Hello. Hello, hello, hello.
We are back again and let me get myself all set here.
Posture so I can read this properly.
We'd like to welcome our sponsor, ascend Bank.
We appreciate them so much.
I do my banking there.
And really, the main reason initially was because of our guest.
We'll tell you more about her shortly.
But at the send bank, they don't just see accounts, they see ambitions.
Whether you're saving for your dream home, launching a growing your business
fueled by a passion, driven by vision, planning a once in a lifetime adventure
that sounds good.
One enjoys, yes, for simply seeking financial peace of mind.
They are here to guide you every step of the way you can trust them.
So together, you'll build a legacy that reaches beyond the bottom line
with ascend Bank.
Like to say a big thank you to all of our sponsors, woodwinds, wedding
and special events, venue and Silvio sources the woodwinds.com ascend bank.
They don't just see your accounts, they see your vision and ambitions.
Ascend Dot Bank Moonshots a vegan based company
that delivers the highest quality organic juices, coffee bowls and so much more.
Drink moonshots.com and to your health, nutrition and health
coaching, creating a lifestyle tailored just for you to your health.
Three 60.com.
We're deeply grateful to all of our sponsors for their support,
and for partnering
with us to uplift and enrich the lives of our listeners and viewers.
Appreciate you for tuning in to
what's good with John and Joyce, whether it be on YouTube.
Subscribe for free, tell all your friends about it, but we are your good news.
Stop 30 minutes every week.
No negativity, no politics, and oh no,
we have an amazing guest with us right now.
I've known her for a long, long time.
We're talking off camera about 21 years.
I think now. Yes, it is amazing, Amy.
Amazing, amazing.
Amy, I'll ask you.
Good to have you here, Amy. Thank you.
Thanks for having me. Yeah. Representing ascend Bank.
And we appreciate that. Okay.
So before people think like oh no banking, this is going to be
an exciting show because it's the first of the year.
All right.
What do people think about I'm going to get healthy I'm going to look better.
How do I make money? What do I do?
A lot of people just don't know what to do and they're afraid of it.
Like the oh, is the economy bad?
Can I save money?
So I thought, we've got to bring Amy in and talk to Amy's going to teach us
how to become millionaires. And we.
All right.
Yeah.
We got your attention there, didn't we? Yeah.
Oh, big shoes to fill.
Now the pressure was on, but.
Yeah. But Amy. Yeah.
Welcome. Yeah. Thank you, thank you.
Yeah.
So, I've been with the sun Bank for about four years now,
but I've been in banking for over 30 years, so I'm dating myself.
You started when you were 12. Thank you.
Yeah.
And, I've been in business
banking for 28 years, and, I've helped a lot of business clients,
you know, whether they're starting out or they've been in existence for a while.
I've done everything from commercial lending
to cash management, to just helping people.
You know, if they're with another bank and they're not happy,
you know, I'm helping them sort of guide them,
you know, maybe help with cash flow, opportunities.
Because in cash management, we have a lot of different services that we can offer
to kind of help with that, and give them funds immediately.
So, you know, that's what I do every day.
And, you know, it's not and it's not scary.
I think I know nervous around looking at everything. Yes.
Like where I eat all of that.
So you make it nice and easy.
Oh, that's
one of the things I love about us in there,
because when I've been in there in the past, they know you by name.
It's a local bank, but they appeal, you know, to way beyond local.
But when you go in there, they just take the time to really ask about you.
How can we help you?
It's not a one shop or one stop fits all.
And that's what I like about.
And, you know, for those who are listening, who are not in the area,
Amy still going to give you some advice on maybe what to ask your banker
if you don't live, you know, you know, there's an ascend Bank.
So we are located we have eight offices.
Excuse me, 13 now, we actually,
we, as you know, we were, originally Guilford Savings Bank GSB,
and we changed our name in the summer, in July.
And, when we did that, it was a
it was a decision
that had been going on for years because we wanted to expand in Connecticut,
our footprint.
We do have clients all over the state of Connecticut,
but we wanted to be more, have more of a presence.
So I think, you know, having the name ascend
was really a great move for the name ascend.
