support main street
we need to support our communities and our savings banks so they can give back to the community that supports them. Bring back the glass segal act. Tax all derivit trades. Audit the fed. Eliminate the congress lobbists that only serve special interests instead of the interest of the average hard worker.

Thanks to the community
Hearing the strong and supportive words about community banks from everyone in the communities we serve is inspirational and rewarding. We sincerely thank all of you in the Sacramento, Vacaville and Lodi communities who continue to support the mission of community banks like ours. We strive to support our neighbors and grow local business in our towns and the surrounding areas. After all, without the strength of the community, we could not be successful as a bank. Thank you for your support of local banks like Community Business Bank.

wrong approach
the current finance will, with to big to fail bailouts is unfair to local, and small banks. no company is too big to fail. the bankrupcy proecess can be used by any sized company, it has worked for General Motors. and can work for any financial institution.

Too Big to Fail
Community bank have been instructed by their regulators to increase their capital ratio. These new ratios are 11% to 12%. In order to increase capital, community banks are deleveraging themselves. (Not Lending) Institutions that are too big to fail have capital ratios 1/2 to 1/3 of the community banks captial ratio. This seems to be the exact oposit of risk management. The larger the bank the greater risk of failure. Larger banks should have a significate amount of capital as a percentage of assets. Banks that are too big to fail, should have 2 to 3 times the capital requirement of community bank. this would reduce the risk of failure.

Community Banks
Why is the mentality in Washington so skewed on community banking? Do they really think the BIG BANKS service their communities? The community banks help build infrastructure in their areas and keep small busineess's in business. The BIG BANKS simply rely on deposit volumes and demand their employees meet monthly quotas to ensure they continue to drain community banks of their core deposits. Many community banks must rely on "hot money" deposits as necessary to continue funding loans to their customers. It's a vicious circle that makes the BIG BANKS BIGGER and puts the community banks out of business because their borrowers that they helped put in business now are going out of business. We need to get Americans back to work and the only way to do that is to continue to support our communities and our borrowers needs. Community banks have been put in the position where they can no longer loan money and at the same time dispose of the properties their borrowers have walked away from. The banks's capital levels are impacted to the point that the regulators then make determinations as to which community banks they will close in the near future. Wake up Washington!!! Don't you see what YOU are doing to our great country, economy, and our people on mainstreet America! I'm sure most of our "leaders" personally bank at the BIG BANKS and have no idea what it is like banking in a community bank where we pride ourselves on customer service and know each and every one of our customers on a first name basis. Someone in Washington has to take up the cause for community bankers and instead of helping them go out of business, help them stay in business! All we need is time for our economy to improve and we can sustain our losses without depleting our capital levels. Pass some legislation for the community banks to weather this storm and not just close and bar the doors of community banks with their Wall Street attitudes and mentality.

Community Banking = Stability
My banking career has been split evenly between one of the largest national banks in the country and community banking. While I am thankful for the experience I recieved at the national bank, I can say unequivocally that community banks are more effective and efficient at delivering financial services to main street. Community banking practices are consistant, high touch, and adaptive to the marketplace. Without community banks, main street businesses will be constrained and American business will become more homogenized and less creative.

Small Town Devestation
I am from a community of less than 1500 people, in a bank that was founded in 1904. We did not have anything to do with the sub prime mess or the greed on Wall Street. However, we are being punished by having to pay in advance our share of FDIC insurance premiums, having to endure un called for, overbearing and costly compliance with regulations that don't even apply to us, and spend our time looking over our shoulder for the next regulation to stab us in the back. We should be spending our time working with people in our community who need our help and advise in these hard economic times, and working within our community to create jobs and a more stable economic environment. However, we are faced with constant change in regulations that are costly and not nessary. A large bank has the staff to read and keep up with regulation changes and then the staff to apply the changes and train their employees to keep within compliance of the law. At a bank like ours, we have to read and understand the changes, figure out how the changes apply to us, and then train each other in how to comply with the law. That has taken over 50% of our time in the past several months. That is time that is taken away from waiting on customers, working within our community, or trying to improve our earnings to cover the extra cost that has been created by added regulations, and additional FDIC insurance premiums. When we have asked our Congressmen for help, we have been ignored. When we were promissed stimulus money for needed housing,roads,and infracture we were ignored. We were even denied a grant for a small metal building to house our fire trucks in recently. This lack of a simple facility has caused our insurance fire ratings to be the highest allowable by law, which has resulted in people's insurance premiums doubling. The larger banks and towns in our state and area are getting help and stimulus money for housing and roads. While we are left to fend for ourselves. Taxing the rich is not the answer, and adding burdens to community banks and small towns is not the answer. The answer is to make the ones who caused the problems to pay for the problems, and pay us back what we have spent in money and time over the past several months. Without community banks in small towns, our country's economy as a whole would have come to a hault in 2008 and still not be active at all. Small town community banks are the ones who never stoped lending money and supporting their communities, as well as lending money and supporting some of the larger communities that are close by. Disband the large banks, the way that AT&T was disbanded a long time ago, and let free enterprise and a level playing field determine who survives.

