Retiring in a financially secure position isn’t a sure thing. It takes planning and commitment to ensure you can retire comfortably and early enough to enjoy your golden years to the fullest. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, only about half of all Americans have calculated how much they need in order to save for retirement.

People are notoriously bad at thinking about and preparing for the distant future, doubly so when it requires them to save money. However, formulating a plan, developing savings habits, and understanding how Banks and other financial institutions factor into retirement planning is essential for achieving your retirement goals.

Start Early & Stick to It

The best time to start saving for retirement was yesterday, and the next best time is today! Even before you develop a formal retirement plan, it’s important to get into the habit of putting money away into a savings account on a regular basis. Long-term savings plans rely on compound interest to turn even the most modest amounts of money into a sizeable fund for the future. So, the earlier you start saving, the more you can leverage the power of compound interest.

Start by putting a small amount of money into a savings account at the end of each month. As you grow more comfortable with your new budget, consider increasing the amount you deposit each month. The key is to make saving an automatic habit rather than something you need to actively consider each month.

Understand Your Needs

Retirement is expensive. It’s important to understand that your retirement savings are there to replace your regular income once you stop working, so how much you save determines what your standard of living will be upon retirement. Take some time to list your current expenses and income and determine which of your regular expenses will change in retirement. For example:

• Are you currently paying a mortgage? You should calculate if you will finish paying it off before retirement. Don’t forget that even if you have your mortgage paid off, you will still have home maintenance costs after retirement!
• How much do you plan to drive? If you drive a lot for work, you may notice your monthly gas bills getting much lower after retirement.
• Do you want to keep dining out after retirement? Be sure to factor in leisure expenses like vacations and dining out.

The standard rule of thumb you will receive from financial planners is to replace 70 to 90 percent of your annual pre-retirement income through savings and Social Security. So, if you earn $80,000 per year before retirement, you’ll want to earn $56,000 to $72,000 per year in retirement.

New Tripoli Bank has a retirement calculator on our website to help you determine your savings target. Once you have calculated this number, you can use it to determine whether or not your savings contributions are enough to help you reach your goal.

Consider Social Security Benefits

Before you start looking into retirement accounts, you should determine what your Social Security benefits will be upon retirement. The amount of wages that Social Security replaces varies depending on your earnings and when you retire. The longer you wait to retire, the greater your Social Security benefit will be.

You can learn more about Social Security and calculate your expected benefits by visiting the Social Security Administration’s website: https://www.ssa.gov/

Consult Your Employer

You should speak with your employer to understand what options they can provide to help you save for retirement. Many employers offer 401(k) plans, and some businesses still maintain traditional pension plans for their full-time employees. If your employer doesn’t offer a retirement plan, suggest that it start one. Your employer may be able to set up a simplified plan that can help you and your coworkers plan for retirement.

If your employer offers a 401(k) plan, you should ask if they do contribution matching and what stipulations exist to ensure that you get as much money as you can out of the plan. You should contribute as much as you comfortably can to this plan. Your taxes will be lower, you’ll be taking advantage of your employer’s contribution matching, and automatic deductions from each paycheck reduce your mental burden when it comes to saving.

Put Money Into an IRA

An Individual Retirement Account is similar to a 401(k), but instead of being an employer-sponsored retirement savings account, you assume responsibility for opening and contributing to the account. Much like a 401(k), the funds you contribute to your IRA are invested into a variety of investment products such as stocks, bonds, and certificates of deposit (depending on the type of IRA and the institution you are working with). This means an IRA will, on average, produce greater returns on investment than a standard savings account.

The tradeoff is that the funds in an IRA can’t be touched until you reach a certain age, and contributions to an IRA are limited to a certain amount each year (click here to learn more about contribution limits for the current year). There is also a penalty for withdrawing from your IRA before you reach age 59 ½.

There are two types of IRAs, traditional and Roth, and each one offers its own benefits. Traditional IRAs are tax-deferred, which means you make contributions from your income before taxes, and you will pay tax when you start receiving the money later in retirement. Roth IRAs are the opposite: the money contributed to a Roth IRA comes from post-tax income, but in exchange you do not pay taxes later when you start taking the money out in retirement. You are not limited to one or the other (though the annual contribution limit applies to all your IRAs combined), and each has its own benefits and downsides. After seeking advice from a financial planner, you can speak with one of New Tripoli Bank’s IRA specialists who can assist you in opening your desired IRA account.

You can also speak with our partners from the New Tripoli Financial Advisors for more information on other investment options.