Yeah. Ascend means going up. Yeah.
And so we ended up buying, a smaller bank,
which was called Eastern Connecticut Savings.
They became ascend.
And now we have 13 offices.
So we're in Norwich area all the way up to Plainfield.
We go all the way down to Branford and then all the way up to North Haven.
So, yeah.
And then we have our operations headquarters in Wallingford
on Barnes Road.
We opened that in April, May of this year,
and it's a 35,000 square foot facility.
And everybody's kind of there.
It's it's sort of a central location.
So you'll be hearing more, but I'm sure we'll
be expanding in Wallingford area since we have a presence there now.
You're so community based, aren't you?
We are solved with it. Yeah, yeah. I love that.
And people need that nowadays because everything has gotten so corporate
and we've lost that one on one approach.
And and I get the impression that's the kind of approach you take, Amy.
I mean, there's a lot of bankers out there.
What do you think makes you stand out so much?
Well, I would I want to do banking with you.
I know well, I'm a relationship person.
Yeah.
And I think, I think that ascend is the right bank for me because
they value not only their employees, but we value our clients.
And I think, when I came on board, you know,
at first it was a little bit of a shocker because I was at a larger, institution.
And I came over and I realized this is where I fit.
And I think, you know, happy employees, happy clients.
Everybody is very happy there.
It's hard to explain, but I think there's a value aspect there.
And it's it's a really that's what makes us different.
We really care about our clients.
We're a mutually held bank.
So our clients are our shareholders.
So that's really important to us that we make sure that we make people
I love that, I love that it's like the green Bay Packers football team.
They're they're owned by the fans.
I don't they don't have that. Yeah, they're owned by the fan.
The fans own the green Bay Packers.
I figured I'd throw that in for you guys out there. That's great.
I didn't know that. Yeah. Yes, yes.
Because the things you listen to or learn, I mean, you'll yeah.
Like what's going on, especially when you're talking.
And that's the thing we all work as a team.
So I have partners that I work with.
Whether it's the branches, the commercial lenders,
I mean, we all work together for the greater good.
We want to make sure that our client is made whole, and,
you know, whatever that is, if we're giving them guidance,
you know, maybe it's not the right opportunity now for them,
but we can give them guidance forward and say, and, you know, that's great.
So even if they're not ready
to go to your bank, you're still going to help them anyway.
Yeah. Because you never know. It just it's all timing.
Yeah. That's that's exactly it.
And I always tell people there's no obligation. Just meet with me.
I'm happy to sit down and talk with you.
If you guys need guidance and you want to move forward with something.
I'm here. I'm not going anywhere.
You know, I'm hoping to retire there.
Yes. So, you know, that's that's far away.
But, you know, I like the fact you're not pushy.
I'm not pushy.
Yeah, I'm not pushy.
I think that's why I like it there.
Because, again, I go back to we're a relationship based bank.
You know, people say, oh, yeah, all banks say they're relationship banks,
but we really are a relationship bank.
So whether someone comes in with a lot of money
or someone comes in and says, look, I want to open an account,
I think I could put $50 a month into it, you know, but I want to regularly do this.
You could help them. Yes.
Yes, we I mean, we help everybody.
It's not it's not who has the most money, who doesn't,
you know, and we help in all aspects.
So I mean, again, you know, we have different parts of the bank
that can help with other things.
Gray ledge is our, financial advisor partner.
They're part of our bank.
And so if somebody is looking to maybe do investments or maybe,
you know, money, for retirement, our Gray Ledge advisors are great.
We have Ted and Anthony.
Ted kind of covers, you know, one area Anthony covers the other.
We also have, Scott alb ratio, and he is a guy
who handles all 4 or 1 k's and things like that.
So he specializes in that.
So, you know, we have a it's you know, I'm throwing people's names out there.
But it's really important because names are important.
People are important.
We again we know our clients.
We want to know them more. Right.
So I was talking to somebody
over a cup of coffee recently and they said they were at another bank
and they had to go through a whole bunch of hoops, paperwork, layers
and layers and layers. And she got so frustrated.
