LOS ANGELES — Based on extensive dealer customer feedback, Westlake Financial Services rolled out a prime lending program this week meant to augment its offerings that are mainly geared for buy-here, pay-here stores and subprime buyers. The newest offering, the Titanium Program, is aimed at prime-credit customers with contract features that include: —APR as low as 5.99 percent. […] [Read More]

DES MOINES, Iowa — Wells Fargo Preferred Capital recently provided a revolving credit facility to K STReet Finance, a indirect auto finance lender that serves dealerships in southern California. Officials said the total amount of the credit facility came in at $12 million. K STReet Finance is headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., and has worked with […] [Read More]

FORT WORTH, Texas — Due to the impending merger of AmeriCredit  and General Motors, the auto lender announced that it has designated Oct. 1 as the anticipated effective date of the Make-Whole Fundamental Change for notes due to the merger. Basically, AmeriCredit said that "pursuant to the terms of the indenture relating to its 0.75 percent […] [Read More]

McLEAN, Va. — With the new model-year lineups arriving on dealership lots, used-vehicle prices have softened, albeit modestly, in September, according to NADA Used Car Guide.  While this month typically marks the start of the end-of-year used-value slowdown, the usual September-through-December softening won't be as dramatic this year, analyst Jonathan Banks pointed out.  [Read More]

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — On Wednesday, Chrysler Group announced a new deal with U.S. Bank to offer customers more lease options for its lineup of select 2010 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep models. Through this new agreement, customers now have two leasing options, Ally Financial and U.S. Bank. Both deals offer customers the ability to lease various […] [Read More]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Likely fueled by automakers' heavy use of incentives connected to APR, the Federal Reserve revealed the average interest rate on new-car loans at auto finance companies hit the lowest point of the year in July. Federal officials computed the average at 3.87 percent. The average hasn't been this low since the reading in […] [Read More]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — ProconGPS revealed the decision this week about how a Las Vegas-based finance company that primarily purchases contracts from buy-here, pay-here dealers chose to use its asset management system. Company officials indicated they plan to deploy a customized version of LoanPlus GPS for Western Funding. They reiterated LoanPlus GPS is geared to provide programming, […] [Read More]

MINNEAPOLIS — In a quarterly survey of bank risk professionals, FICO discovered that while pessimism among these executives remain, apparently things are getting better as the results are less negative than the second quarter. Looking specifically at bank risk officers who specialize in auto loans, FICO discovered what it is calling a "somewhat unexpected survey result." Apparently, […] [Read More]

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — RouteOne on Tuesday launched an integration with LeadSync, what executives described as a complimentary tool that can automatically export customer leads directly to a dealership's RouteOne integrated DSP. They went on to note LeadSync is meant to build on RouteOne's open integration strategy, blending a dealer's lead source with more than 70 […] [Read More]

SAN RAMON, Calif. — In an effort to better reach all parts of the non-prime market, Auto Funding Services recently partnered with BlueSky Marketing Group. The partnership means not only is AFS integrated with BlueSky's leads platform known as Real Leads, the lender now has a complement to its existing relationship with DealerTrack. The lender believes […] [Read More]