I recently moved to Cambridge Ohio, and needed a bank and people recommended Advantage bank which was a local bank that was kind of run of the mill for smaller locales.

But what I found was a marriage of small bank attentiveness and big bank capabilities. I was amazed. The last place I lived was Chicago, and the bank there was state of the art but had fees to go with it.

Advantage had all of the electronic bells and whistles, good checking and savings offerings, and really friendly people. I needed a loan, and thought of them but wasn not sure if they had the neccessary means to secure the capital I needed for the real estate I wanted. Larger banks are tighter, and ironically smaller banks once they get to know you will work better with you. You become not a number, but a real person with a family, a face, and you are more than your credit score or your “bottom line”.

I applied for the specific loan not in the usual way, but in a more face to face and friendly way. In Chicago the bank always seemed to want to be on to the next thing, and the agent was always looking away at the clock as we discussed what would be something I was responsible for paying for a long time.

Once I was discussing a loan and a separate bank person came in, sat on the edge of the desk, and used my agents computer while we were discussing business. In Chicago, I think that is standard, but not with me, and not in Cambridge.

I checked out Advanyage bank loans and found that they wanted to help me as a new resident, and as a potential new customer who needed support, but not just for me, but for the local economy and how much I was going to add to it with my developments.

I’ll stick with them. I don’t need big city banks I need small city banks like Advantage that have big city resources with a small city sincerity.