No matter how ready you think you are, it can’t hurt to ask for advice. New Tripoli Bank offers both traditional and Roth IRAs, as well as Simplified Employee Pension IRAs. Feel free to contact me or reach out to your local New Tripoli Bank branch office to speak to a community banker who can walk you through opening a retirement account. We would be happy to help you plan for the future!

Jenna Smith is an Assistant Vice President and the Branch Manager for New Tripoli Bank's Claussville Office, as well as a certified IRA Services Professional who has worked for New Tripoli Bank since 2006. She completed the PA Bankers Advanced School of Banking and has been helping customers for many years. She has dedicated her career to learning all she can about banking and finance and in her free time enjoys spending time with her family and working on arts and crafts.

by John Hemak and Mike Koch

Over the years, we have been asked the same question many times, both from customers looking to start up a new business and existing customers looking to expand their business: “Why do I need a business plan?”  A solid business plan is important because it addresses every aspect of the commercial venture you are about to undertake. The plan describes your business, it identifies its operational and financial goals, and, most importantly, it helps you determine the best course of action to achieve success for your business.

With this blog, we hope to provide an outline for developing an effective business plan, as well as point out several resources available to help you formulate your own plan.

First, write an executive summary. This is your pitch to provide more information about your business to people. Key items you should include are a mission statement, a brief description of products or services to be offered, and your intended customer base.

Next, describe your company in detail. You will want to include in this description your business’s registered name, business location, and the key employees comprising the business. Your company description should also define your business structure, such as sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation. If there are multiple owners in the business, this is the perfect time to specify the percentage of each owner’s stake in the company. It’s important to highlight the ownership team’s strengths that will give your business an advantage over your competitors.

Now that you’ve completed a description of your business, it’s time to state your business goals. These should include short-term and long-term goals. These goals can be numbers-based and will recognize the financial and profit goals of the business, as well as strategies to create brand awareness. Explain how you will achieve these targets, either by attracting new customers, adding investors, or obtaining a business loan.

The fourth item is to describe your products and services. This section can be a bit overwhelming, but it is necessary to explain how your product or service works, provide a detailed pricing model, cover your supply chain, and order fulfillment strategies. You should also go into greater detail about the customer base you wish to service.

The last step is to outline financial plans by providing a prospective statement for the next five years. Include forecasted income, operational costs, and cashflow statements. Include a section on unanticipated costs, as it’s important to factor in potential costs so you are not caught unaware if something does come up, and you have a contingency plan in place. You will also want to consider a capital expenditure budget, to ensure the business is able to support future capital projects, such as equipment, personnel, or real estate acquisitions.

The bottom line is that business plans are important because growing a business requires a vision and establishing a business plan will help set you on a successful path.

If you’re looking to get started on your own business plan, there are a several resources available to assist you in developing your business plan:

• The US Small Business Administration provides example plans through their site. You can check out their guide to writing a business plan here: https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/write-your-business-plan
• There are Small Business Development Centers located throughout the country; you can find a local center at https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance/resource-partners/small-business-development-centers-sbdc. The goal of these centers is to help businesses start, grow, and prosper through offering free services.
• Consider hiring a Business Consultant, a professional who can offer industry experience and knowledge that can help guide you to create a successful business plan.

John Hemak is a Vice President of Commercial Lending for New Tripoli Bank and sits on the board of the East Penn School District Education Foundation. He has been involved in commercial lending for decades and has been a commercial lender for New Tripoli Bank for over 11 years.

Mike Koch is New Tripoli Bank's Business Development Manager and has previously served as a Branch Manager and Assistant Branch Manager. He has been a member of the New Tripoli Bank team for almost 20 years and has decades of experience working with business customers.

With how tight the real estate market is right now, it’s easy to believe that selling your home is a sure thing. However, just because there are more buyers than there are houses on the market doesn’t mean the offers you receive on your home are the best they could be. Many homes are put on the market in need of serious repairs or with unflattering pictures that poorly reflect the personality of the property. These homes often languish on sites such as Zillow or Redfin for months before finding a willing buyer.

If you want to give yourself the best chance to receive an offer on your home and maximize its value to potential buyers, you’re going to need to put in some effort. Here are five recommendations you can consider in making your house more appealing to prospective homebuyers.

Making Repairs

Every homebuyer knows the importance of having a home inspection contingency as part of an offer. One step you may want to consider is having your property inspected before putting it on the market. Making certain repairs before selling a home may help to alleviate potential buyers’ concerns and also potentially reduces the likelihood that a sale falls through.

