Worcester’s UniBank wanted to celebrate Independence Day a little differently this year, so the bank rolled out a new Military Banking Program, available to current service members, veterans and their spouses.
“Every night, you go home and look at the news and see folks who are away from their families,” President Jim Paulhus said. “It’s a way to give back to people who have given service to our country.”
On the consumer side, UniBank is offering premium rates on certificates of deposit, discounts on the interest rates for home equity loans and more favorable deposit products. But where the program really shines, Paulhus said, is on the small business side.
UniBank wanted to leverage its status as a preferred lender with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to help the veteran and military community, and the idea came about in a brainstorming session Senior Lending Officer Deb Larsen had with her team.
The $1.4 million bank will work with three organizations – Clark University, Veterans Inc. and the SBA – on its initiative to make $5 million in SBA-backed loans, up to $350,000, to veterans, military service members and their spouses. UniBank will also work with the Development Center at Clark University to offer counseling services to small business customers.
As part of the program’s launch, the bank also made a $5,000 charitable donation to Veterans Inc. to support human services for local veterans.
And as an added patriotic touch, the interest rate for a 12-month CD and the first 12 months of a home equity line of credit or an SBA veteran business line of credit will be 1.776 percent, Paulhus said.
It was important to the bank that the program also cover military spouses, Larsen said. For a military spouse trying to start a small business with a husband or wife overseas, that extra boost could make all the difference.
The program is still in its early days, having just launched the first of the month, but UniBank is hopeful it will gain traction in the community. Larsen said that some of her non-military commercial customers have called to offer kudos – and have promised to refer people.
“It’s a little early, but I have hopes that we work through the initial $5 million loan commitment and have to double it,” Paulhus said. “Time will tell.”
