Bangor Savings Bank is issuing more mortgages despite housing crisis

By Annie Bupertus, Bangor Daily News Staff

A year after Bangor Savings Bank saw residential mortgage loans plummet by more than 40 percent, the bank is reporting that these loans are back up by 17 percent, according to its annual report released June 24.

The resurgence comes amid an ongoing housing shortage in Maine. Last year, high interest rates and low housing inventory meant fewer people were taking out mortgages.

The total cost of residential mortgage loans was just one of the details in Bangor Savings Bank’s annual report. The bank’s assets stayed steady at $7.2 billion, while capital increased by 12 percent to $467 million.

“These strong results reflect our continued commitment to people and purpose,” President and CEO Bob Montgomery-Rice said.

Beyond issuing more than $500 million in home loans this year, the bank also played a role in affordable housing development efforts, such as the resident-led purchase of Cedar Falls, a mobile home park in Bangor.

Cedar Falls residents raised $8 million to buy the park in January, outbidding a corporate investor. Bangor Savings Bank was the principal lender for the purchase.

The bank put $42 million toward 16 affordable housing projects and organizations this year, according to its report. That $42 million is included in the $108 million the bank allocated toward community development lending — an increase of nearly $40 million from last year.

Nearly 23,000 new customers opened accounts with Bangor Savings Bank this year, and the bank opened more than 35,000 deposit accounts, about on par with last year’s numbers. The bank also launched a new debit card and app for teens this past year.

The number of new business deposit accounts opened and the amount of merchant payments processed by the bank also remained steady.