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Westar Financial Reports Record Quarterly Revenues of $59 Million

12 October 2000

Westar Financial Reports Record Quarterly Revenues of $59 Million; CEO Discusses Year and Outlines Future At Annual Meeting

    OLYMPIA, Wash.--Oct. 10, 2000--Westar Financial Services Incorporated (OTC:WEST), the leading automobile e-finance portal, today reported record revenues of $59 million for its 2nd quarter ended September 30, 2000, an increase of 78% from the prior year and 58% from the prior quarter.
    Westar has reported record revenues for each of its most recent three quarters.
    In reviewing the company's business strategies during the annual meeting held September 25th, R. W. Christensen, Jr., CEO, made the following comments:
    "In the past year, Westar has become a leading financial portal that originates, decisions, commits to and fulfills consumer financings for itself or others using sophisticated decisioning tools and high speed communications to assure transparency to all parties to the transaction. A financial portal is a conduit through which a physical transaction nearly instantaneously is transformed into a financial instrument, which is then placed with the appropriate ultimate investor.
    "Revenues continue to grow at double digit rates each quarter. If current growth rates continue, revenues are expected to reach $700 million by the end of next year.
    "The new origination channels launched in the past 6 months are generating accelerating growth in volumes and very high quality financings. Together, Westar's four unique origination channels are:

    --`Dealer Direct' retail leasing in 14 western states;
    --`Internet' decisioning and fulfillment through DriveOff.com, owned
    jointly by Microsoft and Ford;
    --`Intranet' originations through the DriveOff model as incorporated
    into membership or other affinity organizations such as Costco;
    --`Private Label' commitments as Westar completes transactions for
    other financial institutions, including AmSouth Bancorporation in
    the southeastern US and Mellon Bank in the mid-Atlantic states.

    "We expect to sign several new Intranet relationships and at least one Private Label institution in the next 90 days.
    "This month, the company achieved the sustainable volumes necessary for profitability and positive cash flow. While we did not reach profitability as early in the quarter as we expected, we believe the remainder of this year should be positive, based on current volumes and margins."
    Also at its annual meeting, shareholders re-elected, Mr. Christensen and David C. Soward, Managing General Partner of & Capital Partners, as board members and ratified the appointment of BDO Seidman, LLP as independent public accountants.