Carfinco Announces Year-End Results

EDMONTON, March 25 /CNW/ - Carfinco Income Fund ("Carfinco" or the
"Fund") announces financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended
December 31, 2008.

Highlights:
- Grew finance receivables to $108 million
- Achieved record revenues of $32 million, up 23%
- Increased senior credit facility to $85 million
- Added Wells Fargo and Bank of Montreal as senior lenders

"Unprecedented meltdowns in the credit and auto industries, inflated gas
prices, dramatic currency swings, and a significant decline in auction values
of used vehicles all contributed to a difficult year for our business," said
Tracy Graf, CEO of Carfinco. "The good news is, we have adjusted our strategy
to deal with today's uncertain economic conditions. We have a healthy balance
sheet with a strong reserve allowance and expect to make smaller contributions
to the allowance for credit losses in 2009."

To decrease credit risk, the Fund substantially tightened its credit
criteria as the year progressed. This decision decreased acceptance rates and
slowed growth, but should allow for much improved delinquency and loss rates.

In spite of the challenges and the tightening of our credit criteria,
Carfinco achieved record revenues in 2008, up 23% to $32.0 million compared to
$26.0 million in 2007. Finance receivables reached an all-time high of $108.0
million compared to $94.4 million at the end of 2007 and $28.2 million five
years ago.

During 2008, Carfinco increased its allowance for credit losses by $5.7
million and recorded a $1.5 million loss on interest rate swap agreements,
entered into in August 2007, that fixed the interest rate on $20 million of
our outstanding debt. Both of these entries are non-cash expenses that
negatively affected net earnings and book equity by $7.2 million. The
significant increase in the allowance for credit losses is due to finance
receivable growth as well as higher loan losses and delinquency levels.

As a result, Carfinco recorded a net loss for the year of $2.0 million,
or 8 cents per unit, compared to net earnings of $3.8 million, or 18 cents per
unit, last year.

Fourth quarter revenues were $8.2 million versus $7.3 million, up 12%.
The higher revenues were attributable to the year-over-year increase in
finance receivables of 14.4%. The Fund recorded a net loss of $560,118 for the
fourth quarter compared to a net loss of $38,559 in the fourth quarter of
2007. Prior to the loss on derivatives, the net losses in the fourth quarter
of 2008 and 2007 become net earnings of $539,526 and $150,965 respectively.

During the second quarter, Carfinco management and the Board of Trustees
made several tough decisions to fortify the business through a challenging
period. Prime among them was the decision to suspend monthly cash
distributions and distribute taxable income, if any, on a quarterly basis to
preserve operating cash flow. As a result, the Fund made cash distributions of
8.1 cents per unit to unitholders for the year.

Activities During The Year

As 2008 progressed, Carfinco's focus turned to operational efficiencies,
product refinement and strengthened relationships with it's senior lenders. As
a result, the Fund enters 2009 strengthened and streamlined at a time when
demand for innovative lending products is on the rise.

The most significant achievements during the year were the additions of
Wells Fargo Financial Corporation Canada - replacing BoS (USA) Inc - and Bank
of Montreal to our lending syndicate. Carfinco now benefits from the stability
and credibility of the largest lenders in North America in its sector,
providing an important vote of confidence that reflects the differences
between Carfinco's business of Canadian non-prime automotive loans and the
broader global credit industry.

Through these deals, the Fund successfully increased its credit facility
with its primary lenders to $85 million and extended the maturity date for a
two-year period to December 15, 2010. As of December 31, 2008, the outstanding
balance on the loan facility was $67.9 million, leaving a balance of $17.1
million of availability. This renewed credit facility provides Carfinco the
financial flexibility to continue executing its business plan.

Other activity in 2008 included commencement of significant IT
infrastructure improvements that will be completed this year including general
upgrades to the hardware, transitioning to a document image storage
environment and implementing an automated phone dialer system for account
management and inventory tracking personnel. The dialer system is a powerful
tool for Carfinco, enabling telephone "campaigns", which will have a positive
impact on collections and skip tracing, ultimately reducing delinquencies over
time.

"Certainly some of the negative forces from 2008 persist, but we know
that many of the specific challenges Carfinco faced throughout the year will
not be factors in 2009," added Graf. "We expect to continue with reduced
growth in finance receivables in the near term; however, the cash flow of our
business continues to perform well. For the first half of 2009, reduced loan
originations should result in a reduction in operating expenses, which further
benefits operating efficiency and cash flow."

NewStart Canada Launches "Judge Drive" Campaign

March 16, 2009- Scarborough, ON-- In the midst of these crazy times, we can always count on Dave Baker from Newstart Canada for some exciting news!

Dave is the founder of Newstart Financial Inc., a finance company which is well
positioned for growth in 2009. While most people in the auto industry are having
trouble finding money, for customers as well as themselves, Newstart Canada is
different. As one of the original founding members of Leedom Associates finance
company, Twenty Groups, Dave is able to attract high net worth private investors.
Through Limited Market Dealers, investors are offered a unique securitization program and are now reserving months in advance.

“Our business philosophy for 2009 is very simple; People, Credit, Cars!” says Dave. To let the consumer know about this mandate, Newstart Canada has partnered with Horsepower Ads to begin a television advertising campaign featuring “Judge Drive”.

These ads will offer sub-prime customers Guaranteed Credit Approval and direct them to their nearest dealer partner to pick out their car! To help dealers, especially Franchise Dealers, facilitate these sub-prime deals, Newstart Canada offers a Wholesale Reconditioning program. “We recon and finish the delivery for the dealer, thus eliminating the complications associated with the sub-prime transaction”.

Dave believes “Guaranteed Credit Approval” is what it is all about. Start to finish in 30 minutes! “We are not talking about spot delivery, we are talking about completing the whole transaction, including funding, in 30 minutes”, and to that, Dave Baker says, “Yes! We can!”

