BofA declines to renew Sears letter of credit

LA Times ^ | 4.18.08 | bloomberg

[BurbankKarl]

Sears Holdings Corp., the retailer being reorganized by hedge fund investor Edward Lampert, said Bank of America Corp. refused to renew a $1-billion letter of credit under existing terms, sending the shares down 3.2% in after-hours trading Friday.

Losing the credit probably won't affect Sears' access to cash, the Hoffman Estates, Ill., company said in a regulatory filing. The retailer had $1.62 billion in cash as of Feb. 2, a 58% decline from a year earlier.

Retailers use letters of credit to assure vendors that they have money to pay for goods, and losing a bank's backing may mean having to dip into cash reserves to pay for merchandise up front.

[BurbankKarl]

No Craftsman tools for ya?

[Revolting cat!]

How are the Roebuck stores doing, though?

[MinuteGal]

Yep, that's the only thing I still buy from Sears. Craftsman is the tops. It's a man's world at Sears now.

Kenmore is the pits and women should be leery of buying their junk kitchen appliances made God knows where.

Leni

[GOPJ]

I'm happy about this.

Sears is not a good company. Today is the second day I've wasted waiting for a Sears Repairman to fix my fridge. And the third visit for the same problem.

I will never buy another appliance from them. After waiting all day earlier this week - just to be told an hour before the end of the day - that they were running late and "couldn't make it" - and I would have to reschedule - they've done it again today.

They were suppose to be here between 8 and 12 ... now it's moved back to "after 1:30 pm - and I fully expect them to show up late or not at all. It's my whole Saturday this time.

In the short run Sears helps their repairmen maximize their time - and let's the customers be played for fools. Sears is running the company for the sake of their employees rather than the people who buy their products. Shame on Sears. They can do better.