Author Archives: Heartland Banks Blogger

Defending against scammers

Con artists can scam anyone, but it seems as if they target senior citizens more than any other demographic. This is mainly due to a large nest egg seniors have built up over the years. While we would never want to think of this happening to one of our loved ones, the truth is, it can happen to anyone.
Below are some common frauds to watch out for:

Grandchild in Distress. A scammer will call an Older American and address them as “grandma” or “grandpa.” If the scammer sounds anything like a grandchild, the senior citizen may call the scammer by that child’s name. The scammer will then spin a tale of woe—they were in an accident or they were arrested or they were stranded, and they need money wired to them immediately.
Trouble with the Law. This scam comes in the form of someone saying the senior citizen failed to do something—such as failing to pay some tax or failing to show up for jury duty. The scammer will claim there is a warrant out for the senior citizen’s arrest, and they can either pay a fine immediately or have an officer come handcuff them.
You Won the Lottery. Here, the scammer will say the senior citizen has won money in a foreign lottery. But, in order to get the payment, the senior citizen is told that they will have to pay upfront taxes and fees.
Utilities will be Shut Off. The scammer will call up and claim to be someone from the local utility company. They will claim that the utility bill is overdue, and the senior citizen must pay immediately if they do not want their services cut off.

If you or a loved one has been a victim of one of these schemes, call the authorities and then contact us at Heartland Bank and have the payments stopped.

Heartland Bank, Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender

Improving your home before selling

Are you ready to put your home on the market? There are a few simple things you can do to improve its value before you hire a real estate agent or list it in the classifieds:

Add a bathroom. Even if it’s just a toilet and a sink, it will make your home more attractive. Many of us have seen the older home where there’s an extra toilet in the basement, but no walls or privacy around it. We don’t recommend you do that if you’re trying to improve your home’s value. If putting a toilet in the bathroom is the most feasible thing to do because of access to pipes, make sure you put a wall around it and make it a proper bathroom.
Add a bedroom. This can be easier than you think. If you have a den, sometimes the only thing that’s keeping it from being called a bedroom is the lack of a closet. Adding one of these is a quick fix. Another space you may think about turning into a bedroom is the attic, or even a basement. If you go with the latter, just be aware that many municipalities require you to have recessed windows in a basement bedroom.
Update an existing bathroom. You don’t have to go all out, but sometimes even a fresh coat of paint can make a world of difference to a potential buyer. Another quick and cheap fix is to replace the flooring with vinyl tiles, or even replacing the toilet seat.
Renew your kitchen. Just like with the bathroom, you don’t have to go all-out. Instead, choose small, simple fixes. Replacing the handles and painting the exterior of the cabinets and drawers is one fix. Updating the faucet is another.

When you are ready to move on to your next home, Heartland Bank will right there beside you.

Heartland Bank, Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender

Home buying tips

Buying a home is no small process. Whether you are looking to purchase your first home or have been through the process before, it can be complicated seem very intimidating. However, Heartland Bank is here to help simplify things as much as possible to help you better understand the ins and outs of buying a home.

You may hear a lot of new terms thrown around. Here a few common ones and what they mean:

Escrow account: If you have less than 20 percent to put down, it’s likely you will need one of these. What this account does is take the expenses associated with the house– the principle of the loan, the interest, the insurance, the taxes– and pays the appropriate parties. You are then billed for the total amount each month, so your mortgage payment includes the taxes and insurance.
PMI: Private Mortgage Insurance is something you may have if you have less than 20 percent to put down on a house. This comes out of the escrow account every month, and the bank has you pay it to cover their losses in case you default on the loan. Often, the PMI is dropped once you have 20 percent of the principle paid off.
Closing costs: These are the scary-sounding costs that you often have to save up for. Not all closing costs include the same things, but they can often include the loan origination fee, attorney’s fees, prepaid taxes, prepaid insurance, an assessment and a myriad of other things. Sometimes (but not always) you can negotiate to have the seller pay the closing costs.

While buying a home can seem like a scary leap, it has many benefits, both financial and personal. We here at Heartland Bank are here to help you and educate you every step of the way. Get in touch with one of our mortgage lenders today to see how we can help!

