Common use of Service Plan Fees Clause in Contracts

Service Plan Fees. Under the Class A service plan, the Distributor currently uses the fees it receives from the Fund to pay brokers, dealers and other financial institutions (they are referred to as "recipients") for personal services and account maintenance services they provide for their customers who hold Class A shares. The services include, among others, answering customer inquiries about the Fund, assisting in establishing and maintaining accounts in the Fund, making the Fund's investment plans available and providing other services at the request of the Fund or the Distributor. While the plan permits the Board to authorize payments to the Distributor to reimburse itself for services under the plan, the Board has not yet done so. The Distributor makes payments to plan recipients quarterly at an annual rate not to exceed 0.25% of the average annual net assets consisting of Class A shares, held in the accounts of the recipients or their customers. |X| Class B, Class C and Class N Service and Distribution Plan Fees. Under each plan, service fees and distribution fees are computed on the average of the net asset value of shares in the respective class, determined as of the close of each regular business day during the period. The Class B, Class C and Class N plans provide for the Distributor to be compensated at a flat rate, whether the Distributor's distribution expenses are more or less than the amounts paid by the Fund under the plan during the period for which the fee is paid. The types of services that recipients provide are similar to the services provided under the Class A service plan, described above. The Class B, Class C and Class N plans permit the Distributor to retain both the asset-based sales charges and the service fees or to pay recipients the service fee on a quarterly basis, without payment in advance. However, the Distributor currently intends to pay the service fee to recipients in advance for the first year after the shares are purchased. After the first year shares are outstanding, the Distributor makes service fee payments quarterly on those shares. The advance payment is based on the net asset value of shares sold. Shares purchased by exchange do not qualify for the advance service fee payment. If Class B, Class C or Class N shares are redeemed during the first year after their purchase, the recipient of the service fees on those shares will be obligated to repay the Distributor a pro rata portion of the advance payment of the service fee made on those shares. The asset based sales charge and service fees increase Class B and Class C expenses by 1.00% and increase Class N expenses by 0.50% of the net assets per year of the respective class. The Distributor retains the asset-based sales charge on Class B and Class N shares. The Distributor retains the asset-based sales charge on Class C shares during the first year the shares are outstanding. It pays the asset-based sales charge as an ongoing concession to the recipient on Class C shares outstanding for a year or more. If a dealer has a special agreement with the Distributor, the Distributor will pay the Class B, Class C or Class N service fee and the asset-based sales charge on Class C and Class N to the dealer quarterly in lieu of paying the sales concessions and service fee in advance at the time of purchase. The Distributor retains the asset-based sales charge on Class N shares. The asset-based sales charges on Class B, Class C and Class N shares allow investors to buy shares without a front-end sales charge while allowing the Distributor to compensate dealers that sell those shares. The Fund pays the asset-based sales charges to the Distributor for its services rendered in distributing Class B, Class C and Class N shares. The payments are made to the Distributor in recognition that the Distributor: o pays sales concessions to authorized brokers and dealers at the time of sale and pays service fees as described above, o may finance payment of sales concessions and/or the advance of the service fee payment to recipients under the plans, or may provide such financing from its own resources or from the resources of an affiliate, o employs personnel to support distribution of Class B, Class C and Class N shares, and o bears the costs of sales literature, advertising and prospectuses (other than those furnished to current shareholders) and state "blue sky" registration fees and certain other distribution expenses, o may not be able to adequately compensate dealers that sell Class B, Class C and Class N shares without receiving payment under the plans and therefore may not be able to offer such Classes for sale absent the plans, o receives payments under the plans consistent with the service fees and asset-based sales charges paid by other non-proprietary funds that charge 12b-1 fees, o may use the payments under the plan to include the Fund in various third-party distribution programs that may increase sales of Fund shares, o may experience increased difficulty selling the Fund's shares if payments under the plan are discontinued because most competitor funds have plans that pay dealers for rendering distribution services as much or more than the amounts currently being paid by the Fund, and o may not be able to continue providing, at the same or at a lesser cost, the same quality distribution sales efforts and services, or to obtain such services from brokers and dealers, if the plan payments were to be discontinued. When Class B, Class C or Class N shares are sold without the designation of a broker-dealer, the Distributor is automatically designated as the broker-dealer of record. In those cases, the Distributor retains the service fee and asset-based sales charge paid on Class B, Class C and Class N shares. The Distributor's actual expenses in selling Class B, Class C and Class N shares may be more than the payments it receives from the contingent deferred sales charges collected on redeemed shares and from the Fund under the plans. If the Class B, Class C or Class N plan is terminated by the Fund, the Board