Condo Media - September 2011 - 40

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT

Savings Institute Bank & Trust
Value-Added Service for Condominium Associations
by Pamela Schweppe

f you’re involved with a condominium association that has ever tried to take out a loan, you are probably aware that not all banks are delighted to get tangled up in the complexities involved. Fortunately, there is one bank that has made a specialty of providing this type of financial service: Savings Institute Bank & Trust, headquartered in Willimantic, Conn.

Specializing in Community Banking
Serving both personal and business customers, the bank offers the standard array of savings and checking accounts, CDS, commercial services, residential and consumer lending, and financial planning and investment services, including life insurance. The bank is unusual, however, in its focus on serving condominium associations. “Making loans to community associations is not something a lot of banks do,” says Dan Rys, Savings Institute’s vice president, commercial loan officer. “The Savings Institute has an unusual commitment to meeting the service and financing needs of community associations. For a bank our size, that’s remarkable.” He adds that the Savings Institute offers products that meet the individual needs of all types of condominium associations — not only residential, but also commercial, industrial and even campsites. “Each product is specific to the type of association it is,” he says. While its 21 branches are located primarily in eastern Connecticut, the bank serves condominium associations all over New England.

After the collapse of the housing market in 2008, many banks made it difficult for associations to obtain a loan. The Savings Institute, on the other hand, prides itself on working with condominium customers toward a satisfactory solution. “No bank is going to make the foolish loans that got us into this mess,” he explains. “But we do look at ways to make the loan, not reject it. We don’t pigeonhole associations and say, ‘You have to meet four or five criteria or we won’t approve your loan.’ We’re very flexible, and we work with our customers to make sure the loan is secure on both sides.” To Rys, however, where the Savings Institute really excels is in the service it provides after the loan has been made. “The thing we do best is provide value-added service,” he declares. “We’re not here to put a loan in front of them and forget it. We work with our customers to determine what’s best for them specifically.”

essentially run by volunteers. Some have business experience, but some don’t. CAI can be an important resource.”

Going Above and Beyond
So can the Savings Institute. “We offer smart deposit and financing solutions to our customers, and very attentive service. As a result, they feel good about where they bank,” says Rys. And he’s willing to go above and beyond a banker’s traditional duties to achieve that level of service. In 1990, for example, he was working for a bank that had financed the construction of a 90-unit condominium complex. When financial difficulties arose, Rys personally stepped in as general contractor and saw the project through to a successful completion. Another case in point also involved a bank Rys had worked for previously. When Pond Place in Avon, Conn., was built in the mid-1970s, the developer kept prices low by offering 50-year land leases that would allow unit owners to own their lot in 2028. In 2007, however, the developer’s widow approached the association to see whether they would like to purchase the balance of the land leases. A loan of $795,000 would be needed to buy the leases, but once it was paid off, the association would have about $500,000 left over from the lease payments to fund its reserves. “We went to 10 or 11 banks,” says Joe Barry, treasurer of Pond Place. “They all got very excited, but it turned out they didn’t understand the nature of the transaction. The only one who understood the collateral value of the land

Involvement in CAI
Staying abreast of changes to the law is an important aspect of the Savings Institute’s approach to serving its customers. For that reason, Rys encourages his condominium clients to be active in the Community Associations Institute (CAI). For example, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) recently adopted new standards for condominium loans, which had ramifications for making individual units eligible for FHA financing. “CAI can provide an education for associations and property managers,” Rys says. “Association boards are

Condo Media - September 2011

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