Refinancing your home

Happy Thursday!!

Let's talk about refinancing: the word can be a bit misleading. I would like to discuss exactly what refinancing your mortgage entails and why it might benefit you.

When you refinance your home, you are taking out a new mortgage and using the proceeds to pay off your old mortgage. In actuality, you are trading your old mortgage for a new one.

I found that refinancing your mortgage can help you achieve these benefits from mortgageloan.com:

·         Take advantage of lower interest rates that will lessen your monthly mortgage payments.

·         Decrease the length of your mortgage to pay it off faster and save on interest charges.

·         Increase the length of your mortgage and spread out the costs for lower monthly charges.

·         Change the terms of your mortgage from an adjustable rate mortgage to a fixed-rate mortgage or vice versa.

·         Refinance for a higher loan amount and get quick funds for home renovations, college tuition, medical costs, or other expenses.

Refinancing your mortgage can also be costly. It’s best to weigh your options and make sure that refinancing is best for your situation. Here are a few instances where you may want to consider refinancing:

·         If you have a fixed rate mortgage and the rates have fallen to levels below the rate that you are paying.

·         If you have an A.R.M. and rates are starting to rise.

BUT:

·         If you are less than ten years into your current 30-year mortgage and rates are lower than what you are paying now. If have been paying your mortgage for longer than that, you are currently paying more principal than interest. If you get a new mortgage, you start the cycle over again and will be paying mostly interest again, which may not make sense.

The easiest way to figure out whether or not it’s worth it to refinance is to use one of the many available online refinance calculators. They will help you to determine how long it will take to recoup the expense of refinancing with the new savings. 

Try these free online refinance calculators:

·         www.bankrate.com

·         www.lendingtree.com

·         www.smartmoney.com

If you have any additional questions about refinancing your home, you may stop in or call us here at Systematic Savings Bank. We would love to talk to you about any of your banking needs. :)

Sounds on the Square: Summer Event

Good (Thursday) morning!

Today I just want to blog about an exciting opportunity for you to hangout, chill out and enjoy live music this summer right here in Springfield, MO, for FREE!



Source: http://www.itsalldowntown.com/



Sounds on the Square is a summer event, a 10 week concert series in the heart of downtown Springfield. The newly renovated Park Central Square will host local and regional performing acts and Systematic Savings Bank will be sponsoring the event!

Music artists will perform every Friday from 7 – 9 p.m. starting June 1^st and will continue through August 3^rd.  The list of bands is as follows:

               •June 1:       Abandon Kansas and guest Me Like Bees

•June 8:      Colin Elmore & The Franz Family

•June 15:    Thirst N Howl

•June 22:    Offset Sunset

•June 29:    Mercer & Johnson

•July 6:       We Are Voices

•July 13:     Sequel Dose

•July 20:    Truett & The Traitors

•July 27:     Steve Smith & The Sneakers

•August 3:  Endless Summer

We are excited to be the presenting sponsor for just an exciting event and can’t wait for June. Please come out and see us! It'll be a good time.

Another Friday Art Walk, don't miss it!

Good morning readers!

Today I’m simply going to let you know that Systematic Savings bank will be participating in this month’s First Friday Art Walk on the Square!

The first Friday of every month brings hundreds of people to downtown Springfield in the Arts District for original art, music, and performances. Systematic Savings Bank will be open during the art walk this Friday, May 4 from 6:00-10:00 p.m. We have new original paintings, pottery, and photography from Drury art students. We will also be showing some art from one of our own student employees, from Missouri State University.

We will be serving cookies and coffee, as well as accepting entries for Gift Cards from 4 downtown restaurants. You don’t want to miss this! Stop in tomorrow and support our students.

For more information on other participating businesses downtown this Friday, check out this link http://www.itsalldowntown.com/event/may-first-friday-art-walk/.

APR vs. APY

It’s Thursday!

All this rate business on loans and CDs can be confusing! Well, I did some research and found a combination of definitions that I hope will help clarify the difference between APR and APY for you; I know it helped me. J  

APR stands for annual percentage rate. APR is used to describe the interest rate for a loan or line of credit applied for an entire year. It does not take compounded interest into account. APR is the rate, not the actual dollar amount of interest. APR refers to the interest rate for a payment period -- usually monthly -- multiplied by how many payment periods there are in a year.

APY stands for annual percentage yield.  APY is used to describe how much appreciation interest-bearing accounts and financial instruments like savings accounts and certificates will have over a year. It is the actual amount, expressed as a percentage. Annual percentage yield takes into account the compounded interest. APY standardizes varying interest-rate agreements into an annualized percentage number.

·         APR is a better measure of interest rates for debts and loans

·         APY is a better measure of interest rates for investments

Most important: when shopping for the lowest rates on a loan or the highest rates on a CD, always compare rates to rates and yields to yields.

If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to post below!

CRA

Are you interested in learning about what sort of financial information is available to you? Read on dear reader, read on.

To ensure financially sound practices, legislature passed the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The CRA requires federal banking regulators to publicly evaluate and rate FDIC-insured banks and savings associations. A regulatory agency assesses a financial institutions’ history of helping to meet the credit needs of their communities in accordance with the CRA.

The financial institution’s regulatory agency prepares a written performance evaluation of its CRA activities including a CRA rating at the end of each CRA examination. This evaluation is made available to you as the CRA PE or Performance Evaluation.  The public file will contain the following:

·         The financial institution’s CRA

·         Performance Evaluation

·         Branch addresses and services available

·         Map of assessment area

·         Loan data information (for Large Banks)

·         Descriptions of efforts to improve performance (if rated less than satisfactory)

·         Written comments from the public

If you are interested in any of this information, you can walk into any FDIC-insured financial institution and simply ask for a copy of the CRA PE. It’s that easy!

Thank you!

Last Friday was a big hit! Thank you to all who attended and made our Open House and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony a success. The Drury Alumni Art Society appreciated your support. Also, congratulations to those who won door prizes! I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as we did.

President Michael Brady cutting the ribbon

Attendees enjoying the Downtown Friday Art Walk with Systematic Savings Bank

If you have yet to see the new store, stop by during our store hours: 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Monday – Friday. We’d love to give you the tour!

Keep checking in on Thursdays for more informational blogs. If you have any questions or responses,  please feel free to comment below. I'd love to hear from you.

Ribbon Cutting and Open House

A happy Thursday to you readers! I hope you’re ready for the Downtown Friday Art Walk tomorrow, because we certainly are!!

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors will conduct a ribbon cutting ceremony tomorrow, Friday, April 6^th, at 4:00-6:00 p.m. for Systematic Savings Bank, located at 318 South Avenue in Springfield, Missouri.  We’ll be serving coffee and light hors d’oeuvres during the unveiling! The ceremony will be followed by an Open House. We invite you to attend both events!

We’ll be open from 6:00-10:00 p.m. for the Friday Art Walk and we’ve hung original art work from Drury art students throughout the bank for display. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to enjoy yourself and to get to know us, while also supporting our local students. Plus, I can’t possibly finish all these cookies by myself. J

Systematic Savings Bank has served the Springfield community for 89 years. Our newly remodeled store mirrors our newly remodeled products, services and ideas. Stop by Friday and come see everything for yourself! We’re eager to meet you.



Systematic Savings Bank

 Have questions about Systematic Savings, our blog, or general banking information? Leave a comment and I'll respond!