Farm Credit of Western Arkansas
Owner: Farm Credit, a member owned financial cooperative
Location: Russellville, Ark.
Vice president and branch manager: Jim Taylor
History: This year Farm Credit celebrates 100 years of helping farmers with their financial needs. The Russellville, (Ark.) branch has been in operation since 1990.
“I have been working for them for four years,” Jim Taylor, vice president and branch manager said. “Though I started elsewhere in consumer loans, working for Farm Credit has been a perfect marriage of my two passions: agriculture and helping people better manage their financial lives. I use my agricultural background daily sharing information and helping member-owners make informed financial decisions. With 100 years of lending experience, Farm Credit understands that market fluctuations are an economic reality and knows how to help people optimize their agricultural and rural lifestyle dreams.”
Products and Services: Farm Credit serves rural America with a variety of loan options and revolving lines of credit. Loans range from small youth loans that help fund 4-H and FFA animal projects, to multi-million dollar loans for large operations, such as multiple chicken house construction.
“Helping new hobby farmers who want to improve their children’s lives by involving them in farming experiences and values is one of my favorite things to do as a loan officer,” Jim said. “Unlike a lot of other lenders right now, we’ve got 20- and 30-year fixed-rate loans for land and construction. We’re also unique in that we can finance homes on any size acreage. Customers tell me all the time they like the fact that we roll home construction together with permanent mortgages in one, easy loan closing. That saves our members time and money. In addition, we offer two types of revolving lines of credit: operating funds and capital funds. In both cases, owner-members are preapproved for a line of credit that they use as needed. It’s important to highlight that we’re not a traditional lender. Our customers actually own the association and enjoy special benefits like sharing in the profits when we have a good year. In western Arkansas, our members have shared $93 million in Patronage Cash since 1997.”