Dave and his team at Newstart Canada are ready to provide People, Credit, Cars!
Including; software, consulting and custom “Buy Here, Pay Here” finance programs for dealers, starting right NOW!

RIFCO Inc. (TSX.V-RFC) is pleased to report that in November 2008, it reached a milestone by lending its 100 millionth dollar.

RIFCO began operations in November 2001, and a few months later originated its first consumer loan in February 2002.

RIFCO started with a plan, very little money, and aspirations to become a significant market participant in the Canadian automotive finance industry.

By the end of its first month of operations, RIFCO had advanced almost $100 thousand dollars in loans. The following year, loans advanced neared $2 million dollars. The 2004 amount was closer to $5 million and the 2005 loans advanced totaled nearly $10 million dollars.

In March of 2007, RIFCO surpassed $50 million in total lending.

The Company is pleased to report that since it began lending in 2002, it has now advanced over $100 million dollars in indirect loans.

Over the years, RIFCO’s growth has been noticed by Alberta Venture Magazine and Profit Magazine. We were included in their respective lists of ‘fastest growing companies’ two times each.

RIFCO management would like to thank its shareholders, employees, and dealer partners for their participation in the company’s growth over the years. While there are challenges to overcome, RIFCO looks forward to reporting bigger and better achievements in 2009 and beyond.

More information is available at www.rifco.net.

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DealerTrack Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of DealerTrack Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRAK), and Desjardins Group, which operates the largest network of credit unions in Canada, announced that Desjardins intends to enter into an agreement to offer its indirect financing services through DealerTrack Canada’s lender network. After its implementation, planned to occur in 2009, Canadian auto, RV and powersport dealers will be able to electronically submit consumer credit applications directly to Desjardins via DealerTrack Canada’s lender network.

“We are pleased to welcome Desjardins to the DealerTrack Canada lender network,” said Michael Collins, general manager of DealerTrack Canada, Inc. “The addition of this major financial institution will significantly broaden the range of options on the platform for dealers seeking financing for their customers, and help them close deals more quickly.”

“We are very pleased with this partnership with DealerTrack Canada because it allows us to provide great customer service to our dealers by allowing them to obtain faster Desjardins financing,” said Jean Yelle, vice-president of Desjardins Card Services. “This agreement will no doubt help Desjardins to secure a more advantageous position in the Canadian and North American market.”

To find out more, consult www.desjardins.com.

Westbank BC, -Less than 60 days after releasing Q-GPS 2.0, Quantech adds three powerful enhancements to its CRM/Lead Management software including; streamlined opportunity search, dynamic report messaging, and improved sales prospect protection tools. “GPS users are telling us they love GPS 2.0”, says Mike Martin, Quantech Software General Manager, “these changes are in rapid response to their feedback on how to make it even better”.

The new opportunity entry screen shows if anyone else in the dealership is working with a sales prospect. “Disputes between sales staff over customers occur from time-to-time at our dealerships; this tool will minimize the chance of that occurring”, says Robert McCallum, IT Manager for Saturn of Regina and Mercedes Benz of Regina.

Modifications have also been made to GPS filtering tools, reducing the time required to do sales opportunity searches. “Managers want speed and flexibility when analyzing sales progress, whether it be by sales stage or sales person”, says Martin, “this enhancement allows a sales manager to spend less time searching and more time managing”.

The new “Alert” function in GPS automatically notifies management when specific actions occur. “We’re really excited about the potential of this new feature”, explains Martin, “for example, manager’s can setup GPS to email their Blackberry whenever a car is sold, or a trade is entered, providing more information and control for managers wanting up-to-the minute access to what’s going on”.

Quantech has been working hard since GPS 2.0 was released in September to add even more functionality to the product. “Sales staff and managers alike are going to find these new features really helpful in their daily activities”, according to McCallum, “Managers are going to have up-to-the minute information at their finger tips, regardless of where they are. Sales staff will love how easy it is to tell when someone else in the dealership is working with a prospect.”

Present GPS customers will be contacted and upgraded to 2.0 at no cost.

For more information on Quantech Software.com Inc contact Mike Martin at 877-611-0622 OR go to www.quantechsoftware.com.

Wells Fargo Exits Canda's Indirect Lending Channel

November 12, 2008-- Effective noon Eastern time Wells Fargo Auto Finance has made the difficult decision to exit the indirect lending channel in Canada. Wells Fargo continuously reviews its operations and makes changes when necessary to align with the current market environment.

If you have questions about funding or need to contact customer service, feel free to contact the dealer service center at 888-632-1215.

Thank you for allowing Wells Fargo Auto Finance to serve your auto finance needs in the past and we wish you and your business the best in the future.

Media inquiries, please contact Steve Carlson at 515-557-6144.

Ford of Canada Selects DealerTrack Arkona Dealer Management System (DMS)

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Nov 13, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Arkona, Inc., a subsidiary of DealerTrack Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRAK), a leading provider of on-demand software and data solutions for the U.S. automotive retail industry, announced that the Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited has selected the DealerTrack Arkona dealer management system (DMS) as the replacement product for its current iCONNECT DMS, one of a number of DMSs used by Ford and Ford-Lincoln dealerships in Canada. The new DMS product will be re-branded iCONNECT and will be marketed and supported by Ford of Canada staff.

"We are excited that Ford of Canada has chosen the DealerTrack Arkona DMS as its new iCONNECT DMS solution," said Mark O'Neil, chairman and chief executive officer of DealerTrack. "DealerTrack is committed to reducing dealers' costs and increasing their profitability, while also providing open access to other technology vendors. We look forward to working with Ford and its dealers across Canada."
About DealerTrack (www.dealertrack.com)