Keith Barger, Michelle Couch, Jessica Hart

We are "Asking the Experts " from Patroit Bank Keith Barger, Michelle Couch and Jessica Hart on The Bev Johnson Show on WDIA Radio.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Memphis probably presents the Bem Johnson Show.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Let me you say, Beth, I've done, I've gone stop me,
let me you say she's gone hemphistogain. No matter of

(00:29):
the problem, she can have.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
So all the phone and the normans your mind.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
She understand Jimmy in the hair by chilling you.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
To just keep the thing when a wrangle.

Speaker 4 (00:50):
I bigging out Bim Johnson's show because well, I've got
something gay happen.

Speaker 5 (00:57):
You can hear.

Speaker 6 (00:58):
Every day d I ain't.

Speaker 4 (01:02):
Well, Bill got me a missed talking. Good morning, good morning,

(01:49):
good morning, and welcome into w d i A The
bb Johnson Show. It is indeed a pleasure to have
you with the once again on this Thursday, October thirtieth,
twenty twenty five. Get ready to do a little chit chat.
First hour, we will open it up to you. It's

(02:12):
open conversation. You'd like to get it off your heart,
your mind, your chest. You need to do that now.
Second hour we will have guests. We will be talking
with the folks from Patriot Bank will be in this day,
So get ready for this open conversation. Nine zero one
five three five nine three four two eight hundred five

(02:35):
zero three nine three four two eight three three five
three five nine three four two will get you in
to me. And if this day, this, this, this here day, Thursday,

(02:57):
October thirtieth, twenty twenty five is your birthday. Happy birthday
to each and every one of y'all out there who
may be celebrating a birthday on this day. You know
what we say, Go out, y'all, go out and celebrate
your life. You better you beft her when we come

(03:22):
back open conversation, I'll talk to you, give your few
WDIA goodwill announcements all coming up next right here with me,
Bev Johnson on the Hard and Soul of Memphis on
w d i A. Good morning and welcome back to

(04:50):
w d i A the Bev Johnson Show. I'm Bev.
It is indeed a pleasure to have you with us
once again on this Thursday, October thirtieth twenty We're getting
ready to go to the other side of the Bev
Johnson Show. I have guests coming in. Thank y'all for

(05:13):
talking open conversation. Get ready for my guests next hour
right here on the Heart and Soul of Memphis w
d i A.

Speaker 7 (05:25):
Whether you're in Arkansas, Tennessee, or Mississippi on Facebook, Twitter,
or Instagram. Thank you for listening to The Bev Johnson
Show on do w D IA Memphis.

Speaker 8 (05:35):
The BEV Justin Show, Justin Show, bes Memphis Talking and
all Away.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
Help you go, you go so getting ready God In
Time show, Let's go bet we make Gorday by here.

Speaker 9 (06:12):
Rond listen to what today?

Speaker 8 (06:19):
You know it's time of the belt of this show,
time of the Mountain Show Lucky, Let's go.

Speaker 4 (06:37):
Good afternoon, and welcome back to the second half of
the Bev Johnson Show. Here at do w D I
a the heart and soul of Memphis. We're rocking and
rolling on this Thursday, October thirtieth, twenty twenty five. And
I said earlier my guests, my guests are back from

(06:59):
Patriot Bank. And let me tell you who I have.
I have Keith Barger here, Michelle Couch and Jessica Hart
and always like to say good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,
how y'all doing good to have you all here. How's
it been gone.

Speaker 6 (07:18):
It's been going good. It's hard to believe we're almost
at the end of another year. It's gone by quickly.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
It has it has Keith, it mine. I'm just thinking
it's November, it's coming out.

Speaker 6 (07:31):
November, it'll be Christmas, Christmas the holiday, so a very
busy time of year for a lot of people.

Speaker 10 (07:37):
But it's been a great year for us. It's it's
been exciting.

Speaker 6 (07:39):
And obviously is anything always always a lot of new
developments and things to be talking about.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
Sounds good. So let us start, Keith by telling our
listeners who may not know about Patriot Bank.

Speaker 6 (07:53):
Yeah, thank you so. Patriot Bank. We're a local community
bank and obviously we've been on the show before and
I always enjoy the opportunity to speak to you and
your listeners. And what I'd like your listeners to know
is that Patriot Bank is based here in the Memphis area.
We've been around since two thousand and one. A lot
of times people ask us, you know, do you have
locations outside the Memphis area, and we don't. We're strictly

(08:16):
homegrown here in the Memphis area. Started out in the
kind of the Millington area community where the Navy base
and all that has added again almost twenty five years
ago now and through the years have just kind of
grown organically throughout our community, and so we're local bankers,
serving our local folks here in the Memphis area.

Speaker 4 (08:34):
And I just thought about that, so homegrown jess Memphis,
nowhere else.

Speaker 10 (08:41):
That's right. So we're right here.

Speaker 6 (08:43):
So our primary area that we're serving is Memphis Shelby County.
We also serve Tippy County and Fayette County, so pretty
much just this southwest corner, getting down a little bit
into Mississippi from time to time as well as Arkansas.
But our primary area is the three counties here surrounding Memphis.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
And again, Keith, you've all been here open up since swim.

Speaker 6 (09:02):
Now we open back in two thousand and one, so
almost almost twenty five years. Getting close next year. You know,
we'll have a big year for us.

