AFSA Joins Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail Group

MCLEAN, Va., Feb. 21 -- The American Financial Services Association (AFSA), a national trade association representing some of the nation's largest providers of consumer credit, has joined STAR, the IT standards body for the North American retail automotive industry.

STAR (Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail) is a non-profit, auto industry-wide initiative to create voluntary IT standards for the data elements and transmission format used by manufacturers, dealers, and retail system providers to communicate with each other. STAR's initiatives will result in a more efficient data exchange between dealers and manufacturers, with lower costs, more accurate and timely data, and increased levels of customer satisfaction.

AFSA joined STAR because it views this initiative as an important component of its program announced in December to create voluntary standards for its member companies' use of e-contracts, said Randy Lively, the association's president and chief executive officer. Under the AFSA standards, lenders will have guidance on establishing secure and uniform electronic "links" between phases of a consumer credit transaction -- starting with points of origination (such as dealerships or branch offices) and continuing on to investors in the public markets.

"We applaud the excellent work done by STAR," Lively added. "Our intent is to incorporate this new dealer-manufacturer data exchange, with full attribution to STAR, into a seamless process of transmitting electronic documents from start to finish." AFSA's goal is to have its complete standards, including the STAR component, approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), said Lively.

"We're pleased that AFSA can save time and effort by leveraging STAR's credit application, credit decision, and credit contract standards. Plus, these standards will help their members reduce complexity and cost," says Tom Campisi, STAR communications chair.

About STAR (www.starstandard.org )

The Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR) organization is the Information Technology (IT) standards organization for the retail automotive industry. The goal of the STAR organization is to use IT standards as a catalyst in fulfilling the business information needs of dealers and manufacturers while reducing the time and effort previously required to support this activity.

Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, STAR is a not-for-profit volunteer organization and its members include Dealers, Manufacturers and Retail System Providers (RSPs). As members, they are interested in developing, promoting, and administering voluntary IT standards in the retail automotive industry and improving the effectiveness, timeliness and competitiveness of the IT solutions needed within the retail automotive industry.

  STAR membership roster:
  Dealer Groups: NADA

Retail System Providers: ADP, AFSA, Arkona, Auto/Mate Inc., Cobalt Group, EDS Automotive Retail Group, PBS Financial Systems Inc., Procede Software, Reynolds & Reynolds, RouteOne, Sun Microsystems, UCS

Manufacturers: American Honda Motor Co., Inc., American Isuzu Motors, Inc., American Suzuki Motor Corp., BMW of North America, Inc., DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corp., Hyundai Motor Company, Jaguar Cars, Kia Motors America, Mazda North American Operations, Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America, Inc., Nissan North America, Inc., Porsche Cars North America, Inc., Renault, Saab Cars USA, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Volkswagen of America, Volvo Cars of North America

About AFSA (www.afsaonline.com )

Founded in 1916 and based in Washington, D.C., AFSA is a national trade association for market funded financial services firms that provide credit to consumers and small businesses. Its more than 400 members include consumer and commercial finance companies, auto finance/leasing companies, mortgage lenders, credit card issuers and industry suppliers.