CFS co-founder plans financial centers

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- The co-founder of the now-defunct Commercial Financial Services is looking to make over the small loan, pawn and rent-to-own industries. <br><br>Bill Bartmann and three former CFS

Wednesday, February 23rd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- The co-founder of the now-defunct Commercial Financial Services is looking to make over the small loan, pawn and rent-to-own industries.

Bill Bartmann and three former CFS employees plan to open a financial center in Tulsa this spring at the site of a former Venture store. The goal is to turn the Neighborhood Financial Centers into a national chain that will offer a one-stop shop for everything from check cashing and rent-to-own operations to tax preparation and legal clinics. "First Tulsa, then Oklahoma City," Bartmann said. "Then the rest of Oklahoma, and then we take it regionally."

Bartmann said he looked at a number of industries in need of a makeover after he left CFS in October 1998. CFS employed more than 3,900 people in Tulsa and Oklahoma City before running into financial problems and ceasing operations in June. Despite its troubles, the debt-collection company became a model for coaxing money from delinquent accounts.

Bartmann said he hopes his new venture also will cause a shift in the industry. His new company will cap loan interest rates at 90percent of the state maximum and will not charge acquisition fees when loans are refinanced, he said. "We want to do something that has a good social value," Bartmann said. "We want to make money again, but I believe I could probably go out and make money doing just about anything. "I want to create social change."

Neighborhood Financial Centers will employ 30 people on opening and eventually expand to about 100 people per store, Bartmann said. The company business plan calls for opening a second location by winter 2000 and to have 24 locations within four years.