PRAIRIE GROVE -- For 21 years, Priority Bank has served rural areas, so it just made sense for the bank to open a new office in Prairie Grove.
"We plan on being a part of the community and plan on being in the community," said Ray Stidham, Priority Bank president.
The Prairie Grove office is located at 703 East Douglas, in the former Simmons Bank building, across from Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park. In addition to Stidham, others on staff are Casey Ruland, Heather Walker, Shawnda Stokes and Jimmy Ledbetter, the branch's secondary market lender.
Priority Bank will have a grand opening ceremony with food, giveaways and prizes 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 26. Prairie Grove Chamber of Commerce will sponsor a ribbon cutting and Coach Frank Broyles, former football coach and athletic director for University of Arkansas, will be available for photos and autographs.
Priority Bank, owned by Trevor Lavy, opened its first office in 1993 in Ozark and now has $84 million in assets. It still has a bank and mortgage office in Ozark and another branch in Fayetteville.
Typically, Stidham said, the bank mainly has serviced personal home loans. Last year, for example, he said the bank closed about $50 million in secondary market loans.
"That's what they've done for 21 years and what they've done well," he said.
The bank will continue to service home loans but also plans to diversify more into commercial loans, he said. In addition, the bank provides all other services available in other banks, such as checking and money market accounts, Certificate of Deposits and savings accounts.
More than 95 percent of the bank's home loans are in rural America and the bank wants to remain in smaller communities. Stidham said officials realize the bank cannot compete with larger banks in larger markets but it can meet the needs of rural communities.
"Prairie Grove makes a lot of sense," Stidham said. "It's a great little community and has tons of potential in the future."
He said Priority Bank focuses on customer service. When customers call the office, they will hear a "real voice," he said, adding, "We will push ourselves to going above and beyond and taking care of our customers' needs."
Stidham has been in banking 22 years, starting with Farmers Merchant Bank in Des Arc, though he said he's actually had two different careers.
He started with Capital Mercury Shirt Co., as a manager over a plant making pull-over shirts. He opened a new plant in Mexico for eight months and when he returned to the States, he said he decided he wanted to do something else. Farmers Merchant Bank hired him and he started by running proof work and has been working his way through the banking business since then.
Stidham joined Priority Bank in December 2013, previously working for Bank of Fayetteville.
General News on 08/20/2014