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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES [Abstract]  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES
NOTE 11 – COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES


In the normal course of business, we enter into financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk to meet the financing needs of customers or to reduce exposure to fluctuations in interest rates. These financial instruments may include commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit. Financial instruments involve varying degrees of credit and interest-rate risk in excess of amounts reflected in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition. Exposure to credit risk in the event of non-performance by the counterparties to the financial instruments for loan commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit is represented by the contractual amounts of those instruments.



A summary of financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk at December 31 follows:

 
2020
   
2019
 
   
(In thousands)
 
Financial instruments whose risk is represented by contract amounts
           
Commitments to extend credit
 
$
644,815
   
$
582,457
 
Standby letters of credit
   
9,361
     
7,207
 


Commitments to extend credit are agreements to lend to a customer as long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contract. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and generally require payment of a fee. Since commitments may expire without being drawn upon, the commitment amounts do not represent future cash requirements. Commitments are issued subject to similar underwriting standards, including collateral requirements, as are generally involved in the extension of credit facilities.



Standby letters of credit are written conditional commitments issued to guarantee the performance of a customer to a third party. The credit risk involved in such transactions is essentially the same as that involved in extending loan facilities and, accordingly, standby letters of credit are issued subject to similar underwriting standards, including collateral requirements, as are generally involved in the extension of credit facilities. The majority of the standby  letters of credit are on-demand with no stated maturity date and have variable rates that range from 2.50% to 12.00%.

COVID-19 Pandemic


On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, a pandemic as a result of the global spread of the coronavirus illness. In response to the outbreak, federal and state authorities in the U.S. introduced various measures to try to limit or slow the spread of the virus, including travel restrictions, nonessential business closures, stay-at-home orders, and strict social distancing. The degree to which businesses may resume operations varies based on the type of business operations being conducted. It is currently expected that various forms of state and local government restrictions similar to those described above will continue for the foreseeable future. As a result of these events, Michigan has experienced a significant increase in unemployment.


The COVID-19 pandemic, the related executive orders, and other government restrictions and guidance have had and continue to have a significant effect on us, our customers and the markets we serve. Our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected by a number of factors that could impact us and our customers, including but not limited to:

restrictions on activity and high levels of unemployment may cause increases in loan delinquencies, foreclosures and defaults;
increases in allowance for loan losses may be necessary;
declines in collateral values may occur;
third party disruptions, including outages at network providers, on-line banking vendors and other suppliers;
increased cyber and payment fraud risk, as cybercriminals attempt to profit from the disruption, given increased online and remote activity;
operational failures due to changes in our normal business practices necessitated by the pandemic and related governmental actions; and/or
key personnel or significant numbers of our employees being unable to work effectively, including because of illness or restrictions in connection with COVID-19.


These factors may continue for a significant period of time.


The spread of COVID-19 has caused us to modify many of our business practices.  We have also expanded sick and vacation time for certain employees.  We may take further actions as may be required or as we determine to be prudent.  There is no certainty that such measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks posed by COVID-19.


The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will impact our business, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and difficult to predict.  Those developments and factors include the duration and spread of the pandemic, its severity, the actions to contain the pandemic or address its impact, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume. We do not yet know the full extent of the impact.   However, the effects could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Material adverse impacts may include valuation impairments on our intangible assets, securities available for sale, loans, capitalized mortgage loan servicing rights and deferred tax assets.

Litigation


We are involved in various litigation matters in the ordinary course of business. At the present time, we do not believe any of these matters will have a significant impact on our consolidated financial position or results of operations. The aggregate amount we have accrued for losses we consider probable as a result of these litigation matters is immaterial. However, because of the inherent uncertainty of outcomes from any litigation matter, we believe it is reasonably possible we may incur losses in addition to the amounts we have accrued. At this time, we estimate the maximum amount of additional losses that are reasonably possible is insignificant. However, because of a number of factors, including the fact that certain of these litigation matters are still in their early stages, this maximum amount may change in the future.



The litigation matters described in the preceding paragraph primarily include claims that have been brought against us for damages, but do not include litigation matters where we seek to collect amounts owed to us by third parties (such as litigation initiated to collect delinquent loans). These excluded, collection-related matters may involve claims or counterclaims by the opposing party or parties, but we have excluded such matters from the disclosure contained in the preceding paragraph in all cases where we believe the possibility of us paying damages to any opposing party is remote.

Loss Reimbursement Obligations



The provision for loss reimbursement on sold loans represents our estimate of incurred losses related to mortgage loans that we have sold to investors (primarily Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae and the FHLB). Since we sell mortgage loans without recourse, loss reimbursements only occur in those instances where we have
breached a representation or warranty or other contractual requirement related to the loan sale. The provision for loss reimbursement on sold loans was an expense of $0.20 million, $0.23 million and $0.01 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The reserve for loss reimbursements on sold mortgage loans totaled $1.0 million and $0.9 million at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. This reserve is included in accrued expenses and other liabilities in our Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition. This reserve is based on an analysis of mortgage loans that we have sold which are further categorized by delinquency status, loan to value, and year of origination. The calculation includes factors such as probability of default, probability of loss reimbursement (breach of representation or warranty) and estimated loss severity. We believe that the amounts that we have accrued for incurred losses on sold mortgage loans are appropriate given our analyses. However, future losses could exceed our current estimate.

Visa Stock


We own 12,566 shares of VISA Class B common stock. At the present time, these shares can only be sold to other Class B shareholders. As a result, there has generally been limited transfer activity in private transactions between buyers and sellers. Given the limited activity that we have become aware of  and the continuing uncertainty regarding the likelihood, ultimate timing and eventual exchange rate for Class B shares into Class A shares, we continue to carry these shares at zero, representing cost basis less impairment. However, given the current conversion ratio of 1.6228 Class A shares for every 1 Class B share and the closing price of VISA Class A shares on February 26, 2021 of $212.39 per share, our 12,566 Class B shares would have a current “value” of approximately $4.3 million. We continue to monitor Class B trading activity and the status of the resolution of certain litigation matters at VISA that would trigger the conversion of Class B common shares into Class A common shares, which would not have any trading restrictions.