DALLAS — Peak Acceptance LLC has struck up a relationship with Payless Car Sales, in addition to dozens of franchised dealers, and is rolling out throughout the country, according to Rick Collins, a principal behind the company.

The new lender was established by much of the management team behind Summit Acceptance, which was ultimately sold to Capital One Auto Finance.

The company is starting to do deals in the prime credit range this week, and hopes to add near-prime within the next 30-45 days.

In addition to getting the first 100 franchised dealers rolling in credit applications, the company has partnered with Payless on a venture called 1st American Finance Network.

Basically, the company will serve as a sort of captive for the entire body of Payless dealers.

"We're taking all their dealers, all their stores," Collins told SubPrime Auto Finance News this morning.

"We're extremely excited," he continued. "We have a lot of the original players (from Summit). We have so much stuff going on right now."

He indicated that the Peak Acceptance is currently licensed in the lower 48 states and will slowly and methodically roll out its platform to dealers.

"Right now attracting dealers to a new finance program isn't hard. We're going to roll out to dealers and will be national. We want to do it in a controlled way. We're started off with very loyal dealers who have been with us throughout the years (from Summit).

"We'll continue to work with and ramp up those folks first. A lot of these dealers have multiple franchises. We think this is not a bad start," he continued.

Collins said his company appreciates dealer feedback as it can help improve Peak Acceptance's product and services.

For more on the history of this new company, click here for an earlier story SubPrime Auto Finance News produced. Also, more information can be obtained via www.peakacceptance.com.