This note is being written on March 25, and the one thing I know is that our situation will likely be different the day you are reading this. News and caution regarding the COVID-19 pandemic has grown and changed every day. These are unsettling times that we haven’t experienced before.
For perspective, I’d like to share a saying I saw recently, “Our grandparents were sent to war; we’re being sent to our couches.” Not to minimize the severity of what we’re facing, but in the age of immediacy, it may be good for us to slow down, have a reset and take more time at home. Together, we can get our community and our nation healing again, but this will take time as business revenues and everyone’s personal assets have taken a battering.
During SESLOC’s nearly 80 years of operation, we have lived through severe market crashes in 1987 and 2008 and will get through this one as well. We have recast our budgets with all the Federal Reserve moves and remain very well capitalized. This long-term strength is embedded in our solid-and sometimes conservative-business practices. We take the stewardship of your deposits very seriously and are not highly leveraged or engaged in risky endeavors.
What can change, and may have by the time you read this letter, is that some services will be scaled back. First of all, we have a smaller workforce as the closure of area schools has reduced some of the parents in our workforce. Secondly, while we are fortunate, we do not know if illness will spread to any of our team members. We will follow all mandates declared nationally or by the State of California to keep you and our team safe.
Please read the options you have available for loan assistance and get continuous updates regarding the steps we are taking to keep you and your money safe. We will do our best to provide support remotely until we get back to business as usual. We appreciate your support and flexibility as our community comes together.
All the best,