Speaker 4 (09:10):
You all were brave opening up right after COVID, We.

Speaker 6 (09:14):
Opened up right after nine to eleven, and so yeah,
so back in two thousand and one, and so it
and you're right. I mean, obviously we could have never
foreseen everything that was going to happen over the last
twenty plus years. But it's been just a remarkable story. Again,
I've just always been so grateful for the people of
Memphis and surround the area who've embraced us and just

(09:35):
welcomed the idea of having local community bankers here to
help serve them, and that's been our focus. You know,
we want to help people, and we have a heart
to serve our community, and I think it shows each
and every day with our people and the things that
we do in our community.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
So Shelby County, Tipton County, and Fayette County.

Speaker 10 (09:54):
Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 6 (09:55):
So if you were to just look at a map,
we have locations that basically here in the Memphis area,
have a location over in Raleigh. As I mentioned before,
we started down the Millington community, Arlington, Kyriyville, go into
Tipton County, So just if you were to look at
a map, we're just again in these three three counties.
We don't have any locations in Fayette County, but we
do service that county through some of our other locations.

Speaker 4 (10:16):
Okay, and with Patriot Bank, do you all offer an
array of products?

Speaker 10 (10:23):
Yes, ma'am. So we're a full service bank in full service,
full service, so.

Speaker 6 (10:28):
We pretty much offer anything that the big national banks
are going to offer, so, you know, and that's kind
of one of our key things from the very beginning.
We wanted to make sure that we were a full
service bank, so all the traditional banking products that you
think of, We have the savings that checking accounts, you know,
if you're needing lending, and I know we mortgages a
big emphasis for Patriot Bank. We've always been big into

(10:49):
providing mortgages, which includes everything from FHA and VA to
construction lending to home equity loan. So you know, we
want to make sure that when our customers have a need,
that we have a product that can hopefully those needs.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
And so so you mentioned mortgage and I know a
lot of our listeners are interested in Keith and do
you do auto loans?

Speaker 6 (11:12):
We do auto loans, es ma'am. So again we we
offer the full gamuts. Okay, in need of a car loan, mortgage,
a consumer loan. Let's say you know that they're just
in need of getting some kind of small consumer loan
from time to time, and okay, you know, we have
our home improvement product that we'd love to talk about today.
We have obviously a wide range of mortgage products. We

(11:33):
have down payment Assistant, so you know, we feel like
we've got a great arsenal of tools that we can
use to help kind of meet the needs of our community.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
And and and and being the president and CEO that
that's a task that you're trying to get out the
word that you all are here for the community.

Speaker 10 (11:53):
That's right.

Speaker 6 (11:53):
And you know, one of the biggest things that you
learn in any any business is that it's very important
that people understand what you offer, understand your products, and so,
you know, not just me, but obviously Michelle, obviously Jessica.
Some of our biggest responsibilities for the bank is just
helping to get the word out. Okay, and we say
all the time, we're boots on the ground type of organization.

(12:14):
We're trying to be in with our nonprofit organizations. We're
out in the communities that we serve, and we just
really kind of take it, you know, person to person
so many times. And Michelle herself, Jessica, we all serve
on different nonprofits and just utilize a variety of ways
to make sure people are aware of Patriot Bank and
what we're offering.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
I'm glad, Keith that you mentioned that your partnership with nonprofits.
How happened? I just got an email and said, good morning,
tell Michelle and Keith, Hello, we have a great partnership
with them. And this comes from Priscilla Reed at United
House when you said that, and then I just to

(13:00):
my email. Okay, okay, Priscilla, she says, we have a
great partnership. So you partner with United Houses and.

Speaker 10 (13:07):
I'm going to actually kind of let Michelle speak to this.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
Yeah, yeah, come on, Michelle, good morning, good morning.

Speaker 11 (13:12):
How are you great? And hi Priscilla shout out to Priscilla.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
Yeah, Michelle is the executive vice president. Yes, ma'am out
of the senior leadership team. Yeah, and Priscilla, so are
you know your work? I love Priscilla.

Speaker 5 (13:25):
She's wonderful, as as are all the folks at United Housing.
And you know, we have been strong partners with them
for a long long time. We help them with downpayment
assistance grants, We help them with their home buyer education classes.
We refer clients to them, We take referrals back from
them to help those clients. Those participants in the class

(13:49):
get mortgages through Patriot Bank Mortgage UH and we also
volunteer to train the home Buyer Education class. From time
to time, Priscilla leads it and her team, but she
will bring in so subject matter experts to talk about
mortgages and some of the specifics.

Speaker 11 (14:04):
So we just enjoy a great partnership with them.

Speaker 4 (14:06):
Good good, And I understand that you wear many hats
I do and tell us about some of the things
that you do with Patroon Bank.

Speaker 5 (14:14):
Well, I serve on our leadership team, so I get
to work closely with Jessica and Keith and a few
others on our leadership team on a day in and
day out basis. I also work in the Memphis market
in the city of Memphis, primarily doing commercial loans and
small business loans. And then I am our Community Reinvestment

(14:35):
Act Officer, so that would be our cr A officer,
So that puts me on the ground engaging with a
lot of our nonprofit partners just day in and day out.
So whether it's United Housing or Elsea Ball or the
Works or you know, the list goes on an On
Fraser CDC. We you know, I kind of lead that

(14:58):
initiative to make sure that the bank is connecting with
those community partners and volunteering our time and providing resources.

