper are used in traditional herbal medicine, and have shown antifungal, insecticidal, anthelminthic and antitumor activities. They are also used for the treatment of cough, bronchitis, intestinal diseases and rheumatism (3). A number of polyhydroxy cyclohexanes have been isolated from Piper cubeba and shown to display tumour inhibitory, antileukemic and antibiotic activities (4).

Essential oil investigations of a number of Piper species have been reported, but only one gives a detailed overview of the essential oil of cubeb berries (3,5-8). The aim of the present study was to investigate the oil composition of P. cubeba berries and leaves from Indonesia.

Experimental

Plant material: The ripe berries and leaves of Piper cubeba were collected from Jatiroto, Temmanggung (Central Java, Indonesia) in April 2002 and authenticated at the Department of Biology, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) (Bandung, Indonesia), based on the Flora of Java (9). A voucher specimen (HBGlOPCOl) has been deposited at the Herbarium Bandungense.

Isolation procedure: The oil samples were separately isolated from 20.0 g of air-dried and freshly ground (1 mm) leaves and fruit material by hydrodistillation for 4 h in 300 mL water, according to the determination of the essential oil content in vegetable drugs, using the apparatus described in the Nedetiandse Farmacopee, 6th edn, 2nd printing ( 10). Xylene (100 \iL) was used as the collection liquid, and the oil was stored at -2O0C until analyzed. The oil was diluted 50 times with cyclohexane prior to GC and GC/MS analysis.

In addition, the oil was separated into two fractions with hydrocarbons and oxygen-containing compounds, respectively, by eluting 250 pL of oil on a Bakerbond SPE column, filled with 1 g of silica gel (#7086-07, J.T. Baker, Deventer.The Netherlands), with subsequently 5 mL n-hexane and 5 mL diethyl ether. After gentle evaporation of the solvents ofboth fractions, 50 uL of each residue were diluted with 950 pL cyclohexane and submitted to GC and GC/MS analysis.

GC: GC analysis was performed on a Hewlett-Packard 5890 Series II gas chromatograph equipped with a 7673 injector and a Hewlett Packard 3365 Series II Chemstation, under the following conditions: column, WCOT fused-silica (J & W) DB-5 (30 m x 0.26 mm; film thickness 0.25 µm); oven temperature program, 60°-290°C at 3°C/min; injector temperature, 250°C; detector (FID) temperature, 300°C; carrier gas, He; inlet pressure, 18 psi; linear gas velocity, 31.8 cm/s; split ratio, 56:1; injected volume, 1.0 µL.

GC/MS: A Shimadzu GC/MS QP5000 system was used equipped with a GC-17A gas chromatograph, an AOC-20i auto injector, and GC/MS solution version 1.10 software. The GC conditions were: column, WCOT fused-silica (J & W)DB-5(30m x 0.26 mm; film thickness 0.25 µm); oven temperature program, 60°-240°C at 3°C/min; injector temperature, 275µC; carrier gas, He; inlet pressure, 75 pKa; linear gas velocity, 81.4 cm/s; column flow, 2.5 mL/min; total flow, 56.7 mL/min; split ratio, 21:1; injected volume, 1.0 µL. MS conditions: ionization energy, 70 eV; ion source temperature, 250°C; interface temperature, 250°C; scan speed, 3 scans/s; mass range, 34-350 u.

The identity of the components was assigned by comparison of their retention indices, relative to C^sub 9^-C^sub 22^ n-alkanes, and mass spectral databases and from the literature (11-13). The percentages of the components were calculated from the GC peak areas, using the normalization method.

Results and Discussion

Hydrodistillation of the berries of Piper cubeba yielded 11.8% (w/w) and the leaves 0.9% (v/w) oil. In total 103 components could be identified in the berries, dealing with 59.6% of the oil. In the leaves, 62 components could be identified, corresponding with 77.9% of the oil. As far as we know, this is the first time the oil composition of P. cubeba leaves has been investigated.

In a number of P. cubeba berry oils, Lawrence identified 71 components with ?-cubenene (7-9%), ?-copaene (10-14%), ?-cubebene (7-11%), ?-cadinene (9-10%) and cubebol (9-10%) as the main components. More recently a commercial sample was also analyzed by Lawrence. Its main component was sabinene (30%), whereas cubebol was only present at 5.7% (18).

Comparing the results of our present study with those from the three older reports, we come to the following conclusions. Cubebol is one of the main components in the berry oil, but the amount seems to depend on the origin of the material. Indonesian samples contained about 10%, the Indian and Sri Lankan samples considerably more. We identified cubebol together with epi-cubebol. The other studies do not discriminate between the two epimers. Less abundant in our samples, compared with the previous studies, were ?-cubebene, ?-copaene and ?-cubebene.

Lawrence found cubenol in the berry oil from India (17). We did not find this compound, but detected 1,10-di-epicubenol (trace) and epi-cubenol (0.3%) in the berry oil from Indonesia.

