Johnetta R. Cole Post Corner: M&T Bank Held Banking Seminar

By Jewelean Magee

The Johnetta R. Cole AMVETS Post 24 and the African American Veterans Arts and Culture Corporation, in conjunction with representatives from four M&T Bank branches held an information seminar at the Frank E. Merriweather Library, located at 1324 Jefferson Avenue, where on July 16, 2024, various topics were discussed ranging from budgeting, home ownership, fraud/identity theft, and how a person can improve their credit scores for loans, credit cards, and much more.

Nicole Magby

The M&T Bank panel consisted of Ms. Nicole Magby Relationship Banker of the Jefferson Branch located at 1300 Jefferson Avenue. She spoke on how budgeting for vacations, home buying, and starting a savings account for emergencies. “People need to sit down and write out a list of their needs such as utility bills, transportation, (gas for car and riding the bus); to see where they can cut costs and save what’s left after taking care of the household needs,” said Ms. Magby. “Saving for home ownership should be part of a person’s budget,” stated Ms. Magby.

Aside from assisting with their budgeting, Ms. Magby also spoke to customers about their accounts and how to manage them. She encourages all the customers to read and go over their monthly bank statements and see if there is a bank account suitable for their needs.

Alisha Lindstrom

Mr. Jason Conner, relationship banker at the Main/ Delavan Branch located at 1877 Main Street, said: “It’s good to have a savings account for the future. To open an account there is no monthly maintenance fee if a person has an ‘easy choice checking account’ and one thing about a savings account is that a person can have a direct deposit into it,” continued Mr. Conner.

Ms. Alisha Lindstrom, Relationship Banker at the Seneca/Cazenovia Branch located at 2199 Seneca Street, handles fraud and identity theft for the bank’s customers as well as other duties. (Fraud and identity theft are handled at all M&T Branches throughout Western New York). “M&T Bank does everything in the customers’ behalf to protect their accounts by verifying signatures and watching the customer’s activity and mainly business accounts,” Ms. Lindstrom said.

Jacob Hahan

India Walker is the Branch Manager of the Jefferson/ Laurel Office of M&T Branch.

The bank recommends fraud alerts and will give a security number, and customers can have a restraint placed on their accounts. “Check fraud is a big thing and M&T will do all it can to catch scammers. The big gest scam is Publishers Clearinghouse claiming people have won money. Another scam is getting people to buy gift cards to pay their bills, getting people out of jail, and romance scams,” stated Ms. Lindstrom. Ms. Lindstrom encourages all the bank customers to mail the checks at the post office instead of throwing their mail in the mailbox to prevent “check washing.”

Mr. Jacob Hahan, is the Assistant Manager for the Riverside Branch located at 788 Tonawanda Street. He spoke about building good credit starting with a customer improving their score: “In order to get loans, a customer must have a good credit score to apply for a loan or a credit card.”

India Walker

People with a low credit score can come into a branch, see about applying for a secure credit card. “If the person’s credit is good for a year, then the bank can offer an unsecured credit card,” said Mr. Hahan.

Jason Conner

Finally, M&T Bank encourages both new and current customers to come to any branch across Western New York and meet the staff to discuss their banking needs. In doing so, this builds a solid relationship for themselves for a better banking experience.

All the branches are handicap accessible.