Speaker 4 (15:08):
So yeah, and so with that, Michelle and I want
to go back to all the nonprofits that you help
them help their clients to get loans or other products
with the bank.

Speaker 11 (15:22):
Yeah, lots of different ways that we help. I mean,
that's one way.

Speaker 5 (15:25):
Certainly, we are a resource to assist their clients with
any lending needs, particularly whether it be mortgage or small
business or home improvement loans. We also help the nonprofits
directly by making community investments to the nonprofits, and that
would be an example, would be a donation or a

(15:45):
grant to the nonprofit to help them do their work
and further their work. And then volunteering, you know, we
provide the bank provides a lot of just human capital
to go and volunteer with the organizations with whatever initiative
they may have have going on. And so it's a
multifaceted relationship.

Speaker 4 (16:06):
Yeah, I want you to tell me about you being
the CRA officer, sure and trying to think if I've
heard of that and what that is all about.

Speaker 5 (16:18):
Sure. So the Community Reinvestment Act CR is a law.
It's a law that all financial institutions have to comply with,
and it basically requires banks to lend in all areas
of their communities and not They can't just stay in
one area of the community and lend to one type
of person. So it's a it's a commitment that the

(16:41):
banks make through the Community Reinvestment Act to lend in
all areas, particularly challenging areas. You know, it's hard to
make loans sometimes in challenging areas, but we have to
find a way to do it, and so that may
involve something that we call and what is called in
the industry or a special purpose credit program where we

(17:02):
can create certain loan products that have a little bit
different underwriting guidelines for certain areas, particularly areas where there
is a low and moderate income you know, presence and existence,
and so we can craft products that may allow for
a loan for someone that has a little bit lower
credit score than the norm, or may have some income limitations.

(17:26):
And so that really is the initiative of the Community
or Investment Act, is providing access to credit and banking
services in all areas that you serve, primarily low and
moderate income areas.

Speaker 4 (17:40):
And you have to do that, Michelle, You have to
be in compliance and have to try to work with
to try to see if you can help that community.

Speaker 5 (17:51):
That's exactly right, and every bank has an expectation and
an obligation and a commitment to doing that.

Speaker 11 (18:00):
Banks are highly regulated.

Speaker 5 (18:02):
You know, we have regulators that come and check on
us every three or four years and make sure that
we're doing all the things that we're supposed to be doing.
And the Community Reinvestment Act, you know, following the Community
Reinvestment Act is one of the things that we're evaluated on.
And so the good news for the community is that
every day, every month, every year, banks have to be

(18:24):
making loans in all areas of the community, including low
and moderate income areas. They have to be making they
have to be volunteering and providing service. They have to
be making investments and giving back in these communities to
bring everybody up.

Speaker 4 (18:38):
What about Michelle and with the bank, do you all
do any kind of grant?

Speaker 12 (18:46):
We do.

Speaker 5 (18:48):
We have, particularly on the bank side, a down payment
assistance grant program okay, which provides ten thousand dollars in
down payment assistance in the form of a grant for
someone that is buying buying a home. And you know,
it walks alongside a mortgage. So if you're buying a

(19:09):
home and you are using Patriot Bank mortgage to financi
your property, our grant, Patriot Banks grant will walk right
alongside that mortgage. So that's one example. You know, we
also make grants, as I said a few minutes ago,
directly to nonprofit organizations for the work that they do,
so that's a very common common thing. But the down

(19:31):
payment assistance is something that we're very proud of because
it certainly helps close the gap when folks and that's
one of the big barriers of folks getting into mortgages
are obtaining buying a home is because they can't quite
get enough of the down payment together, and that ten
thousand dollars goes a long way. It can also be
stacked with other grants. There are other other down payment

(19:52):
assistance grants out there through the city and through the state,
and so you can stack ours with some others and
come up with quite a significant down payment that would
help someone get into a property.

Speaker 11 (20:05):
So it's a great program.

Speaker 4 (20:07):
And with that program, and wing to be clear when
listeners are listening, is that do you have to be
a client of Patriot Bank to.

Speaker 5 (20:17):
Take advantage of our ten thousand dollars grant? You have
to do your mortgage with Patriot Bank, So that is
a requirement. But there are other grant programs, as I mentioned,
from the state and from the city where.

Speaker 11 (20:30):
That is not a requirement. You know, you can use
any lender that you want.

Speaker 5 (20:34):
What we would say is we believe at Patriot Bank
Mortgage we have an excellent we have excellent products, we
have excellent rates, we have excellent.

Speaker 11 (20:44):
Staff to help you walk through the process.

Speaker 5 (20:47):
And you know a lot of times mortgage lenders, you know,
are the products themselves kind of look and feel the
same across lenders. But at Patriot Bank we deliver that
you know, hometown service to really make the process smoother.
So of course we want you to take the ten
thousand dollars grant, but we want you to walk with

(21:09):
us for the mortgage as well.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
You know, I had to ask that because somebody's listening
and says, wow, I'm gonna go over here, so you know,
they're getting their mortgage somewhere else. But that's good to
know you have to be with Patriot Bank.