of Trustees may allow the Fund to continue payments of the asset-based sales charge to the Distributor for distributing shares before the plan was terminated. All payments under the Class B, Class C and Class N plans are subject to the limitations imposed by the Conduct Rules of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. on payments of asset-based sales charges and service fees. Performance of the Fund Explanation of Performance Terminology. The Fund uses a variety of terms to illustrate its investment performance. Those terms include "cumulative total return," "average annual total return," "average annual total return at net asset value" and "total return at net asset value." An explanation of how total returns are calculated is set forth below. For periods of less than one year, the Fund may quote its performance on a non-annualized basis. You can obtain current performance information by calling the Fund's Transfer Agent at 0.000.000.0000. The Fund's illustrations of its performance data in advertisements must comply with rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Those rules describe the types of performance data that may be used and how it is to be calculated. In general, any advertisement by the Fund of its performance data must include the average annual total returns for the advertised class of shares of the Fund. Those returns must be shown for the 1-, 5- and 10-year periods (or the life of the class, if less) ending as of the most recently ended calendar quarter prior to the publication of the advertisement (or its submission for publication). Use of standardized performance calculations enables an investor to compare the Fund's performance to the performance of other funds for the same periods. However, a number of factors should be considered before using the Fund's performance information as a basis for comparison with other investments: o Total returns measure the performance of a hypothetical account in the Fund over various periods and do not show the performance of each shareholder's account. Your account's performance will vary from the model performance data if your dividends are received in cash, or you buy or sell shares during the period, or you bought your shares at a different time and price than the shares used in the model. o The Fund's performance returns do not reflect the effect of taxes on dividends and capital gains distributions. o An investment in the Fund is not insured by the FDIC or any other government agency. o The principal value of the Fund's shares and total returns are not guaranteed and normally will fluctuate on a daily basis. o When an investor's shares are redeemed, they may be worth more or less than their original cost. o Total returns for any given past period represent historical performance information and are not, and should not be considered, a prediction of future returns. The performance of each class of shares is shown separately, because the performance of each class of shares will usually be different. That is because of the different kinds of expenses each class bears. The total returns of each class of shares of the Fund are affected by market conditions, the quality of the Fund's investments, the maturity of debt investments, the types of investments the Fund holds, and its operating expenses that are allocated to the particular class.

Service Plan Fees. Under the Class A service plan, the Distributor currently uses the fees it receives from the Fund to pay brokers, dealers and other financial institutions (they are referred to as "recipients") for personal services and account maintenance services they provide for their customers who hold Class A shares. The services include, among others, answering customer inquiries about the Fund, assisting in establishing and maintaining accounts in the Fund, making the Fund's investment plans available and providing other services at the request of the Fund or the Distributor. While the plan permits the Board to authorize payments to the Distributor to reimburse itself for services under the plan, the Board has not yet done so. The Distributor makes payments to plan recipients quarterly at an annual rate not to exceed 0.25% of the average annual net assets consisting of Class A shares, shares held in the accounts of the recipients or their customers. For the fiscal period ended October 31, 2001, payments under the Class A plan totaled $390,373, all of which was paid by the Distributor to recipients. That included $31,067 paid to an affiliate of the Distributor's parent company. Any unreimbursed expenses the Distributor incurs with respect to Class A shares in any fiscal year cannot be recovered in subsequent years. The Distributor may not use payments received the Class A Plan to pay any of its interest expenses, carrying charges, or other financial costs, or allocation of overhead. |X| Class B, Class C and Class N Service and Distribution Plan Fees. Under each planthe Class B and Class C plans, service fees and distribution fees fees, and with respect to the Class N plan, the distribution fees, are computed on the average of the net asset value of shares in the respective class, determined as of the close of each regular business day during the period. The Class B, Class C and Class N plans provide for the Distributor to be compensated at a flat rate, whether the Distributor's distribution expenses are more or less than the amounts paid by the Fund under the plan plans during the period for which the fee is paid. The types of services that recipients provide are similar to the services provided under the Class A service plan, described above. The Class B, Class C and Class N plans permit the Distributor to retain both the asset-based sales charges and the service fees or to pay recipients the service fee on a quarterly basis, without payment in advance. However, the Distributor currently intends to pay the service fee to recipients in advance for the first year after the shares are purchased. After the first year shares are outstanding, the Distributor makes service fee payments quarterly on those sharesshares under