Car Loans: Like most financial institutions, Western...

Car Loans: Like most financial institutions, Western Financial Savings Bank found it tough to make home loans in the first quarter this year. So it turned to its other specialty--making car loans.

The Irvine savings and loan funded $194 million in consumer loans-- nearly all auto loans--in the first three months of this year, about $5 million more than last year. The loans amounted to 74% of its total loans, an indication of how bad the real estate market was.

Western Financial, which typically splits its lending between the auto and the real estate markets, still has to get its car loans off its balance sheet to meet federal requirements that 70% of its portfolio be in home financing.

Five years ago, it came up with a plan to package its auto loans and sell them to a trust, which in turn issues bonds backed by the loans.

Not only has this system kept Western Financial’s balance sheet in order, it has providedthe S&L; with $1.9 billion in cash to help fuel its growth. It ended March with $3.1 billion inassets, growing an average of 44% a year since 1983.