Speaker 11 (21:23):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (21:24):
Good. We're off to a good start. We are so
off to a good start. We are talking with the
folks from Patriot Bank today. Keith Barger is here, Jessica Hart,
Michelle Couch is here. If you have a question or
two four Patriot Bank. We invite you to call now
nine zero one five three five nine three four two

(21:46):
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Speaker 1 (22:56):
Today you're listening to the Bev Johnson Show. Here's Bev Johnson.

Speaker 4 (23:27):
And we're talking with the folks from Patriot Bank. This
day we are talking with Keith Barger, Michelle Couch, and
Jessica Hart. And we're gonna turn over to miss Jessica Hart,
Senior vice President, Director of Compliance, Bear Lending Officer. Oh
are you sister.

Speaker 9 (23:45):
I'm doing well? Beil how are you today?

Speaker 4 (23:46):
I'm doing well. I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Tell
our listeners all the things that you do with you
do a lot, don't you have Patriot Bank?

Speaker 14 (23:55):
Yes, that's kind of a loaded question, but try to
give a brief summary. So, as director of Compliance and
fair Land Officer Michelle mentioned previously that the banks are
highly regulated. We have state federal regulations that we have
to follow, and so my job is to make sure
that we are doing that, checking policies and procedures to
ensure that we're following those. And then in the fair

(24:15):
lending space, again we've mentioned specifically in the areas that
we serve, we have customers who have challenges, whether that's
credit or income, but being able to have that second
look on fouls to make sure that we're doing the
best that we can to serve our community. Because again,
we live here, we work here, we play here, and
so we're very aware of the challenges that our community
has and so we want to make sure that we're

(24:37):
giving everyone a fair chance. And if there is an opportunity,
like in our home improvement where we have to kind
of relax some underwriting to help those come up, you know,
we're absolutely going.

Speaker 4 (24:46):
To do that.

Speaker 14 (24:46):
And so get I enjoy that, I get to work
with a great leadership team and just find unique ways
to serve our community.

Speaker 4 (24:53):
One of the ways interesting, and I'll tell our listeners.
On break, I got an email from one of our
listeners who said, Bev, I'm interested in refinance assuming our vehicle.
I just emailed their website. I'm thinking we haven't give
the website out, but talk about you know, she wants
to refinance her vehicle. Is that possible and going to

(25:15):
the website and giving us the website?

Speaker 14 (25:18):
Yes, absolutely So we appreciate the listener obviously listening in
and that is absolutely something that we would love to
help her with. Again, want to make sure they do
have the right Patriot Bank. And so our website is
Patriot dash bank dot com. Again, it's Patriot dash bank
dot com. And we're excited about our new website. You
are actually able to go in and submit an inquiry,

(25:40):
tell us what you're looking for, and then that information
is gonna be routed to an individual. It's not gonna
go and sit in someone's inbox an individual. It's gonna
reach out to you directly to discuss your needs and
see how we can help you with that. So, whether
that's refinancing a car, buying a home, refinancing a home.
We would love for the listeners to reach out so
that we can try to walk alongside them in this

(26:02):
next process.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
So also with refine a loan or maybe getting a
loan for a new car, that's possible.

Speaker 9 (26:11):
Yes, that is possible.

Speaker 14 (26:12):
We have as Keith mentioned, we are a full service bank,
and so any product that you can find at any
regional or national bank, we're going to be able to
have that as well. What I like to think is
that we have those same products, but we have better
customer service. We have some friendly, smiling faces that all
of our locations are equipped with loan officers that are
ready to serve you and walk alone with you through

(26:33):
this process, whether it's purchasing a car, a home, whatever
your needs are, We've got staff available to help you
with that.

Speaker 4 (26:40):
One of the things I think you mentioned earlier, Jessica,
is and I want to talk about because people are
always interested in this home improvement. Yes, and we know
that a lot of times we may need a new
ruth or something in our house or fixtures. Tell us
about you have have a product for home improvement.

Speaker 14 (27:02):
Yeah, and we are so excited about this program. And
again I want to give kudos to Patriot that this
program stemmed from having conversations with our community on what
their needs were, and so Patriot Bank is happy to
offer a home improvement loan up to seventy five hundred
dollars at a fixed rate of one percent. And I
always have people say are you sure, I promise I

(27:23):
checked the bouts.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
It's a fix.

Speaker 9 (27:26):
It's a fixed rate of one percent.

Speaker 14 (27:28):
That repayment is over seven years, and so that payment
comes out to ninety two dollars and about fifty three
cents a month. You can use those funds to improve
your home in any way. So whether that's a new
heating or cooling unit, if it's to do landscaping, painting,
a new roof. Maybe you have a handicapped individual that
lives at the house and you need to build a ramp.

Speaker 4 (27:50):
What about.

Speaker 14 (27:53):
A new fence, a new fence, new appliance, is anything
that's going to beautify and add value to your home.

Speaker 9 (28:00):
We do not require that you submit bits.

Speaker 14 (28:03):
We do ask you to sign a statement saying that
the funds will be used for the improvement of home
of the home. We've had individuals borrow the money to
fix their bathroom, get a new baptub or maybe you know,
a new shower installed, and so anything that's going to
improve your home you can use those funds for. Do
you have to mention some of the requirements for the program.

(28:23):
The property has to be your primary residence. Again, we
realize that there are investors that try to come in
and buy a property, and we realize that we're there
to help the homeowner, and so to.

Speaker 4 (28:35):
Be clear, so just so, Jessica, you cannot be renting.