A pre-listing home inspection report will tell you which home repairs you should consider making. You will want to review this report carefully and proactively with your trusted advisors. You will also want to compile a list of completed repairs and have that information readily available.

Making certain repairs before listing your home shows you are being transparent about the property you are selling, which can reflect positively during negotiations and potentially increase buyer confidence.

Make Small Improvements

When it comes to selling your home, keep in mind that not all home improvements are made equally. A fully remodeled kitchen will be the centerpiece of your open house, however the cost to remodel your kitchen won’t necessarily be reflected in the sale price.

The upgrades that can maximize your profit are those that tend to have the greatest emotional impact on buyers. Minor changes like repainting the cabinets or even upgrading older appliances can make a noticeable difference. Even something as small as replacing lighting fixtures can go a long way toward evoking an emotional connection in a potential buyer.

Rather than remodeling your entire bathroom, consider making smaller updates like replacing the vanity, shower frame, and the fixtures. It’s amazing what a small investment can do to improve the first impression of a home.

Curb Appeal

Does your home have curb appeal? The front of your home will be the first and last impression you leave on a prospective buyer, so it’s important that you put your best foot forward.

If you have a lawn, make sure it is dry and freshly mowed. Also consider picking up some inexpensive colorful perennials and annuals to fill out any garden beds.

Avoid Negatives

Think about all the aspects of your property that annoy you. It could be as small as the outdated fixtures you haven’t gotten around to replacing, or that your backyard is smaller than you might like. Once you have all these “undesirable” features in mind, make an effort to avoid highlighting them as much in your listing.

Your photos should focus on the aspects of your house that will be pleasing to everyone. Focus on exceptional features that make your home stand out. Be sure to highlight any improvements you’ve made to the home in your listing. This can include a bathroom, your kitchen, or even new flooring.

The Perfect Buyer

Do you know what your perfect buyer looks like? Different homes appeal to different demographics. For example, a house in the suburbs may attract young families with children while a condo in a city might appeal more to a single person or a younger couple.

You should keep your target buyer in mind when staging your home. If you think your home will appeal most to single men, consider moving things around to set up one of your bedrooms as an office or even an exercise room. If you believe your ideal buyer will be a family of four, think about staging one of the rooms as a child’s bedroom. The idea is to make it easier for potential buyers to envision what their lives would be like living in your home.

Selling a house can be just as intimidating as buying one, but a bit of forethought can go a long way toward receiving the best offers on your investment. Hopefully, these tips will help you the next time you decide to sell your home!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. We are happy to help!

Gail Post is a Vice President and Mortgage Loan Officer at New Tripoli Bank with over 40 years of experience in mortgage lending. She has been working for New Tripoli Bank for over 25 years and has helped many of our residential customers finance their homes. When she's not working, Gail enjoys volunteering in her community with her husband and spending time with her children and grandchildren.

Nashville, TN – The Pennsylvania Bankers Association has announced the election of John M. Hayes, Chief Executive Officer and Director for New Tripoli Bank, to its Board of Directors, effective May 17, 2024. Mr. Hayes joins a board of 27 member-elected representatives from banks throughout the Commonwealth who are responsible for determining the Association’s policies and governing principles.

Mr. Hayes is the seventh Chief Executive Officer of New Tripoli Bank, and he was recently appointed as the newest member of its Board of Directors. He also serves on the board of New Tripoli Bancorp, Inc., the holding company for New Tripoli Bank. Mr. Hayes has over 30 years of banking and financial services experience and is active in his local community as well, serving as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority. He has previously served as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and Housing Association & Development Corporation.

Mr. Hayes acknowledged, “I am honored to have been elected to the Pennsylvania Bankers Association Board, representing the industry’s interests and their mission to advocate for banks throughout the state. PA Bankers has always supported community banks like New Tripoli Bank and I am proud to offer my time and experience to furthering our mutual goals.”

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Reflections on the History of New Tripoli Bank with Willard Snyder

Show Transcript

When the United States Mint was established in 1792, one of the first coins produced was the one-cent piece. Prior to the U.S. establishing its own currency, American colonists would use a mixture of coins from other countries for trade, with the British penny being the most popular. Hence, when the U.S. government began issuing its own currency, the common one-cent piece inherited the nickname “penny” from its British counterpart.