the Class B and Class C plans. The advance payment is based on the net asset value of shares sold. Shares purchased by exchange do not qualify for the advance service fee payment. If Class B, Class C or Class N shares are redeemed during the first year after their purchase, the recipient of the service fees on those shares will be obligated to repay the Distributor a pro rata portion of the advance payment of the service fee made on those shares. The asset based sales charge and service fees increase Class B and Class C expenses by 1.00% and increase Class N expenses by 0.50% of the net assets per year of the respective class. The Distributor retains the asset-based sales charge on Class B and Class N shares. The Distributor retains the asset-based sales charge on Class C shares during the first year the shares are outstanding. It pays the asset-based sales charge as an ongoing concession to the recipient on Class C shares outstanding for a year or more. If a dealer has a special agreement with the Distributor, the Distributor will pay the Class B, Class C or Class N service fee and the asset-based sales charge on Class C and Class N to the dealer quarterly in lieu of paying the sales concessions and service fee in advance at the time of purchase. The Distributor retains the asset-based sales charge on Class N shares. The asset-based sales charges on Class B, Class C and Class N shares allow investors to buy shares without a front-end sales charge while allowing the Distributor to compensate dealers that sell those shares. The Fund pays the asset-based sales charges to the Distributor for its services rendered in distributing Class B, Class C and Class N shares. The payments are made to the Distributor in recognition that the Distributor: o pays sales concessions to authorized brokers and dealers at the time of sale and pays service fees as described above, o may finance payment of sales concessions and/or the advance of the service fee payment to recipients under the plans, or may provide such financing from its own resources or from the resources of an affiliate, o employs personnel to support distribution of Class B, Class C and Class N shares, and o bears the costs of sales literature, advertising and prospectuses (other than those furnished to current shareholders) and state "blue sky" registration fees and certain other distribution expenses, . o may not be able to adequately compensate dealers that sell Class B, Class C and Class N shares without receiving payment under the plans and therefore may not be able to offer such Classes for sale absent the plans, o receives payments under the plans consistent with the service fees and asset-based sales charges paid by other non-proprietary funds that charge 12b-1 fees, o may use the payments under the plan to include the Fund in various third-party distribution programs that may increase sales of Fund shares, o may experience increased difficulty selling the Fund's shares if payments under the plan are discontinued because most competitor funds have plans that pay dealers for rendering distribution services as much or more than the amounts currently being paid by the Fund, and o may not be able to continue providing, at the same or at a lesser cost, the same quality distribution sales efforts and services, or to obtain such services from brokers and dealers, if the plan payments were to be discontinued. When Class B, Class C or Class N shares are sold without the designation of a broker-dealer, the Distributor is automatically designated as the broker-dealer of record. In those cases, the Distributor retains the service fee and asset-based sales charge paid on Class B, Class C and Class N shares. The Distributor's actual expenses in selling Class B, Class C and Class N shares may be more than the payments it receives from form the contingent deferred sales charges collected on redeemed shares and from the Fund under the plans. If the Class B, Class C or Class N plan is terminated by the Fund, the Board of Trustees may allow the Fund to continue payments of the asset-based sales charge to the Distributor for distributing shares before the plan was terminated. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Distribution Fees Paid to the Distributor in the Fiscal Year Ended 10/31/01 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ -------------------- --------------------- ------------------------- ---------------------- Distributor's Distributor's Aggregate Unreimbursed Total Amount Unreimbursed Expenses as % Payments Retained by Expenses of Net Assets Class Under Plan1 Distributor Under Plan of Class ------------------------ -------------------- --------------------- ------------------------- ---------------------- ------------------------ -------------------- --------------------- ------------------------- ---------------------- Class B Plan $1,287,957 $1,193,063 $8,467,566 11.24% ------------------------ -------------------- --------------------- ------------------------- ---------------------- ------------------------ -------------------- --------------------- ------------------------- ---------------------- Class C Plan $381,157 $247,776 $663,348 2.87% ------------------------ -------------------- --------------------- ------------------------- ---------------------- ------------------------ -------------------- --------------------- ------------------------- ---------------------- Class N Plan $4,300 $3,923 $31,288 2.16% ------------------------ -------------------- --------------------- ------------------------- ---------------------- 1. Includes amounts paid to an affiliate of the Distributor's parent company: $31,067 (Class A), $7,300 (Class B) $3,275 (Class C) and $0 (Class N). All payments under the Class B, Class C and Class N plans are subject to the limitations imposed by the Conduct Rules of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. on payments of asset-based sales charges and service fees. Performance of the Fund Explanation of Performance Terminology. The Fund uses a variety of terms to illustrate its investment performance. Those terms include "cumulative