Legacy Bank was recently recognized by NerdWallet.com as having the Best Community Bank Checking Account in the nation. What makes the I-Profit account stand out? There are a couple different features. No. 1 is probably the rate. It all starts there. We pay an abnormally high rate of interest on that account at 4 percent. In a lot of accounts like that, there are some incentives you have to hit to get to the 4 percent. Ours are very low: 10 debit card transactions per month, one automatic deposit a month.
The account also refunds all ATM fees if you have to travel somewhere. We have an inherit disadvantage having one location in the area. It’s not like most of our customers can just stop by an ATM and we knew we had to overcome that perceived disadvantage. We reward them with refunding an ATM fee if they use a foreign ATM. At the end of the month, any outside network fees are refunded.
The hardest thing for anyone to do in banking, is to move their primary checking account. How many people really take the time to move it? Not very often. It’s one of those things people think is more complicated than it is. We decided we were going to give you no excuse not to move.
The I-Profit account started about five years ago. What was the catalyst? We had just moved into the Rogersville area, in 2008, and it spurred us to be different. At that time, we only had three other locations and two of those had been in their markets for 90 plus years. This location, and the Mountain Grove location, were new. We needed something we could come out with and hit them with to make penetration into the markets. We needed to draw people in.
Banks seem to have moved away from gifts such as toasters and small appliances for opening a new checking account into more fiscally tangible measures. How did this shift in philosophy come about? There are banks that still do that. I still get stuff in my mail everyday. I never believed that would be a motivation for me. I figured if it’s not gonna talk to me, it’s not gonna talk to our customers. Once upon a time, it did. It was easier to move your account. You didn’t have automated things and your payroll wasn’t directly deposited. A new set of plastic tumblers wasn’t going to be the key for me.
In the 1970s, a new toaster was a big deal. Other banks would throw out insurance groups and travel plans and things and I think back then, people really appreciated that. That’s not the case today.
According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Top 3 banks in the Springfield metropolitan statistical area control nearly 40 percent of the market share. How does a small bank such as Legacy compete? Speed and agility separate us. We have got to be faster. Almost every loan that comes through here, at some point, I will see and know. That just can’t happen at a big bank. If I get in on the decision making of getting a deal approved, it’s much faster. The line from the teller line to me is extremely short. We are far more quick and nimble.
Because we don’t have the mass numbers, we are not trying to stick a round peg in a round hole. For those guys, if it fits, it’s done. If it’s a square peg, they will probably kick it out because it takes too much time. For us, that’s probably more of our niche. We can take deals that are different, not cookie-cutter deals. That’s what we have got to be.
Legacy Bank and Trust can trace its roots back to Plato in 1907. With locations in four rural communities, what does the bank specialize in? We do a lot of ag farmland and real estate. If we are known for anything, that’s probably our No. 1. Secondly, a lot of home loans for the self-employed. The secondary market has shut those people out now, in my opinion, and it’s probably only going to get worse with some of the new rules that are coming.
Since we have been in Rogersville, we are delving more into the Springfield market. We have a larger niche in the last two or three years than we have ever had. You want to spread your risk out, you can’t put everything into farmland. The recession has taught us that. We have added more commercial real estate in Springfield.[[In-content Ad]]
