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Speaker 1: What it's way with Angela Yee.

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Speaker 2: I'm Angela Gee, and I have a special guest here

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Speaker 2: today talking about one of my favorite things to talk about,

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Speaker 2: and that is about home ownership. This is going to

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Speaker 2: be about Columbia Bank. We have Minoska Matale here. What'sp

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Speaker 2: How are you Minoska?

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Speaker 3: Good? Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 2: I got to ask you about your name, Minoska. You're

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Speaker 2: the only Minoska I know.

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Speaker 3: Probably the only one you're gonna meet.

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Speaker 4: So I'm Dominican and my mom used to like this

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Speaker 4: band's group from Dominican Republic and one of the drummers

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Speaker 4: her name was Ninoska with an N.

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Speaker 3: But my mom's name is Mercedes.

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Speaker 4: Okay, So for her, she was like, I like the name,

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Speaker 4: but I wanted to have an M. So she took

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Speaker 4: the N out and put the M in it, and

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Speaker 4: now it's Minoska.

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Speaker 1: See at least it means something, you know, that'stuff.

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Speaker 2: And you're the only one because if we google I'm

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Speaker 2: sure a Minoska, no one else is gonna.

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Speaker 4: You'll usually find Ninoska with the N okay M is

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Speaker 4: usually I mean you'll probably find one or two here

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Speaker 4: and there, but very rare.

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Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about what it is that you do

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Speaker 2: for Colia Bank, because I love your journey. How you

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Speaker 2: started off working at the bank to where you are today.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I started off as a teller. I worked my

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Speaker 4: way up throughout the bank. I joined a program that

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Speaker 4: we have that's called the Associate Development Program, which allows

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Speaker 4: college graduates to rotate throughout the entire bank learn about

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Speaker 4: the processes that we have in place, really just understand

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Speaker 4: the basics of banking and of how to run a business.

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Speaker 4: And from there I was able to do project coordinating

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Speaker 4: with our CEO in the executive division, and I really

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Speaker 4: got to know a lot about the bank and get

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Speaker 4: involved into a lot of strategic projects with our company.

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Speaker 4: And one of the special projects I got was to

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Speaker 4: run the foundation. I remember the CEO came up to me.

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Speaker 4: It was like, I just have a quick favor for

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Speaker 4: you to do for me. I just needed to go

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Speaker 4: take pictures with the big check for the foundation, and

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Speaker 4: that quick favor turns into like a whole year of me,

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Speaker 4: you know, overseeing our foundation and getting to know nonprofit

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Speaker 4: organizations in the community, providing funds for those that needed it.

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Speaker 3: And that's what started my role.

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Speaker 4: Into community development officer and supporting the community in that way.

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Speaker 1: I think that job is so important.

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Speaker 2: You know, I recently got my real estate license, which

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Speaker 2: is exciting for me, But why I did that was

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Speaker 2: because I really wanted to help people get into home ownership,

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Speaker 2: especially for people who it's like their first time buying

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Speaker 2: a home and there's so many things and so many

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Speaker 2: programs that we may not even know about, and so

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Speaker 2: to be able to direct people to the right resources

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Speaker 2: that are available for them, but also helping them get

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Speaker 2: a home that they're going to love. And one thing

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Speaker 2: I always talk about is your first home is not

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Speaker 2: necessarily going to be your dream home. Sometimes it is

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Speaker 2: an investment that's going to be valuable for you so

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Speaker 2: that you can eventually be able to have your dream home.

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Speaker 2: What was your thought process when it comes to home ownership.

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Speaker 4: I felt the same way. So personally, my first home

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Speaker 4: was a two family home. Okay, me too, And when

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Speaker 4: I remember my husband and I were going back and

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Speaker 4: forth like, oh, I want my dream home, like I

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Speaker 4: want my single family, and he kept tell me we

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Speaker 4: got to do the two family. It's an investment. I'm

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Speaker 4: telling you, you're going to get the rental income from

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Speaker 4: the first floor. You know, it's a better option for us.

