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THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013
BRIEFING Boeing in talks over 777X work SEATTLE — Follow-
ing an initial meeting with top BoeingCo. leaders Tuesday,the Machinists union began serious negotiations Wednesdayand presented management with a preliminary proposal for a contract that would secure 777X wing fabrication and final assembly work for Everett, Wash. In a notice sent out to members late Wednesday afternoon, the union said it expects Boeing will respond to the offer today. International Association of Machinists District 751 President Tom
Wroblewski described thetoneofWednesday's talks as "respectful and constructive," but said the two sides arenot close to anagreement. Neither the union nor the company is disclosing any of the terms of the IAM offer. Boeing spokesman Doug Alder declined to provide any details on the negotiations. — From wire reports
ui ax o scre i a encies in com ain s re o n ians By Joseph Ditzler The Bulletin
Of the three nationwide
credit reporting agencies, the one Oregonians complain about most is Equifax, accord-
ing to a state public interest group. Oregon ranks 18th on the list of 50 states in total number
of credit report complaints to the Consumer Financial
Formore information • To learn more aboutthe Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,visit www. consumerfi nance.gov/ • To obtain a freecopyof your credit report, visit www. annualcreditreport.com.
Protection Bureau, said Celeste Meiffren of the Oregon State Public Interest Research
Group Foundation. "I actually think that sort
of flags that Oregonians are aware that the CFPB has a
complaint database," she said recently.
The bureau, a federal agency created as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street
Reform and Consumer Pro-
reporting actually finished in fourth place among 176,700 made between July 11, 2011, and June 30, 2013: Mortgage complaints hold the top spot
with 48 percent, followed by
and the most accurate infor-
mation available. Our goal is perfection in the data and in-
credit cards at 21 percent and bank accounts and service at
formation we provide. We will
15 percent, according to the
steward of credit data, always striving to improve our com-
July 2013 bureau report, "Con-
continue to serve as a trusted
sumer Response: A Snapshot of Complaints Received." Complaints from Oregon,
prehensive policies and procedures to protect our customer." The CFPB recommends
statewide, and from Cen-
consumers check their free
tablished the Consumer Complaint Database, where it posts
tral Oregon were ranked
credit reports each year. A recent report found that about
complaint information about
percentages. Equifax, although it re-
credit cards, loans, banks, mortgages, debt collection and credit reporting, which was added in October 2012. The database allows the public to
the same, but at different ceives the most complaints
from Oregonians, also provided relief to consumers
one in five people in a survey had at least one potentially significant error in at least
one of their credit reports, the
more often than the other two
bureau stated. Credit report mistakes
see what patterns exist in con-
reportingagencies,according
can hurt an individual's
sumer credit complaints, and helps the agency to regulate
to the OSPIRG Foundation.
credit score and the ability
to get credit, a job, a lease or insurance.
tection Act in 2010, gives con-
credit bureaus based on their
Equifax provided relief nearly three times as often as
sumers a place other than the credit agencies to take their grievances, saidM eiffren, a consumer-and-taxpayer
behavior, Meiffren said. "The CFPB is helping con-
TransUnion and more than 10 times as often as Experian.
advocate. In July 2011, the bureau es-
statement: "We are committed
to providing consumers with the highest quality of service
sumers deal with large credit
Reached Friday for com-
bureaus, and are actually getting results," she said.