These differences may be used as a tool for the characterization of P. cubeba oils from different origin, although further systematic studies are needed to prove this and correlate this with qualitatively and quantitatively.

Unitrin Inc.

One East Wacker Drive Chicago, Illinois 60601 U.S.A. Telephone: (312) 661-4600 Fax: (312) 494-6995 Web site: http://www.unitrin.com

Public Company Incorporated: 1990 Employees: 8,400 Operating Revenues: $3.04 billion (2004) Stock Exchanges: New York Ticker Symbol: UTR NAIC: 524113 Direct Life Insurance Carriers; 524114 Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers; 524126 Direct Property and Casualty Insurance Carriers

Although Chicago-based Unitrin Inc. has only existed as a stand-alone company since 1990 when it was spun off from conglomerate Teledyne Inc., the firm has become a leader in the insurance industry with over $9 billion in assets, six million policies in force, and $2.5 billion in annual premium revenues. The company provides property and casualty insurance, life and health insurance, and consumer financial services to individuals, families, and small businesses. Unitrin's Property & Casualty Insurance Group, which includes Kemper Auto and Home, Unitrin Specialty, and Unitrin Business Insurance, accounts for 75 percent of the company's annual insurance premiums. Unitrin's Fireside Bank specializes in automobile loans and has 28 branches in California.

Unitrin was founded as a subsidiary of Teledyne Inc. Best known for the Water Pik dental aid and ubiquitous Shower Massage, Teledyne began business in 1960 as a semiconductor manufacturer. Before the decade was over, Teledyne began acquiring undervalued companies of various sizes; pursuing this strategy aggressively into the 1970s and 1980s, Teledyne became one the most successful and recognized corporations in the United States under the leadership of legendary entrepreneur Henry E. Singleton.

UNITRIN'S INSURANCE DIVISIONS

Unitrin's life and health division comprised three large wholly owned subsidiaries: United Insurance Company of America, rated A+ by A. M. Best; Union National Life Insurance Company, also rated A+ by Best; and the Pyramid Life Insurance Company, rated A− by Best. In addition to its high industry ratings, Unitrin differentiated itself from a slew of health and life insurance carriers (which numbered about 1,800 in the United States by 1995) not by offering an unusual mix of products, but instead by providing typical policies with an unusual method of marketing these products. Life insurance policies were offered in standard increments of up to $250,000 for individuals and groups (such as employees of large companies and credit unions) in permanent and term policies; health insurance was sold to both individuals and groups on either a limited-benefit or major medical coverage basis with a maximum risk of $500,000 in any one calendar year.

Yet what drew many customers to Unitrin's insurance packages was the old-fashioned concept of selling services door-to-door with some 4,000 sales representatives (out of a total of 5,300 in the division), who visited middle- and lower-income suburban and rural communities. As a convenience, agents then returned monthly to pick up premium payments, omitting postal services and delays. Although there were two-and-a-half dozen competitors in the "home service" market, Unitrin carved out a comfortable niche in 26 states and the District of Columbia, and within five years this segment generated almost 80 percent of the life and health insurance division's premiums.

Unitrin's second major insurance segment in property and casualty policies covered automobiles and motorcycles, homes, watercraft, and commercial businesses from fire, theft, and other property damage. Worker's compensation policies were also available to small and medium-sized companies. The property/casualty division worked through five subsidiaries: Financial Indemnity Company, rated A+ by Best; the Milwaukee Insurance Companies (including Alpha Property & Casualty, Milwaukee Guardian, and Milwaukee Safeguard Insurance companies—all part of a 1995 merger), rated A−; Trinity Universal Insurance Company, rated A++; Union National Fire Insurance Company, rated A; and United Casualty Insurance Company of America, rated A+ by Best, with 1,700 divisional employees and approximately 15,000 independent agents across the nation. Premium sales were concentrated in the South (predominantly Louisiana, with 6 percent of the division's sales), Midwest (especially Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin for a combined total of 19 percent), Texas (32 percent), and California (12 percent of premiums). Geographic hazards included hurricanes in the South (generally worse in the fall), windstorms, tornadoes, and flooding in the Midwest (in the spring), and fires in the West. Much like the weather, profitability in the casualty and property insurance companies tended to be cyclical and easily driven by pricing competition and a flooded marketplace.

Unitrin's consumer finance division, which conducted business through the Fireside Thrift Company, located in Newark, California, was chiefly involved in financing used automobiles from dealerships. Fireside also sold consumers personal loans using automobiles as collateral, and offered timely service and flexible terms to win clients over its competition. Fireside's activities were financed by thrift investment certificates (ranging from 31 days to five years), money market accounts, and IRAs, products routinely offered by banks, savings and loans, and other industrial loan providers.

Following its earlier success while still part of Teledyne, Inc., Unitrin posted sales of $1 billion from premiums and consumer finance loans in its first independent year. Total revenue was over $1.25 billion for 1991, with net income of $136 million. The following year, premiums and consumer finance services increased to $1.1 billion and total revenues to $1.36 billion, but net income fell to $123 million due to a onetime accounting charge of $40 million.