total return," "average annual total return," "average annual total return at net asset value" and "total return at net asset value." An explanation of how total returns are calculated is set forth below. For periods of less than one year, the Fund may quote its performance on a non-annualized basis. You can obtain current performance information by calling the Fund's Transfer Agent at 0.000.000.0000. The Fund's illustrations of its performance data in advertisements must comply with rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Those rules describe the types of performance data that may be used and how it is to be calculated. In general, any advertisement by the Fund of its performance data must include the average annual total returns for the advertised class of shares of the Fund. Those returns must be shown for the 1-, 5- and 10-year periods (or the life of the class, if less) ending as of the most recently ended calendar quarter prior to the publication of the advertisement (or its submission for publication). Use of standardized performance calculations enables an investor to compare the Fund's performance to the performance of other funds for the same periods. However, a number of factors should be considered before using the Fund's performance information as a basis for comparison with other investments: o Total returns measure the performance of a hypothetical account in the Fund over various periods and do not show the performance of each shareholder's account. Your account's performance will vary from the model performance data if your dividends are received in cash, or you buy or sell shares during the period, or you bought your shares at a different time and price than the shares used in the model. o The Fund's performance returns do not reflect the effect of taxes on dividends and capital gains distributions. o An investment in the Fund is not insured by the FDIC or any other government agency. o The principal value of the Fund's shares and total returns are not guaranteed and normally will fluctuate on a daily basis. o When an investor's shares are redeemed, they may be worth more or less than their original cost. o Total returns for any given past period represent historical performance information and are not, and should not be considered, a prediction of future returns. The performance of each class of shares is shown separately, because the performance of each class of shares will usually be different. That is because of the different kinds of expenses each class bears. The total returns of each class of shares of the Fund are affected by market conditions, the quality of the Fund's investments, the maturity of debt investments, the types of investments the Fund holds, and its operating expenses that are allocated to the particular class.

Service Plan Fees. Under the Class A service plan, the Distributor currently uses the fees it receives from the Fund to pay brokers, dealers and other financial institutions (they are referred to as "recipients") for personal services and account maintenance services they provide for their customers who hold Class A shares. The services include, among others, answering customer inquiries about the Fund, assisting in establishing and maintaining accounts in the Fund, making the Fund's investment plans available and providing other services at the request of the Fund or the Distributor. While the plan permits the Board to authorize payments to the Distributor to reimburse itself for services under the plan, the Board has not yet done so. The Distributor makes payments to plan recipients quarterly at an annual rate not to exceed 0.25% of the average annual net assets consisting of Class A shares, held in the accounts of the recipients or their customers. |X| Class B, Class C and Class N Service and Distribution Plan Fees. Under each plan, service fees and distribution fees are computed on the average of the net asset value of shares in the respective class, determined as of the close of each regular business day during the period. The Class B, Class C and Class N plans provide for the Distributor to be compensated at a flat rate, whether the Distributor's distribution expenses are more or less than the amounts paid by the Fund under the plan during the period for which the fee is paid. The types of services that recipients provide are similar to the services provided under the Class A service plan, described above. The Class B, Class C and Class N plans permit the Distributor to retain both the asset-based sales charges and the service fees or to pay recipients the service fee on a quarterly basis, without payment in advance. However, the Distributor currently intends to pay the service fee to recipients in advance for the first year after the shares are purchased. After the first year shares are outstanding, the Distributor makes service fee payments quarterly on those shares. The advance payment is based on the net asset value of shares sold. Shares purchased by exchange do not qualify for the advance service fee payment. If Class B, Class C or Class N shares are redeemed during the first year after their purchase, the recipient of the service fees on those shares will be obligated to repay the Distributor a pro rata portion of the advance payment of the service fee made on those shares. The asset based sales charge and service fees increase Class B and Class C expenses by 1.00% and increase Class N expenses by 0.50% of the net assets per year of the respective class. The Distributor retains the asset-based sales charge on Class B and Class N shares. The Distributor retains the asset-based sales charge on Class C shares during the first year the shares are outstanding. It pays the asset-based sales charge as an ongoing concession to the recipient on Class C shares outstanding for a year or more. If a dealer has a special agreement with the Distributor, the Distributor will pay the Class B, Class C or Class N service fee and the asset-based sales charge on Class C and Class N to the dealer quarterly in lieu of paying the sales concessions and service fee in advance at the time of