Michael Price Joins Westar Financial's Board of Directors

3 June 1998
Michael Price Joins Westar Financial's Board of Directors
    OLYMPIA, Wash., June 3 -- Westar Financial Services
Incorporated (OTC: WEST), a prime-credit auto lessor, announced that Michael
A. Price, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of T&W Financial Corporation
has joined Westar's Board of Directors.
    Price has served as CEO and Chairman of T&W Financial and its predecessors
since the company's formation in 1976.  Based in Tacoma, Washington, T&W
provides equipment financing to a wide variety of small and medium-sized
fast-food, grocery, funeral, hospital, liquid waste disposal, and horticulture
businesses.  Like Westar, T&W securitizes its leases and retains servicing.
T&W reported net income of $3.9 million on revenues of $12 million for the
quarter ended March 31, 1998.
    T&W went public in November 1997 at $16.00 per share through an Initial
Public Offering co-managed by CIBC Oppenheimer Corp. and Prudential
Securities.  TWFC shares recently traded at $25.00.
    "Mike is a true industry leader and innovator.  We are delighted to have
him join our Board," said Robert W. Christensen, Jr., President & CEO.  "He
and I have competed in the equipment leasing industry for many years and I
have tremendous respect for him.  We share a common vision of the financial
services industry and I'm excited to welcome him to Westar's team."
    Prior to 1976, Price was a vice president of International Finance, an
independent leasing company.  Price was one of the founders and past director
of the United Association of Equipment Lessors (UAEL), a national association
of leasing companies.  He also was a founding chairman of the board for an
FDIC-insured state bank.
    Westar Financial Services Incorporated is a fast-growing, Washington-based
automobile finance company focused solely on the prime-credit segment of the
$110-billion auto-lease finance market.  Westar's shares are traded
over-the-counter by Hoefer & Arnett, San Francisco; Hill Thompson, Jersey
City; and Monroe Securities, Rochester, NY.
    Statement regarding "Forward Looking Statements": This announcement
includes statements that include forward-looking statements which are subject
to a number of risks and uncertainties that might cause actual results to
differ materially from stated expectations.
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