Beneficial Louisiana Inc history

With this treaty of retrocession, known as the Treaty of San Ildefonso (confirmed March 21, 1801), would go not only the growing and commercially significant port of New Orleans but the strategic mouth of the Mississippi River.

Accordingly, in April 1802 Jefferson and other leaders instructed Robert R. Livingston, the United States minister to France, to attempt to purchase New Orleans for $2 million, a sum Congress quickly appropriated for the purpose.

In January 1803, three months before the deal was made, Jefferson had requested congressional funding for a cross-continental survey of the Louisiana region and beyond.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–06 established much of what would become the Oregon Trail and thereby facilitated settlement of the Pacific Northwest, an area soon known for its richness in furs, timber, and salmon.

The first of those states, Louisiana, entered the Union in 1812 after a brief congressional debate.

American settlement of the huge expanse of land west of the Mississippi would not begin until 1815.

The northern boundary was amicably established by an Anglo-American convention in 1818.

The exasperating dispute with Spain over the ownership of West Florida and Texas was finally settled by the purchase of the Floridas from Spain in 1819 and the establishment of a fixed southwest boundary line.

While Monroe was sailing across the ocean to France, French dictator Napoléon Bonaparte (1769–1821) was planning his next aggressive action.

The Mormons, fleeing from harassment in Midwestern states, reached Utah in 1847, built Salt Lake City, and began a vigorous colonization of all parts of the Rocky Mountain West.

In this respect, the Louisiana Purchase can be understood to be one of the long-term causes of the American Civil War (1861–65).

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also called the World's Fair, was held in St Louis, Missouri, in 1904 to celebrate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase.

Involved in sales finance, mortgages, banking, and insurance, Beneficial opened its first office, the Beneficial Loan Society, in 1914 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Berkley, CA: First University of California Press, 1920.

By 1924 Beneficial had 80 offices, making $13 million a year in loans, each averaging less than $100.

In 1929, the company was reorganized as Beneficial Finance Corporation by Olaus Caspersen who would spend 18 years as president of the company. (en)

In 1954 it began a "fly now--pay later" plan with Pan American World Airways.

Beneficial eventually had 1,200 offices in the United States and Canada, making loans averaging $370. It moved quickly into Alaska and Hawaii when they became states and opened more than 60 offices in 1959.

In 1960 Beneficial became the first United States consumer finance company to enter the British market.

In 1961 Beneficial bought Western Auto Supply Co., a 4,500-store retail chain.

By 1964 Beneficial had 1,600 loan offices and made 1.7 million loans worth about $950 million.

Interest rates were rising, reaching an effective rate of 18 percent by late 1965, and Beneficial's profits rose with them.

Meanwhile, giant J.C. Penney entered the mail-order market in 1966, further hurting Spiegel.

The situation began improving by the end of 1967 as consumers began returning to the credit market.

Beneficial itself continued to grow; by 1968 the firm had 1,770 offices in every state but Delaware.

To bring more customers into its offices, the firm began offering on-the-spot tax refunds in 1970 through its Benevest Inc. subsidiary.

By 1973 the short-term interest rate situation had worsened, and large banks like Chase Manhattan Corporation were buying personal loan companies in an attempt to diversify.

In 1976, Beneficial began offering credit cards through its People's Bank & Trust Co. subsidiary in Delaware.

Profits took a hit in 1977, however, due to losses at Midland International.

The firm bought First Texas Financial Corp., a savings and loan, in 1978.

The consumer loan industry again fell on hard times in 1979 as a recession caused personal bankruptcies to increase 60 percent, while interest rates soared.

In 1980 Beneficial sold 138 offices in 12 states to a subsidiary of Barclays Bank International Ltd.

Even so, the firm made $101.2 million in 1985 on revenues of $2.1 billion.

But in 1986 its reinsurance losses forced the writeoff of another $260 million, creating a loss of nearly $50 million for the year.

By 1990 the firm was the third-largest issuer of second mortgages in the United States and had $8.4 billion in assets.

With many banks and thrifts weakened by bad loans, Beneficial was able to buy consumer loans worth $863 million in 1991, adding to its rapidly growing receivables portfolio.

Income for 1992 would have been $148.4 million but was lowered by a charge of $98.6 million, much of it for foreclosed real estate, particularly in southern California.

In 1998, the company was purchased by Household International, Inc., for about $8.25 billion in stock.

Ward, Roger K. 2003. "The Louisiana Purchase." Louisiana Bar Journal 50 (February): 330.

"Louisiana History." Louisiana Department of Economic Development. http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/profiles/history.htm (accessed on July 14, 2005).