CENTENNIAL, Colo. – After dealing with the economic effects of Hurricane Katrina, higher gas prices at the pump and the new personal bankruptcy laws that became effective last October, CENTRIX Financial says its consumer automotive loan delinquencies are on the downturn. The company reported its consumer automotive loan delinquencies dropped to their lowest levels in more than two years. That follows an industry-wide delinquency spike in auto loan payments last year. "Through focused efforts on at risk borrowers, we've not only been able to significantly reduce the delinquency rates, but to bring them down to their lowest levels in two years. And we expect to see stabilization at those lower levels," said Robert Sutton, chairman and CEO of CENTRIX. The company reported its rate of consumer loans that were 30 to 60 days past due dropped 163% from a high in October 2005, to the end of March 2006. Delinquencies over 60 days fell more than 200% in the same period. Centrix has relationships with 300 financial institutions and 7,000 auto dealers nationwide. Since 1998, when it was founded, it has underwritten 250,000 loans totaling nearly $4 billion. Its credit union business was negatively impacted by an NCUA Risk Alert that cautioned CUs about third-party lending arrangements for risk-based lending.