Community Bank adds escrow-management platform

DeWITT — For businesses that have to hold onto other peoples’ money — think lawyers with escrow accounts and landlords with tenant security deposits — Community Bank N.A. has added a new product to its banking lineup it believes will make things easier. “We’re really excited about it,” Benjamin Conger, commercial banking officer at Community Bank, says of the addition of ZEscrow, a management tool for escrow accounts. “We’re always trying to look for ways to make banking easier.” With all the rules and regulations surrounding escrow and other accounts used to hold money, it can almost be a full-time job just staying on top of that, Conger says. Imagine a property manager of 20 buildings with each building having 10 rental units, he posits as an example. “They have to keep a security deposit for each tenant,” Conger says. The deposits need to be held in their own separate accounts, he adds, which means the property manager has to go to the bank and open a new account each time there is a new tenant. Property managers aren’t the only ones who manage such accounts. Lawyers might be holding money in escrow for a client. Even funeral homes that take pre-payment for services need to properly manage those funds, Conger notes. Managing means keeping detailed records for each account. Many might just use something like a spreadsheet, Conger says, “It’s not an efficient way to do it,” he says. That’s where a digital platform like ZEscrow can help those who need to hold on to someone else’s money. With ZEscrow, clients can use the platform to open new accounts, deposit checks, run a variety of reports, and even print statements. For accounts requiring a W-9, ZEscrow will generate that form to be completed. “There’s a place where you can upload the lease for the tenant,” or other documents, Conger says. There is even a way to bulk upload that old spreadsheet to get started on ZEscrow, he adds. “It’s just extremely easy to use,” Conger says. “The onboarding is very easy.” The idea to add ZEscrow came from the bank’s treasury-management division, which oversees how money comes into and out of the bank, he says. Those employees were able to see the trends and started the process of looking for a banking solution for those escrow accounts. At Community Bank, ZEscrow is included with the bank’s Premier Business Connect Online commercial accounts. “If you have that, it’s a free add-on service,” Conger says. Using the service through Community Bank not only makes managing escrow easier, but also comes with the bank’s team and their expertise. “We’re always looking to help customers,” he says. Conger believes using ZEscrow will save the bank’s customers time, which will free them up to focus on their business and its growth and profits. The service adds value for existing customers, and Conger hopes it will attract new customers to the bank at a time when it’s expanding its branch presence, especially in Onondaga County. “Any time we can add new customers, we love that,” Conger says. Community Bank is part of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE: CBU) and operates about 200 branch locations in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Massachusetts.