Adapting lending practices during a recession

Many lenders are looking for ways to mitigate risk and ease economic burden for their customers amid a predicted recession. Three community bank lenders share their advice for lending during an economic downturn.

How community banks can help young homebuyers

As house prices skyrocket, student loan debt grows and wages stagnate, many Gen Zers and millennials are watching their homebuying dreams move out of reach. But there are ways community banks can help mortgage-seekers get on the property ladder.

The effect of nonbanks in the mortgage space

Nonbank institutions continue to be serious contenders in the home lending space. We look at how community banks can counter nonbanks’ offerings through streamlined technology, customer service and other strategies.

How community banks can address cybercrime

Nonbank institutions continue to be serious contenders in the home lending space. We look at how community banks can counter nonbanks’ offerings through streamlined technology, customer service and other strategies.

Best-performing community banks 2022

Independent Banker’s annual listing top-performing community banks of 2021 alongside interviews with some of the winners. In true community bank fashion, each has its own story to tell and its own path to success.

First Western Team

Who made ICBA’s 2021 list of Top Lenders?

The dust from 2020 is finally beginning to settle, and that gives us an opportunity to look back at the hard work community banks put in to serve their customers. Our top lenders made the most of one of the toughest years in recent memory through personal connection, ingenuity and dedication to their communities.

Will 2021 be another banner year for mortgage lending?

Even with the disruption of the pandemic, 2020 was a huge year for mortgage lending, with many community banks seeing record numbers of home loans, refinancings and more. The question is whether that momentum will continue.

Best-performing banks

ICBA’s best-performing community banks 2021

Independent Banker’s annual listing of America’s best-performing community banks shows that nimble thinking and an adherence to good old-fashioned customer service can bring success, whatever the circumstances.

Andy Fischer

Community banks meet a need for rural mortgages

With community banks providing the only physical banking locations in nearly one in five U.S. counties, they meet a critical need for mortgage borrowers while also helping to stem rural flight. By Bridget McCrea The numbers don’t lie: Community banks provide rural homebuyers with vital access to credit. According to the Brookings Institution, community banks […]