Leading Proxy Advisory Firm (ISS) Recommends United PanAm Financial Corp. Shareholders Vote "FOR” Proposed Merger

United Panam Financial Corp. ("UPFC”) (Pink Sheets:UPFC) today announced that Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. ("ISS”) issued a report recommending that UPFC shareholders vote "FOR” the proposed merger at the upcoming Special Meeting of Shareholders scheduled to be held on February 24, 2011.

ISS is a leading independent proxy voting and corporate governance advisory firm whose voting recommendations on corporate mergers are relied upon by hundreds of firms, including major institutional investors, mutual funds and other fiduciaries.

ISS’s February 2, 2011 report recommending that UPFC shareholders vote "FOR” the proposed merger concluded that:

"Given the high premium in the merger consideration, the establishment and active involvement of the independent special committee, a thorough negotiation process, and the positive market reaction, support for this transaction is reasonable.”

Shareholders who may have any questions or need assistance in voting should call MacKenzie Partners at: TOLL FREE (800) 322-2885 or COLLECT (212) 929-5500.

United PanAm Financial Corp.

UPFC is a specialty finance company engaged in automobile finance, which includes the purchasing and servicing of automobile installment sales contracts originated by independent and franchised dealers of used automobiles. UPFC conducts its automobile finance business through its wholly-owned subsidiary, United Auto Credit Corporation, which provides financing to borrowers who typically have limited or impaired credit histories that restrict their ability to obtain loans through traditional sources.

Forward Looking Statements

Any statements set forth above as well as some oral statements by our officials to securities analysts and shareholders during presentations about us are "forward-looking statements.” Statements which are predictive in nature, which depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or which include words such as "expects,” "anticipated,” "intends,” "plans,” "believes,” "estimates,” "hopes,” "assumes,” "may,” "project,” "will” and similar expressions constitute forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements concerning future financial performances (including future revenues, earnings or growth rates), ongoing business strategies or prospects, and possible future actions, which may be provided by management, are also forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon expectations and projections about future events and are subject to assumptions, risks and uncertainties about, among other things, our company and economic and market factors. Actual events and results may differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements due to a number of factors. The principal factors that could cause our actual performance and future events and actions to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our dependence on securitizations, our need for substantial liquidity to run our business, loans we made to credit-impaired borrowers, reliance on operational systems and controls and key employees, competitive pressure we face, changes in the interest rate environment, general economic conditions, the effects of accounting changes, inability to manage consolidating operations and other factors or conditions. Our past performance and past or present economic conditions are not indicative of our future performance or of future economic conditions. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. In addition, we undertake no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or changes to projections over time unless required by federal securities law.