Three months of that and she filled everything out,
did everything, that they had asked her to do.
And then at the end of that three months, they said, we really can't help you.
So she picked up and went right over to a bank,
and she said everything was accomplished, like in a nanosecond, you know?
So why couldn't they have done that? Yeah.
And we just a big bank.
Yeah. Big bank.
And I'll tell you.
So we spent a lot of money.
We have a program that we use, that we open all of our accounts.
We can open them, whether it's somebody remote or they're in front of us,
and it's the same program, and it's so easy.
I mean, it takes ten minutes to open a business account
and maybe three minutes to open a personal well, and it's fast.
And that's what people want nowadays because we live in.
Yes, we live in a world where we just want it done.
We want it yesterday.
And you know that
from a psychological standpoint, sharing is so much easier for people.
Yeah, yeah, that's for you.
I think my first positive experience with the bank as a little girl,
my mother said, we're going to set up a Christmas club for you.
And I was so excited about that.
Remember I remember Christmas, yes.
So I would go to the bank once a week with her and put little bit of money in,
and then I didn't want to do what she said.
No, no, because at the end of the year you'll see.
And I'll just never forget
getting that money to buy presents, actually for my family.
Yeah. But it was so cool.
And you had a passbook, right? Yes.
And that's the I remember those passbooks anymore.
Yes.
Because you could keep it and you see it adding up.
Oh, yeah. Yes. Do you have clubs like that?
We don't know. We don't.
Bring it back.
Amy. Come on Rebecca. Nostalgia.
We don't have to call a Christmas club.
It could be, Like what?
Like a I want to say something like a manifestation club.
Yeah, yeah, I'm all for that.
I, I remember the days when people would come in and they'd
open a CD and you'd give them a toaster, or a coffee maker.
Right.
Well thank you, Ryan, I go, I go back, right?
Yeah.
I think we all get to a point I take. Yeah, those.
Yeah.
Well, I'll tell you, I never thought that I'd be in banking,
and, I'm glad that I did.
I actually left for a little while, and then I came back
and I missed it that much because I really like helping people.
I really do, you know, I don't think people realize that.
But you are in service.
Yeah. Doing that you are.
Yes. And I you know, I would hope that somebody would treat me that way.
You know, when I came out, you know, what's the old saying,
do unto others as you'd want done to yourself.
Right. So that's always been my motto.
So I always want to make sure that somebody is taken care of.
Is it always going to be perfect? No.
But you always find an answer or, you know, a
workaround or something to get things done.
Yeah.
And, you know, I think people appreciate that.
Also like John, you were saying before, like if you go out
and see somebody, you're not always going to get that deal right away.
You're I always say I use the word planting the seed.
You're planting the seed. Right?
And that seed eventually will grow, right?
Maybe not, but somebody will say, I remember meeting her.
I remember meeting Amy.
So I hope that people remember that, like when I go out there
and I'm talking to a business owner and helping them, like with their cash
flow needs
or if they need, you know, you know, I was talking about cash management.
People don't really know what cash management is.
It's they either call it cash management or treasury services either or.
That's ACH services, that's
where you can get automatic payments either to or from.
Right, wire transfers, that they can do remotely.
This is all done remotely.
They don't have to go into a branch.
Also remote
deposit you get next day funding on whatever check.
So say you have a check for $100,000.
It's available in the next day.
Sometimes you go into a bank, right?
It first day you get a certain amount of money.
The second day you get a another amount.
By the third day, maybe it's all cleared.
So people need that cash flow.
You know, it's it's it's really hard.
It's like, you know nowadays
you know, especially now with the tariffs and everything like that.
It's been really, really difficult for a lot of people, especially manufacturing.
So Joyce, with that $100,000 check you got in yesterday,
it's going to be available later on today.
But Amy, what about, you know, knowing you as well as I
do, I love the fact that you're really out there, too.
I mean, not out there this way,
but out there in the public because you're, like,
involved with so much wherever there's like three or more people,
you're out there to make friends. Yes.
And you're asking people questions about them.
You're not trying to pounce on people, but it's all about the relationship.
