Honor State Bank - Wholesale

In a press release distributed today, Honor State Bank of Richmond Indiana announced the immediate closing of it's wholesale lending department. Effective today no new applications will be accepted. The closure of this unit will layoff approximately 10 employees.

"In response to the turmoil in the U.S. real estate finance market, our parent company, "The Honor State Bank", has announced a restructuring plan that calls for a reduction in our workforce. The overall restructuring plan will re-focus our business to provide us more flexibility to scale up or down in response to changing market conditions.

While these actions are very difficult, they are necessary to strengthen our core banking business and our ability to serve our current banking customers, as we have done since 1917.

Effective October 23, 2007, The Honor State Bank ceases all Wholesale Mortgage Funding Operations. Should you have immediate questions, please feel free to contact us at (888) 521-5626.

Thanks for your business and good friendships."

In the wholesale lending business since 1988, Honor State Bank did business in 14 states, and peak volume of $35 to $40 million per month in better times.