Vegas auto operation unaffected

Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2001 | 11:22 a.m.

Bank of America's exit from the auto leasing business won't affect a 150-employee auto loan group at a B of A national call center in Las Vegas.

The auto dealer loan group is at 4101 E. Charleston Blvd. It was formerly located at the bank's call center at 1351 Town Center Drive in Summerlin.

Bank of America said the Summerlin call center, which handles customer calls from Nevada, New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, Florida, California and Washington, also won't be affected by the auto leasing decision.

The bank has 36 branches in Southern Nevada and 37 branches in Northern Nevada. Of the 2,000 employees the bank has in Nevada, some 1,700 workers are in the Las Vegas area.

Eloise Hale, the bank's spokeswoman, said: "The auto dealer group won't be affected because that group does primarily auto loans. The bank will continue to finance auto loans, not auto leases."

"There aren't going to be any layoffs because we don't have any employees doing auto leases. That work is being done by outside brokers and they were notified today of the bank's decision. These brokers can turn to the top three or four automakers and other banks that do auto leases."