Medway, Mass ( April 22, 2024) – Charles River Bank has been approved to participate in the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston’s homeownership assistance programs, Equity Builder Program and Housing Our Workforce. Both programs provide assistance to income-eligible homebuyers who are purchasing one- to four-family homes that will serve as their primary residence.

The Equity Builder Program (EBP) provides grants to financial institutions to help local first-time homebuyers with down payments and closing costs as well as homebuyer counseling and rehabilitation assistance. Borrowers earning up to 80% of the area median income are eligible to receive up to $30,806 in assistance on a first-come, first-served basis. Buyers must complete homebuyer education/counseling.

Housing Our Workforce (HOW) enables financial institutions to help local homebuyers earning more than 80% and up to 120% of the area median income with down payments and closing costs. Borrowers can receive 10% of the home sales price or up to $25,000 in assistance on a first-come, first-served basis. Buyers must complete homebuyer education/counseling if they are a first time homebuyer.

Charles River Bank is eligible to receive up to $350,000 through the EBP and up to $260,000 through HOW depending on availability of funds in 2024.

“Charles River Bank is proud to offer these grants to help our borrowers become homeowners. We are committed to helping individuals as well as families achieve affordable home ownership, especially during a very challenging time in the housing market,” said Cheryl Beauvais, Senior Vice President & Senior Retail Lending Officer of Charles River Bank.

To learn more about applying for assistance through these programs please contact AVP & Mortgage Loan Officer Mickee Whitney at (508) 321-3142 or email info@charlesriverbank.com.

Charles River Bank—with assets of $300 million—was founded in 1915, and continues to offer a wide range of individual and business banking services. The Bank’s Main Office is located at 70 Main Street in Medway, with state-of-the-art branches located on the Bellingham/Franklin town line on Route 140, and in Mendon at 1 Hastings Street at the intersection of Rte. 16 and North Avenue. Charles River Bank also operates a branch in Medway High School. In 2023, Charles River Bank contributed more than $42,000 to community non-profit organizations. For more information call 508-533-8661 or visit www.charlesriverbank.com.

Retired CRB President & CEO Jack Hamilton’s Passing

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the unexpected passing on December 29, 2023 of retired Charles River Bank President & CEO John S. Hamilton, or as we all knew him, Jack.  During his 20+ year tenure, Jack led our team through strategic changes that have made a positive, lasting impact on our bank, our customers, and our community.

In 2001, Jack took on the President & CEO role at Medway Cooperative Bank. Early on, Jack recognized the opportunity to expand our reach into more local communities. He led the bank through a name change to Charles River Bank in January 2009 and the creation of Charles River Bancorp, MHC.  Those decisions supported our successful future financial stability and growth, which culminated in the opening of three additional offices in Bellingham, Mendon, and Medway High School.  Jack focused on building of CRB’s commercial and residential lending portfolios, and expansion of product offerings and technology services.  He brought state of the art banking design to our customers with a complete renovation of the Main Office in Medway, completed in time for the CRB’s 100^th Anniversary celebration in 2015. Charles River Bank’s assets grew 3-fold under Jack’s leadership.

With his extensive industry knowledge and decisive tactics, Jack faced the challenges of the 2008/2009 financial crisis with aplomb.  He more recently managed the Bank successfully through the 2020 Covid pandemic so CRB was prepared to assist customers remotely or safely in-branch with minimal impact to service.

Jack was very active in community organizations and industry groups.  He served as a corporator and a member of the Golf Tournament Committee of Milford Regional Medical Center, as a former director of the Medway Foundation for Education, a founding member and director of Mendon-Upton Education Foundation, and former director of the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce.  He was a board member of The Co-operative Central Bank (2006-2009), New England Association of Retail Lenders, New England Mortgage Insurance Exchange and New England Insurance Trust.  He helped countless people obtain business and home loans, and always made sure that every possible avenue was explored to make a loan that made sense for the borrower and the bank, even if it didn’t seem possible at first.

To his CRB team members, Jack was a smart common sense leader with strategic vision, an incredible resource for all things banking related, with an open door policy.  After his retirement as President & CEO on December 31, 2021, Jack continued to serve as director of Charles River Bank and a trustee of Charles River Bancorp, MHC.

Jack was an avid golfer and enjoyed fishing. He was passionate about playing and collecting guitars.  Jack loved all dogs, especially Rhodesian Ridgebacks, which he raised and showed competitively.  The Charles River Bank family offers our sincerest condolences to his wife Trish, brother Peter Hamilton, sister Linda Dolan, his family and many friends.

