1921 S. Spaulding in Lawndale:

Aletra Wells:

“I would like our community banks to do more working with people with lower credit scores or less money for down payments. Working with the community to have more homeowners is a win for everyone, the community as well as our local community banks.”

Brian Berg:

(vice pres., marketing support services): “One of the things we do is help assist in energy efficiency, helping homeowners reduced their monthly utility bills. It’s really an education information process.

Jack Crane:

(Shorebank, senior vice pres., mortgage lending): “As a community bank, we take the time to sit down with people who want to be homeowners. And we go through their credit. If there are any credit issues, we help them clean up the credit issues. And we give them a very good idea of how much they can afford for a home. I lot of people have thoughts on what they think they can buy, but what we do, we take the time, each loan officer, to really walk through and help someone figure out what they can afford. Then they can go out and search for a home they can afford. I think the one thing Shorebank does in particular is provide rehab funds.”

Andrea L. Smith:

(president, The Salient Group, marketing/communications): “I think having a community bank is vitally important in any neighborhood because if it’s a local bank, they understand the local needs, local concerns and more important, they understand the local people. And they’re more apt to give loans, rehab and other products that people in the community need. When you’re right where your constituencies live, they can give you ideas that you can translate to benefit the entire community. And the other thing that I think community banks should do more of is to purchase rehabs”73% of Chicago Housing stock was built before 1925, so we got a lot of housing that is aging but it’s still good and can be used for affordable housing if the products are there. Good products like the Home Advantage are a wonderful example of using community resources to benefit people in the community and making money for the banks and helping economic development.

Tom Bosley:

(Shorebank senior loan officer, mortgage lending): “I would like to see the community banks offer more flexible underwriting when dealing with individuals in the community”as far as the interest rates and also some of the credit guidelines. That is some of things I would like personally to see. Fortunately, at Shorebank we’re not credit-score driven, so we have flexible underwriting. But I would like to see other banks do that as well.”

Lee Wells:

“Easy access to real money”what I would like the banks to offer is a simplified process for loan applications and assistance in straightening out credit and not a lot of paperwork. Available money to open business for community business and things like that.