Like we keep going back to
and getting to know them, because the more you get to know
them in their life and their needs, the will provide the lead. Yes.
In what you're going to be going and and planting the seeds.
Yeah. Community is really big.
I mean, you know we we do a lot.
I'm sure you guys have seen the ascend sponsors sponsored. Yes.
They're everywhere I mean people. Yeah.
And a lot of people say, you know say somebody in I don't know, Milford.
Right.
Well you guys aren't in this area.
We still sponsor.
Well, we're big into sponsoring.
Not for profits.
It's very big for us.
The other thing we do is we, we offer an auction team.
So I think, John,
you are at the Women in Family Life Center, which I'm on the board of.
I'm the vice chair, and he's there all the time.
And just so many events for your bank has been there. Yes.
And we're one of the sponsors.
And we actually send an auction team to help I love and which is so nice.
It's like, I don't know, there's something about that.
It's very it makes me feel good that we're in the community and we're giving back.
I think that's so important for not just for for business.
Obviously leads to good business. But your motive is go out there.
Hey, you've been blessed as a bank with so many people.
You're going out there and blessing others in the community that,
hey, listen, we're here.
Yeah, and we've been around for 150 years.
You look pretty darn good for 150 years.
Wow. Really?
Wait 150 years.
Always under the name of Gilford Savings.
Gilford savings Bank. No, that.
Yes. That's fantastic. Yes.
What a great heartbeat at the middle of all of this great energy.
And I tell people,
you know, the name changed, but the people and the bank has not changed.
Yeah, it's just the name I send is a great name.
Yeah.
Well they I think they had quite a bit
I know, I think they had quite a bit of names
and they kind of narrowed it down to like ten names and.
Right, this was the one and I love the logo.
Other names.
Just out of curiosity, I have you know, no, I wasn't a trivia question.
Right, right I don't know.
Yeah I don't know.
But I'm glad that they came up with this name.
Yeah. And I love the logo.
To me it's very powerful.
Yes. Yes. Yeah.
So people shouldn't be afraid.
They should go in and discuss money, even if they have very little of it right now.
And, or maybe they thinking about investing in a new business,
but because of the economy, they might be afraid.
But you would be the person. Yes.
Or direct them to the person to speak with? Yes.
You know, one of the things, we, we,
we always constantly come out with new services, new products.
One of the things were we started offering last year was,
a line of credit that it's called an express line of credit.
Not just not just not to talk products.
Yeah. Not to talk products. Okay.
But I will tell you that it is such an easy program.
You know, there's like three, like, we can't really, lend to,
not for profits.
But I will tell you that,
it's a $50,000 line
or a $50,000 loan, or you can do a combination.
And all we ask for is that you're in business for two years,
and that you have a credit score of over 700.
That's it.
I need to come to you.
I need a roof on my house.
And then it's three.
And literally it's three, 3 or 4 day turnaround and and then you have access.
Wow. Yeah.
So to your business and over 700 with your credit score.
Yeah. That's it tastic. Yeah.
And it is fantastic.
So like a super high a lot of people can do that. Yeah.
And this is something we've been working on for a while
because I remember when I came on board, that was one of the things I said.
And, you know, other people had mentioned that,
you know, they've been asking for this.
So we've really, like, ramped up with this.
And, people, you know, sometimes need cash quickly.
Especially for the business, you know, if they're looking for some cash flow,
you know, they can utilize it, but they can go right online and transfer
between the account. Yeah. That's great.
The changed so much from back in the old days
when you had to go there physically and you this online has changed everything.
It has it has it's it's amazing.
And we have a great online platform to, for both,
the retail aspect of it and also our treasury platform.
We, we invested a lot of money, upgrading, for the cash management
clients that are looking to do things like lockbox and, and things like that.
So, what is lockbox?
Lockbox is, when you, usually like health care or property managers,
if there's a bunch of properties, they don't want the money to come to them.
It goes to a P.O. box.
Usually, like I think ours is located up in the Boston area.
And then they do all the deposits for them.
But our our fees, I mean, I say this, I'm saying
this on air, but our fees are so minimal
to anybody when it comes to our services compared to other banks.