The first one-cent coin was designed by Benjamin Franklin and featured on its obverse (heads) side the image of a lady with flowing hair representing Liberty. Her design changed a few times over the years, with her flowing hair eventually being wrapped up in braids starting in 1808, when she started being portrayed wearing a Liberty headband. This design would last until 1857, when it would be replaced by the smaller Flying Eagle cent.

The original penny was nearly 50% larger than the modern one-cent piece and made from pure copper, making it more than five times as heavy as the modern penny. The so-called large cent was about the size of a modern half-dollar piece. The penny was shrunk nearer to its current size with the Flying Eagle cent in 1857, which would then be replaced by the Indian Head cent in 1859.

The Lincoln cent was adopted in 1909 on what would have been Abraham Lincoln’s 100^th birthday. Lincoln was the first figure from American history to have their likeness grace a piece of U.S. currency, which was the result of a wave of public sentiment stemming from the anniversary of the former President’s birth. This was also the first piece of U.S. currency to feature the motto “In God We Trust.”

Lincoln’s likeness as featured on the penny is actually based on the work of a Lithuanian-born Jew named Victor David Brennar who had made a bas-relief of Lincoln based on an old photograph. The relief had caught the attention of then-president Theodore Roosevelt. In some older coins, Brennar’s initials can be found on the rim of Lincoln’s bust.

Modern pennies are copper-plated zinc, which is both lighter and cheaper. The use of zinc in the minting of one-cent pieces began at the peak of World War II, when the demand for copper to be used in munitions meant that an alternative had to be found for minting currency. From World War II until 1982, pennies were 95% copper and 5% zinc. This changed again in 1982 because the value of the copper used to mint a penny had risen above the value of the currency itself, leading to the modern composition of 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper.

The modern Lincoln cent was redesigned in 2009, in honor of the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. This design did away with the Lincoln memorial on the reverse side of the coin in favor of a shield bearing the motto of the United States, E Pluribus Unum. There were also four special reverse-face designs minted in limited quantities for Lincoln’s bicentennial, each depicting a scene from Lincoln’s life.

I hope you enjoyed learning about the origins, designs, and transformation of the U.S. penny since the founding of our country, and I hope you think a bit more about these inconspicuous pieces of currency the next time you feel them jingling around in your pocket.

Kayla Schnellman is the Assistant Branch Manager for our Claussville Office. She has worked for New Tripoli Bank for over five years, where she has worked as Community Banker, Customer Service Representative, and Head Teller. When she's not working, she enjoys spending time with friends and with her three dogs.

By Tanya Hausman

Have you ever been cleaning your office when you find a forgotten bill hidden underneath a stack of papers? Maybe you recently received an overdraft notice because you weren’t paying attention to your account balances? Whatever the case, being financially fit isn’t just about getting better with saving and spending money; something as simple as staying organized can help you maintain a healthy financial life.

Organization can be applied to all aspects of your life, but it can be especially helpful for those of us who are trying to get smarter with our money habits. Here are some good rules of thumb for staying organized to improve your financial fitness.

Stick to a routine. If you’re the kind of person who is prone to distraction, it can be helpful to set a time of day dedicated to a particular important activity, whether that’s cleaning your house or paying your bills. Maybe you collect your bills when you come home from work and spend the first few minutes of your evening paying them online, or maybe it’s easier for you to wait until the following day and schedule the payments first thing in the morning.

The longer you repeat an action, the less thought it takes to do that action each time. A lot of the time we become disorganized while trying to avoid the amount of mental or physical strain of a particular activity. What’s important is to not let interruptions in your routine stop you from sticking to it.

Automate your tasks whenever possible. When a routine simply won’t cut it, there are online tools you can use to make organizing your life easier. New Tripoli Bank offers automatic bill pay tools that allow you to pay recurring bills each month. When you set up monthly bills to be paid automatically from your checking account, it reduces the stress that comes from worrying about late fees. You can always start off small with one or two bills until you get a handle on it.

Keep your bills, invoices, and receipts in one place. Purchase an expanding folder or a file cabinet that you can dedicate to filing your monthly bills, invoices for work, and documents you need for tax purposes. Ideally you will keep them near your desk or wherever you normally write checks or pay bills online. Decide on a filing system so you can easily find a bill from a specific company. If you plan to use a physical filing system, make sure you print out electronic bills so you will have them in the same place.