Details regarding Jack’s memorial service can be found here:

https://www.edwardsmemorialfuneralhome.com/obituary/John-Hamilton

Charles River Bank Proudly Sponsors

The Annual Medway Christmas Parade

Photo Caption:  (Medway) Charles River Bank’s President and CEO Derek Plourde (center right) presents a donation check of $1,000 to the Medway Christmas Parade Committee, represented by (L-R) Richard Parrella, Julie Harrington, Allen Tingley, Tim Rice, Charlene Tingley, and Joanne Russo. The Annual Christmas Parade will be held on Saturday, November 25^th, and will begin at 5:30 pm at the Medway High School and proceed left onto Summer Street, left on Milford Street to Franklin Street, left onto Village Street into Medway Village continuing onto Holliston Street, left onto to Main Street, and ending at Choate Park and the Thayer House. The parade will culminate with ceremonies at the Thayer House that includes the presentation of service awards with music, food concessions, and a visit from Santa Claus! A spectacular fireworks show and festive tree lighting conclude the evening’s events.

Charles River Bank—with assets of $303 million—was founded in 1915, and continues to offer a wide range of individual and business banking services. The Bank’s Main Office is located at 70 Main Street in Medway, with state-of-the-art branches located on the Bellingham/Franklin town line on Route 140, and in Mendon at 1 Hastings Streetat the intersection of Rte. 16 and North Avenue. Charles River Bank also operates a branch in Medway High School. In 2022, Charles River Bank contributed more than $36,000 to community non-profit organizations.

For more information call 508-533-8661 or visit www.charlesriverbank.com.

Join Charles River Bank Help

Make Holiday Wishes Come True

Every year Charles River Bank (CRB) participates in the Angel Tree Program offered by the Salvation Army of Milford, MA. The Bank pledges to adopt 30-35 children each holiday season and CRB employees, as well as generous customers and community members, are matched with these local children in need.

The Angel Tree Program gives the children’s holiday wish list to those who have offered to be sponsors. If you are interested in getting a wish list tag(s), email info@charlesriverbank.com or speak to a Personal Banker at any CRB location.  Angel Tags will include the child’s name, age, clothing size and some requests for specific clothing, gifts and toys.

All gifts must be brought to Charles River Bank’s Medway office by in early December. Gifts must be new, unwrapped, and in a sturdy bag with the wish list tag attached to the outside.

Charles River Bank is also excited to announce that we will be hosting a food drive. Please bring any non-perishable foods to your local Charles River Bank branch in Medway, Mendon, or Bellingham starting December 1^st. The food will be distributed to local Food Pantries in early January.

Charles River Bank—with assets of $303 million—was founded in 1915, and continues to offer a wide range of individual and business banking services. The Bank’s Main Office is located at 70 Main Street in Medway, with state-of-the-art branches located on the Bellingham/Franklin town line on Route 140, and in Mendon at 1 Hastings Street at the intersection of Rte. 16 and North Avenue. Charles River Bank also operates a branch in Medway High School. In 2022, Charles River Bank contributed more than $36,000 to community non-profit organizations.

For more information call 508-533-8661 or visit www.charlesriverbank.com.

Charles River Bank Holds Annual Dinner Meeting with Milestone Service Anniversaries Recognized

Photo Caption:  At Charles River Bank’s Annual Dinner Meeting, Bookkeeper Kathy Antonellis is recognized by President & CEO Derek Plourde for her 25 years of service.

Charles River Bank’s Annual Dinner Meeting was held on October 17^th at Galliford’s Restaurant in Mendon, MA. Chairman of the Board Steven Richardson opened the meeting by welcoming team members, directors and invited guests. President and CEO Derek Plourde then expressed his thanks for their continued dedication to providing stellar service to our customers, fellow team members and our community.  Then, the following team members were recognized for reaching milestone anniversaries with Charles River Bank (CRB) in 2023: 25 Years – Bookkeeper Kathy Antonellis; 20 Years – SVP/Chief Customer Care & Marketing Officer Ann Sherry; 15 Years – SVP/CFO Robert Leist; 10 Years – SVP/Senior Retail Lending Officer Cheryl Beauvais; 5 Years – Medway Branch Supervisor Rachel Diaz, President & CEO Derek Plourde, and Facilities Coordinator Doug Downing.

Following the award presentations and dinner, the Social Ones, CRB’s employee activity committee, led a video trivia game using little known facts about employees that required team work to win.

President & CEO Plourde stated, “Our Annual Dinner Meeting provides a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge every team member, but especially those who have reached milestones in their length of service with Charles River Bank.  It’s always wonderful to see our people who work in different offices and departments get to know each other in an atmosphere of fun and camaraderie.”

