WFS Financial Announces $1.75 Billion Securitization Transaction

    IRVINE, Calif.--May 21, 2002--WFS Financial Inc today announced the pricing of a $1.75 billion offering of automobile receivable asset-backed securities.
    The offering was lead managed by Deutsche Bank Securities and co-managed by Banc of America Securities LLC, Credit Suisse First Boston, and Salomon Smith Barney. This offering is expected to close on May 30, 2002.
    The securities will be issued via an owner trust, WFS Financial 2002-2, in four classes of Notes:

Security      Amount     Average Life  Coupon    Price   Annual Yield
                             (yrs)
A-1 Notes   $325,000,000     0.35      1.938%  100.00000    1.938%
A-2 Notes   $462,000,000     1.00      2.820%   99.99531    2.835%
A-3 Notes   $575,000,000     2.00      3.810%   99.99123    3.833%
A-4 Notes   $388,000,000     3.21      4.500%   99.98685    4.530%
Total     $1,750,000,000

    The Class A-1 Notes will be rated A-1+ by Standard & Poor's and Prime-1 by Moody's Investors Service. The Class A-2, A-3 and A-4 Notes will be rated AAA by Standard & Poor's and Aaa by Moody's. Timely principal and interest payments on the Notes are guaranteed by an insurance policy provided by Financial Security Assurance Inc.
    The rating by Standard & Poor's of the Class A-1 Notes will be issued without regard to the benefit afforded by the Note Policy. The ratings by Standard & Poor's of the Class A-2, A-3 and A-4 Notes, as well as the ratings by Moody's of all of the Notes will be based on the issuance of the Note Policy by FSA.
    WFS and its affiliates is the largest non-captive issuer of automobile asset-backed securities in the United States having issued a total of $26.2 billion of such securities in 55 transactions to date.
    WFS is one of the nation's largest independent automobile finance companies. WFS specializes in originating, securitizing, and servicing new and pre-owned prime and non-prime credit quality automobile contracts through its nationwide relationships with automobile dealers. Information about WFS can be found at its Web site at http://www.wfsfinancial.com.