Merry Christmas!

We want to take this time to send Christmas cheer your way!

CFSB wishes you each a very blessed and happy holiday.

 

Toys for Kids

This week, the MCHS Star Bank class, sponsored by CFSB, went shopping for Toys for Kids. With events like the MCHS PowderPuff Football game, students raised funds for this worthy cause.  Eight Marshall County children will have a Christmas to remember thanks to the caring Star Bank students. We are very proud of our Star Bank students!

 

Happy Thanksgiving

We pause at Thanksgiving to send you special wishes of our sincere appreciation for your confidence and loyalty in CFSB. 

 

We value our communities and we are deeply thankful for each of you!   CFSB extends to you our best wishes for a happy, healthy and blessed Thanksgiving holiday.

Kasasa Payout #3

CFSB is proud to show our gratitude to our friends throughout the communities that we serve!

With a movie theater and gas station payout that were both a great success, why not show up at a restaurant and give away FREE lunch?? Last week, we were in Paducah at Flamingo Row to buy lunch for the first 100 people that came through the doors!

Some may still ask “Why?” The answer is simple:

To give back to our community.
We do our best to offer fun ways to show our appreciation.

We don’t know about you, but with three great events for this year, we cannot wait to see what is in store for 2014!

Thanksgiving

"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."

-       Charles Dickens

The time of year when we are reminded of all the things we are thankful for is almost here. In just two weeks it will be Thanksgiving. We, at CFSB, have much to be thankful for. We are thankful for our gracious communities, our friends, families and everyone in our lives. We wish all those out there a very blessed Thanksgiving holiday and a wonderful time with your family and friends.

God Bless!

Kids Club Event

 

It's October that means one thing in particular: Halloween.

Join us next Thursday, October 24th at Gattis Pizza in Draffenville for our Halloween Party and Costume Contest. The party starts at 5:00 p.m. and lasts until 7:00 p.m. The judging for the costume contest is at 6:00 p.m. The cost of this event is $20 Centsable per child. With this, they get the pizza buffett for free. We are excited about our party and hope you are too, so dress up and join us! We'll see you there.

 

Way to GO!

 

Congratulations to the students, faculty and staff of Marshall County School District!  Ranked #5 in the state!  We were so honored to be a part of this special celebration.  Thank you to the faculty and staff of our area schools for shaping the lives of our young people. We are so proud of all the dedicated students in our area!

 

 

Happy Fall!

Since fall weather is just around the corner, we thought we would celebrate with a poem.

Autumn Morning
By Christina A. Nelson

Shining sun, chilly morning
Autumn came without a warning.
Sweater matched with summer shoes
Milk the last of summertime, who’s
Steamy grip has finally slipped
And let in autumn’s tingly nip.
Walk to farmer’s market square
The squash and herbs and seeds are there,
And with a parcel for my pay,
I head back home, to tuck away
Again to blankets soft and worn,
To block against the chilly morn.

Safety

We wanted to give all of you out there a friendly reminder:

Never give out your personal or financial information over the phone. 

CFSB will never call to ask you for your personal OR financial information. Currently, there are telephone scams across the area alerting people that their debit card has been compromised.  The caller will go on to ask for the account holder’s card number. These calls are not being initiated by CFSB or any other financial institution.   Please, please never give out your card number or any information. If you have had or get a call like this, the best thing to do is hang up immediately and give us a call at the bank as soon as possible at 270.527.4600.

Remember, we value you and want to keep your information safe!

Star Bank

Today we welcomed 27 students from Marshall County High School into our bank. They are this year’s Star Bank class. What is Star Bank? It is a student-run bank at the high school that CFSB sponsors. This class teaches the students all facets of the banking world, as well as how all the processes within the bank work. We have sponsored this class for 21 years for and we are so happy to be involved!

Our Marketing Department works hand-in-hand with Rebecca Phelps, the teacher of Star Bank, to make sure that all the students get the best banking experience possible. Today they heard from professionals from different departments of the bank, along with their job responsibilities.

We love having these students and hope to be have many more Star Bankers join our CFSB team in the future.

Super Shredder Thursday

CFSB is partnering with WPSD Local 6 to bring you Super Shredder.