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Speaker 4: So my first home was the two family home, and

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Speaker 4: I just think investing in a home really provides that

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Speaker 4: equity for people having an asset that you can say, look,

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Speaker 4: i'd be if I ever need to sell it, I

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Speaker 4: can sell it and get my money back essentially.

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Speaker 1: And then sometimes exactly.

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Speaker 4: Especially in this market right now, the houses are through

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Speaker 4: the roof. You know, you can make a good buck

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Speaker 4: right now if you sell your home.

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Speaker 3: Mm hm, really good.

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Speaker 2: Now what do you tell people who are actually trying

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Speaker 2: to buy their first home right now? There's so much

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Speaker 2: information out there when it comes to interest rates, when

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Speaker 2: it comes to even what bank that you're working with

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Speaker 2: and being able to obtain a mortgage. And tell me

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Speaker 2: what Columbia Bank does to help people who are first

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Speaker 2: time home buyers.

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Speaker 4: For sure, I mean, first and foremost, always do research.

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Speaker 4: I tell people, always really understand what exactly it is

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Speaker 4: that you want. What can you get yourself into if

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Speaker 4: you know you can afford that million dollar home, scale

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Speaker 4: down a little bit and then you can work your

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Speaker 4: way up because you want to be able to sustain

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Speaker 4: the mortgage payments. Right in this interest rate environment, it's

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Speaker 4: really important for you to really understand how much you

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Speaker 4: can and can't afford. Always look at different banks, scout

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Speaker 4: different interest rates, because not every bank is going to

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Speaker 4: have the same rate, and there's always banks that have

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Speaker 4: special programs. So for example, at Columbia, we have an

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Speaker 4: Advancing Access Program, which is a special purpose credit program

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Speaker 4: where we have a discounted interest rate on it compared

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Speaker 4: to whatever's at the market. We don't require PMI, which honestly,

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Speaker 4: PMI can save you two hundred dollars on a monthly

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Speaker 4: you know basis.

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Speaker 2: And I didn't know about PMI when I bought my

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Speaker 2: first home. I didn't know what it was until I

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Speaker 2: was like, actually, my reltor was telling me. She was like,

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Speaker 2: you know, the more you put down, if you put

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Speaker 2: down a certain percentage, you won't have to pay pm

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Speaker 2: I think it was twenty five percent or something.

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Speaker 4: Like that, between twenty or anything above twenty percent you

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Speaker 4: won't have to pay PMI. Also knowing any company that

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Speaker 4: have a lesser credit score requirement. There's banks that have

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Speaker 4: really high credit score requirement and there's other banks that

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Speaker 4: have it below six hundred. So doing your research and

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Speaker 4: understanding what's the best product that fits for you, is

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Speaker 4: what's the best solution when you're looking for your first home.

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Speaker 4: At Columbia, we really try to have a one on

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Speaker 4: one type of relationship, really understanding the client's goals, talking

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Speaker 4: to them if they're not ready yet based on what

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Speaker 4: we're seeing. You know, we partner with nonprofit organizations to

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Speaker 4: have them doing first time home buyer. That's great and

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Speaker 4: really understanding. Look, this is how you create a budget.

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Speaker 4: This is what you need to do whenever you get

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Speaker 4: a paycheck, save this percentage so that you are prepared

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Speaker 4: to get that home and be that first time home buyer.

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Speaker 2: Can you also tell me about the Access home Ownership program?

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Speaker 4: Yes, So, the Access home Ownership is a down payment

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Speaker 4: assistance program that we created at the bank. And it's

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Speaker 4: not just one down payment assistance program. There's so many

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Speaker 4: out there, but at our company, we provide grants of

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Speaker 4: up to ten thousand dollars towards down payment or closing costs.

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Speaker 1: Great.

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Speaker 4: So what we do is we look at our clients

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Speaker 4: portfolio and we see, hey, do you really need the assistance.

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Speaker 4: We can help you with that and meet your goals

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Speaker 4: into getting your house. Because at the end of the day,

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Speaker 4: what you realize is that not everyone can save a

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Speaker 4: lot of money to come up with the twenty percent, Right.

