Auto One Acceptance Corporation Acquires Guaranty Federal's Indirect Automobile Lending Unit
3 March 2000
Auto One Acceptance Corporation Acquires Guaranty Federal's Indirect Automobile Lending Unit
DALLAS--March 3, 2000--Auto One Acceptance Corporation, a subsidiary of California Federal Bank, acquired the 17-employee indirect automobile lending unit from Texas-based Guaranty Federal Bank, effective March 1."We are taking on Guaranty Federal's highly successful indirect auto lending team and adding their lending relationships with more than 400 auto dealers in Texas and the Midwest," said Dan Leonard, president of Auto One. "We'll not only get the prime lending business they bring in going forward, but the opportunity to market our subprime auto financing programs to this group of dealers." The new division will be relocated to Auto One's Dallas headquarters.
"This is in keeping with our strategy to grow our automobile finance business by acquisition," Leonard added, "and furthers our parent company's efforts to diversify its sources of income."
Auto One collaborates with car dealers to offer primarily subprime financing in Texas, the Southeast, the Northeast, the Midwest and (with its recent acquisition of Downey Auto Finance Corp. from Downey Savings and Loan Association) the West.
Auto One's parent, California Federal Bank, FSB, the second-largest depository institution headquartered in California, has approximately $57 billion in assets, 349 branches in California and Nevada, and $23 billion in deposits. Cal Fed is a subsidiary of Golden State Bancorp Inc. . For more information on Auto One, Cal Fed and Golden State, see our web sites at www.autoone.com, www.calfed.com and www.goldenstatebancorp.com.