Speaker 14 (28:41):
Right absolutely, this has to be your primary residence that
you are, that you own or are in the process
of buying. It's your primary residence, okay, And so that's
one of the requirements. The property must be located in
what's called a majority minority census track. And so what
that means for us is that the census track must
be made up of fifty percent or greater Black or Hispanic.

(29:03):
And so there are well close to well right at
two hundred of those tracks in Memphis and Shelby County.
So a lot of listeners will be in one of
those eligible areas. We do have some relaxed underwriting with
that program. Credits minimum credit score is only five point eighty.
We will go up to one hundred and twenty five
percent on the loan to value and up to fifty

(29:23):
percent on the debt to income. And I'll pause here
because I think we've had some questions about that before,
like fifty percent, that's kind of high. Is that predatory
in any kind of way? And so that is not
the bank's intention. It's to help those that we realize
have these challenges. And at no point will we ever
put someone in a predicament or a situation that's going
to cost them to lose their home. And so again,

(29:46):
you know, I'm kind of I'm on both sides of it.
I see it from the compliance side as well as
the community involvement side. You know, we're very conscious of
the products and the things that we offer to make
sure that they are what would benefit the customer, so
that it's a great opportunity to add some value and
improve some things. For coming into the fall weather. If
you already know, maybe the heating unit it's not where

(30:08):
it needs to be, we would invite the listeners to
definitely reach out to us and let us see if
we can't help them with the home improvement loan.

Speaker 4 (30:14):
Oh that sounds good. Email Natasha wanted to know, Hi
mus bev Hi Natasha. She wanted to know if you
bank with another bank? Can you bank with Patriot?

Speaker 14 (30:29):
Yeah, that's a great question. And so to answer her question,
the answer is yes. And our hope is that once
she comes over to Patriot that we will be her
only bank. I like that, And so what we want
our listeners to know is that we're not just a
bank on the corner. We really do want to be
your bank. So whether that's a checking your savings, or
an IRA or a mortgage loan, an auto loan, we

(30:52):
want to be the people that you call on, whether
it's for advice or for a specific product. We want
to walk alongside you for the entire process. So my
hope is that Natasha will reach out and that we can,
you know, sway her away from whoever she banks with.
But yes, to answer her question, the answer is yes.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
Yeah, because I think and thank you Natasha, thank you
for listening. Because a lot of times people will ask, well,
I already have a bank, and so can I come
over to your bank as well?

Speaker 9 (31:18):
Absolutely, they absolutely can do that.

Speaker 4 (31:21):
Okay, Okay. One of the other things and with so
the home improvement that's a biggie, anything else that that
would go along with that home improvement And again you
said investors, you don't.

Speaker 14 (31:35):
Deal with them, Yes, ma'am, we're not interested in helping
them property when we have so many people who are
trying to purchase and get in a home of their own.
I will go back and mention for the home improvement.
We are willing to go up to third Lean on
that loan. So does that mean so as Michelle mentioned,
so I kind of try to stream it all together.

(31:55):
You mentioned, was there anything else that kind of walks
alongside this program? And so with our down payment assistance program,
if you've identified a home that you want to buy
and you use our down payment assistance grant, you can
also turn around and get one the home improvement loans
to improve the home that you just purchased. Maybe the
seller didn't do everything they needed, maybe you still need

(32:18):
some paint or things like that. And so anytime that
you purchase a home, the institution that does that loan
takes out alean that's the collateral if you will, until
you pay it back. And so with this home improvement loan,
with us being able being willing to go up to
third Lian you can have that initial purchase and then
also get the home improvement loan without it, you know,

(32:38):
throwing anything out of whack. And I think that's just
another way that Patriot wants to ensure that our community
has the resources that it needs.

Speaker 4 (32:46):
Sounds good. We are talking with the folks from Patriot Bank,
letting you know about Patriot Bank. If you don't know
about the bank, they are here to help you know
about the bank. I'm Michelle Couch, Jessica Hart, and Keith
Barger is here. I am going to our phone line
to talk with you. If you have a question for

(33:09):
my guests. W d I a high caller? Hey Ben,
thanks saking, Mikyle, you're welcome. Hey, hey black Conservative, you
have a question for my guests?

Speaker 2 (33:22):
No?

Speaker 7 (33:22):
Not really?

Speaker 4 (33:23):
Well well okay, so though we're talking about Patriot Bank,
so you have to call me back when we have open,
open conversation.

Speaker 12 (33:32):
Okay, yeah, I called Blandly.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
I thought you said talking.

Speaker 4 (33:34):
No, no, no, we're not, we're not. Thank you. What
did I say about listeners? Listeners have to listen. We're
talking with the folks from Patriot Bank. Also, now I
want to go back, and I think Michelle, you talked
about getting those home and loans for mortgage do and

(34:00):
people need to know when you're applying for a mortgage,
you're going to have to qualify, right, Yeah, So talk
to me about qualifying because people like you because we
talk with and all the time. So we have our
folks from United Housing and especially Priscilla tails about what
you have to have, and people don't get it. They

(34:22):
think they just can go in, Okay, I want this money,
but no, and as Priscilla always says, you're going to
have to pay them back.

Speaker 11 (34:30):
That's right, It's not free, that's exactly right.