ment, Timothy Klein, a representative for Equifax,
Complaints about credit
responded with a prepared
Meiffren said consumers
should also check their credit reports prior to a major purchase such as a house or car. — Reporter: 541-617-7815, jditzler@bendbulletin.corn
BIZ CALENDAR
OregoniansValueand
Believe? Discussion of
how Oregoniansvalue
health care, education, the environment, religion and other issues; $20 for members and firsttime attendees, $35 for nonmembers; 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.; St. Charles Bend, Center for Health8 Learning, 2500 N.E. Neff Road; 541-385-6390. DEC. 20 • Oregon Alcohol Server Permit Training: Meets the Oregon Liquor Control Commission minimum requirements to obtain an alcohol server permit; registration required; $35; 9 a.m.-1 p.m.; RoundTable Pizza, 1552 N.E.Third St., Bend; 541-447-6384 or www.happyhourtraining. com. DEC. 30 • Oregon Alcohol Server Permit Training: Meets the Oregon Liquor Control Commission minimum requirements to obtain an alcohol server permit; registration required; $35; 9 a.m.-1 p.m.; Round Table Pizza, 1552 N.E. Third St., Bend; 541-447-6384 or www. happyhourtraining.com. JAN. 8 • Oregon Alcohol Server Permit Training: Meets the Oregon Liquor Control Commission minimum requirements to obtain an alcohol server permit; registration required; $35; 9 a.m.-1 p.m.; Round Table Pizza, 1552 N.E. Third St., Bend; 541-447-6384 or www. happyhourtraining.com. • For the complete calendar, pick up Sunday'sBulletin or visit bendbulletin.com/bizcal
Scottish bank to pay gOOM in fines The Royal Bankof Scotland is paying $100 million in fines to New York and federal banking regulators to settle civil investigations into accusations that some of its former employees helped conceal transactions involving customers from Iran, Sudanand other nations subject to international sanctions for about a decade. Bank regulators in New York contend the former RBSemployees used a variety of techniques to conceal about 3,500 transactions involving the transfer of $523 million through New York banks. The joint action announced Wednesday by the NewYork State Department of Financial Services, the Federal Reserve and theTreasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control is part of a continuing crackdown on banks that violate U.S. laws against money laundering. — From wire reports
PERMITS
BEST OF THE FRIDAY • Network of Entrepreneurial Women Sixth Annual Winter Wonderland Gala: Includes silent and live auctions; all funds benefit Oregon Adaptive Sports; sold out; 6-10 p.m.; Seventh Mountain Resort, 18575 S.W. Century Drive, Bend; 541-848-8598 or www. networkwomen.org. TUESDAY • SEO Basics for Small Business Owners: Learn to use search-engine optimization to increase business; focuson Google Plus local; registration required; $75 with lunch included, $15 discount for RelyLocal and Bend Chamber of Commerce members; 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; Kayo's Dinner Houseand Lounge, 415 N.E Third St., Bend; 541-550-7246 or 406bend.com/seoworkshop-dec-17-2013. THURSDAY • City Club of Central Oregon: What Do
BRIEFING
Brendan Bannon/ New York Times News Service
Steve Hooper, president of the Health Economics Group, a company that manages corporate benefit plans, dropped his employee health insurance plan after arranging meetings with his employees to discuss their individual situations.
i in insuranCee uaianS By Stacy Cowley
unpopularwith some employ-
offer insurance orcontribute
New York Times News Service
ees, but he was tired of trying to
to their employees' health care
For nearly 20 years, Keith
choose oneplaneveryyearto cover all of their diverse needs. "Some of my guys are on ance to employees ofhis small electrical contracting company the lower end of the wage in Greencastle, Pa., and footed scale," said Perkins, who most of the bill. This year, with typically has 10 to 18 employees. "When I did the subsidy the arrival of the Affordable Care Act's insurance marketcalculator, I realized many of them would actually be better place, he decided to stop. Perkins, who is 54, did the off if we didn't offer coverage. math and calculated that most We took the amount of money of his employees, who are we were paying for health spread across Maryland, West insurance and dumped it into Virginia and Pennsylvania, their paychecks instead. And would come out ahead if he this way, they get to make the dropped his group policy and choice, not me." let them buy insurance indiAmerica's smallest employvidually through the new fed- ers, those with fewer than 50 eral and state exchanges. workers, are not required unHe knewthe move wouldbe der the Affordable Care Act to Perkinsoffered health insur-
costs. As aresult,some companies, seeing that their employees now have attractive
options at HealthCare.Gov, are seizing the opportunity
Brokers say they expect 2014 to be a wait-and-see year in the small-business market. Steve Hooper, president of
the Health Economics Group, a Rochester, NY., company that manages corporate benefit
Affordable Care Act will affect
plans, saidmanyof the workers in his region, indudingmost of his own employees, have incomes low enough to qualify for the federal subsidies avail-
that trend, but health insur-
able to those who earn up to
to wash their hands of one of
their thorniest and most expensive business problems. It is too early to say how the
ance has longbeen a headache fourtimes thefederalpoverty for small businesses. Their level, about $46,000 annually. "We have a lot of part-time policies are typically more expensive than comparable people and single moms with plans available to larger emkids," Hooper said. "The New ployers, and because the risk York exchange offers some pool of participants is tiny, one tremendous options for them sickemployee can increasea that are better than anything group's premiums sharply. else out there."
