Westcorp Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Outstanding Minority Interest in WFS Financial Inc

    IRVINE, Calif.--Sept. 26, 2002--WFS Financial Inc today announced that it had received notice from Westcorp that the proposal to acquire the outstanding 16% minority interest of WFS has been withdrawn.
    On July 17, 2002, Westcorp had announced a merger proposal, authorized by a special committee of Westcorp's independent directors, whereby the public holders of WFS common shares would receive .9204 of Westcorp common share for each outstanding WFS common share.
    In its notice, Westcorp indicated that it had withdrawn that proposal and was terminating further discussions with the independent director special committee of WFS because the two special committees were unable to reach an agreement on a mutually acceptable exchange ratio for the proposed transaction.
    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.