A Very Merry Main Street

To kick off the holiday season, the Town of Lisbon has once again done their best to bring the spirit to our community. On Saturday, December 4th, 2010, Santa Claus will be coming to Lisbon with the second annual A Very Merry Main Street event. Multiple activities are planned and will take place from 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm.

The night will begin at 4:30 pm at the town gazebo, which is right across the street from the Lisbon High School. At this time, a tree lighting ceremony will occur and then spectators will be encouraged to stay around and greet Santa as well. Refreshments will be served by the Lisbon Falls Baptist Church. At 5:30 pm, there will be an open house for downtown merchants. The participating merchants will offer discounts on merchandise or some other special holiday treat. Also, during this time there will be live entertainment and horse-drawn wagon rides up and down Main Street. Visits to Santa and all other activities will wrap up at 8:00 pm.

All activities are family oriented so feel free to come out and support this local event. It’s a great time to re-discover what downtown Lisbon has to offer.

Building Futures. Preserving Dreams.

Everyone Gets the Same Rate

When you look around at most financial institutions, you’ll notice the short phrase “as low as” before their loan rates. Most of the time, they appear on advertisements or marketing materials. This phrase indicated that these institutions use what’s called risk-based pricing. In a nutshell, risk-based pricing means that the rate you qualify for is directly affected by your credit score. If your credit score is very high, you may be able to qualify for that very low rate that was advertised. If your credit score is moderate or fairly low, you will qualify for a much higher rate.

This is an area that makes the Lisbon Credit Union different and unique. We do not participate in risk-based pricing and feel it’s very important that all Members get the same rate. If we advertise a 4.00% rate for a new vehicle loan and you’re an approved borrower, you’ll get that 4.00% rate. As loans are approved by our Loan Officers, they do consider your credit score; however, it’s just a small part of the approval process. We recognize that some Members may have gone through some rough patches in their lives such as layoffs or divorces. These other factors are also considered.

So, when we advertise that everyone gets the same low loan rate at the Lisbon Credit Union, you’ll know that we mean it. We feel it’s the best option for our Members. Feel free to visit www.lisboncu.org for more information.

Building Futures. Preserving Dreams.

Downtown Mural Project

Inspired by local artist Frank Gross, the Lisbon Revitalization Committee just recently wrapped up a community project that has great historical significance to our Field of Membership. The committee, joined by the town, held an unveiling ceremony at the downtown Downeast Energy office last Friday, November 12th for a newly created mural replicating one of Gross’ paintings. Spearheaded by Lisbon High School art teacher Jennifer Fox, this project featured the handy work of many members of the community. Not only did members of the community get to observe this mural being painted but they actually had the opportunity to participate.

What’s involved with creating a mural? We thought it would be best to show you a play-by-play look. Here’s a video that documents the process:



Mr. Gross has paintings all over the Lisbon town office and the MTM center. For most of his historical town paintings, including the one used for the mural project, he uses old black and white photos as templates and then inserts people and color from his memory.

Before teaching, Ms. Fox has over 20 years of experience painting murals with a large group. At her side during the entire process was Peggy Jergens, who graduated from Lisbon High School this past June. Over several days, numerous community members came to leave their mark on the project – including some of Mr. Gross’ children and grandchildren.

Building Futures. Preserving Dreams.

Credit Unions are Cooperatives

Nowadays, the differences between banks and credit unions are quite blurred. The names of these two organizations are used interchangeably by lots of folks. In fact, it’s not uncommon to hear one of our Members take a call from their cell phone in the lobby and say…"I’m at the BANK." Due to the fact that both are full service financial institutions and offer similar products and services, consumers may perceive them as the same. We’d like to change that perception with our post today!

A credit union is called a financial cooperative and follows some unique principles. One principle is that they are owned by their Members. When each new Member comes in to open an account, they are becoming a one-part owner of the credit union. Also, they get one vote to be used at the credit union’s annual meeting. Essentially, Members are able to participate with how the organization is run.

Here’s another principle; a credit union is run by a volunteer Board of Directors who are also Members. With this structure, Board Members are able to govern more effectively because they have a vested interest. Banks are governed by a paid Board of Directors who may not even be a customer of that specific institution. The last principle we’d like to share is that a credit union is a not-for-profit (not a non-profit) organization. With our income, we are able to give higher rates on deposit products, lower rates on loans and offer more free or low cost services to our Membership. Banks, on the other hand, are for-profit institutions and use their income differently.

To illustrate our point better, we’d thought you like this video. It’s a pretty fun way to explain the differences spoken above.



Building Futures. Preserving Dreams.