Bring up to 50 pounds of your personal documents to our Benton Banking Center today, September 5^th for Cintas to shred.

Not sure what might need shredding? How about bank statements or checks you no longer use? Credit Card statements and anything that has your Social Security Number on it.

Super Shredder is here from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. We hope to see you; it’s free from your friends at CFSB!

Kasasa Payout #2

We have done it again; a Kasasa Payout. Just like our first payout, we partnered with a business. First it was a movie theater, this time, a gas station.

CFSB bought $25 worth of gas for the first 200 cars! Yes, $25 to you, for free! All you had to do was get in line at the Benton FiveStar BP on the corner of 5^th and Main to receive our gift.

CFSB Gas Pumping Crew

Some may still ask “Why?” The answer is simple:

To give back to our community.
We care about everyone, customer or not, and we wanted a way to show our appreciation.

Miss out on the free gas? No need to stress….we still have more events planned…

Why a blog by a banker?

You might ask why a banker would blog. The answer is simple.

I want our customers and our community to know what is happening.

If you have questions, we will get you the answers. We are your community bank and we value you.  We want to keep you informed, so please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 1.888.226.5669.

School Has Started

Once again I would like to focus this week’s tidbit on going back to school.

This is such an important time in so many people’s lives. Teachers. Students. Staff. Parents.  The list goes on and on…Let us all make sure that we are keeping all those who are a part of the school system in our hearts.

So, this school year, I want to, and I hope you will as well, pray for the safety of students, faculty and staff.

 These bright minds and wonderful teachers are sculpting the future, and what a great future it’s going to be.

“Knowledge exists to be imparted.”
                                                            - Emerson

Ready or not, the time is here to send the children back to school. Whether they are leaving to go Kindergarten or preparing to leave the nest and head to college, the time has arrived.

We want to take the time to wish parents, teachers and students a blessed year!

May many wonderful days and vast knowledge be imparted on you for a very happy school year.

Watermelon Bust

It’s that time of year again…for CFSB’s 39^th Annual Watermelon Bust. Join us this Saturday, August 3, 2013 at Marshall County High School’s Reed Conder Gymnasium.

From face painting to watermelon rolling and some of the best southern gospel music you can find, it’s a fun-filled night that you won’t want to miss!

Beginning at 5:00 p.m., come join us for ice-cold watermelon, children’s games and the camaraderie of a great community. Then, starting at 6:00 p.m. we are so excited to have Mercy’s Mark and Karen Peck & New River in concert!

Remember, this festivity is completely free; we would just love to mingle with you while you eat as much watermelon as you can and have an absolutely wonderful night of southern gospel music and friends!

Where Do You Want To Go?

Do you like to travel, but not the driving? Well, we have the solution. Journey with Jackie! Jackie Rainey, our charismatic concierge, just loves to travel. What better way for you to go than with her?!? Past trips have included: Wicked, The Rockettes, UK Basketball and a trip to Chicago to go to the American Girl Store and Museum. If you have any suggestions on trips you would like to take, please let us know!

Prosperity Part of Community Bank Mission

As a community banker, prosperity is not only a part of our everyday vocabulary – it’s also part of my everyday mission of creating value for our community!  My job as a banker might seem rather straightforward – take in deposits and make loans – but I’m here to tell you there is a primary responsibility that makes being a community banker just that – a community banker.  I call this place home, and just like you, I want our community of West Kentucky to thrive and prosper. 

That’s why we are out there every day helping local families and residents finance a place to call home, plan for retirement, open up or expand a small business, and create economic vitality and jobs – all to make our local economy stronger. 

But there’s something out there on the horizon that is threatening this community’s economic prosperity.  The growing wave of onerous new banking regulations that Congress created to address Wall Street’s misdeeds is landing with much greater impact on our nation’s nearly 7,000 community banks.  That’s right; we’re feeling the effects of Washington’s runaway regulatory burden here in West Kentucky, even though we are miles from Washington. 

