The First American Corporation, a provider of business information and related products and services, announced October 11th the acquisition of e-fin, LLC, a privately held provider of online financing services to automobile dealers. The e-fin organization will become part of Credit Online, Inc., the First American company that developed and markets its CreditConnection technology for electronic connectivity between auto dealers and lenders.

The acquisition of e-fin provides Credit Online with increased exposure to automotive dealers in the southern United States where e-fin had strong relationships with numerous dealer finance and insurance managers. "Together, CreditConnection and e-fin bring extensive experience to the online automotive finance industry," said Howard Tischler, president and chief executive officer of Credit Online, Inc. "The new combined service will enable us to deliver additional value to dealers and lenders who continue to seek ways to improve efficiency and slash the time and cost involved in arranging financing for consumers."

Anand Nallathambi, president of First American's Consumer Information and Services Group said, "First American's ultimate goal in the automotive sector is to be involved in every transaction that flows through the finance and insurance office of a vehicle dealership. Our acquisition of CMSI and Credit Online was a significant step toward that goal. Now, with the addition of e-fin and other recent agreements with top automotive dealer service providers, we have greatly enhanced our position in the automotive finance area."

Dealers currently using e-fin's electronic financing system can continue to use their existing user interface to connect to Reynolds and Reynolds' ERA system until the conversion to the CreditConnection service is completed. Once converted to CreditConnection, e-fin dealers will continue to benefit from the integration with the ERA system. In addition, they will gain access to the complete functionality available in CreditConnection's suite of F&I capabilities and electronic connectivity with any Credit Online lender with whom they have a relationship.