purchase. The Distributor retains the asset-based sales charge on Class N shares. The asset-based sales charges on Class B, Class C and Class N shares allow investors to buy shares without a front-end sales charge while allowing the Distributor to compensate dealers that sell those shares. The Fund pays the asset-based sales charges to the Distributor for its services rendered in distributing Class B, Class C and Class N shares. The payments are made to the Distributor in recognition that the Distributor: o pays sales concessions to authorized brokers and dealers at the time of sale and pays service fees as described above, o may finance payment of sales concessions and/or the advance of the service fee payment to recipients under the plans, or may provide such financing from its own resources or from the resources of an affiliate, o employs personnel to support distribution of Class B, Class C and Class N shares, and o bears the costs of sales literature, advertising and prospectuses (other than those furnished to current shareholders) and state "blue sky" registration fees and certain other distribution expenses, o may not be able to adequately compensate dealers that sell Class B, Class C and Class N shares without receiving payment under the plans and therefore may not be able to offer such Classes for sale absent the plans, o receives payments under the plans consistent with the service fees and asset-based sales charges paid by other non-proprietary funds that charge 12b-1 fees, o may use the payments under the plan to include the Fund in various third-party distribution programs that may increase sales of Fund shares, o may experience increased difficulty selling the Fund's shares if payments under the plan are discontinued because most competitor funds have plans that pay dealers for rendering distribution services as much or more than the amounts currently being paid by the Fund, and o may not be able to continue providing, at the same or at a lesser cost, the same quality distribution sales efforts and services, or to obtain such services from brokers and dealers, if the plan payments were to be discontinued. When Class B, Class C or Class N shares are sold without the designation of a broker-dealer, the Distributor is automatically designated as the broker-dealer of record. In those cases, the Distributor retains the service fee and asset-based sales charge paid on Class B, Class C and Class N shares. The Distributor's actual expenses in selling Class B, Class C and Class N shares may be more than the payments it receives from the contingent deferred sales charges collected on redeemed shares and from the Fund under the plans. If the Class B, Class C or Class N plan is terminated by the Fund, the Board of Trustees may allow the Fund to continue payments of the asset-based sales charge to the Distributor for distributing shares before the plan was terminated. All payments under the Class B, Class C and Class N plans are subject to the limitations imposed by the Conduct Rules of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. on payments of asset-based sales charges and service fees. Performance of the Fund Explanation of Performance Terminology. The Fund uses a variety of terms to illustrate its investment performance. Those terms include "cumulative total return," "average annual total return," "average annual total return at net asset value" and "total return at net asset value." An explanation of how total returns are calculated is set forth below. For periods of less than one year, the Fund may quote its performance on a non-annualized basis. You can obtain current performance information by calling the Fund's Transfer Agent at 0.000.000.0000. The Fund's illustrations of its performance data in advertisements must comply with rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Those rules describe the types of performance data that may be used and how it is to be calculated. In general, any advertisement by the Fund of its performance data must include the average annual total returns for the advertised class of shares of the Fund. Those returns must be shown for the 1-, 5- and 10-year periods (or the life of the class, if less) ending as of the most recently ended calendar quarter prior to the publication of the advertisement (or its submission for publication). Use of standardized performance calculations enables an investor to compare the Fund's performance to the performance of other funds for the same periods. However, a number of factors should be considered before using the Fund's performance information as a basis for comparison with other investments: o Total returns Totalreturns measure the performance of a hypothetical account in the Fund over various periods and do not show the performance of each shareholder's account. Your account's performance will vary from the model performance data if your dividends are received in cash, or you buy or sell shares during the period, or you bought your shares at a different time and price than the shares used in the model. o The Fund's performance returns do not reflect the effect of taxes on dividends and capital gains distributions. o An investment in the Fund is not insured by the FDIC or any other government agency. o The principal value of the Fund's shares and total returns are not guaranteed and normally will fluctuate on a daily basis. o When an investor's shares are redeemed, they may be worth more or less than their original cost. o Total returns for any given past period represent historical performance information and are not, and should not be considered, a prediction of future returns. The performance of each class of shares is shown separately, because the performance of each class of shares will usually be different. That is because of the different kinds of expenses each class bears. The total returns of each class of shares of the Fund are affected by market conditions, the quality of the Fund's investments, the maturity of debt investments, the types of investments the Fund holds, and its operating expenses that are allocated to the particular class.