Because of our time-tested business model, one based on customer relationships rather than transaction volumes, community banks aren’t a threat to the entire financial system.  In fact, community banks are the source of almost 60 percent of all small-business loans of less than $1 million, as well as mortgage and consumer loans tailored to the needs of our local communities.  Yet community banks such as Community Financial Services Bank (CFSB) are being forced to pay a penalty in regulatory costs – to comply with an ever-growing number of rules and regulations.  Everyone can agree to reasonable, smart regulations.  But today, Washington lawmakers and regulators are holding back community banks from devoting our full attention and resources to making more loans and fueling a more robust and prosperous local economy in the communities we serve. 

The effect of these regulations is that Congress has added insult to injury for community banks and consumers, while rewarding the real villains.  The megabanks’ implicit government guarantee provides what Bloomberg View has calculated is an $83 billion annual taxpayer subsidy – a major driver of the largest banks’ profits. 

As a local community banker who is particularly concerned about the economic prosperity of this great community and our local consumers, I’m urging lawmakers to address the regulatory burden that increasingly is harming local community banks.  Here are five steps Congress can take now to rebalance the regulatory burden and give local businesses right here in our community greater access to loans:

·       Exempt small banks from unnecessary and burdensome mortgage regulations to support the housing recovery.

·       Cut red tape in small-business lending by waiving new reporting requirements.

·       Require cost-benefit analyses by regulators to ensure quantitative justification of new regulations. 

·       Waive certain audit rules to reduce expenses without creating more risk for investors, taxpayers or the deposit-insurance system. 

·       Eliminate redundant requirements that financial institutions mail annual privacy notices even when they haven’t changed their policies. 

None of these changes would alter the already significant regulatory tools that provide appropriate oversight of community banks.  But it would be a failure of logic and lawmaking if the new wave of banking regulations that were meant to stop Wall Street excesses instead resulted in cutting off one of Main Street’s economic lifelines.  I hope lawmakers will listen to the calls of community bankers across this great nation so that we all can continue to hold economic prosperity first and foremost in our vocabulary and our mission. 

Name That Duck!

Since we have welcomed our new feathered friends, we thought what better way than to have YOU name them? We’ll start with one and go from there….

Post your suggestions as comments and we will pick a winner soon!



Give me a Name!

Quack, Quack

We have recently welcomed 16 ducks to our bank family! Here are some pictures of our feathered friends. Enjoy!

 

Benton Banking Center

 

Some of you may have heard, some of you may have seen the signs, however you have heard about, it is true, we have elected to make the original 5th Street side permanently dedicated to our Indirect Lending Department. This area is now dedicated to our Indirect Lending Department.

For your banking needs, please visit the new Benton Banking Center entrance by our pond. We have many wonderful Relationship Bankers and Tellers here to help you out with everything. If you have a safe deposit box on the original side, you may still access it; you will just need to use the main entrance on the new part of the building. You may also move your safe deposit box to our new vault on the new side. We have plenty of space and options for you.

If you have any questions, please feel free give us a call Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. at 527.4600.

Kasasa Payout

What in the world is a Kasasa Payout and what does it mean to you? Just ask anyone who went to see Iron Man Three on May 3^rd and the Cheri Theater in Murray. CFSB bought 150 tickets for the show and gave them out to those coming to watch the show! Along with the 150 tickets, free concessions and door prizes were given out during the night of the takeover.

The next question you may have is why we would do this? The answer is simple: To give back to our community. We care about everyone, customer or not, and we wanted a way to show our appreciation. What better way than to give people tickets to a summer blockbuster?

You couldn’t make it to Murray? Don’t worry, we have a few more “payouts” up our sleeves, you’ll just have to stay tuned to see what’s next.

Do you Kasasa?

Ka • sa• sa (kah-sah-suh)

While a fun word to say…you may ask, “What does it mean?” The word itself actually has no true meaning; rather it is a national brand of checking and savings accounts that CFSB now carries. We are the only bank in the area to offer these products! We are very excited about this and what it can for you, our valued customer.

The accounts features benefits such as high rates and cash back. We are proud to be a part of this brand and offer these great products. To learn more about Kasasa, visit our website at www.yourlifeyourbank.com.

So when you hear the question, “Do you Kasasa?” You can answer, “YES!”