Tired of the Big Bank Runaround
My husband and I own a small business and stopped doing business with big banks more than 2 yrs ago. We became "fed up" with the bait and switch tactics of luring us in as a customer, and then changing the rules once we were established. It seemed as though we rarely spoke with the same person when we went in to do business. The information received varied from person to person, including the branch manager. We ultimately arrived at a no confidence opinion, and took our business to a community bank and have been very happy with our decision.

Gateway Comm. Bank
We are customers of Gateway Community Bank at Roscoe, Ill. It is a great bank. Small but very welcome into our business transactions. We have several commercial bldgs. mortgaged through the bank and we feel that they have treated way above all other banks. Whether it was the interest rate charged, the customer relations they have used or just their general concern for us as customers, they have all gone above the highest expectations. We are very pleased and honored to be associated with the bank in Roscoe and Beloit, Wisc. We feel the bank has done an excellent job inbeing there for us. Regards, Stefanik Enterprises, LLC

WT
It is just so nice to walk into a back and have employees greet me by name. That has never happened at previous banks that my wife & I do business at. When we had some problems transferring IRA's from a previous institution, the folks at Gateway were very helpful in making follow-up calls to the other institution and keeping us informed of the progress.

Without the help of a Community Bank....
Gateway Community Bank has been extremely helpful in many ways larger banks have been unwilling to. From a personal standpoint Gateway Community Bank has provided services to local organizations I have been involved with at no charge where the "bigger" banks either were unwilling to provide or were going to charge for the services. On a professional level Gateway has assisted my place of employment with access to credit that once again the "bigger" banks either decided the business wasn't credit worthy or had so many strings attached to their proposal that it made it nearly impossible to comply with their requirements. Gateway Community Bank has also worked with my place of employment and our employees on developing programs that have resulted in our ability to streamline some of our processes. The dedicated support of my local community bank has been invaluable.

Community Banks - Flexibilty that matters
Our company was with the same bank for the last 6 years. We are a small manufacturing company that is family owned. The business is run conservatively and has relatively little debt. When we went to renew our line of credit, the bank suddenly demanded additional considerations. Some of the requirements were important to our owners and they simply were not going go the extra steps to meet them. The bank wouldn't budge. We went to a small community bank - Gateway Community Bank - in Beloit, Wisconsin. We were surprised to see how willing they were to work with us and really wanted our business. We have since moved our business over to them and are very happy with them. Gateway Community Bank reaches out to us often to see if they are doing a good job, and if they can do anything else to help us out. They are also working on tailoring new services to meet our needs. What a refreshing change. I have worked with banks for business for over 20 years and this is the best service I have ever experienced.

Love my Small Community Bank
I am not going to expound on the failuers and breakdowns of our large banking corporations to the people they should have cared about and protected. I am going to say "thank you" to my small community bank, Gateway Community Bank of Roscoe, IL. The people at this banking institution truly care about people. When my business failed three years ago, the executives of this bank took a chance on me and allowed me to mortgage my manufactured home to pay off all of the debt from the business. Other banks were not interested because the home was not what was considered a brick and mortar house. The payment was affordable allowing me the ability to make the monthly payments and keep my dignity by not bankrupting and losing my home. When my husband died, again Gateway helped me by refinancing my mortgage loan and took over my car loan, once again making the payments an attainable goal for me. Each person working there has respected me as a person with feelings and have genuinely shown regard for my situations concerning my finances. From the friendliness of the person answering the phone or greeting me when I enter the bank, to the tellers helping me with my transactions, to the executives in the offices, I have felt that the people at Gateway Community Bank care about me personally. I live a distance from the bank, but it is worth it to me to make the drive for the friendly service and being recognized and called by name. My small community bank did not take money in the bailout. I'm proud of them. It is because of their respect for their customers that they are doing well. There are places in life that are diffcult. I'm happy that doing business with my bank isn't one of those places. It is because of their respect for their customers that they are doing well. Working with Gateway Community Bank has always been a pleasant experience for me, and I know that it will remain that way as long as they stay as they are, a banking institution that cares about their customers with heart.

