Mellott moves on from Red Oak’s Bank Iowa

Long-time Montgomery County resident Connie Mellott has announced she is retiring after a little more than two decades with Bank Iowa in Red Oak. Her last day was Dec. 31.
Mellott, who was born and raised in the northwest part of the county and went to school in Wales and Red Oak, said her career initially started outside of banking.
“I have an accounting degree and when I got out of college I worked for the State of Iowa’s Auditor’s Office. Then I got into banking about 35 years ago,” Mellott said.
Mellott said she was drawn into banking as it would provide an opportunity to get more settled.
“I was traveling and I just wanted to get more settled down, and I knew in banking there’d be lots of different avenues to pursue so I went with Council Bluffs Savings Bank and worked in five or six different banking positions with them. When I was with them there was always something new to learn,” stated Mellott.
The path from the Council Bluffs Savings Bank to Bank Iowa, Mellott said, was a bit of a long story. She worked for several banks due to buy-outs.
“The last bank got sold, and Jane Myers told me that there was an opening down here and I applied and got it. My kids were in school in Red Oak at that point and so it was a lot closer than driving to Council Bluffs, so I joined Bank Iowa as a mortgage and consumer lender 22 years ago,” Mellott advised. “I’ve been doing consumer lending and mortgage lending that whole time.”
Mellott shared the differences between consumer lending and mortgage lending, and how things have changed.
“Consumer lending would be your personal loans, your car loans. As for mortgage lending, I do some rental homes and then the residential real estate side is really first-time and other homebuyers, where their home purchase is where they will actually live. That’s changed over the years because we used to do loans that mostly stayed here at Bank Iowa and now we have a lot of avenues for them. I can place their loans a lot of different venues for all kinds of loans, be it regular loans, VA loans, FHA loans, Rural Development loans. We also have access to several grants now, and first-time homebuyer programs. It’s really changed the lending landscape.”
Mellott said it’s a very rewarding feeling being able to help out first time borrowers with their homes or autos.
“The best part of my job is helping the first-time homebuyers make their dream home become a reality, because sometimes they come in and they don’t qualify. So then the next question becomes, what can we do to get them to qualify? Sometimes it’s a year or two to make it happen. I work with them and they finally get to a point they can do it. And I enjoy finding the grants or discovering how they can change a few things to make it work. Yeah, that’s my favorite thing to do,” explained Mellott.
That part of her job was also one of the things that Mellott said she’ll miss as she leaves the position.
“I’ll miss the first-time homebuyers, and I’ll miss my people here. We’ve always had such a good team here. I’ve always had so much fun and the bank’s really grown since I’ve been here,” commented Mellott. “I’m proud to have seen it succeed so much. It’s been rewarding. It’s hard. I’m going to miss the people a lot, my customers and the people I work with.“
Mellott shared what ultimately led her to retire from Bank Iowa at the end of last year.
“I’ve got a few more years that I want to work, but I want to dial back some.  I thought after 35 years in banking, it’s time for something totally different. I don’t yet know what that is, but I’ve been looking around a little bit for a change of pace for my last few years of working life, as well as to have some fun, and have some free time,” Mellott said. “I intend to get to my stack of books that I need to read. So there might be a little pause.”
Mellott said she’ll cherish many fond memories of her time working with Bank Iowa here in Red Oak.
“It’s been so fun because I’ve been here so long. I’ve helped the teenagers get their first car, then they get married, and I’ve helped get their first house. Now they have kids, so they have to get in a bigger house. I’ve just enjoyed seeing people grow and evolve. To be part of that has been really gratifying,” Mellott stated.
Mellott added that Bank Iowa has been a great company for her to work for the past 22 years.
“I’ve been very fortunate to work for Bank Iowa because they’re very family-friendly. If you needed to get off for a sick kid or get off early for a ball game or whatever the case may be, they’ve been so good to work for. That’s been much appreciated.”