Speaker 4 (34:33):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (34:33):
So a loan is borrowing money that is to be repaid.
To qualify for the loan, you have to be able
to demonstrate that you can pay the loan back. And
the way that you do that is you we will
verify your income. So you do need to be employed
and you need to be able to document your income.
You do need to be able to put some money

(34:55):
into the purchase, and that's where the down payment part
comes along. So you can put cash into the purchase,
or if you don't have the cash, as we said earlier,
you can use a down payment assistance grant. From Patriot
Bank or from one of the other organizations that offers
a grant to help you with your down payment. The

(35:17):
mortgage loan is going to be a percentage of the
cost that you pay to buy the home. So the
difference between the loan amount and the purchase price is
your down payment. And so coming up with a down payment,
either through your own funds or through the grant funds
is important. So income, down payment, and credit. You do

(35:41):
have to have good credit.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
Yeah, I was going to ask you about the credit
Is there a certain score that Patriot looks at.

Speaker 5 (35:48):
Well, I will say that there are. There's not a
certain score. I'd say the minimum score is six point twenty, okay,
And there are some other programs, you know, government programs
that may allow that score to be a little bit less,
but six point twenty is this is typically the minimum

(36:10):
score to demonstrate that you have the you know, have
repay your obligations and you know, a credit score basically
tells the bank how well you've paid on other loans
that you've had.

Speaker 11 (36:21):
That's what the credit score tells us.

Speaker 5 (36:23):
And if it's six twenty or higher, shows us that
you're committed to repaying your obligations and your loans. If
it's under that, it shows that maybe you've you've struggled,
or maybe you've lost your job and you haven't had
income to repay. So that is just a mechanism that
banks used to determine someone's ability to repay.

Speaker 4 (36:42):
I want to go back and ask Michelle, you said
you also with your own funds. So are you saying
you have to have some of your own money also
to qualify for that mortgage loan, you you have to
have some some kind of savings.

Speaker 5 (36:59):
Well, it's you know, there are many different mortgage products
that require different types of down payments, and so some
down payments may be twenty percent, some down payments may
be fifteen percent, ten percent. So depending on what sort
of grant money you're able to secure, you know, there
may be a situation where you do have to have

(37:19):
some of your own money. But the mortgage lenders, the
Patriot Bank mortgage lenders can really help you all help
your listeners understand what.

Speaker 11 (37:28):
That looks like. So a great way to.

Speaker 5 (37:32):
Start the process for someone that's considering purchasing a home
is to contact a Patriot Bank mortgage loan officer and
get pre qualified you know, say, I'm here's here's what
I do for a living. Here's how much money I make,
Here's how long I've been on my job, here's my
credit score. How much house could I qualify for? And

(37:54):
so before you even go looking for a home, the
mortgage loan officer is going to help guide you as
to what you can afford.

Speaker 4 (38:01):
So you come to you first, the bank first, before
you go looking at a home, because a lot of
times we'll go look at those home and say, oh,
I like that one.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
That's not it.

Speaker 11 (38:12):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (38:13):
Starting with the bank first is really the best place
to start. And what we've seen in the industry today
is that when you get ready to put a contract
on a home, most of the time the seller is
gonna want to see that you've been prequalified somewhere, okay,
And so it's a good place to start with the
bank to find out how much you can afford. Get

(38:33):
that pre qualification letter in your hand, so that when
you go shopping to buy a home and you get
ready to put a contract down, in addition to sending
the contract to the seller, you can send your pre
qualification letter so the seller knows that you have the
ability to see the transaction through.

Speaker 4 (38:51):
Sounds good good. I wanted to clarify that because you know,
listeners will listen and they hear something else. And so
you need a little bit of little cash, that's right,
A little bit of savings.

Speaker 5 (39:03):
A little bit of savings. And that's not just to
get into the home, okay. You know, once you own
a home, you do need to have some savings because
there are other things that go along with owning a home.
You know, there's maintenance, and there's utilities, and there's taxes,
an insurance. So you want to be prepared. You know,
you've you've heard that there's a term out there. You know,

(39:25):
you don't want to be house poor. You don't want
to buy so much house and not have enough income
to pay your obligations. And so again the morginal officers
can really help guide you in that regard. And once
they go through the pre approval process, if they identify
that you're not quite ready to buy a home, the
morginal on officers a Patriot banker are going to tell

(39:46):
you exactly what steps you need to take to get
yourself mortgage ready so they'll be able to take a
look at your credit report and say, oh gosh, you
need to do this, this, and this, or you need
to increase your income by this, or you need to
be on your for a little bit longer.

Speaker 11 (40:01):
It's a really useful relationship to start with.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
So, and also I need to ask this, does that
include Patriot will do the closing cost?

Speaker 5 (40:14):
The downpayment assistance grant that we offer is can be
used for downpayment and for closing costs. Okay, So different
programs from different banks or the state or the city
may have different requirements on that. But at Patriot Bank,
our ten thousand dollars can be used for either of
those things.

Speaker 4 (40:35):
Sounds good. We are talking with the folks from Patriot Bank.
Is here, Keith Barger, Jessica Hart, Michelle Couch is here?
Question or two and I like these emails. You can
email me your question. Bev Johnson at iHeartMedia dot com.
Bev Johnson at iHeartMedia dot com. You're listening to the

(40:55):
Heart and Soul of Memphis w d i A.

Speaker 12 (41:02):
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on w DA The Bev Johnson Show.

