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| A Snapshot for Participating Financial Institutions | Winter 2014 |
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| PFI Conversation: The MPF® Program “Supports Our Mission” |
Security State Bank, a member of FHLBank Topeka, has expanded into Omaha during the last decade, but its heart remains in the small town of Ansley, Nebraska, where it has operated since 1915. The bank has assets of approximately $130 million and an MPF® servicing portfolio of approximately $140 million. It is still known in Ansley as “the bank that did not close” during the nationwide bank holiday of the Great Depression.
MPF in Focus recently spoke with Leah Smejkal, Vice President of Operations at Security State Bank, about the bank’s collaboration with the Mortgage Partnership Finance®(MPF®) Program. Leah is also a member of the MPF Advisory Council.
What were the circumstances that led Security State Bank to begin using the MPF Program?
Leah: When we first started the secondary market mortgage department within our bank in 2008, our President asked us to look into the MPF Program. Coming from the Fannie/Freddie secondary market world, I was not familiar with the program. As we started checking into it, we liked the characteristics of risk sharing, the ability to use common-sense underwriting, and control of the  underwriting and closing process.
What are some of the benefits you’ve realized?
Leah: We feel we are able to provide far better customer service by keeping the underwriting and closing in-house, and we like the ability to retain servicing both from a customer relations and a revenue perspective. We also benefit from fewer underwriting overlays, investor fees, and bottlenecks with underwriting and closing turn times than we experienced with other secondary market investors.
What do you feel are the most valuable benefits of the program?
Leah: I’ve taken this opportunity [this interview] to ask each of our loan officers what they feel is the single most valuable benefit of the MPF Program, and each one of them finds in-house underwriting and servicing to be most valuable as they work on their origination business.
The fact that we can handle the loan internally from origination through servicing supports our mission as a neighborhood community bank. The loan officers and management alike appreciate being able to give our customers peace of mind that they can always contact us if they have questions or an issue arises.
How would you rate your experience with the MPF Program?
Leah: Initially, we had some hurdles to overcome, but after working with FHLBank Topeka, we have found the MPF Xtra® product to be user-friendly. Overall, our experience with the MPF Program has been very positive. |
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