FINANCIAL GROWTH ASSOCIATION FORMED TO ASSIST AMERICA'S CONSUMERS

FINANCIAL GROWTH ASSOCIATION FORMED TO ASSIST AMERICA'S CONSUMERS

    SAN DIEGO, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- William Everly Jr., a San Diego entrepreneur, today announced the formation of non-profit Financial Growth Association (FGA).
    FGA's primary mission will be to assist consumers who say they have been victimized by the abusive practices of credit reporting agencies and collection agencies as well as to provide referrals to the appropriate regulatory agencies and legal counsel experienced in consumer credit law.
    Everly is the president and chief executive officer of VEN-FINE Management Corp., a wholly owned unit of Fallbrook, Calif.-based Ventura Financial Co., a privately held credit card portfolio investment company, with more than 500,000 accounts, and the largest non-bank purchaser of credit card accounts in the world.
    FGA's initial capitalization of $50,000 is being provided by Ventura Financial Co.  "Ventura's management team has been reviewing the position of other, larger credit grantors with respect to the abuse of the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act by credit reporting agencies as well as the desperate need for reasonable access to credit reporting agencies for consumers.  It is Ventura's position that credit grantors, being the credit reporting agency's client and source of revenue, should be more willing to see that the consumer's needs are attended to in a timely manner, and inaccuracies are corrected so that they do not continue to appear," said Everly.
    FGA is providing free association membership for the first year to all interested consumers, and will establish future years membership fees on a sliding scale based on income.  FGA is currently reviewing several credit related products and services to provide its members, such as FGA ON-Line, an interactive computer bulletin board, immediate fax or mail update of significant changes in consumer credit laws and a private label software package designed for the individual consumer's personal credit tracking and management.  In addition FGA will provide, free of charge and at no obligation, an independent overview and comparison of the many secured credit card products being offered today.  Members will be notified by mail as these and other products and services become available.
    Requests for membership should be sent along with a No. 10 SASE to Financial Growth Association, P.O. Box 891, Fallbrook, CA 92088-0891.  FGA may be reached by telephone at 619-731-0054.
    -0-                    9/28/92
    /CONTACT:  William Everly Jr., president and CEO of VEN-FINE Management Corp., 619-728-7725 or 619-728-7494 (fax), for Financial Growth Association/ CO:  Financial Growth Association; Ventura Financial Co. ST:  California IN:  FIN SU:

JB-KJ -- SD005 -- 4141 09/28/92 18:11 EDT