New AMS Division & Newsletter

AMS President, Eric Weight hard at work.

In September of this year AMS expanded its Information Technology Department to include an "e-marketing" division. Many of you have already been exposed to their work and have seen the new look and feel of the AMS corporate communication. We are pleased and excited to continue this path with the launch of our premier issue of the AMS Insider.

The goal and intention of this newsletter is to provide timely, topical, relevant and sometimes not so relevant info to our employees, vendors and business partners. We hope that you find this newsletter interesting and not just simply another "junk" email, of which we all receive far too many.

AMS recently held its branch manger quarterly meeting over 2 days in mid- November at the Hilton Hotel in Mesa. The meetings were filled with pertinent updates, a guest appearance from a former Arizona State Banking auditor, annual awards, and a "fireside" chat from our founder and part time football coach, Scott Powers. Scott was in full coaching mode, with a whistle around his neck he had branch managers on stage to demonstrate the tried and true "up down" drill that had everyone laughing and those participating panting for air.

As the year begins to wind down we and we enter into the Thanksgiving season AMS wishes to thank all of its employees for another great year and wish all of our associates and their families a happy and safe Thanksgiving Weekend.

Please remember to use the updated loan log that was sent out 11/7/05 and fill it out completely.

Nevada branches must send their files to Will Meyer's branch by the 15th of the following month the loan closed.

Stew Keene an AMS Branch Manager and 1/2 Marathon Trainee.

Making a change to make a difference

Stew Keene, a branch manager with AMS, recently became a member of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training, and at 50 years old he says that it hasn't been easy.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training® is the world's largest endurance sports training program. The program provides training to run or walk a whole or half marathon or participate in a triathlon or century (100-mile) bike ride. Since 1988, more than 275,000 volunteer participants have helped raise more than $600 million.

Stew is in training to participate in the Rock-N-Roll ½ Marathon (13.2 miles) on January 15th, 2006. He has just past the 10-mille mark in his training and is well on his way to making this great accomplishment in honor of two important people in his life; Missy, who is being treated for Leukemia, and Al, who was recently diagnosed with a form of Leukemia.

Stew's goal is to raise $2,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. To help Stew reach his goal or to read more about his efforts, visit Stew's Team In Training Page at:
https://www.active.com/donations/
fundraise_public.cfm?key=tntdmsSKeene
Or, if you are interested in joining the team visit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training website at:
http://www.teamintraining.org/hm_tnt

Good luck Stew!

Update on the Standard Insurance Dental Plan

This is a notice for those who have enrolled in the dental insurance plan. Your ID cards have not yet arrived but your plan did become effective 11/01/05. In the event you wish to set up an appointment with a dentist or specialist you will need your group plan # 139652. Your Id # is your Social Security number. The contact number to verify your coverage with Standard Insurance is 1 800- 547-9515. You can also find a list of providers in you area by logging on to www.standard.com. If you need further assistance or dental information please contact Magda Provencio at 480 777-4125 or email at magdaprovencio@amsaz.com.

The waiting period for the dental benefit is 1st of the month following sixty days from your hire date; do not delay in enrolling if you have completed the required wait period. Late enrollees will be restricted to 24-month period of teeth cleanings, exams and fluoride for children 14 and under.

Submitted By Patrick Marshall

1. Choose and open the document you want to import into Calyx Point.

2. Write down the document's name.

3. Click EDIT and then choose SELECT ALL.

4. Click EDIT and then choose COPY.

5. OPEN Calyx Point and log in if necessary.

6. Select TEMPLATES (Main screen, left side, near the bottom)

7. Click the radio button next to CUSTOM FORMS.

8. Click NEW.

9. Enter the document name from Step 1 into the NEW CUSTOM FORM window.

10. Click OK. (This will launch Microsoft Word)

11. RIGHT CLICK in the blank document and choose PASTE.

12. Click SAVE. (Your document is now is Calyx Point)

13. If you do not want to import POINT fields into your document, click SAVE and then click CLOSE.

14. If you do want to import POINT fields into your document: 1) Place your cursor where you want the information in the document; 2) Use the drop down list located in the Point Custom Form Window to select the information you want to have imported; 3) Click IMPORT. (Continue this process until all desired POINT fields have been imported.

15. Click SAVE and then click CLOSE.

Your new form is now available for use with any print operation or forms group you wish to use.

NOTES:
• Microsoft Office 2000/Word 2000 users should verify these applications are updated prior to importing docs into Calyx Point.
• You can only import one document at a time.
• You will have to add the new document to any pre-existing form group.
• All documents imported into Calyx Point should be approved by AMS Corporate prior to use.

Freddie Mac Sees Continued Bright Future For Housing Market

The headline reads "Growth Continues," but probably the big news coming out of Freddie Mac's November 2005 Economic Outlook was that, for the first time since August, that headline wasn't about yet another hurricane. Still the lingering impacts of Katrina, Rita, and Wilma were prominently featured in the report issued by Freddie's Office of the Chief Economist on Wednesday.

Last month's job report showed an increase of only 56,000 new jobs added to the economy. This was far better than the 8,000 net job losses in September, largely attributed to Katrina, but far less than the 310,000 plus that had been projected for September and October combined before the triple weather whammy. Areas outside of those directly impacted by the hurricanes shared in the reduced job growth figures, possibly because of factors related to the weather-related spike in energy costs.

Rising inflationary pressures driven by increasing fuel prices growing out of the hurricanes as well as other factors caused the Federal Reserve to once again boost the federal funds rates by one-quarter point to four percent. This had the effect of pushing up the prime rate, which is the index for home equity lines to seven percent, and affecting other short-term interest rates upon which ARMs are based.

Still, the report states that homeowners are continuing to pull mega-bucks out of their homes through refinancing. Freddie Mac's Cashout Refinance Report for the third quarter ended in September shows that homeowners drained $80.4 billion from the equity of their homes through financing. The total cash out for the year is expected to reach $204 billion. And homeowners were still able to improve their mortgage positions through refinancing. In spite of generally but not steadily increasing rates during the third quarter, those who refinanced were able to lower their rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage by 57 basis points; $55 per month on a $150,000 loan.

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