Did you celebrate earth day?

David W Johnson, CEO and other Reliabank employees spent this morning planting trees in celebration of Earth Day. These trees will be used as giveaways to customers during a summer promotion. 

Why should every day be Earth day? Forty years after the first Earth Day, the world is in greater peril than ever. While climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, it also presents the greatest opportunity – an unprecedented opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy now and for the future.

It's up to all of us to help our communities go green.

DID YOU KNOW....

Every aluminium drink can you recycle saves enough energy to keep your TV running for three hours.

Americans dispose of 10.5 million tons of plastic garbage every year, and about 8% of the world's annual oil production is used toward the creation of plastic products. A single plastic bottle can spend anywhere from 100 to 1000 years in a landfill

Passenger vehicles contribute 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US. 13% of polluted rivers are impaired by urban run off of pollution like that left behind on roads and parking lots from cars. Walk, ride a bike, and use public transportation to help curb climate change!

Taking care of the Earth is not just a responsibility -- it's a privilege.

E-mails: To Forward or Not to Forward

While this blog doesn't have much to do with banking or offering finance tips, maybe this will curtail the amount of time (and thus money) wasted by people who forward hoax e-mails both at home and work.
Are you tired of all the forwarded e-mails you receive (often called urban legends or chain mail) that take up your in-box? Messages about free money, children in trouble, and other items designed to grab you and get you to forward the message to everyone you know? For some reason people feel the need to keep these going by forwarding to everyone in their address book.

If you receive an e-mail that you suspect may be a hoax, take the time to check it out on http://www.snopes.com/ . You can use the Snope Web site to research the information you receive to determine its accuracy. If the e-mail message is a hoax, you should delete it when you receive it instead of forwarding it. E-mail hoaxes are a problem because they invade our inboxes, waste our time reading and forwarding them, exploit our fears, and cause us to worry about things that aren't true. Worst of all, some recent hoax messages have been shown to contain computer viruses that will infect and destroy data on your computer and on the computers of everyone that you forward the message to.

So the next time you get ready to hit the "forward" icon on your in-box - take a moment to actually see if the information is accurate. More often then not - it won't be.

WHAT MAKES A COMMUNITY BANK SPECIAL?

There are nearly 8,000 community banks, including commercial banks, thrifts, stock and mutual savings institutions, with more than 50,000 locations throughout the United States. Assets may range from less than $10 million to $10 billion or more. Community banks constitute 97 percent of all banks! We are proud to be your locally owned community bank.

So what is it that makes a community bank so special. Check out these facts:

• Unlike many larger banks that may take deposits in one state and lend in others, community banks channel most of their loans to the neighborhoods where their depositors live and work, helping to keep local communities vibrant and growing

• Because community banks are themselves small businesses, they understand the needs of small-business owners. Their core concern is lending to small businesses and farms. The core concern of the mega banks is corporate America.

• Local residents control the bank as shareholders and/or account holders.
• Community banks are the primary funding source for most local construction projects and residential mortgages.

• Community banks make many financial donations to civic groups and many bank employees are members of local civic groups.

• Community banks support many of the area's small businesses.

• Community bank employees and board members volunteer their time and support to local community projects.

Community Banking Month in Full Swing.....

So much going on this month at Reliabank. While we celebrate Community Banking Month, we have contests going on in all our bank lobbies. Stop by and take a peek at our Employee Baby Picture contest. Take a guess at who those cute babies are, and enter to win a Reliabank prize package.

KIDS! We have a coloring contest going on at all bank locations, stop by and pick up your entry form. When you return your colored picture you'll receive a $1 Dairy Queen certificate! Winners in each age category will win $10 in gold coins!

Our customer appreciation open house will be held Friday, April 23.
Join us for goodies and bevearges all day.

WHAT IS A COMMUNITY BANK?

Community banks are locally owned and operated.


Community banks reinvest deposits almost exclusively within the local community.

Nearly 95% of the bank's investment is put right here in our community through residential mortgages, small business loans, and agricultural loans.

Decisions are made at the local level.

Community banks' philosophy of management is community

April is Community Banking Month!

In celebrating our 90th anniversary this year, we realize as a community bank how integral we are to our area communities and engage in community reinvestment and development on a daily basis—one of our key missions is to ensure our local communities are vibrant and thriving.

One advantage of saving at a community bank is that because we are local, we want to build lasting relationships with our customers so we work hard to deliver superior customer service. A house down payment, retirement, college, adoption expenses, vacation, emergency funds—to name a few—are all goals families and individuals may have that require savings and are great reasons to start a savings nest egg at Reliabank now.

Come celebrate with us all month long! We will be having a kids coloring contest at each of our bank locations, and April 23 will be our community appreciate open house at all locations - serving up beverages and treats! Stop in and see what a locally owned community bank can do for you!

Keeping Up with Online Scams - FACEBOOK

Facebook is no longer a Web site -- it's rapidly approaching the scale of the Internet itself. With over 350 million users, many young users spend more time on Facebook than on e-mail. That means scammers are now crawling all over Facebook, since they always go where the people go. There are hundreds of Facebook scams, such as phishing e-mails, Trojan horse infections, and misleading advertisements. The most current scam involves a notice appearing on the wall of user profiles as a message from a friend, saying “Hey, I got a new facebook account. Im going to delete this one, so add my new profile” then with a link that appears to be a link to the new profile.

Users fooled into resubmitting their Facebook details on this page then have their Facebook accounts hijacked and all of their contacts receive a similar message, propagating the phishing scam.

It’s not clear yet exactly what the phishing scammers are planning on using the compromised accounts for, or how far it has spread.

But the crime you should most worry about is Facebook impersonation. A criminal who hacks into your Facebook account can learn a staggering amount of information about you. Worse yet, he or she can gain trusted access to friends and family. We've seen plenty of stories that show Facebook friends can easily be tricked into sending money in response to believable pleas for help.

For this reason, it's time to upgrade your Facebook password (make it a strong password with letterS, numbers and symbols). Treat it like an online banking site. The stronger the password, the less chance of being hacked!

PLEASE BE VIGILANT WHEN IT COMES TO THE INTERNET - DON'T BE FOOLED BY ADVERTISEMENTS THAT SEEM TO GOOD TO BE TRUE, LINKS THAT ARE QUESTIONABLE, OR POP UPS THAT CLAIM YOUR COMPUTER NEEDS TO BE UPDATED. THE MORE CAUTIOUS YOU ARE, THE BETTER OFF YOU WILL BE.

Gift and Travel Cards Available at Reliabank

Graduations? Upcoming weddings? Reliabank makes it easy for YOU to give the perfect gift with a Visa® Gift Card. No need to worry about finding the perfect gift, we have it right here for you! When you give your family, friends, or co-workers the gift of a Reliabank Visa® Gift Card, they can use it anywhere a Visa® logo is displayed, including retail stores and online merchants. These cards are great gift ideas for Holidays, Birthdays, Graduations, or Just Because! Gift Cards can be purchased at Reliabank in amounts from $10 to $500 for a fee of $2.50 per card.

Reliabank Visa® Travel Cards take the worry and stress out of travel. More convenient than traveler’s checks and more secure than cash, the reloadable Visa® Travel Card is essential gear wherever you travel. The Visa® Travel Card can be replaced if it is lost or stolen, making it a smart choice to take along with you on your travels. Visa® Travel Cards can be purchased at Reliabank in amounts from $10 to $10,000 for a $3.50 fee per card.