Heartland Bank, Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender

Money management for new grads

You’ve walked across the stage, you’ve thrown your hat in the air, and you are ready to finally enter the adult world! However, that transition can be murky, and a lot of new college grads make big mistakes when they first head out on their own. Today, Heartland Bank would like to offer some DOs and DONTs when managing your finances:

DON’T charge everything to a credit card. This leads to a never-ending cycle of just making the monthly minimum instead of paying it off, leading to a lot of money wasted on interest. If college life just called for a credit card, get it paid off as soon as you can.
DO save up an emergency fund. Even putting aside a little bit every month will help. Did you get money for graduation? Put it aside. This will allow you to not have to rely on credit cards when emergencies do come up.
DON’T order food every night. The same meals can always be made cheaper at home. This can be a difficult transition for those who are used to using the dining center on campus every day. But, it can be a fun one, too! Who knows? Maybe you’ll find you love cooking!
DO take advantage of your company’s 401K program. I know, I know, it can be a little strange to think about retirement when you JUST started working, but this will not only help your future, it’s also a way of getting free money. A number of employers will match up to a certain amount, so if you’re not taking part in the program, it’s like you’re turning away money.

Here at Heartland Bank, we can be there every step of the way as you embark on your new financial future. Ask about starting a savings account today!

Heartland Bank, Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender

Preparing Your Finances for Purchasing a Home

If you are getting ready to purchase a home, you need this information about preparing your finances.

No one wakes up one day and says, “I want to buy a home today” and does it. Purchasing a home for yourself, your family or for you and your spouse to spend retirement in requires lots of planning and preparation. This ensures you get the financial details correct.

Spring is the beginning of the busy season for buying and selling homes. If you are going to be purchasing a home this spring or summer, now is the time to start preparing your finances to do so. Here is a breakdown of things to do before you begin the search for your new home.

Expect and Prepare for Surprises. Fees and unknown costs will come up. Therefore, it is best to expect and be prepared for these surprises by creating space for them in your budget.
Examine Your Credit Score. Take a free look at your credit score by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com. Be sure to fix any blemishes or errors on your credit report, as a higher credit score will help you get the best interest rate on your mortgage.
No Big Purchases. Now is not the time to be making any large purchases. Keep your spending in check during this time, saving what you can and remaining constant on everything else. This will help provide a more consistent picture of your finances to lenders.
Check the Numbers. Be prepared for number overload. They dictate everything from how large a mortgage you can afford to what you ultimately pay for your new home:
- Down payment- the larger down payment you make, the less of the purchase price you have to finance. You can also avoid the additional payments that come with private mortgage insurance (PMI) by making a down payment of at least 20 percent.
- Repair costs- is there anything that needs to be repaired in the home after you purchase it?
- Fees and taxes- escrow costs, fees for multiple copies of your credit report and so on can add up. Try to get a good idea of what to expect as soon as you can.
- Utilities- be sure to ask the current owners what they average per month in utility payments.
- Moving Costs- renting a truck or hiring help is another cost many people forget about until it comes time to move.
- Closing Costs- leave some wiggle room in your budget, as closing costs are often unknown until a few days or even hours before you close on your home.
Materials and Documents. Purchasing a home requires a lot of documentation, enough that it may seem like you are drowning in paperwork at times:
- W-2s for the last two years to gauge your income
- A month of paystubs to further assess your income level
- Investment statements to help the lender determine the diversity of your money and any other avenues to pay for your home
- A list of all debts with balances, interest rates, monthly payments and terms if applicable
- Multiple forms of ID, such as your drivers license, social security card and/or passport. Make copies of these as you will most likely have to provide them numerous times.
- To be sure about all documentation, contact your loan advisor as they will have a better idea about all the paperwork you will need.

Thorough preparation is the only way to ensure the mortgage and home purchasing process goes as smooth as possible. If there’s one thing that can make life infinitely better than a new home for you and your family, it’s doing so without any major headaches.

Get in touch with the mortgage lenders at Heartland Bank today if you are planning to purchase a home in the near future.

Heartland Bank, member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender

Bank Anywhere, Any Time with the Heartland Bank Mobile Banking App

You can put your personal finances at your fingertips with our new Mobile Banking App.

Have you ever thought having your personal line of access to Heartland Bank would be the best thing ever? While we can’t give you a key, we can offer the next best thing: our Mobile Banking app.

