Welcome Bryan College 2007 Freshmen!

Oh, Fall School Semester . . . how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I wanted to give a shout out to all the new Bryan College freshmen customers! I got a chance to meet most of you at orientation a few weeks back. Congratulations on being the largest freshmen class in the history of the college. I think you made a great decision, and I'm not even an alumnus.

And now that you're "out on your own", its a great time to become your own person and build up your own CREDIT HISTORY. Yes, those words deserve to be bolded with all caps because they will become big words in your life. You might ask, "Why do I need a credit history?" Because you will probably want to make some larger purchases when you get out of college: Like a car with working A/C, or a refrigerator, or a bed, or most importantly, an HD TV. And if you don't want to have to drag along Mommy and Daddy to cosign for it, you need, say it with me . . . Credit History.

Now the whole idea behind Credit History is to start small and build up to something bigger. You might ask, "How do I start building Credit History?" I'm glad you asked! Some of the simplest ways to start building Credit History are 1) Open a checking account and start paying any bills you have out of it. 2) Start a savings account and put money into it. 3) Get a credit card which you can make small purchases with and pay back each month. Now, coincidentally, Community National Bank can help you out with all these methods of building your own personal Credit History.

So jump out there new freshman and start not only doing your own laundry, but also planning for your financial future! Because no matter what they say, Mommy and Daddy really do want to stop sending you money at some point in your life.