What others are saying
Testimonials
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What Bankers Say
We love that [IntraFi] gives us options. We can either attract deposits through and sell the excess to other banks through or purchase funding. This is especially helpful in today’s regulatory environment.
One of the most powerful aspects of our relationship with [IntraFi] is our ability to attract depositors who believe what we believe - believe that placing capital in an institution that is focused on making a difference in the community is a worthwhile practice. But they want to do so with a fair rate, without additional risk. [IntraFi] has provided, if you will, a wonderful tool for us to fund the expansion of the bank. As we grow the scale of the bank, what we do is grow our capability, our capacity, to be able to lend back into the community. And that’s what it’s really all about, so that we can lend back into the community and really make a difference with these underlying businesses.
To price efficiently and profitably, a banker must compare risk- and cost-adjusted retail products to wholesale alternatives, and choose funding alternatives with lowest marginal cost. ICS is a valuable tool that bankers can use to help meet their needs.
CDARS is a relationship-driven service that opens up the door where you’ve never gone before. Period.
Having access to the kind of scale that IntraFi provides us with is why our partnership is so successful. The ability to access large amounts of funding so quickly is essential. We have also been able to use IntraFi’s solutions to access funding on good terms as far as interest rates which is very important to the bank. IntraFi excels in customer service and responsiveness making doing business with them easy.
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.
Investors used to ask for our financial statements, loan portfolios, delinquency rates, and so on. Now, the first thing they mention when they come into our bank is CDARS or ICS. They know the services, and they want the insurance access. As far as our customers are concerned, it’s a no-brainer.
Love the availability of the marketing materials [for financial institutions to use for free when marketing to end customers].
[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.
[Pricing] is something that doesn’t get spoken a great deal about when we’re looking at [utilizing reciprocal deposits like IntraFi Cash Sweep] or the CDARS services. You’re pricing these deposits and trying to win over these larger clients, but it’s on your terms rather than a wholesaler that says, ‘Well, this is the price for today - the all-in cost.’
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.
I was told awhile ago that I’d be the last president here - that the bank would have to sell due to regulatory pressures and constraints on earnings. To survive, we needed to grow. In a perfect world, you use core deposits; but core deposits and the loan demand sometimes don’t flow at the same time. So we use [IntraFi] to fill in the gaps. It allows us to leverage the capital we have to grow.
The service is impeccable.
We received a ton of deposits during [a specific time], and IntraFi’s services were important in helping us manage our balance sheet and capital position through that growth
[Reciprocal deposits] have been a key driver for us in the last several years. We’ve been able to drive the wholesale brokered deposits down and substitute [them] with [reciprocal deposits]. The big difference that I see, in addition to just sheer volume, is the pricing. Wholesale pricing is a lot higher. You can drive and price these deposits the way your market [commands] and the way you would your other pricing decisions.
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’ve been with [IntraFi] for more than 10 years, and it’s been a wonderful relationship. It started with really the need to offer our high-end customers the opportunity to retain insurance for their deposits beyond the traditional FDIC insurance [limit], but we’ve gone way past that. Now, it’s churches, firehouses, school systems, government entities. The product diversification that [IntraFi] offers has really appealed to these other constituencies.
What Depositors Say
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.
Great partners! Critical to achieving our on-balance-sheet deposit goals.
If I am going to take money from investors, it would be a fiduciary lapse not to use these products (ICS & CDARS)
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.
Our school system has utilized the CDARS service for years and is very pleased about the addition of the ICS service. With CDARS, we have access to FDIC insurance on our funds that are invested for a longer timeframe while meeting our investment policy mandates and earning CD-level returns. With ICS, we can protect and invest our funds on a shorter-term basis while earning a return. CDARS and ICS combined provide us with an efficient cash management solution.
We were mainly interested in ICS for the security." “You know, one less thing to worry about. But the time savings have been huge, too. For many companies, this would probably be the main selling point—most people think they need relationships with ten other banks to get insurance coverage. They don’t.”
We need things as simple as simple can be. That’s how we started with [ICS and CDARS]. Been with them since 2008.
There is just no downside. This is one of those few products (ICS & CDARS) that work as advertised and there are no gotchas.
[My boss] has an ‘on top of it’ philosophy. [ICS] gives us a single statement and we know we’re protected, and where the money has been transferred to. The service was made for someone like him.
. . . 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].
The previous Treasurer kept all the money in local government pools, and then had pledged securities as collateral. All of the money was not local. They didn't have any local banks. So what I did when I came in as treasurer was analyze those accounts and move a large portion of our money to local community banks. [Our city] is the state capital, but it is a very small town so to speak. Now, having that money in municipal local banks was important for me because then the local banks can then lend that money out to local businesses. I worked for 25 years in banking and understand that concept, so it was important to me that the municipality helped support the local financial institutions. Without IntraFi that would not have been possible.
I will never again bank with a bank that is not part of the IntraFi network.
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.
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.
The tool(reciprocal deposits) provides a very healthy balance for the safety, liquidity, and yield.
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].
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.
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!
