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Downey Savings Completes Sale of Downey Auto Finance Corp.

1 March 2000

Downey Savings Completes Sale of Downey Auto Finance Corp.

    NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Feb. 29 -- Downey Savings and Loan
Association, F.A. today completed the previously announced sale of its
indirect automobile finance subsidiary, Downey Auto Finance Corp., to Auto
One Acceptance Corporation (Dallas, TX), a subsidiary of California Federal
Bank.
    Daniel D. Rosenthal, Downey's president and chief executive officer,
stated, "Although this has been a profitable business for Downey, we believe
the capital generated by this transaction will provide further growth
opportunities for our residential lending business and yield higher returns
for our shareholders."
    Downey Savings, whose holding company is Downey Financial Corp.
(NYSE: DSL; PCX), has helped California residents with their banking and
borrowing needs for over 42 years.  With assets over $9 billion, Downey
Savings, an Equal Housing Lender, has 104 locations throughout California
and also offers home loans nationwide.  The stock of Downey Financial Corp.
is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and Pacific Exchange under trading
symbol "DSL."  The Downey Savings corporate web site address is
http://www.downeysavings.com.
    California Federal Bank, headquartered in San Francisco, is a subsidiary
of Golden State Bancorp .  With assets of $57 billion, Cal Fed
has 349 branches in California and Nevada.

    Contacts for further information are:  Thomas E. Prince, Chief Financial
Officer of Downey, 949-509-4440; or Janis Tarter of Cal Fed, 415-904-1199.