Hi, my name is Sophia ….

Think back to a moment in your life when you felt fear about money. Perhaps you were laid off and watched your savings dwindle. Maybe a medical emergency emptied your bank account. Or you remember your parents whispering anxiously at the kitchen table, trying to figure out which bill to pay first. That knot in your stomach—that’s where homelessness begins. For most of us, something interven...

Four local banks—AbbyBank, Forward Bank, Northwestern Bank, and Prevail Bank—are coming together to raise awareness of a scam resurfacing in communities: brushing fraud. This scheme occurs when fraudulent sellers send unsolicited packages to people and then use their names and addresses to post fake positive reviews online. While these shipments may seem harmless, they can expose individual...