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Speaker 2 (42:19):
I'm telling you to just keep.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
Around shopping show.

Speaker 4 (42:37):
And I'm talking with the folks from Patrin Bank, going
to our phone line to hear what you have to say. Hi, David,
Hey Bell, Hey, Yeah, you're.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
On the air.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
On the air, you have a question for my guest?

Speaker 5 (42:52):
I do?

Speaker 16 (42:52):
I think I got three questions? How about that?

Speaker 4 (42:54):
That's good, That's good. Okay, here we go.

Speaker 13 (42:58):
All right.

Speaker 16 (42:59):
Number one, are there fees attached to your personal checking accounts?
Monthly fees attached to person checking out? Do you have
a no feed person checking out checking account?

Speaker 13 (43:10):
There?

Speaker 6 (43:12):
So, we do have a couple of different types of
checking account programs that we offer it Patriot Bank, and
so we do offer I think what you're referring to
is like a no fee program where you're not charged
like a monthly fee. So we do offer that offer
that type of checking account. And obviously, like we've been
talking about, there's really a wide range of different types

(43:33):
of checking accounts, savings accounts, different types of deposit accounts.
So we've tried to have an account out there that
can kind of reach everybody's particular needs. So the best thing, again,
kind of referring back to what we said before, is
just to reach out to us, let us pull that
information up and and we can always try to look
at your particular situation to determine what's.

Speaker 10 (43:52):
Best for you.

Speaker 16 (43:55):
Okay, second question, is Patriot Bank a direct lender of
SBA loans?

Speaker 10 (44:02):
We are not a direct lender for SBA loans. And
that's a good question.

Speaker 6 (44:06):
So what he's asking is, so the Small Business Administration
is a government organization, and what they do is they
do provide small business lending and or they really what
they do is they endorse loan programs that bank provide,
and so we're not a direct SBA lender. We do
provide a lot of small business lending, and we do

(44:28):
have partners that we work with that are Small Business
Administration approved, So while we're not necessarily a direct lender,
we do have those resources available to us through some
of our other partners. And again, a lot of times
where we're going to look at is our own internal
programs that we have for small business lending first to
see if they.

Speaker 10 (44:44):
Don't meet your needs.

Speaker 16 (44:46):
Okay, last question. I heard the young ladies stak that
investors are you investors cannot be part of that program,
which is a good thing, I think, because we do
need more people on their homes and can stay there.
But I remember seeing an ad years ago in which
one of the people who was a customer was the

(45:10):
real estate investor. Yeah, real estate investor, developer, that's just
our single family resident. So you still offer financing financial standpoint,
do you not?

Speaker 6 (45:20):
That's correct, and that's a very good point to make
a distinction of. Is though we were talking about our
down payment assistance, our home improvement programs. Those programs are
very much specific toward people that live in their home
that our owner occupied, but we do offer loans for
people that want to buy investment properties, rental things, of
that nature. They're not going to qualify for those particular programs,

(45:41):
but we have other programs that we can discuss with you,
and so we provide financing for people that want to
buy investment properties. We do development loans, so we have
a wide range of products that are out there for
people that are in real estate, but maybe you using
that for more for business purpose. So it's just going
to look and feel a little bit different than some
of the programs we've kind of high lighted today.

Speaker 10 (46:00):
But we do offer.

Speaker 16 (46:03):
Okay, I appreciate your time and your patient, sir, and
asking them my questions completely.

Speaker 8 (46:08):
I am.

Speaker 16 (46:09):
I do have a couple of different accounts.

Speaker 12 (46:11):
I wanted to Community Bank locally.

Speaker 16 (46:13):
Here, but you're kind of close to me out here
in North Memphis, so I may have to give you
guys a look now, you know.

Speaker 6 (46:18):
For real, Well, we'd absolutely left for you to stop
by our Rawleigh location. We got a great team there
and they would love to speak with you about any
things that you've mentioned to us today.

Speaker 10 (46:27):
And thank you for calling.

Speaker 16 (46:28):
All right, Thank you Davis, thank you, bab.

Speaker 4 (46:30):
You welcome, thank you, bye bye. Good questions, good good, good,
good good.

Speaker 3 (46:34):
Keith.

Speaker 4 (46:35):
I want to know about this Rise Up program.

Speaker 10 (46:37):
Yeah, and the rise of that program.

Speaker 6 (46:38):
This is a kind of a great way to kind
of segue back into what we talked about originally with
some of our partners. So the Rise Up Program is
a program actually that's being facilitated through United Housing. It's
in conjunction with what's called the Federal Home Loan Bank.
And what they are doing is they currently had a
program called the Rise Up Program. It's a new program.
It's kind of hot off the press.

Speaker 12 (46:58):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (46:58):
They're doing grants up to twenty five thousand, and these
are for down payment and closing cost assistance. So kind
of back to what Michelle is talking about earlier. If
you're needing a little bit of extra help kind of
making the down payment or maybe covering some of your
closing costs, this is another great option that's out there
right now. The thing that makes this program a little
bit distinct is that this is for a what's called
a first generation, first.

Speaker 10 (47:19):
Time home buyer.

