What others are saying
Testimonials
What’s happening in the industry today can have an impact on your business tomorrow. We’re here to provide the information you need and the insights you want from people you can trust. Come back often as we update frequently.
What Bankers Say
ACT is really an expansion of the funding pool and of the relationships that drive success at MDIs and CDFIs. It's a long-term play, not a short-term gap-filler,
I have seen nothing but forward thinking and innovation recently at [IntraFi], and I love it! There is beauty in simplicity, and [IntraFi] offers this along with bells and whistles when we need them.
The ACT Deposit Program offers a streamlined approach for providing essential deposits to our member banks serving their communities. This initiative empowers our members to facilitate homeownership, business growth, and financial stability, contributing to job creation and the overall vitality of communities across America.
[IntraFi] gives us a lot of advantages that some of the largest institutions may have today so that we can provide some of our more sophisticated borrowers with the products and services that they really want.
The resources and the individuals and the integrity of the organization are above reproach. There’s never been a question that’s gone unanswered. Whenever we've had challenging times as an organization, they’ve been by our side.
CDARS is the perfect match for us and our public fund customers. It can eliminate the need for deposit collateralization, which frees up our time, frees up their time, and reduces everyone’s administrative tracking costs. It also allows our previously restricted funds to work harder and for their funds to be channeled back into the local community. We all win.
CDARS is a relationship-driven service that opens up the door where you’ve never gone before. Period.
Love the availability of the marketing materials [for financial institutions to use for free when marketing to end customers].
I have worked with [IntraFi] since 2009, and I have been continually impressed by the way they continue to seek out innovation with not only the financial institutions in mind, but also the customer experience. Staff [is] typically top notch and extraordinarily responsive.
IntraFi is a different kind of fintech. IntraFi partners with banks and provides solutions for banks. In fact, it weaves the nation's banking industry together in order to provide increased deposit insurance coverage and this ability to gain wholesale deposits. And so [IntraFi is] certainly not a competitor with banks.
A valuable partnership means helping each other succeed, and IntraFi allows us to do so. Their reciprocal offering enables us to provide our customers access to millions in FDIC insurance while growing our deposit base. We are proud to provide a solution for our customers and bank with IntraFi’s services.
We were one of the first banks to join the [IntraFi] network. We realized that CDARS was a game changer - one that would give banks like ours not just competitive equality with large financial companies, but a real competitive advantage in attracting local customers.
Every dollar that you put into our bank through ICS or CDARS (IntraFi’s brand names for reciprocal deposits) comes right back here, and we can then lend it back out to help keep the local economy vibrant.
[IntraFi] has been a big partner with us in order to fund growth.
With the help of [IntraFi] and access they provide to multi-million-dollar FDIC insurance, we’ve been able to build loyal, large-dollar relationships.
Unlike its competitors, [IntraFi] doesn’t compete with us for our customers. We own our customer relationships. We set our rates. [IntraFi] crafts its services from a banker’s perspective. Head to toe, [IntraFi] is all about community banks. The company’s services level the playing field, helping us to better compete with much larger players.
The service is impeccable.
The ACT Deposit Program created a secure and efficient way for community development banks to attract and retain large institutional deposits.
What Depositors Say
When we looked at this product (ICS & CDARS), we said yes, absolutely, this is something we need to jump on. It was a no brainer.
The tool(reciprocal deposits) provides a very healthy balance for the safety, liquidity, and yield.
I was looking for a flexible investment vehicle that I could use for a special need we had. With ICS and CDARS, I found safety, flexibility, and yield - all in one place! I’m comfortable we are protected [with ICS and CDARS]. The money was sitting in a non-interest account. Watching interest come in was lovely. And we need to have access to cash quickly. Some restricted, some operational, some for purchase of land we account for that separately in house but it’s all lumped into one account for interest purposes.
We face the important, but cumbersome task of making certain that our deposits are eligible for protection. To do so, we required our bank to pledge millions of dollars of collateral. It was our responsibility to track the changing values of that collateral every day. Now, thanks to [our bank], we discovered ICS. By placing our funds through ICS, our funds are eligible for FDIC protection beyond $250,000 and earn interest - both of which really benefit us and local taxpayers. The best part is that Capitol Bank can use our deposits to fund local lending and economic growth. And the recurring burden of tracking collateral values is gone. The service is truly a benefit for us.
I have found participation in the CDARS [service] to be simple and a time saver. We earn very competitive interest rates on our investments while freeing up staff time. We were in the CDARS [service] during our last audit and passed with flying colors!
If I am going to take money from investors, it would be a fiduciary lapse not to use these products (ICS & CDARS)
An important motivator in our using a single bank is that the business is a cash business, and every day we must make trips to the bank, as the company collects money from customers on a daily basis. Many still pay in checks. Having one bank to work with [using ICS and CDARS] makes it much easier.
Upon joining the county treasurer’s office, I was intrigued to learn that a portion of the county’s funds were placed through CDARS. I quickly appreciated the security and ease of placing large deposits through a single bank while keeping the money FDIC insured, and have since added the ICS serivce as well. CDARS and ICS free up the capital of smaller banks to finance community growth while still allowing them to accept our larger deposits. We can support the prosperity of the community while investing the taxpayers’ money competitively and safety through a community bank. A winning combination.
This product offers us both the liquidity and safety that we are looking for and allows us to capitalize on the cash needs of our growing, evolving company, especially through our relationship with [our bank].
There is just no downside. This is one of those few products (ICS & CDARS) that work as advertised and there are no gotchas.
As a CEO, you don’t ever think of your bank account as not being secure, but that crisis changed my view. Going forward, I would never consider putting my money in a bank that doesn’t offer ICS.
We need things as simple as simple can be. That’s how we started with [ICS and CDARS]. Been with them since 2008.
Tell me a reason not to be doing this(reciprocal deposits)? There isn’t one.
Great partners! Critical to achieving our on-balance-sheet deposit goals.
With ICS, our town can access multi-million-dollar FDIC insurance protection, as well as earn interest. Plus, our bank can make these funds available for investment within the local community.
The IntraFi product protects our funds, earns a competitive rate, and does not cost us the significant time and effort required if we were to do this ourselves.
. . . You know, we've gotten a little bit more sophisticated since I've come. They used to make about 50 to 100 grand a year in interest. Last year, or this year ending June 30, we probably will make almost half a million [while protecting our investment with FDIC insurance].
I like that I can log in [to the ICS Depositor Control Panel] and see where funds are and can show a client to explain how more than $250K is insured. It’s nice to pull up a website and show them where their money is, even if in 25 different banks overnight.
