PHOENIX — DriveTime announced earlier this week that it has significantly expanded the company's primary credit facilities and bolstered its capital.

According to officials, DriveTime boosted it warehouse credit facilities on Apr. 29 to a combined $735 million from $500 million. It also renewed its revolving residual facility for $40 million, the company added.

Breaking it down, the company expanded its revolving warehouse facility with Greenwich Capital Financial Products to $385 million, which has a March 31, 2009 maturity date.

Meanwhile, the revolving warehouse facility with Deutsche Bank AG was boosted to $350 million with a maturity date of March 31, 2010.

Moving on, DriveTime made a renewal with Greenwich on its revolving line of credit secured by its residual interests in securitizations at $40 million, to mature March 31, 2009.

Also, the company noted that its existing shareholders have pledged an additional $75 million in capital infusion.

"It is no secret that the capital markets, especially the securitization markets, have been in disarray," noted Mark Sauder, DriveTime's chief financial officer. "We are very pleased that our financial partners, particularly RBS Greenwich Capital and Deutsche Bank, in increasing our warehouse lines recognize the fundamental soundness of our business model and the services we provide to our customers."

In other news, DriveTime noted that it participated in a book drive with its partner Books-A-Go-Go as part of its SchoolTime community outreach program.

Officials stated that more than 25,000 free books are going to DriveTime's partner schools through the recent drive and its partnership with Books-A-Go-Go, as the SchoolTime schools have qualified for the federal Books First program.