Some people prefer to store their records online and shred any paper documents that arrive through the mail. If you want to organize your bills electronically, scan every bill you receive in the mail and keep them filed in the same place as the rest of your documents. Having a mix of digital and physical records defeats the purpose of organization. No matter which way you choose, make sure you have a filing system that makes it easy to locate specific documents at a later date.

Create a budget and track your spending. You should always be aware of where your money goes and how your spending fluctuates throughout the year. Most homeowners know that their electric bills increase in the summer months when they’re constantly running the air conditioning. Keeping a log of your spending will help you streamline your budget and identify areas where you can cut back.

It’s important to leave yourself reminders for bills that occur once a year, such as property taxes or the bill for filling your oil tank. Keeping a checklist of expected bills will prevent you from being surprised by sudden expenses that may throw your monthly budget out of order.

Learn how to prioritize your obligations. Whether it’s planning your budget or organizing your bills, you need to categorize so you give the proper amount of attention to the things that are most important. When budgeting, you should allocate money for necessities such as bills, food, and utilities before worrying about things like entertainment, donations, and savings. If you find yourself with a mountain of bills, prioritize paying them off in order of due date.

Implementing these tips can help relieve the amount of stress you feel when thinking about personal finances. By creating a daily routine, using tools that can automate processes, organizing your bills into one place, reducing clutter, creating a budget, keeping on top of your spending, and prioritizing your obligations, those financial goals that seem hopelessly out of reach start to seem a lot more achievable.

Looking to improve your financial fitness? Contact your local New Tripoli Bank branch to speak with one of our helpful community bankers and learn how our products can help you achieve your financial goals.

Tanya Hausman is a Senior Deposit Operations Specialist with New Tripoli Bank. She has been a member of the New Tripoli Bank team for the past ten years and when not working she likes to spend her time raising her two wonderful children and practicing her crafting hobby with her Cricut machine.

Your credit score is a prediction of your credit behavior, such as the likelihood of you paying back a loan on time, based on information from your credit reports. Companies use your credit score to decide whether to offer you a mortgage, credit cards, auto loans, and other credit products, and landlords use credit scores to screen tenants. The interest rate you receive on credit products is also influenced by your credit score.

When you have a low credit score, it can feel impossible to pull yourself out of the hole. Though it can take several months to see an improvement on your credit score, there are a number of quick, simple things you can start to do to help boost your credit score.

Review Your Credit Reports

Before you work on improving your credit, it’s important to know how you arrived at your current credit score. You can do this by pulling your credit report from the three major national credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—and reviewing reports for indicators of what is negatively impacting your score.

Be on the lookout for things like sustained high credit card balances, repeated missed or late payments, collections, and judgments. All of these can detract from your overall credit score. You should also be wary to not pull your credit report too often, as doing so can negatively impact your score. You are entitled to one free copy of your credit report from all three credit bureaus once per year, which can be accessed at www.AnnualCreditReport.com. You can also obtain free weekly credit reports from the website which show your credit history without your score.

Organize Your Bill Payments

Your payment history has a massive impact on your credit score. That’s why it’s important to develop a system for paying your debts on time. New Tripoli Bank offers Automated Bill Payment through our online banking service that makes paying down these monthly debts much easier.

Create a record of your monthly bills, either in paper or digital, and set reminders for yourself so you know when your next payment is coming up.

If you are comfortable doing so, consider charging your monthly bills to a credit card, while making sure you pay the card’s balance in full each month to avoid interest charges. The benefits are twofold: you consolidate your bill payments into a single monthly credit card payment, and you boost your credit score as long as you keep up with those monthly payments.

Keep Your Credit Utilization Low

Credit utilization is the portion of your available credit that you use at any given time and is another important factor in how your credit score is calculated. While your best option is to pay your credit balance in full each month, if you are unable to do this, you should set a hard limit for how much of your available balance you can leave outstanding each month. 30% is the recommended amount to start improving your credit score, and each month you should work on reducing this percentage to further increase your score.

Limit Requests for New Credit

When you apply for a credit card, loan, or other credit product, the company offering the product will pull your credit report in order to gauge your creditworthiness. If this only happens occasionally, it won’t have much effect on your creditworthiness, but if you are repeatedly applying for new credit in a short period of time, it can damage your credit score.

Not all credit report inquiries will affect your score. So-called “soft inquiries” include an employer checking your credit, routine checks by financial institutions with whom you already do business, and companies checking your credit in order to send pre-approved credit offers. If you are working on improving your credit score, it is best to avoid applying for new credit in general.

