good community bank in park slope...?

You can get a list here:

http://moveyourmoney.info/

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.

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.

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.

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