Charles River Bank—with assets of 303 million—was founded in 1915, and continues to offer a wide range of individual and business banking services. The Bank’s Main Office is located at 70 Main Street in Medway, with state-of-the-art branches located on the Bellingham/Franklin town line on Route 140, and in Mendon at 1 Hastings Street, at the intersection of Rte. 16 and North Avenue. Charles River Bank also operates a branch in Medway High School. In 2022, Charles River Bank contributed more than $36,000 to community non-profit organizations.

For more information call 508-533-8661 or visit www.charlesriverbank.com.

Derek Plourde

President & CEO

With news of military activity, political division, climate change and inflation dominating headlines, I hope that you are able to enjoy some cherished time with your family and friends, and experience the beauty and bounty of autumn in New England.

We have good news to share! Charles River Bank (CRB) won medals in 3 categories at the 2023 MyFM 101.3 Quest for the Best Awards. We brought home Gold in Bank, Silver in Wealth Management, and Silver in Mortgage Lending, all thanks to your continued support.

Over the past year, the banking industry has experienced some challenges with a rapid increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve. In March, some of our nation’s large banks encountered the perfect storm.  These institutions had notable risk factors that made them susceptible to the sudden interest rate changes, along with concentrations of loans and deposits in more volatile industries.  The result was a liquidity crunch that ended in their collapse. In contrast, CRB’s assets include a wide variety of loans to homeowners and business entities throughout our community, and other diversified investments, with no specific concentrations in any one industry. CRB has continued to have strong financial results throughout the year, with above average results vs. our peer group in key metrics including: Net Interest Margin, Return on Assets, Return on Equity, and Efficiency Ratio.

Recently, some mega banks have announced plans to close offices within the communities we serve.  If you or your family, friends or colleagues are impacted by this, the CRB team is here to help.  Our bank was founded in this community 109 years ago, and our success is intrinsically tied to the people and businesses here.  And unlike the big national banks, or many other local banks, every dollar deposited at CRB is insured in full with FDIC covering the first $250,000 and DIF covering all deposit balances in excess of FDIC limits.

CRB’s continuing success is thanks to our customers, dedicated customer care team, and experienced leadership.  Rest assured that CRB will be here with the personalized solutions to meet your financial needs delivered with the highest level of service you deserve and expect, now and into the future.

I thank you for choosing Charles River Bank as your financial service provider.

Derek Plourde

President & CEO

Your Personal Financial Management Tool – Manage My Money (MX) – is Here!

In response to the growing need customers have for real-time financial updates across all financial institutions, Charles River Bank introduces Manage My Money (MX).  This new feature is now available within CRB’s Online and Mobile Banking. With this powerful personal financial management tool, you can:

• View all of your accounts (at CRB or ANY financial institution) including savings accounts, checking, 401k, investments and loans, along with transaction amounts and details.
• Get the most complete picture of your financial health while logged into your CRB online or mobile banking.
• Set budgets and track spending by specific categories across all of your credit cards and deposit accounts.
• Get recommendations to create the most effective, money saving plans for loan pay downs.
• Easy to read charts and graphs give you simple visual summaries of current finances and your progress over time.

Stop in any CRB branch or give us a call and we will happily demonstrate Manage My Money  functions and answer any questions you may have.  Manage My Money can be found at the top right Tab when logged into online banking, or from the upper left function menu in your CRB mobile APP.

Mega-Banks:  Too big to stay?

Recently a number of larger regional and national banks announced that they closing offices in our local communities, leaving their customers with challenges accessing ATMs, Safe Deposit Boxes, and in branch services. Other national banks have stopped offering specific products like retirement account CDs.  It seems that service is secondary to profits with these giants.

Charles River Bank (CRB) was founded locally 109 years ago and is here to stay. As a mutually controlled bank, our priority is our depositors and the communities we serve, not corporate shareholders.  Our continued success is intrinsically tied to the financial success of the individuals, families, businesses and organizations here. We are here for you, today and in the future.

So if you are looking for the convenient services, e-banking solutions, competitive interest rates, with personal connections that the big banks lack, CRB is here for you.  CRB customers have easy access to more than 40,000 surcharge free ATMs at our offices and across the country at SUM or MoneyPass (https://www.sum-atm.com/ https://moneypass.com/ ) ATM locations.  Safe Deposit Boxes are also available in a variety of sizes at all CRB offices.

CRB also offers an important benefit that national banks and most local banks can’t – full deposit insurance.  Your deposits are Charles River Bank are insured up to 250 thousand dollars through FDIC and every dollar above FDIC limit is insured by DIF (https://www.difxs.com/DIF/Home.aspx ). So you can rest easy knowing ALL your money deposited at CRB is always safe and secure.

If you or anyone you know is being affected by these big banks leaving or reduced product offerings, call us at (508) 533-8661, email info@charlesriverbank.com or visit any CRB branch! We’re happy to help in any way we can!