I think that's another thing that makes things a little bit different.
Or is there a one line item we don't charge for every ACH,
we don't charge for every remote deposit like every check or deposit.
Be one of those banks to do that. That's so wrong.
It's nickel and diming, they call it.
They call it nickel and diming. Yeah.
And you know people that do have balances,
depending upon what account they have can offset all those fees.
So they pretty much get it for free based on their balances.
So it's really nice.
There's a lot of like there's a lot of opportunity there.
Another thing that, has really risen,
especially since Covid is, fraud.
I'm sure you guys have seen a lot of fraud.
And, you know, checks are getting washed and things like that, but we have
the theft. All that stuff is happening more terrible.
It's terrible.
But positive pay is, all banks offer it.
But positive pay
is something that we offer on the check side and on the, ACH side.
So what that does is it matches up with what they provide.
And then that if it doesn't match up, the client will get something
that says they have to make a decision
whether they want to pay or receive, you know, pay or return.
Let's say
now when people come to your bank, what is the biggest apprehension
they have when they when they sit with you, which is well,
I can tell you on the business side and it is a big move to change banks.
And, you know, to keep people at ease.
Some banks, if you move there, they're like,
oh, you got to move over everything immediately with us.
It's a, I tell people, however long you would like it to take,
if it takes you a month, two months, three months, it's a process
because people have automatic debits coming out of their account.
You know, they need to move over their services.
So if they have ACH services and things like that, we have to move them over.
But it depends. It depends on the client.
I had a client where I moved them over in a week.
I had another client. It took them three months.
So it just depends upon the person.
So you have to adapt.
You have to be a chameleon.
You do. You really have to do this? You do.
And you can see their posture change can't you, when they're sitting.
Oh yeah, they're a little bit nervous in the beginning.
Then all of a sudden, yeah they relax a little bit.
They're breathing easier.
Once you realize it's not as challenging as you think it is.
It's not.
You just want to make people feel comfortable
and let them know that you understand the way they feel.
Because it isn't easy to move banks.
I will tell you that people don't like change and people don't like change.
They don't like change.
So could you move a loan from one bank to your bank?
Well, we would
we would process a new loan for them so it would come through our bank.
So if they wanted us to take out the loan they currently have,
they would do it through us.
But then and then the person pays off.
We would yeah, they would pay it off or we can pay it off for them
depending upon how they want to have that. But handled.
So it's yeah it's a, it can be a process.
Yeah. To go through.
And it depends upon how much the line of credit or loan that they have.
But, you know, we
always try to make sure that we, you know, make the client understand
the process before all of it, because it's not like two weeks.
You have a line of credit.
I mean, if it's a larger one, like a 50,000,
we can do that pretty quickly, like 3 to 4 days.
There's a review.
That's right.
Yes I approve. Yeah.
So if I find out that your interest rate is lower,
like, than what I would be paying at my current bank.
Sure. I want to be with you.
Yes, yes, yes.
But I will tell you that if you're if you're replacing
your roof, what you probably want to do is look at a home equity.
Because our home equity rates are fabulous.
And we have like an introductory I think it's for, the first year,
it's like prime minus one.
And so our prime I think is at seven right now.
Okay. So it might be prime minus two.
I can find out for you Joyce. Okay.
Yes. Please do. Yeah.
So what are the stipulations to get that prime, loan like, Yeah.
They have to do. Yeah.
They have to do a drawdown of 25,000. Okay.
And that's on the personal side.
You know, it would be it would the home equity would be based on your house.
Oh I see yeah. Yeah.
The value that the value. Yeah. Yeah.
Which is crazy now I mean it's all over it.
It's skyrocketing.
But sometimes it goes a little lower and.
Yeah I know you go on Zillow, right?
It's all over the place and it changes day to day.
It does.
It really does. It does. Right.
So it really matters what's going on in that moment.
But then you get locked in so that if things change where this is value,
if you have a line of credit, the line of credit will go with prime.
So so like they'll give an introductory rate.
And then what they'll do is after that it'll be it'll be prime minus or prime.
Or prime.
It could be prime plus.
It depends like you know what you're looking for.