Consolidate Debts

If you have a number of outstanding debts, it can be advantageous to take out a debt consolidation loan from a bank in order to pay off older debts. This leaves you with a single payment and the possibility of a lower interest rate on the loan, which puts you in a better position to pay down your debt faster and improve your credit utilization ratio.

There is no set amount of time that it takes to improve your credit score. How long it will take depends on the specifics of why your credit score is low and your financial capability to get a handle on your credit situation. Improving your credit score can take several weeks or months before you see a noticeable impact on your score. The important part is to take those first steps to a healthier financial future. If you’re looking for help getting started, you can reach out to New Tripoli Bank, which offers products and services tailored to your needs.

Kate Hart-Zayaitz is New Tripoli Bank's Chief Lending Officer and Senior Vice President. Kate has spent many years working for various community banks in our area. She was born and raised in Emmaus and has been involved with multiple banking and economic organizations throughout the Lehigh Valley.

There's no such thing as a free lunch, and there's no such thing as a "free" security scan for your computer. You may have been browsing the internet in the past and seen a pop-up or ad for a "free" scan to find malware on your computer. Some of these ads might even have official-looking logos like the Windows logo to make them appear more legitimate. Don't fall for it! These are scammers impersonating well-known companies and using scare tactics to trick you into paying to fix computer problems that may not even exist.

Here's how the scam works: you will receive a pop-up informing you that there are viruses or other malicious software on your computer and will include a link for a free scan. Following the "scan," the scammer will contact you saying that they have identified supposed "serious issues" that require your immediate attention, then urge you purchase software that can "fix" these alleged problems. After you've purchased and installed the software—which can range anywhere from $25 to $60—you are provided with a number to call to "activate" the software. When you call this number, you're greeted by a telemarketer who will try to sell you additional services by claiming the "problems" on your computer are more severe than their software can handle.

There are simple steps you can take to avoid these types of scams:

• Don't click on links in pop-ups or other ads you encounter on the internet. If you see a product or service that interests you, search for it via Google or other search engine to find out if it is legitimate.
• Your computer can't be scanned by pop-up ads. If an ad on a website says its found problems on your computer, this is an obvious scam. Do not click the link, even if it has a logo you recognize like a Windows or Microsoft logo!
• Know that legitimate tech companies won't contact you by phone, email or text message to tell you there's a problem with your computer.
• Take the time to research anyone pressuring you into buying a product or service online.

You can learn more about this and other tech support scams at ftc.gov/techsupportscams.

Mail check fraud continues to be a serious problem facing consumers and banks and combatting this epidemic of fraud is a top priority for the security team here at New Tripoli Bank. This type of fraud occurs when someone steals uncashed checks, either from personal or Post Office mail boxes (i.e. the blue mailboxes), then "washes" the checks and alters them to cash out themselves or sells uncashed checks online. This leaves the person who wrote the check paying someone who is not the intended recipient.

New Tripoli Bank has put together a helpful infographic to help our customers who have been targeted by mail check fraud, which you can view here: https://www.newtripolibank.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1709237178-AlteredChecksHandout.pdf 

What should you do when you fall victim to this type of fraud? Don’t beat yourself up! Anyone can fall victim to fraud and you shouldn’t feel stupid for being targeted by criminals. New Tripoli Bank is ready to help ensure your money and identity are kept safe from scammers.

1. Contact your bank and alert them that your personal financial information has been stolen.
2. Create a list of outstanding checks or any regular incoming or outgoing payments. You will need this information when you open a new account.
3. Visit your bank to close old accounts. New Tripoli Bank customer service representatives are trained to help customers close accounts that have been targeted by fraud and open new ones.
4. File a police report with your local police department.
5. Go to USPS.com to report stolen mail to the United States Postal Service or contact the U.S. Postal Inspector’s Office by calling 1-877-876-2455.

Where can I file complaints?

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

Complaints can be filed with the CFPB at www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

The CFPB hears complaints about deposit accounts, credit cards, debt collection, and more.

You will be asked for dates, dollar amounts, and communications relevant to your complaint. You are allowed to attach documentation to prove your case.

Federal Reserve Board (FRB)

Complaints about financial institutions can be filed with the FRB at https://forms.federalreserveconsumerhelp.gov/secure/complaint/formComplaintIntro.html

You will be asked for identifying information, information on the financial institution you are reporting, and an explanation of how you feel your issue can be resolved.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

You can report scams to the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/

You will be asked to provide information including how much money the scammer was paid, how the money was sent, the dates when money was sent, and how you were contacted.