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Speaker 4: A lot of people look patrick to paycheck, but that

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Speaker 4: doesn't mean that they can't afford a mortgage.

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Speaker 3: They could.

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Speaker 4: It's just saving the cash to come up with at

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Speaker 4: the end of the day.

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Speaker 3: That's what's hard.

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Speaker 4: So as a company, what we try to do is say, Okay,

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Speaker 4: how can we help our communities. What are ways that

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Speaker 4: we can contribute to ensure that there's home ownership and

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Speaker 4: having a down payment assistance program helps clients to do that.

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Speaker 2: Menessca, can you tell us some moments that you've had

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Speaker 2: with clients and of course obviously not naming any names,

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Speaker 2: but things that you've seen happen that maybe have been

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Speaker 2: great success stories for you.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean.

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Speaker 4: Every home ownership is a success story. Every time we

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Speaker 4: see a client come through the door applying is a

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Speaker 4: success story. I remember that there was a client that

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Speaker 4: came in and they weren't sure if they were going

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Speaker 4: to be able to get home because the closing cost

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Speaker 4: was too high.

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Speaker 2: Right, And that's another thing people have to take into

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Speaker 2: a consideration. It's not just a percent is down, but

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Speaker 2: it's also closing costing costs.

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Speaker 4: You have to pay your pay attorney fees, you're going

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Speaker 4: to pay pay bank fees, there's application fees, there's so many.

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Speaker 1: You have to have money in your account too.

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Speaker 4: Exactly when you have to have reserves. That's something people

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Speaker 4: don't know about the reserves. Some banks require two months

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Speaker 4: in advance of reserves, which basically for those that may

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Speaker 4: not know, is you have to have at least two

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Speaker 4: months worth of payments, so in case it's a month

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Speaker 4: where you're short, we at least know that you have

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Speaker 4: a reserve in the backup. Right, So some people don't

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Speaker 4: know that that you have to have more than just

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Speaker 4: that twenty percent or ten percent, right, you have to

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Speaker 4: have the reserves. The closing costs all this extra cash.

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Speaker 4: So I remember they weren't they weren't too sure if

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Speaker 4: they were going to be able to close because they

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Speaker 4: didn't have enough. And then we were able to come

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Speaker 4: in and tell them, look, we have our own down

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Speaker 4: payment assistance program. There's other state wide and federal wide

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Speaker 4: down payment assistance program. Let's apply to all these grants

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Speaker 4: and get you qualified so that you can go to

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Speaker 4: the table and close. And they were able to do that.

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Speaker 2: You know, I love talking to you because, like you said,

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Speaker 2: this is a personal experience for people who are going in.

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Speaker 2: You want to have that experience with somebody who you

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Speaker 2: actually trust, who you like speaking to, because it's a

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Speaker 2: process and it can be really stressful.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 2: I just think about the closings that I've done, and

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Speaker 2: it's so much paperwork involved, it's a lot of patience, it's.

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Speaker 4: So many months and weeks, and it's not a quick

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Speaker 4: emotional roller coaster ride.

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Speaker 3: I've been through this twice already.

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Speaker 4: And from the beginning of you trying to figure out

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Speaker 4: where am I going to buy this house? First of all,

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Speaker 4: like what city, what state, Where am I going?

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Speaker 3: What school? If you have kids? Like where do I

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Speaker 3: want my kids to go to school?

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Speaker 4: And then going through the offering process, because lately it's

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Speaker 4: been like people are outbitting you with cash or like

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Speaker 4: everyone's offering ten percent over asking price. That's all in

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Speaker 4: a roller coaster, right, So when you have a bank

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Speaker 4: that's there that you know, this is the bank that's

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Speaker 4: going to really help me through the whole loan process

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Speaker 4: and really be caring about what I need and putting

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Speaker 4: me on the right product that's best fitted for me.

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Speaker 4: I think that's that's really what we can do as

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Speaker 4: a company to support people in this process.