Treated with Respect
When my husband and I chose Gateway Community Bank, it was because when we went to the bank there was a noticeable difference in how we were treated. While signing up for an account, the bank President came in and sat down and talked because he was greatful for our business. The big banks are rude, treat you as if you don't matter and a mightier than though attitude. I say let them crash and burn and get back to the past where service and community meant something.

OWNER OF BUSS LANDSCAPING
WE ARE ALWAYS GREETED WITH A SMILE AND BY FIRST NAME. THEY MEET ARE NEEDS AND WORK WITH US ON ALL OUR BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS WITH THE UP MOST SPEED. WE ARE VERY HAPPY WITH CARE WE RECEIVE AT GATEWAY. JERRY BUSS

Why I stay with a bank 2000 miles away
I opened an account at Gateway Community Bank in Roscoe, IL after my divorce. I had some financial difficulties due to the divorce and I needed a fresh start. About 18 months after opening the account, I moved 2000 miles away, to Washington state. I chose to keep the account in Roscoe just in case I needed my mom's help, as she was also on the account. In the 5 1/2 years since I have moved, I have had amazing service from GCB, even from here. I have had new debit cards issued, a name change, anything that I have needed has been handled in excellent fashion. I do have an account here in WA with a "big" bank. I have personally gone in to their facility on 3 seperate occasions and requested a replacement debit card. That has been in the past 12 months and I have yet to receive the card. I appreciate the personal service I receive from GCB from halfway across the country.

Community Banks Care about you
I won't even preview any other testimonies posted at this site so I can express my opinion. Wall St BIG banks do not care about people- not even their shareholders- and especially not the taxpayers. You think they would have really paid back the money the government lent them if there was no public awareness? I think not. Shareholders shouldn't be quiet. I may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier but wouldn't you think that if you take away the unsightly and ungodly bonuses that top managemnent gets, the shareholders might realize a bigger dividend check? I know from a recent big bank versus my community bank experience, that the big bank can"chase" me all day long but I'll stay in a local community bank. The big bank teller treated me with indifference and callous and displayed character of "I don't care if you use our bank or not- there are more out there". I went back to my community bank and got business taken care of with a smile and caring. I bank there everyday for my non-profit organization and my community bank teller knew I was unhappy when I walked in. I actually enjoy going to Gateway Community bank in my small village of Roscoe, IL each day. It's simple as to why- they actually say good morning and mean it, they laugh and actually engage in conversation during the transaction. What's real cool, is that from the Prersident, through the officers, to the departments to the tellers, they always say hello if they see me in the lobby. The big bank? All they do is say "next, let me take your money". That's my take and I encourage all "Main Street" people to move their money out of the Wall St banks and into local community banks. Make it a peaceful, but hard economic, protest statement to Wall St and the federal government that we are tired of their arrogance and the hardships their greed has placed on us average citizens. They can take that to the bank...and I hope it's a community bank

Community Bank
Our local Gateway Community Bank has down an outstanding job over the past year helping with our financing needs. We refinanced our building and equipment loans in 2009, lowering our rate and extending the amortization to meet our needs. The bank also provided funds to purchase a new production machine, network server and air compressor to keep our operation running smoothly. We greatly appreciate their attentiveness to our needs.

Gateway Bank and PTO
Our local community bank, Gateway Bank, has worked with the Roscoe PTO for the last 6 years. I was president at the time when we switched from a "too big" bank. The bank president himself, not only helped us establish our accounts, but initiated a fundraiser to help our local schools. When we have approached larger banks in the area to donate to some of our fundraising efforts we've found the red tape too cumbersome. Gateway has partnered with us in supporting our local schools!

Rental Properties
I am a small multi-real estate investor. I provide decent rental homes to those who need them. I am now finding it hard to borrow money on great and needed rental properties because of the more stringent regulations for my local small bank. I have to be pentalized because of the larger, "too big to fail banks" mistakes. This is not the American way, and it is not right. Please help main street not the select few who own the banks which made bad decisions.