Aimbridge Indirect Lending Launches Program in Dallas; Credit Unions Generate More Than $30 Million in Loan Volumes During First Month of Operation

Business Wire, July 15, 2003

Business Editors

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 15, 2003

Aimbridge Indirect Lending, a division of The Aimbridge Group and a financing channel that connects credit unions with an automotive dealer network to provide members and potential members with automobile loans and leases, announced that it has launched an indirect lending program in Dallas as part of the company's national expansion efforts.

Eight credit unions, including Dallas Telco Federal Credit Union, First Class American Credit Union, Loan Star Credit Union, Members Credit Union, Neighborhood Credit Union, Security One Federal Credit Union, Texas Health Resources Credit Union and Vought Heritage Community Credit Union, and 114 automobile dealerships in the Dallas region are participating in the program. During the first month of operation, the credit unions collectively generated more than $30 million in loan volume.

According to Jim Gray, president and CEO of Grand Prairie, Texas-based Vought Heritage Community Credit Union, the credit union has been operating an indirect lending program for 10 years, and it was looking for ways to make the program more efficient and give the credit union a competitive edge with the dealer network. Vought Heritage Community Credit Union sent its staffers to an Aimbridge seminar the company was hosting in Dallas. They gathered information about Aimbridge's indirect lending program, and from that information, they felt that Aimbridge could improve Vought Heritage's program and give it the ability to process more loans.

Prior to launching the indirect lending program in the Dallas market, an Aimbridge team conducted extensive indirect lending training with credit union employees. The company also signed on automobile dealers to the program and trained them as well.

"Since we have been working with Aimbridge, I have really been amazed at how streamlined our processes have become," Gray continued. "Dealers have received our loan approvals faster, we have been able to manage more loan volume without adding additional staff, and we have also been able to deliver a quicker settlement on the loans to the dealers. Working with Aimbridge has exceeded my expectations."

"During our initial meeting with Aimbridge, I was skeptical about the loan volume the company said it could generate in this market," said Pamela Stephens, CEO of Security One Federal Credit Union in Arlington, Texas. "However, we continued to attend meetings and finally agreed to participate in the program. Today our indirect lending loan volume is four times greater than we ever anticipated it would be, and we couldn't be more delighted with the program."

Gray continued, "Part of what makes working with Aimbridge such a pleasure is the way its staff continues to interact with us even after the initial launch of the program. We find many of our vendors sell us a product and barely speak to us again. Aimbridge consults with us on an ongoing basis about what types of loans we are approving and the types we aren't approving. Aimbridge wants to find out how the program is working and what the company can do to improve the program. No question about it; we've really been impressed with Aimbridge."

Steve Bentley, CEO of The Aimbridge Group said, "We look forward to continuing our indirect lending program successes with the credit unions and dealers in the Dallas region. We will work to help the credit unions and dealers further streamline processes and generate additional loan volume in this market. At Aimbridge we take a hands-on approach with our partners and continually ask them how we can improve our processes and efficiencies and then work with them to make those changes happen."

About The Aimbridge Group

Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Denver, The Aimbridge Group markets financial products, such as auto loans and leases, mortgages and insurance products through partnerships with credit unions. The company helps their partners attract members and deepen their relationships by providing members with more reasons to do business with their credit unions.

The Aimbridge Group is comprised of five divisions, including Aimbridge Indirect Lending, Aimbridge Leasing, Aimbridge Mortgage, Aimbridge Financial Services and Aimbridge Automotive Group. While the company is headquartered in Denver, it has remote offices in Austin, Texas; Dallas; St. Louis; Pequannock, N.J.; Chicago; Charleston, S.C. and Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando and Miami in Fla.

For additional information, write The Aimbridge Group at 4610 S. Ulster St., Suite 300, Denver, Colorado 80237 or contact Andrea Harris at 303-306-3231. Visit its Web site at www.aimbridge.com.