Line Of Credit

BOSTON -- The number of U.S. mutual fund companies requesting protective lines of credit from banks is up about 50 percent from a year ago, according to bank officials."

Dr. Mary Furth has always "had issues with debt." She has seen the stress that it causes among her patients. Fears of bankruptcy. Fears of losing one's home. The Towson psychiatrist sees patients with big mortgages who then may add a second mortgage or home equity line of credit. Such added burdens are not for her, however. In a few months, she'll be paying off her mortgage. "In a sense, I'm part of a dying breed. I don't see anyone wanting to pay them off," she said. "I'd rather pay [the mortgage]

Several Baltimore-area homeowners are suing the largest residential real estate team in the state, alleging a "scheme of fraud and misrepresentations" involving home purchases, sales and financing. The suit, a proposed class action, names the Creig Northrop Team, Long & Foster and several mortgage firms — including Long & Foster's Prosperity Mortgage Co. — as defendants. A similar lawsuit brought against the Northrop team by a Howard County couple was settled in March.

One-hundred-seven days after it filed for bankruptcy reorganization, troubled Creditrust Corp. said that it has agreed to merge the company into a subsidiary of NCO Group Inc., one of the world's largest bill collectors. Under the deal announced late Thursday, Creditrust, which collects and manages delinquent Visa and MasterCard accounts, will merge into NCO Portfolio Management Inc., a newly formed company that is in the same business. Creditrust shareholders will receive $17 million to $20 million in stock, which would represent a 40 percent to 45 percent ownership stake in the new, publicly traded company.

Royal Ahold NV pledged Giant Food Inc. and several other U.S. and Dutch grocery store chains as collateral to secure a critical line of credit from bankers, who remain skeptical of the company's finances in the wake of a $500 million accounting scandal at its Columbia-based U.S. Foodservice unit. In addition to Landover-based Giant, terms of the $2.91 billion credit agreement give the banks liens on two other Ahold grocery chains in the United States: Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. in Quincy, Mass.

You make concerted efforts to safeguard information from identity thieves — keeping bank card passwords concealed, buying online goods solely from secure websites and refusing to furnish personal information to anyone you don't know. Adults and even teens have become accustomed to these precautions. Surely toddlers and preschoolers aren't vulnerable to such criminal activity. But they are, according to Rebecca Bowman, administrator for the Howard County Office of Consumer Affairs.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. said yesterday that it had signed an agreement that provides it with $500 million in revolving credit. The new line of credit replaces two others.The credit line is with a group of 19 U.S. and international banks, including Maryland National Bank and First National Bank of Maryland, according to Bethlehem spokesman Art Roth. Bethlehem did not specify the commitment of each bank.Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. is the agent for the line of credit, with Chemical Bank and Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan Ltd., as co-lead managers.

DENVER -- The government's leadoff witness at the hearing on conflict-of-interest charges against Neil Bush yesterday supported Mr. Bush's contention that his fellow directors at a Denver savings and loan knew he had an interest in a partnership that was given a $900,000 line of credit.But the witness, Russell M. Murray, an executive vice president of the Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan Association who recommended financial transactions to the board, said that if he had had all the details of the transactions, he would have sought the advice of counsel before recommending the line of credit.

Raymond "Chip" Mason first met Joseph A. Sullivan over dinner at a Chicago restaurant, where the founder of Legg Mason Inc. interviewed the young bond trading manager for a job with the Baltimore company. A lot of the conversation, Mason recalled, was about whether Sullivan and his family were prepared to uproot themselves and move to the Charm City. Mason had seen such moves not work out before. "He admitted it would not be simple," said Mason, who retired after nearly 40 years at Legg's helm and now spends much of his time in Naples, Fla. But "he thought he could do more with us than anyone else.

The Maryland Racing Commission gave preliminary approval yesterday to a bid by William Rickman Jr. to build a horse track in Western Maryland, acting after the Maryland Jockey Club agreed to drop its opposition. Rickman, owner of Delaware Park and Ocean Downs, presented the commission with a $20 million line of credit for Allegany Racing Association, the entity composed of Rickman and his father, William Rickman, that proposes to construct the track in eastern Allegany County. Representatives of the Maryland Jockey Club stopped fighting the proposal after Rickman secured the line of credit from the Wilmington Trust Co. in Delaware.