Banking News on AR

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Mortgage and Lending - Crescent Bank & Trust
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RECENT BLOG POSTS
Why will I ever need to know this crap [Algebra, History, Social Studies, Language Arts, Science, and Geography] in real life? I've personally used these words, and I'll wager that most of us have done so at some point while being forced to do homework even though we had much bigger fish to fry. ...
03/16/2009
It rained all weekend in Atlanta. As the joke goes, "Great weather if you're in Seattle."  Goodness knows we needed the rain in North GA and we're thankful for all we can get.  The cloud in my silver lining is a roof leak. Not a big blue tarp kind of leak, but one that's caused a softball-sized d...
03/16/2009
I've spent at least 15 of my 21 years as a community banker handling deals most bankers shy away from: Owner-occupied residential construction-perms. These transactions demand significant "teaching time" on the part of the banker for even the most sophisticated borrowers. Some of the topics I'm a...
03/13/2009
East Tennessee Realtors: Does the name "Butcher" ring a bell with anyone? For everyone outside the Knoxville / Maynardville area of TN who are interested in reading about bankers gone wrong, look for a copy of "Whirlwind: The Butcher Banking Scandal", written by former Knoxville Sentinel reporter...
03/12/2009
This past Friday I celebrated that preliminary victory we all know well: the first call from someone you met through a specific networking strategy. Though that first call is usually nothing more than "tire kicking" on the part of the prospect, one of my mentors taught me to consider each step in...
03/09/2009
A few minutes ago I met with a customer and a representative from a Certified Development Company (CDC). My customer is planning to expand his business in 2009 by moving from a leased space to a new building he plans to build on land he has owned since 2006. For various reasons the transaction n...
03/06/2009
In the last 12 months I've accepted several invitations to attend "live" networking groups. In the case of two of the meetings, my impression of the group itself was negative enough that I chose not to attend a 2nd time. In both cases, my negative opinion came about because the person who led the...
03/04/2009
I've read several conflicting opinions in AR about responding "I don't know this person" to requests for links / connections on Social Networking sites. It appears that a significant percentage of networkers believe in simply going for the big "connections" number. In my opinion, the appropriate ...
03/03/2009
As a result of diligent networking, today I met with a prospective customer at his place of business. The prospect's reason for mentioning to our mutual friend that he was looking for a new banker was threefold: 1) The desire to do business with a bank where he feels as if he has "a banker", inst...
03/02/2009
As I watched last night's presidential address to Congress, I couldn't help raising an eyebrow when President Obama made the statement, "Banks are afraid to lend right now, even to each other. Banks are afraid to do even a car loan." Our Commander-in-Chief should have qualified that statement by ...
02/25/2009
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Clark Blackwell

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smartphone(770) 893-8975
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All the stuff you already wanted to know from your banker but were afraid to ask.