Freedom Bank celebrating its 20th year

It started out in a trailer in the parking lot of the Nite Owl. Today, on its 20th anniversary, Freedom Bank in Columbia Falls has assets of $140 million.

It was not an easy journey, bank President Don Bennett said last week, but he’s proud of the work the independent bank has done in the community and the causes it supported over the past two decades.

Bennett was president of First Citizens Bank in Columbia Falls back in 2004, when he had an inkling the bank would be sold.

“I didn’t feel like working for someone else,” he said.

So he resigned from the bank he’d worked for 16-1/2 years and began working on an application to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for a new bank in Columbia Falls.

Most investors hire a host of attorneys and consultants when they start up a bank. But Bennett had a thorough knowledge of the industry. His father, Jim, was a longtime banker and Bennett followed in his footsteps. He received his bachelor’s degree in business and finance from the University of Montana and a master’s degree from the Pacific Coast Banking School where his thesis in 1989 was prophetic, “How banks can make use of personal computers.”

It’s in the school’s permanent collection, he said.

He even wrote an advanced management platform for loans, software which Freedom and other banks still use today. He thought about simply going into the software side of the business at one point, but he wanted his own bank.

So Bennett went to work in the basement of his Columbia Falls home working on the FDIC application. When he finished it in December 2004, it weighed 8 ½ pounds. He often worked until 2-3 in the morning.

“I didn’t know what day it was,” he said.

He credited his wife Barbra for her help. She was right there with him working on the application. She also helped design the bank.

He called the FDIC and they said no one ever did what Bennett had just done. They also asked if he could mail it after the new year, since by law, they had 90 days to make a decision, and the holidays were coming up.

Bennett mailed it out in January, 2005. He also had to go before the Montana Banking Commission. He knew some officials there and one asked him if he had an attorney.

He said, “no.”

“Well get one,” they told him.

He hired Dave Chisholm out of Missoula. Dave is local attorney Dean Chisholm’s brother. The oversight by the commission can easily take a day, even more.

Bennett’s took an hour and half.

“There wasn’t a single question I couldn’t answer,” Bennett said. “I never opened my book.”

He had the full support of his family, which helped. His father Jim was deeply familiar with the banking industry. In the 1980s Jim Bennett researched the intricacies of taking over failing banks and would come to acquire the Bank of Columbia Falls, which would later become First Citizens Bank. Like his son, Jim Bennett would also leave First Citizens.

“If you’re doing something wrong, your mother (Frankie) can hit you over the head with a turkey leg at Thanksgiving,” one commissioner joked when Freedom Bank was approved.

It usually costs millions to go through the application process and at least 18 months of work. Bennett did it with $100,000 and in about six months, he said.

On April 12, 2005, with about $3.6 million in assets, Freedom Bank received its charter. Bennett, his wife Barbra and employees Becky West and Tracy Dougherty went to work. They had a trailer, an American flag, a vault and community support.

His daughters, Melissa, Kellen and Blayne also worked at the bank at one point. Today Blayne is the vice president of technology.

Meanwhile, a permanent bank building was going up in the corner of the lot at Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue, designed and built by Schwarz Engineering and Architecture, with plenty of input from the Bennetts.

Business was brisk.  Columbia Falls and the Flathead Valley was in a building boom. The bank grew quickly, perhaps too quickly Bennett concedes looking back at it. 

The Great Recession hit in late 2008. Bennett had never been in that position before as borrowers began to default on loans. But he stuck with many of them as long as he could. He recalled one customer that didn’t make a loan payment for three years. Regulators said he should foreclose, get what he could. But he knew if he foreclosed the business would fail and the property would bring pennies on the dollar and he could see the people were working their tails off.

So he hung with the borrower. They were eventually able to sell and clear the debt.

But admittedly, it was a stressful few years. He hardly slept.

“I never once had anyone trash a place,” he said. “Or trash me.”

The economy swung around and the revitalization of Columbia Falls started in earnest in 2015, when developer Mick Ruis began construction of the Cedar Creek Lodge. Ruis was persistent in trying to buy the property, Bennett recalled.

But he eventually was able to secure the purchase and Freedom Bank helped finance the lodge, which is owned by Xanterra Parks and Resorts today.

“That kind of got things rolling,” Bennett said.

Over the years Freedom Bank has financed a host of projects in Columbia Falls and the Flathead Valley, all told, more than 4,245 loans since it opened. It’s in the top 6% of banks in its class nationwide.

Today, the bank gives back about $100,000 annually to community causes and nonprofits. Last year, it gave $128,000, Bennett noted. Over the years there’s been some memorable moments. Bennett started the Columbia Falls Kids Foundation, which helps youth programs in Columbia Falls and is the umbrella nonprofit running the former junior high school, which Ruis recently donated.

When Columbia Falls was looking long in the tooth, Freedom Bank offered $5,000 in unsecured loans to businesses to spruce up storefronts. During the pandemic, it offered $1,500 unsecured loans to individuals so they could get by.

Also during the pandemic, the bank hosted the Easter egg hunt drive. Families went through the drive-thru to get candy, as large gatherings weren’t allowed.

“I just really appreciate the support I’ve received from Columbia Falls and the Flathead Valley,” Bennett said. “It’s been a wonderful experience.”

He sees the future as bright, with Ruis developing the former Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. site for both residential and commercial uses as well as other significant growth in the area.

At 69, he still enjoys the business and it remains in the family.

“I love what I do. I love entrepreneurs,” he said. “It takes courage to make a business from scratch.”

The bank will celebrate on April 11 with a barbecue at the bank.