December 17, 2009 – Louisville, KY – Several local charities – from the Red Cross to Meals on Wheels – will be receiving donations from local Farm Credit Services of Mid-America offices. Five FCS offices earned the right to make $500 charitable contributions to the organization of their choice as a result of signing up FCS customers on the agricultural lending cooperative’s new online banking system.

 

This fall, Farm Credit introduced a new system and in mid-2010 the old online banking program will be disabled. Kevin Geron, vice president – accounting operations and online banking, said the promotion was a way to engage staff in the new program and to encourage customers currently using the old online banking system to migrate to the new one. 

 

“It’s hard to imagine that not so long ago, online banking was non-existent. While the culture has certainly evolved and more than ever, customers demand access to information electronically, they still want to know that their information is secure,” Geron said. “At Farm Credit, we consider security priority one. It’s the main reason we’ve committed extensive resources to protect our customers against identity theft and moved to a system that follows the highest industry standards of protection.”

 

Huntingburg, Indiana was the overall winner and selected ‘Generations – Meals on Wheels” as their benefactor. Other statewide winners included:

 

Owensboro, Kentucky                                    

Christmas Wish

 

Wooster, Ohio                                                

 

Anderson, Indiana                                           

 

Lawrenceburg, Tennessee                                

 

Local office staff in Huntingburg include Luke Kelly and Bryce Taylor (financial services officers) and Kathy Luker and Rhonda Jochim (customer service representatives).  They said the key was to get the word out to customers, letting customers know that the old online banking system would be disabled sometime next year and informing them of all the great new features of the new program.

 

“In the end, it was about helping others. Not only helping our customers with the new program, but helping a community who is feeling the impact of our current economic environment,” they said. “We basically had the opportunity to make a difference by combining business and online banking with social responsibility."

 

Farm Credit Services of Mid-America is a $15.2 billion financial services cooperative serving over 85,500 farmers, agribusinesses and rural residents in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee. The association provides loans for farm and rural living purposes including real estate, operating, equipment and housing and related services such as crop and life insurance and vehicle, equipment and building leases. For more information about Farm Credit, call 1-800-444-FARM or go online at www.e-farmcredit.com.

 

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