DES MOINES, Iowa — Wells Fargo Dealer Services' president told SubPrime Auto Finance News this week that the Wells Fargo Financial restructuring will have no impact on indirect dealer auto loans.

Indeed, Tom Wolfe told SubPrime, "The restructuring of Wells Fargo Finance concerns another area of Wells Fargo that focuses on ‘direct-to-consumer' lending. Wells Fargo Dealer Services remains committed to the dealer community and our decentralized business model.

"In fact, we are excited to announce we are opening two new Regional Business Centers this fall. We will open our Omaha office in September and our Fort Worth office in October," he highlighted.

Apparently there was some confusion in the industry after Wells Fargo Financial announced it is in the process of restructuring, which includes closing 638 stores for this division. However, direct-to-consumer lending, which was the focus of this business unit, will continue. Auto lending, in particular, will simply be moved to the bank network and to the company's online channel, according to a Wells Fargo spokesperson.

As part of the merger with Wachovia, Wachovia Dealer Services was left intact and earlier this year became Wells Fargo Dealer Services. This division focuses on indirect auto lending with dealers. There will be no impact to this division.

The biggest impact of the Wells Fargo Financial restructuring is that the company is ending non-prime mortgage loans.

As a part of the direct-to-consumer revamping through this business unit, a total of 2,800 positions out of 14,000 members are expected to be eliminated over the next 60 days. Also, another 1,000 positions are expected to be cut within the next year. The remaining associates will be reassigned to other Wells Fargo business units. Dealers should witness no impact from these moves.

Basically, management explained that with the Wachovia merger, there is no longer a need for so many direct-to-consumer lending stores, since customers have access to 6,600 Wells Fargo and Wachovia community bank stores and 2,200 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage locations.

By moving many of the direct-to-consumer lending services completed by Wells Fargo Financial into other business divisions, management indicated it expects increased operating efficiencies, streamlined processes and controls, as well as a more consistent experience for customers.

Customers with existing Wells Fargo Financial loans will continue to be served without disruption.