Consumer Portfolio Services

Consumer Portfolio Services is a specialty finance company that offers indirect automobile financing to individual borrowers with past credit problems, low incomes or limited credit histories. The company purchases retail installment sales contracts primarily from factory-franchised automobile dealers. The contracts are secured by late model used cars and to lesser extent new cars. Consumer Portfolio accumulates the contracts into pools and finances the pooled contracts through the issuance of AAA-rated asset-backed securities. It retains an economic interest in the performance of the pools and services all of the contracts it purchases. The company s economic success depends on its ability to purchase contracts at interest rates that provide an acceptable return on equity after consideration for cost of funds, credit losses and servicing costs. Consumer Portfolio Services was founded in 1991 and currently purchases contracts in 47 states from approximately 7,000 dealers.