February, 19, 2010

The only locally-owned bank that accepted government bailout money plans to repay it ahead of schedule.Community First Bank & Trust took federal dollars as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, commonly known as the bank bailout, which allowed the government to buy stock in banks to ensure they had money on hand to weather an economy rocked by a mortgage foreclosure crisis.

In President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address, he proposed putting pressure on large banks to repay these funds, but he suggested offering additional money to community banks.Community First President Mark Lively said his bank is waiting to repay the money until the battered economy shows more signs of strength.“We’ll look and see how the economy is doing over the next few years,” he said. “I would say certainly we would plan on repaying it before the five-year period of time, so maybe within one to three years.”

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