People's Bank of California Launches Affinity iDEAL Service

4 November 1999

People's Bank of California Launches Affinity iDEAL Service

    COLUMBIA, S.C.--Nov. 3, 1999--People's Bank of California (NASD: PBOC) and Affinity Technology Group, Inc. (NASD: AFFI) today announced that People's has completed its conversion to Affinity's iDEAL service for indirect automobile lending.
    William W. Flader, People's Executive Vice President, Retail Banking, said, "In early results, iDEAL is providing our dealers with fully automated decisions and responses on almost half the applications, while facilitating our timely review of those that require personal evaluation."
    "The iDEAL service provides indirect lenders with control over underwriting and pricing and improves productivity, as well as speeding service to dealers," said Murray Smith, Affinity President and CEO.
    The iDEAL service, which was originally developed by Affinity in cooperation with Citibank Auto Finance, applies a lender's credit policy, including credit scores and rules, to determine which applications can be approved or declined automatically and which require personal attention from a loan officer. Connection to third parties for credit and car valuation data is automatic, as are funding and booking of closed contracts. The automated iDEAL system allows lenders to serve their dealers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
    Affinity's technology enables financial institutions to link their branches, call centers, Internet customers and indirect agents electronically to their credit departments, providing fully automated lending - and, if necessary, connectivity to a loan officer - through every channel. For financial institutions, Affinity's services expedite loan decisioning and processing and increase productivity of branch personnel, call center agents, loan officers, and indirect agents, while improving the overall customer experience. Affinity is located on the World Wide Web at www.affi.net.
    People's Bank, with $3.5 billion in assets, has 23 branches in three Southern California counties (Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange).

    Forward-looking statements in this news release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those related to general economic conditions, delays, risks and uncertainties associated with the development and deployment of new technologies, consumer and industry acceptance of automated delivery channels, and regulatory risks, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected.