The Money Lenders


arge banks buy smaller ones. Regulators demand sound and fair banking, and sometimes change the criteria by which that will be evaluated. Competition increases, global marketplaces affect the local economy, and technology offers a boon and a bane. What's true across the nation is also true in Garden City, but here change has come at an even faster pace than in most communities.

Lenders are serving customers who come from different countries and may not speak English. "Most minorities in Garden City operate in cash," said one banker. "In their native countries, they have seen graft and corruption and nationalization of banks. People have lost their money in banks."

Banks, schools, government, churches and social service agencies have worked together to educate people and establish trust in business relationships in Garden City. As immigrants learn about the safety and the leveraging power that banks can provide--and as lenders learn to relate to minority customers--that trust is slowly increasing. Minority customers have increased at all the Garden City banks and at the credit union.

All the lending institutions have programs in the schools. They all look for ways to reach the different segments of the market in Garden City, such as through branches in grocery stores or discount department stores or through a payroll deduction plan at IBP for savings and loan payments. All of them say that their most difficult challenge is in finding and keeping minority and bilingual employees. "It doesn't take money to serve minorities," said one. "It takes time."

Jeff Whitham, Western State Bank
"Whether you think you can or think you can't...you're right," says the plaque on the wall behind President Jeff Whitham's desk at Western State Bank. On the side wall are children's crayon drawings, a schedule for the racquetball league, one photograph of a steer and another of a prairie skyline. A world globe sits on a corner of his desk. Whitham's office reflects his perspective about banking--and about living--in Garden City.

"Multiculturalism is a plus," he said. "It's not as if this hasn't been going on for 200 years--this is what our ancestors went through when they came here. A lot more communities will be experiencing what Garden City is experiencing now.

"Multiculturalism is a plus....This is what our ancestors went through when they came here."

"Western State Bank is the leading mortgage lender in Garden City," said Whitham. "Last year we sponsored an affordable home loan program with 95 percent financing for 15-year terms at variable rates. We didn't require mortgage insurance, and have kept the loans in the bank's portfolio. The average size of loans is $35-40,000. We've made loans primarily on older stick-built homes, but also do some financing of mobile home purchases. The quality on these loans has been fine. We've had no delinquency problems and no servicing problems."

Whitham is comfortable with the additional diversity that the Seaboard pork processing plant would bring to Garden City. "We know we can handle it, and if they want to come here, they have a right to do it," he said. "Look at the benefits we've gained from IBP's presence. We have a more varied community that is a good place to live. My daughter is getting a good education in the public schools. She is exposed to different cultures, and she'll have a broader mind because of it. This bank has grown, and so have other businesses. We've kept up with the city infrastructure. We probably pay more taxes, but they're not onerous."

"This bank has grown, and so have other businesses."

Whitham sees taxes and other inconveniences as simply the price of progress. He is from Leoti, Kansas, about 50 miles northwest of Garden City. "When I was growing up, I heard more about Dodge City than about Garden City, even though Dodge was another 50 miles the other side of Garden," he said. "But now it's Garden City that has forged ahead to become the economic center of the region.

"Sure, it would change the town if Seaboard comes in," said Whitham. "A lot of folks are threatened by change, but the whole country is changing. The United States has had waves of immigrants throughout its history, and this is just another of those waves. Some of the immigrants who come here are transient, but many are settling down, buying homes, opening businesses. People come here to earn money and to find a better life."

Taunce Mathiason, Fidelity State Bank
"We work to meet the financial needs of minorities so we can make money, not because some regulation says we need to," said Taunce Mathiason, president of Fidelity State Bank. Mathiason was a banker in Iowa before he came to Garden City, and is originally from South Dakota. "There weren't many minorities in eastern Iowa," he said. "When I came here five years ago, I had no idea how to do banking with minorities."

Because he saw a potential customer base there, Mathiason set about identifying leaders in minority communities and invited them to the bank for lunch. "The key is letting people know we want to do business with them," he said. "We meet about three times a year now, and we ask minority leaders to tell us what we need to know about doing business with different communities."

"We ask minority leaders to tell us what we need to know about doing business with different communities."

The bank provides training for its staff on cultural differences. "We had a person from the junior college come talk with us," said Mathiason, "and it was one of the most interesting discussions I've ever heard.

"In some cultures, there's no sense of urgency in making a loan payment. People plan to repay a loan, but they expect to do it when they get around to it. They don't understand late payment fees. In some cultures, people will pool money and borrow money from each other before borrowing from a bank.

"We were one of the top agricultural banks in the country before so many mergers took place," said Mathiason. "As times change, we have to change, too. As our older depositors die, their heirs will put their money elsewhere. We need to reach more customers, and we have an obligation to serve the community--but it's to make money, not for the regulators. We have to take some risks, and we'll make some bad loans, but that's what banking is about.

"We have to take some risks, and we'll make some bad loans, but that's what banking is about."

"Banking here has been an experience!" Mathiason said. "Garden City is a community that has worked hard to be inclusive. We're willing to recognize our differences. There's some rhetoric from people who oppose Seaboard coming in because it will bring more minorities to the community. I don't think Seaboard will come here, because Garden City will require them to pay their own way, while other cities will give them a blank check to come in. Either way, we haven't had major racial issues in Garden City, and don't want any. God created us all equal, and if people have a problem with that, maybe they need to talk to Him about it."

Larry Mowry, Golden Plains Credit Union
"The economy is good," said Larry Mowry, president of the Golden Plains Credit Union and a native of Garden City. "The biggest problem in Garden City is finding employees. The New Lone Star Steak House couldn't open for lunch because they couldn't find enough help. We spent two months looking for two employees for our new branch at Dillon's grocery store.

"The biggest problem in Garden City is finding employees."

"Credit unions have always worked with working people, and we've been serving workers at the meatpacking plants for a long time," said Mowry. "We had payroll deduction at the Monfort plant when it was owned by Farmland Industries, and we also have payroll deduction for savings and for loan payments at IBP. There's high turnover at the packing plants--it's hard work, and cutting up dead cattle is not a job for everyone.

"Some people complain that if Seaboard comes in, there would be more crime because of an increase in minorities," said Mowry. "But the records show that there were more police calls to the Grain Bin, which has mostly white customers, than to the Mexican or Asian bars.

"A lot of people in Garden City buy cars instead of homes," said Mowry. "A bank in a nearby town loosened up their credit standards too much. Before they fired their loan officer and their president left, they were looking like a used car lot, with 26 repossessed cars parked around the bank.

"Some people are getting themselves in trouble with $20Ð30,000 in credit card debt," said Mowry. "We make some home mortgage loans, and some business loans. We use the credit bureaus' credit scoring system, but you can't set policies that meet every situation. Some minority-owned businesses in Garden City are doing extremely well, even though the owner may speak only broken English.

"This is a booming town," said Mowry. "With or without Seaboard, the future looks good in Garden City."

Doug Laubach, NationsBank
Doug Laubach decided to return from Phoenix to Southwest Kansas, where he had grown up, because he wanted to be closer to family and he wanted to raise his son in a smaller town. Laubach, who is president of NationsBank in Garden City, said senior management at NationsBank has a lot of mobility, but his plan is to stay in Garden City.

"I've lived in cities with brown air that made my lungs burn," he said. "I've chosen to live in Garden City instead. Some people don't understand why I moved from a metropolitan area to a place with more cattle than people. But Garden City has more diversity than Los Angeles. It has good schools, and it has civic leaders who are fair.

"Garden City has more diversity than Los Angeles. It has good schools, and it has civic leaders who are fair."

"We're reaching a size now that puts us on the map for national chain stores. That may be tough on some of the downtown merchants, but I think they can compete. I want more choices in products and services--although I'd like it if we were the only bank in town! If Garden City can grow to the next level with our population, maybe we'll be of a size to bring in more skilled jobs.

"The beefpacking plants in the area draw employees from Mexico and Southeast Asia," said Laubach. "Some people talk about how much it costs to have immigrants living in the community, but from my work with charitable fund drives, I know that many of the people who came here from other countries give more to the community than they take, and more than others who have a lot more they could give.

"I used to be bothered when people didn't speak English, but then I thought about how scared I'd be if I were in a strange place and I didn't understand the language. We're not going to change other people's cultures," said Laubach, "and the city leaders are doing a good job of making multiculturalism positive.

"It's a live and let live community. We all have opinions, but no one is necessarily right or wrong and we don't force our opinions on one another. The multicultural character of Garden City is just the way it is."

Dick Erskin, Wooden Nickel Pawn Shop
"I'll cash checks for people who are new in town," said Dick Erskin, owner of the Wooden Nickel Pawn Shop. "Our process is simple, and I can communicate with customers who don't speak English. A lot of our customers are from Guatemala, where IBP has been recruiting employees. Our niche is in providing short-term cash for people who don't have other access to cash.

"Our average loan is $30, and it's usually for two weeks. People use us in an emergency to fill the gaps--they forgot to pay the light bill, their car battery went dead, or they're desperate for lunch money. People under age 25 are different, though--they'll come in and pawn a wedding ring because they want to go to a movie or the carnival.

"We charge people fifty cents for check cashing, because we want to get customers into the store," said Erskin. "We provide financial advice, like part of a family. We help people establish credit, and when they're ready, they graduate to a bank."

"We help people establish credit, and when they're ready, they graduate to a bank."

John Davis, GRA Thompson, White & Co., P.C.
John Davis moved to Garden City in 1983 from Tulsa, Oklahoma to become president of Fidelity Bankshares, Inc. He stayed 9-1/2 years and then moved on to Colorado Springs, Colorado. As chairman of the board of GRA, Inc. and managing director of GRA, Thompson, White & Co., P.C., he now serves as a bank consultant.

"I jumped at the chance to go to Garden City," he said. "Kansas had everything going for it at the time: agriculture, oil and gas, aviation. Garden City was specifically driven by the cattle industry. Crops feed the cattle, cattle are processed at the meatpacking plants, and auxiliary businesses such as trucking and box plants have grown up around the meatpacking plants. Even during the economic downturn in the late '80s, Garden City was able to capitalize on its resources.

"Even during the economic downturn in the late '80s, Garden City was able to capitalize on its resources."

"Banking has been a part of what makes Garden City click," Davis said, "but it's been leaders throughout the community who have really made the difference. The town could have dried up and blown away, and instead it is thriving. It's had leaders with vision, people who have pushed and pursued and made things happen. Other communities also had cattle and finance and transportation, but Garden City hustled, and made fortune tip its way. Garden City developed a strategic plan, with vision and goals, and that made a world of difference. It's been a combination of the right people at the right time in the right place."