I my minus prime and prime plus. Yeah.
That sounds like so.
Yeah. Exactly I know I watched that tonight.
Yeah.
So so you get a lot of people coming in for mortgages.
Yeah. We have a great mortgage area.
So we have people that are out, out on the road,
they're outside reps, and then we have two internal reps.
So if somebody is calling in and they're looking to get something.
Yeah.
Right. Great.
Yeah.
Jason Jason's great.
He's he's in charge of the whole, residential mortgage and home equity area.
So, but we have some really great people.
See, we know all the people, every we all know each other.
That's the nice thing.
I've been at banks before that they're so big that people
you don't know go down the hallway. Who are you?
Are you right? Yeah. Everybody knows each other by name.
You probably told me. How was your weekend? Yeah.
Your kids.
Yeah, we have about.
I want to say somewhere between like two.
I'll say 200 to 225 employees total with all 13 branches.
Yeah, yeah.
And some great parties.
Do you have Christmas party, all of that? Yeah.
We do. We get together.
In fact when when we got to me, eastern Connecticut,
which is now part of us, they, we had a merger mixer.
It was really nice.
We had a suffrage.
I don't know if you've ever been up there.
Up in the Essex area, I was Essex, or every time
I was saying I always mix it up.
I love that whole area.
Chester, Essex, everything, deep river, that whole area is suffering.
But they do wonderful things like they had retirement parties, because we had,
Tim Gillan, who retired, Renee Pallenberg just retired, did her wedding there.
Joyce. Renee.
Really? Yeah. Way back.
Well, from wedding to retirement.
Exactly. From wedding to retirement. Sounds like a hallmark movie. That's
from wedding to retirement.
We could probably have that, right. They have all these in Connecticut.
That's right. The hallmark they do, they do.
A sand bank could sponsor.
Yes. Yes, yes. Yeah. Right. That sounds good.
Yeah, yeah.
So they should, see Amy.
Do we call? Yeah.
All right. Oh, they get in contact with you. Amy. Yeah.
How do they get in contact?
They can email me at, AK malesky
malesky at ascend Dot Bank ASC.
And is there to two or amazing Amy.
Is that officially part of your email address that's coming up right.
That's not fair John. You've been calling me that for years.
That's amazing. Amy.
Yeah, I would just say to people is to,
make peace with your money because that's something
I've been learning to do and not be fearful
to look at your checkbook or that, you know, you have to face it.
Yeah, but then realize you had the power to change
it as well and ask for help.
Like Amy, you know, truly,
I love sitting down with people because if I can change people's vision,
you know, they come in apprehensive and they leave feeling at ease.
That makes me feel great whether they come with me or not.
I just want people to feel like, you know, they can come and ask and,
I, I just, I'm.
I truly believe in that.
I think good things always come back to you.
And, you know, when you're when you're in banking
at any bank, you know, there's always goals and things like that.
I really don't think about those things because I always know
that things will happen.
And if they're meant to be, they're meant to be. Yes.
And it always happens.
Well, since we changed over to a sand bank,
now my wife is going for Mike in the morning. So,
she does have a lot more calm and a lot more calm.
Good for the both of you.
Absolutely, exactly. But, Amy, thank you so much.
Thank you. I wish you nothing but the best with the sand.
Thank you.
Appreciate you guys being a sponsor of what's good with John and Joyce as well.
You know, and we appreciate all of our sponsors.
And thank you so much for watching.
What's good with John and Joyce. Share it with everybody.
You know, 30 minutes every week you're going to feel a whole lot better.
You know, politics, no negativity.
Have a great one I love you. Bye for now.
Hey, I heard you got engaged. Congratulations.
Now it's time to book the DJ.
And that's where we come in.
Hi, I'm John Cadillac, Seville with John Seville entertainment.
Wedding wire and the knot 2026 Couples Choice Awards winner.
You can call me directly if you'd like it.
(200) 398-8065 eight.
We'll set up your free consultation or go to John cashman.com.
That's (203) 988-0658 or John cashman.com.
We offer excellent peace of mind and a great time
for all John Seville Entertainment a name you know and can trust.