Fireside Thrift Co. to Join Growing List of Lenders Participating in The BIGFNI(TM) Online Auto Finance System

    SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1 -- Fireside Thrift Co., of Pleasanton,
California will join a growing list of lenders participating in the BIGFNI(TM)
online auto finance system, the automated loan application network of Bankers
Integration Group (BIG).
    The agreement was announced during the National Automobile Dealers
Association Convention and Exposition, being held here through Feb. 4 and
where BIG will roll out its new decisioning engine that will pay auto dealers
to use the software.
    The patent pending BIGFNI software solution provides a web-based risk
analysis engine that is unique to the automobile finance industry.  BIGFNI is
a powerful tool for dealers allowing them to prescreen loan applications and
match them to lender programs, ensuring that consumers are offered the best
financing available to them.  By joining the BIGFNI network, Fireside Thrift
will streamline the application process and eliminate wasted efforts in
reviewing deals that do not fit within its loan programs, thus, improving
service to its dealer base.
    "Fireside is one of the largest purchasers of secondary automobile paper
in the west, and offers alternative financing to consumers and car dealerships
throughout that region," said Ted Cunningham, Vice Chairman of Bankers
Integration Group, Inc., and former Executive Vice President of Global Sales
and Marketing for the Chrysler Group.  "By adding them to the BIGFNI network,
the depth of coverage of the system is greatly increased and dealerships can
assist an entire segment of customers with financing that they might not
otherwise have been able to help."
    "Through years of service to the automobile dealer community, Fireside has
developed a unique understanding of dealer needs and secondary financing
programs," said Tom Conover, Senior Vice President of Fireside Thrift.  "After
analyzing the BIGFNI system, we are excited about the possibilities it offers
to provide a superior level of service to our dealers."

    About Fireside Thrift Co.
    Fireside Thrift Co. is an FDIC insured financial institution with offices
located throughout the western United States.  By purchasing automobile loans
from dealerships, Fireside helps customers with marginal credit purchase
automobiles and light trucks.  Fireside opened its first branch office,
located in San Mateo, CA, in 1950, and has since expanded its locations into
several states, as far east as Missouri.  For more information about Fireside
Thrift Co., visit the company's Website at http://www.firesidethrift.com .

    About Bankers Integration Group, Inc.
    Bankers Integration Group, Inc., with its headquarters in Laguna Niguel,
California, is an application service provider to the finance and insurance
industries.  Its patent pending software engine is a web-based risk analysis
engine that allows automobile dealers and lenders to decision financing in
real time and finalize loans in a matter of seconds.  Partnering with leading
financial institutions, the BIGFNI software engine operates over the Internet
through a standard browser, interpreting credit data, rendering a credit
decision, and matching buyers with loan programs based on credit history drawn
from the three major credit bureaus, vehicle type, and a lender's underwriting
criteria.  The system is designed to host a variety of prime and non-prime
Lenders.  For more information about Bankers Integration Group, visit the
company's Web site at http://www.bigfni.com .