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Speaker 2: And it's that's an important People do get a chance

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Speaker 2: to see you out and about in the community with

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Speaker 2: so many different events, So can you tell us about

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Speaker 2: different programs that you're involved in and things that you've

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Speaker 2: helped to develop as well.

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Speaker 3: Sure.

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Speaker 4: So, we have a Team Columbia, which is our volunteer program.

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Speaker 4: We actually have all of our employees go out every

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Speaker 4: single year and do and volunteer work. We have an

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Speaker 4: annual Week of Giving which we usually do during the

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Speaker 4: holiday season in November where we go out. Last year,

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Speaker 4: we did over one hundred events during one week in November.

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Speaker 1: That's amazing.

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Speaker 4: We gave turkeys out to nonprofit organizations so that they

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Speaker 4: can provide it to low income families. We also have

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Speaker 4: financial literacy presentations that we do, so we talk about

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Speaker 4: money management and how you should learn how to create

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Speaker 4: a budget and you're saying, brings account and the importance

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Speaker 4: of having a bank account. We talk about retirement planning

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Speaker 4: because it's never too early to start planning for retirement.

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Speaker 3: People are like, oh.

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Speaker 1: I'm way already.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I was start from the beginning.

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Speaker 2: One thing people always ask me about if I could

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Speaker 2: go back in time, But what I do. I'm like,

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Speaker 2: start saving for retirement earlier because the way that compounded interests,

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Speaker 2: like in the earlier you start, the more money that

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Speaker 2: you end up having, even if you're only putting in

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Speaker 2: fifty dollars a month, you know, super early on exactly.

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Speaker 4: So we educate our community in different things obviously, and

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Speaker 4: things that we are experts at. We talk about loan

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Speaker 4: products that are available to clients.

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Speaker 3: We talk about.

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Speaker 4: You know, employee development, and how we have our own

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Speaker 4: internal programs we provide you know, the education to the

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Speaker 4: community as best as we can. We also have our

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Speaker 4: you know, our Advancing Access program which I just spoke about.

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Speaker 4: We have our regular affordable housing program as well, which

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Speaker 4: is also another you know, flexible mortgage product that we

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Speaker 4: offer our our communities. We have a foundation that gives

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Speaker 4: about three million dollars every year to non profit organizations

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Speaker 4: in the community. Clients can come in and apply for

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Speaker 4: the foundation for grants, for sponsorships in a way where

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Speaker 4: we can support our communities in any way that we can.

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Speaker 2: You know, that's so important right now because people talk

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Speaker 2: a lot about this housing crisis that's been going on,

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Speaker 2: and interest rates, like we've discussed, are a lot higher

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Speaker 2: than they have been as of late. So but it

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Speaker 2: is important to know that you can still buy a

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Speaker 2: home and that there are programs out there that can

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Speaker 2: assist you.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 2: It's just interesting because I also think about when interest

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Speaker 2: rates do come down, it will be a lot more competitive,

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Speaker 2: and so depending on what your situation is. While there's

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Speaker 2: not as many homes on the market, because people feel

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Speaker 2: kind of locked in if they have a low interest rate,

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Speaker 2: but when things do start to open up, and if

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Speaker 2: interest rates when they do at some point, you know, fall,

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Speaker 2: it is going to be extremely competitive with people who

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Speaker 2: are out there, you know, looking to buy a home.

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Speaker 1: And that's why I always feel.

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Speaker 2: Like, if you're thinking about it, at least just start

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Speaker 2: looking at knowing what's available for you so you can

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Speaker 2: be educated. Because one thing that was important for me

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Speaker 2: was also to know what I could put down and

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Speaker 2: to get pre approved and to know what that amount

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Speaker 2: was because I had really underestimated what I could do

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Speaker 2: and then when I went to the bank and actually

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Speaker 2: got my pre approval, and to have that ready in

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Speaker 2: case you want to put it in an offer. Those are

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Speaker 2: things that are important for you to have and to know.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure. I mean that's something that not a

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Speaker 4: lot of people know. That you should get pre approved

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Speaker 4: or pre qualified before you even start putting in an

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Speaker 4: offer because now real estate agents and sellers they want

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Speaker 4: to see that. They want to see that the client

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Speaker 4: is actually qualified and they're actually serious about buying the home.

