First National Recovers Previous Bad Debts

First National Bank of Springdale is the only bank in Washington County that reported a positive recovery for net charge-offs to loans for 2000. The bank’s 0.14 percent return on write-offs shows recovery of loans that were made in years before.

A rigid underwriting policy steers the bank’s loan department, said Arthur Thurman, senior vice president of lending at First National.

“We do a very good job of underwriting,” Thurman said. “We’re a little more conservative. We have a very solid, clean portfolio. We don’t spend as much time trying to clean things up. We do things the way they should be done, and not allowing the marketplace to dictate the way we do things.”

First National President Jerry Reinert also credits steady communication with potentially delinquent borrowers for keeping the charge-off figures low.

“You don’t make a bad loan,” Reinert said,”They go bad later. We like to hear from the borrower before things get too bad.”

United Bank in Springdale and First Federal Bank of Arkansas in Harrison each reported a neutral net charge-off, and 12 other banks reported losses. The Bank of Arkansas in Fayetteville reported the highest charge-off with 1.73 percent.