Fed vicechair candidate ledIsrael'scentral bank By BinyaminAppelbaum and Peter Baker
len, whom President Barack Obama nominated to succeed
New York Times News Service
Bernanke as the Fed's leader
ported on Israeli television. That experience could
become an issue if he is nomiWASHINGTON — Stanley when his term ends in January. nated, as could his experience Fischer, theformer governor of Fischer is at once a surprisat Citigroup, where he was the Bank of Israel and a mening choice and a popular pick vicechairman between 2002 tor to the Federal Reserve's among economists and inves- and 2005. The company's chairman, Ben Bernanke, is tors. He is a highly regarded expansion during that period the leading candidate to beeconomist with significant eventually ended in a federal come vice chairman of the Fed, policy making experience, yet bailout. according to former and curmany had considered hisselecAs the Fed's vice chairman, rent administration officials. tion improbable because ofhis Fischer would most likely exIf nominated, and then conrecent service in a foreign gov- ert a moderating influence on firmed by the Senate, Fischer, ernment.News about Fischer's Yellen, echoing, in a way, her 70, would succeed Janet Yelpossible nomination was reintellectual partnership with
Bernanke. Yellen is a forceful advocate for the Fed's efforts
to stimulate the economy and reduceunemployment. Fischer has been generally supportive of those efforts but has raised questions about the particulars.
"You can't expect the Fed to spell out what it's going to do. Why? Because it doesn't
know," he said at a conference in September, according to The Wall Street Journal. "It's a mis-
take to try and get too precise."
City of Bend • Frank H. Baker,63119O.B. Riley Road,$292,695 • PacWest II LLC,63396 N.E. LamoineLane, $213,275 • FC FundLLC,3038 N.E. Red OakDrive, $223,724 • Long Term BendInvestors LLC, 60999 S.E.Geary Drive, $206,210 • BBC Building LLC,2215 N.W. LemhiPassDrive, $228,563 • Wade M. Miler, 1620 N.W. Wild RyeCircle, $423,475 • William D. Nashem,2146 N.W. LemhiPass,$286,608 • Choice OneBuilders LLC, 20324ChaseRoad, $173,727 • Awbrey WoodsU.S.A. Limited Partnership, 2376 N.W.Debron Lane, $249,955 • FC FundLLC,3027 N.E. Red OakDrive, $213,275 Deschutes County • Timothy L. Roth, 14987 Saddlebag, Sisters $287,582 • Vladimir A. Malyakin, 56696Glowstone Loop, Bend $426,131.95 • Patrick R. Gaunt, 16700 Old Military Drive, Sisters $311,356 • Michelle D. Hannaford, 64040 O.B.Riley Road, Bend $212,155 • Mack W. andElisa A. Davis, 52767GoldenAstor Road, LaPine$246,418 • Daniel Flagg, 64770 McGrath Road,Bend $177,989 • Brad J. Johnson, 61577 Hosmer LakeDrive, Bend $405,415 • Avraham Ben-Zaken, 13629 Woifberry, Black Butte Ranch$331,140 • Kim D. Larsen, 56090 SnowGooseRoad, Bend $211,624.45 • Frederick G EWearn 13858Bishops Cap,Black Butte Ranch$225,000 • Robert L Keith, 17546 Canoe Camp Drive, Bend $590,540 • Pete B. Perillo,17885 Mountain ViewRoad, Sisters$332,868 • Paul and Jennifer Preston, 16878Fontana Road,Bend $321,596 • Francis and Marilyn Hind, 60730 Golf Village Loop, Bend $350,836 • Donald J. andRebeccaH. Hansen, 3795N.E.17thSt., Redmond$194,000 • Bobby E. andNoelle C. Pray, 63295 AlpineTrail, Bend $187,039 • Patrick S. andColleen C. Woods, 61475Hackleman Court, Bend$402,348 • Eric T. Ward,61447Ward Road, Bend$452,189 • McKernan Investments LLC, 930012th Lane, Terrebonne$255,716 • Lewis V. Rothrock,16862 Royal CoachmanDrive, Sisters $416,772 • Powell (Jamesand Barbara Neill Trust)10655 Rockside Court, Redmond $279,809