Speaker 6 (47:19):
Okay, so yeah, this has a very specific highlight to
it that's a little bit different because they're looking for
people that this is going to be the first time
that they've ever been a home and so they're going
to go back one generation and look at whether your
parents own their home, and if your parents did not
own a home, then you basically what's called a first
generational homeowner. So if my parents never owned a home
and I'm buying a home, we're going to treat you

(47:41):
as if you're a first generational homeowner. And this program
is designed to create those type of homeowner ownership opportunities
for people that are again genuinely first time and first
generational home buyers. And so this is a wonderful program.
It just goes to highlight to just some of the
great work that United Housing is doing it area, and
we're one of their partner banks and being able to

(48:04):
provide this program, and so it's a great way to
just again look at ways that you can buy home.
And we hear this all the time with people, is
that can I really afford to buy a home? And
you know what I tell people all the time is
what you really need to do is you need to
come talk with this because a lot of times, fear
is keeping people from even taking that step to decide

(48:24):
if you can be a homeowner.

Speaker 10 (48:26):
And we want to alleviate that fear.

Speaker 6 (48:27):
We want to talk about the ways we got programs,
we got down payment assistance, we got all these different
ways that we can begin to kind of help guide
you toward becoming a homeowner. And one thing that we
consistently know of all people is that most people desire
to be a homeowner. They want to have their own home.
And not only does that begin to help us from
a wealth effect, but everybody ultimately wants to know that

(48:48):
they have that little piece of place here on this
world that they can call home and that they can
hopefully pass on to their children one day. And so
we recognize that there's just tremendous value in helping people
become homeowners, and so much of what we do is
geared towards that.

Speaker 4 (49:02):
I like that, and especially you're working with some of
my favorite folks, Will Bit at United House.

Speaker 9 (49:06):
I like that.

Speaker 4 (49:07):
Where Keith can people locate you? I know you just
mentioned to David that you're out there in Raleigh. Where
are your other location?

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (49:16):
And thank you, BOV.

Speaker 6 (49:16):
So we have a number of different ways that you
can reach us, and I'm going to kind of highlight
some of those. So we do have the locations in
what I call the Rawley Springs area of Memphis, so
kind of that North Memphis area. We're also in Arlington, Carryville, Millington.
I'm in an area called Rosemark, which is kind of
an area between Arlington and Millington. We're in Tipton County
and we got three locations up there. We have one

(49:38):
in the south end, kind of in the Toka area,
and then we have two locations in Covington, one in
downtown Covington and one out by the Highway. So those
are our actual physical locations. But like many people know
nowadays that so much of what we do is online.

Speaker 4 (49:52):
Oh yeah, and so so many.

Speaker 6 (49:54):
Of our customers are engaging with us online these days.
And so the best way to start that is by
going through our website, and that's www dot Patriot hyphen
or dashbank dot com and that we talked about earlier.
Jessica mentioned this. Our website, we just actually revamped it
earlier this year, is designed to be a lot more interactive.

(50:15):
You can do inquiries, you can look up all the
information about our products. You can, you know, reach out
to us directly through the website so that one of
our people can contact you. But if you still would
like to just call, we love those calls too. That's
I obviously want to oftentimes our more preferred way to
kind of get the conversation started. You can reach us
by calling nine zero one four seven five three two

(50:37):
five two, and so we got just a wide range
of ways for people to reach out to us. We
encourage you to use any of those. And I'd love
to have that dialogue with with your listeners.

Speaker 4 (50:46):
I love that. As we get ready to wrap up,
I'm going to go over to Jessica Hart. Last word
you like to say to our listeners today, Yeah, I would.

Speaker 14 (50:57):
Just like to say, thank you listeners for listening. We
invite you to reach out to us again. We want
to be your bank if you have questions, and as
Michelle mentioned, if we are not able to help you,
it's not a no, a hard no, it's a not yet,
and we'll provide the information on what you need to
do to get ready for that next step.

Speaker 12 (51:14):
I like that.

Speaker 4 (51:15):
I'm gonna have to use that. It's not a no,
but it's not yet. I'm gonna use that.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
I like that.

Speaker 4 (51:23):
Last words, Michelle calluld you'd like to say to our listeners.

Speaker 5 (51:26):
Well, I just as Jessica said, thanks listeners for listening,
and thanks Bev as always for welcome well welcoming us
on your show. It's always a pleasure to visit with
you and to share share our information.

Speaker 4 (51:38):
It is so nice to have you all back again.
Thank you, and Keith, I'll let you have the last
words to tell our listeners.

Speaker 6 (51:45):
Well, I would just again say thank you to Bev
and your listeners, and just again we always just are
honored to have the opportunity to come out speak with you,
speak with your listeners. And again, if there's anyone that's
listening to us today that has a banking nee, we'd
love to speak to you about that. Please reach out
to us in one of the ways that we just discussed.
Thank you, Thank you.

Speaker 4 (52:03):
All for being here, and hope everybody calls and just
want to know more about Patron Bank. Thank you, thank
you so much, Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
The views and opinions discussed on The Bev Johnson Show
are that of the hosts and callers and not those
of the staff and sponsors of wd IA.

Speaker 4 (52:27):
We want to thank you callers, we want to thank
you listeners for joining us this day on the Bev
Johnson Show. We do, we really do appreciate you, so
until tomorrow, please be safe, keep a cool head, y'all,
don't let anyone steal your joy until tomorrow. I'm Bev Johnson,

(52:50):
and y'all keep the faith

Speaker 3 (53:02):
They