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Speaker 4: I think it's really important right now with the interest

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Speaker 4: rate being so high. I don't think people should be

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Speaker 4: afraid as much as they are, because you can always

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Speaker 4: refinance when the interest rates drop right and at that

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Speaker 4: point then you can reduce your mortgage payment and it

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Speaker 4: you'll be an even a better situation because if you

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Speaker 4: were able to afford it now at a higher interest rate,

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Speaker 4: you're going to feel like a relief when those rates

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Speaker 4: go down and you refinance. So I always look at

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Speaker 4: it like that you have the option to refinance. So

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Speaker 4: if you do have the opportunity to buy now and

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Speaker 4: you qualify with these high interest rates, don't discourage yourself

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Speaker 4: just because everyone's like, oh, the rates are too high,

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Speaker 4: you can still buy it and then refinance at a

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Speaker 4: later time.

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Speaker 3: They're going to have to go down eventually.

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Speaker 4: I think we can sustain the way the economy is

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Speaker 4: going with these rates so high, either they have to

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Speaker 4: stable or drop a little bit so that we can

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Speaker 4: continue minusco.

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Speaker 2: What has been your experience growing up with finances, because

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Speaker 2: it's always interesting to me to hear how people got

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Speaker 2: into the field of financial literacy. For you leading the

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Speaker 2: community programs at the bank, I just would love to

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Speaker 2: hear what your experience was like growing up.

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Speaker 4: I grew up with a dad that was very strict

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Speaker 4: when it came to budgets and financing.

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Speaker 3: He rarely took us out. You know.

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Speaker 4: He was always very you know, careful with his paychecks,

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Speaker 4: and you know, didn't have a lot growing up.

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Speaker 3: So I was always.

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Speaker 4: Conscious of that in my background. And then all of

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Speaker 4: a sudden, I actually was going to school for accounting,

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Speaker 4: and I was I did a few classes for accounting,

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Speaker 4: and for some reason, I was like, I don't know

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Speaker 4: if this is it. Like I always thought banking was

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Speaker 4: like all numbers, numbers, numbers, and I actually got the

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Speaker 4: opportunity to work as a teller for the bank, and

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Speaker 4: then I started to realize that it's not just numbers.

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Speaker 4: There's more behind a banking industry than just you know,

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Speaker 4: crunching down your bank account and you know, the whole.

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Speaker 3: Balance sheet and all that.

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Speaker 4: There's so much more banks can do through community work,

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Speaker 4: through the foundation, through creating programs that actually support the community.

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Speaker 4: Right we are the ones that give out these loans,

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Speaker 4: so we have to make sure that when we create

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Speaker 4: the programs, we're actually supporting the communities through our products.

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Speaker 2: You know, so much of our emotions are tied and

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Speaker 2: so our finance too. And I think you've been doing

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Speaker 2: amazing work. So I do want to just thank you

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Speaker 2: for coming and sitting down with me and for Columbia Bank.

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Speaker 2: You know, you'll hear a lot more about Columbia Bank

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Speaker 2: on way Up with Angela Yee, which I'm really excited

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Speaker 2: and proud of, you know, just to talk about the

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Speaker 2: different programs again, Like I want people to make sure

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Speaker 2: they know about advanced access, access, home ownership grants, the

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Speaker 2: different programs that you guys have going on. You're also

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Speaker 2: a recipient of the forty under forty Emerging Community Bank

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Speaker 2: Leader Awards and the New Jersey Bankers Rising Star Award.

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Speaker 1: There's a reason for all of that.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I'm so proud of everything we've been

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Speaker 4: able to accomplish as a company, and the fact that

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Speaker 4: I've been able to help lead the company through these

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Speaker 4: changes and innovative products, I couldn't be more more excited.

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Speaker 2: All right, Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it

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Speaker 2: and I'm looking forward to doing more.

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Speaker 1: With you guys.

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Speaker 4: So you're here, Thanks for having me righte his way up.

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Speaker 3: Well,