Leading student loan debt consolidation company, Academic Financial Solutions, recommends college loan consolidation before the six month grace period expires in November.

�Waiting to consolidate will be costly,� says Michael Babb, President of Academic Financial Solutions. �Many student loan borrowers don�t realize that their six-month grace period is expiring until it�s too late and lenders begin demanding repayment. It�s really an unfortunate situation. Many borrowers get caught up in transitioning from college life to finding a job, a place to live and other immediate necessities and lose track of the timing of their repayment obligations.

Shell Citibank card to draw 100,000 new customers

KUALA LUMPUR: Citibank Bhd expects to draw 100,000 new customers in the next 12 months through its latest Shell Citibank credit card.

The card, aimed at helping consumers cut down on fuel costs, will offer rebates of up to 5% on fuel purchases at Shell stations and up to 1.5% for other purchases at Shell and selected merchant outlets.

�In 2006, there were over 400,000 new cars registered in Malaysia and the price of fuel has increased over the last two years.

�To help lessen the burden of Malaysian motorists, Citibank and Shell have came up with a real way to save on fuel costs in the form of the Shell Citibank credit card,� said Citibank country business manager Michellina Triwardhany at the launch of the card yesterday.

Customers will be entitled to double rebates during the 60-day promotional period that started yesterday.

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(AFX UK Focus) 2007-11-09 15:39 GMT: Telecom Italia confident it will reach FY net of 2.5-2.6 bln eur UPDATE

(Updates with further comments on tax inspection)

MILAN (Thomson Financial) - Telecom Italia SpA CFO Enrico Parazzini said he is confident the company will close 2007 with a net profit of 2.5-2.6 bln eur.

In a conference call, Parazzini said that the market consensus is for a full-year net profit of 2.5-2.6 bln and that he is "confident to deliver this kind of amount".

The Thomson Financial consensus is for a net profit of 2.6 bln eur.

He also said he expects the group to meet its target of reducing its net debt to below 3 times EBITDA this year.

End-September, Telecom Italia had a debt of 37.443 bln eur.

CEO Riccardo Ruggiero added that the management will recommend that the group's new owners maintain a commitment to distribute 80-85 pct of net profits in the form of a dividend.

Russellville City Council holds off on airport change

At the request of Alderman Randal Crouch, the Russellville City Council decided at Thursday night's meeting to table until the December meeting an ordinance that would repeal Ordinance No. 478 and would incorporate the Russellville Regional Airport as a city department.
“We have some wording changes we want to make to the proposal," Crouch said. He told the council the current proposed ordinance would establish an airport advisory board comprised of five members. He said the ordinance would be changed to expand the number of positions to seven, which is the number of commissioners serving on the current airport commission.
“We'll retain the seven current commissioners [to serve on the new advisory board]" who will serve the same amount of time as they would on the airport commission, Crouch said.

Former water employee sentenced for credit card theft

BLOOMINGTON -- A former city employee convicted of using a city-issued credit card for personal expenses was sentenced Friday to jail and probation and ordered to repay the city of Bloomington.Lawanda Giles, 40, pleaded guilty in September to misusing a credit card issued to her as an employee of the city water department.Judge Robert Freitag sentenced her to 60 days in jail and ordered her serve 30 months of probation and pay the city $3,710.03 in restitution.Giles will be eligible for credit on her jail sentence for good behavior and she will receive credit for 12 days already serving, so she is expected to spend 18 more days in jail.The judge granted Giles's request to be allowed to return to her home in Texas. She will report to the jail in Bloomington on Dec. 1.In a plea agreement with the state, Giles admitted to using a city-issued credit card to obtain more than $3,000 in cash advances and pay personal hotel and rental car expenses.She pleaded guilty to theft of city funds over $300.