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Your brochures say that MidAtlantic Farm Credit is a cooperative. What exactly does that mean, and what’s the benefit to me?
A cooperative, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, is an “association formed to enable its members to buy or sell to better advantage”. So what’s the advantage to you? Well, our borrowers aren’t just our clients, they’re member/owners. So when MidAtlantic has a good year, and makes a profit, the board of directors can either retain the net income to strengthen the association’s financial position, or they can distribute that net income back to the members. That’s what we call a patronage refund.
Speaking of our board of directors, they’re another huge benefit to loaning money from a cooperative. Each year, our borrowers have the opportunity to elect their peers and neighbors to our board of directors. As a result, our board is made up of people just like you—farmers and agribusinesses who understand what it takes to succeed in today’s market. They steer the association’s activities and policies throughout the year, and make sure that we never forget that our first priority is you—our borrower.
Speaking of patronage income, how exactly does that work?
Patronage refunds benefit our borrowers by reducing their final cost of the loan. We charge competitive rates on our loans -rates comparable to those charged by other lenders, for similar loans.
Individual patronage refunds are proportional to your use of the Farm Credit system. In other words, the more interest that we earn on your loan, the more patronage we return to you. Patronage refunds can be paid in cash, stock, or allocated surplus payments.
For more information on each of these refund types, please refer to our brochure on patronage refunds.
Is a patronage payment guaranteed?
As with any investment, we can't make any guarantees for future performance. One thing we can do, however is share our historical payments with you.
Our loan officers can share payment history for the past four years; just ask them to see what percentage of interest payments have been returned. Most recently, we returned $26.3 million in 2006.
Can I get a lower rate if I don’t get patronage?
One of the basic cooperative principles is that members should participate in the success of the Association. Our goal is to create a successful environment for all of our borrowers, which means that all loans held in MidAtlantic’s portfolio are subject to patronage refunds.
Again, for more information on how patronage refunds help both the financial stability of the borrower and the Association, please see the patronage brochure.
What is Farm Credit’s connection to the government?
The Farm Credit system was created in 1916 when President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation to form a network of banks and associations to serve agriculture and rural homeowners. Today, MidAtlantic is one of the largest associations in the Farm Credit system.
How do you structure your loans?
How do you want them structured? Seriously, we understand that your business cycle may make monthly payments difficult. So we can create a loan with quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly payments. Just let us know what would work best for you.
How do I know if I’m eligible for a Farm Credit loan?
It used to be that only traditional farmers could loan money from MidAtlantic. No more. We know that farming is changing, and we’re changing with it. Today, we can finance more properties than ever—from large agribusinesses, to a couple of acres in the country. And we finance more than just property—we have programs for equipment, leasing trucks, home improvements…Call us to see how we can help you.
Can I work with MidAtlantic, even if I buy a property in another state?
Each Farm Credit association serves a nationally determined region, which insures strong coverage throughout the country. MidAtlantic’s region extends throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, central
Maryland, Delaware, and the Virginia Eastern Shore. We currently have 14 offices in these regions.
If you would like to work with MidAtlantic, but are not in our region, just ask us and we will get the necessary permission to work outside of our territory. Our goal is to give you the service and support you need, no matter where your property is located.
Does MidAtlantic Farm Credit take deposits?
MidAtlantic is a lending institution, not a federally-insured savings bank. For that reason, our charter does not accommodate savings accounts. We can, however, link to your savings account, if you would like the convenience of automatic withdraws from your account.
Are there any other automated services?
We know that our borrowers have very busy schedules. To accommodate those schedules, we’ve implemented a series of automated services. You can check your account balance and access information about it on our secure website (through Account Access at www.mafc.com), you can check the same information by phone (through Loan Line), in fact, you can even write your own loan check from your line of credit through our AgriLine service. For more information on these or any other services, please ask your loan officer.
If you have questions that weren’t answered by this information, please call the MidAtlantic office (www.mafc.com/branch) nearest you.
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