good community bank in park slope...?

anyone know of any in the slope?

i'm interested in this campaign to move your money to local, more community minded banks but can't think of any in the neighborhood. there must be some.

recommendations?

www.astoriafederal.com
110 7th Avenue, Brooklyn - (718) 789-4100

You can get a list here:

http://moveyourmoney.info/

bigeyedesigns wrote: www. .
110 7th Avenue, Brooklyn - (718) 789-4100

Agreed

thank you!!!

I like Sovereign Bank on Prospect Park West.

The goals of supporting a community based bank are laudable however things are not always as they seem.

I am a mortgage broker. Astoria Federal, in general only lends to higher net worth people. In other words, after you put down your 25- 40 percent for your purchase, you must have at least 35% of your yearly income left after closing. in assets. Astoria has fabulous rates, but extremely stringent standards. They have some community based programs that I believe have less strict asset requirement, but access to them is based on the Kings County mediam income. The income to qualify for these programs is so low, it eliminates most properites in Brooklyn.

Citibank on the other hand, has more modest requirements, such as 20% down for most of it's products , and a minimum of 2 months of all expenses to be left after closing.

Neither redlines, both are open to lending in all areas of Brooklyn.

I have accounts with both banks and both of them offer excellent and professional service, but which bank is more responsive to the needs of the average resident?


JMHO.

Well, not everyone is looking for a mortgage and there are a lot of other good facts about astoria, plus, they do participate in local community events such as toy drives, etc.

reader wrote: The goals of supporting a community based bank are laudable however things are not always as they seem.

Astoria Federal, in general only lends to higher net worth people. In other words, after you put down your 25- 40 percent for your purchase, you must have at least 35% of your yearly income left after closing. in assets. Astoria has fabulous rates, but extremely stringent standards. Citibank on the other hand, has more modest requirements, such as 20% down for most of it's products , and a minimum of 2 months of all expenses to be left after closing.

In other words, they try to lend to people who can actually pay back the loan. Novel concept, that.

And one that I believe is central to the whole "move your money to a local bank" campaign, to divest from big banks that made all the risky loans to homebuyers who couldn't afford the houses they were buying. Call me crazy, but I think I'd rather have my money in a bank that isn't going to lend money to anyone BUT low-risk borrowers.

i'm not looking for a mortgage...just a place for checking and maybe savings.

i will NEVER bank with citibank again...they were absolutely THE WORST!

i'm also done with chase bank.

i'm going to check out astoria...sounds like exactly what i'm looking for in terms of a community bank which operates differently from the behemoths which nearly toppled our economy.

thanks again.

How local is Astoria Bank? Is that based in Astoria Queens, or is it local to Brooklyn in some way? How much of their business is in Brooklyn? I mean, most banks are local to NYC in that most of their assets and business are in NYC (such as JP Morgan Chase which is based in Manhattan). So if we're looking for a community bank, it should probably be connected specifically to Brooklyn or even Park Slope if possible.

that would be nice, wingedearth but not sure anything like this exists....

i would prefer something along the lines of what you mention, but the next best thing might be astoria...

good luck with astoria. the people who work there make the three stooges look like ph-d's. it's the worst bank ever.