The Heartland Bank Mobile Banking app, available for both iOS and Android devices, gives you access to your accounts and many great beneficial features that allow you to have greater control over your personal finances.

Here are a few reasons you should download the Heartland Bank Mobile Banking app today!

Deposit Checks

Don’t leave checks – your money – sitting on your counter waiting to be deposited. The Mobile Deposit feature of our Mobile Banking app allows you to deposit checks by taking a picture of the front and bank, filling in the amount and selecting which account you would like the check to be deposited to. It’s that easy to deposit checks whenever and wherever you want!

Check Balances

Never be surprised by a low balance alert again. You can check the balances of your Heartland Bank checking and savings accounts by simply logging in to our Mobile Banking app and selecting “Accounts.”

Make Transfers

Moving money between your Heartland Bank accounts is easy with the “Transfers” feature. You can complete one-time transfers to cover a lack of funds or to contribute to your savings account.

Pay Bills

Never lick another stamp or send another bill in the mail. Bill Pay in our Mobile Banking app allows you to make one-time or recurring bill payments to vendors. Bill Pay can be utilized for any vendor that accepts ACH or check payments.

Find ATMs

Need cash quick? The ATM Finder in our Mobile Banking app helps you find the ATM location nearest you.

There are many other great features of Heartland Bank’s Mobile Banking app, but don’t simply take our word for it. If you’re an Online Banking customer already, go to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to download the Heartland Bank Mobile Banking app for yourself.

If you have any questions about the app, feel free to contact your nearest Heartland Bank office.

Heartland Bank, member FDIC

Website Walkthrough

We have a brand new website! Check out our blog for some help figuring out all the new features.

If you’ve been to our website recently, there’s a good chance you have noticed we changed things up a bit. We recently launched a new and improved website. The goal was to provide a more attractive website that better personifies the character of Heartland Bank, as well as reorganizing the content to make information more accessible and easier to find.

We are proud of the result, but we know change can be difficult, especially when it’s happening with your financial institution. To help you get comfortable with our new website, today’s blog post walks you through some of its features. We invite you to open a new browser window and go to www.heartlandbanks.com to follow along.

Responsive Design that Works on any Device

Our new website was built with responsive design techniques, meaning the website scales itself down and reorganizes itself for any screen size. The result is a perfect look or function on your desktop, laptop, smart phone or tablet.

The Header and Main Navigation

Available on every page of the site, the header at the top of the page is your road map to the rest of the website and your access point for Online Banking. The site search feature allows you to search our website by keyword or phrase.

The Marketing Message

Any large scale announcements can be found right in the middle of our home page in the marketing message. From news products and services to security issues or bank closings, it is our easily accessible message board to our customers.

News Feed

Here you’ll find the latest posts to our social media accounts and our blog. Clicking the posts will take you away from the Heartland Bank website and to the specific social network.

Right-Hand Columns

As you navigate throughout the website, the right-hand column will be the place to find additional resources related to the page you are viewing, such as downloadable PDFs, links to online forms and calculators.

This is by no means everything our new website has to offer. We encourage you to continue looking around the new website. If you encounter an issue, please contact Heartland Bank.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Heartland Bank, member FDIC

The Heartland Bank Blog: Your Go-To Source for Financial Advice

At Heartland Bank, we’re ready to serve you any way we can.

When you have a question about money or finances, who should you turn to? It would make the most sense if your bank could help with your questions to help you make better financial decisions. At Heartland Bank, we recognize that part of our role as a true community bank is to help educate our customers to help them make the best decisions. This is a large part of recent changes that have happened at Heartland Bank.

As you no doubt have seen, we have updated our website to better reflect the services we offer. In addition to a new design and layout, our website has another new component: a blog. This will be a central hub for a variety of different resources for Heartland Bank customers.

The Heartland Bank blog will be updated each week with new content. Topics of the posts include practical things for your everyday financial life such as:

Budgeting
Creating a savings plan
Explaining the ins and outs of mortgages
Improving your credit score
Wasting less money
Keeping your information safe
And other money related topics

Our blog will also be the place for larger updates about products and services at Heartland Bank. You can stay current on our latest posts by looking at the news section on our home page or liking our Facebook page.

We look forward to posting a lot of great content to help you with all aspects of your financial life. We hope to see you soon!

Heartland Bank, member FDIC