Business View Magazine | August 2020

108 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE AUGUST 2020 as downloadable tutorials, to help ease ‘going digital’. We’ve done a lot of phone calls, where we’re also on the computer with a client and walk them through the tutorial, step by step, so that they can take advantage of our digital products from the convenience of their own home. We’re here for them.” The bank also did an inhouse emergency loan program that was booked on their paper, rather than the PPP. And they offered payment deferrals from 90 to 180 days. As a result, they now have a large number of loans on deferral and some that have come off because they realized they didn’t need it. Yamhill County is a major wine producing area, in addition to traditional farming and agriculture. The wine industry draws a lot of tourists, hence, the local economy is tied to a large hospitality sector which has really been hurt during the pandemic. First Federal has seen its banking clients in areas all the way to the coast being greatly impacted with the lack of tourism. Schlotfeldt admits, “It’s been tough but things are starting to come back. And businesses that are able to scale down their expenses will be all right, but that’s the trick – surviving on a limited revenue at this point.” First Federal has all the advantages of a “traditional bank.” Phones are answered by an actual person; there is no automated attendant. They have an active community presence and know their customers by name. But that doesn’t mean they are caught in the past. As Schlotfeldt attests, “There is definitely a new norm, and it accelerated the trend in technology that was