Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

Note 17 – Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

First Mid Bank enters into financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk in the normal course of business to meet the financing needs of its customers.  These financial instruments include lines of credit, letters of credit and other commitments to extend credit.  Each of these instruments involves, to varying degrees, elements of credit, and interest rate and liquidity risk in excess of the amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheets.  The Company uses the same credit policies and requires similar collateral in approving lines of credit and commitments and issuing letters of credit as it does in making loans. The exposure to credit losses on financial instruments is represented by the contractual amount of these instruments. However, the Company does not anticipate any losses from these instruments.

The off-balance sheet financial instruments whose contract amounts represent credit risk at December 31, 2011 and 2010 are as follows:

	2011		2010
Unused commitments including lines of credit:
Commercial real estate	$	33,970	$	15,882
Commercial operating		119,102		87,068
Home Equity		24,804		25,421
Other		44,433		34,556
Total	$	222,309	$	162,927
Standby letters of credit	$	6,267	$	6,349

Commitments to originate credit represent approved commercial, residential real estate and home equity loans that generally are expected to be funded within ninety days.  Lines of credit are agreements by which the Company agrees to provide a borrowing accommodation up to a stated amount as long as there is no violation of any condition established in the loan agreement.  Both commitments to originate credit and lines of credit generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require payment of a fee. Since many of the liens and some commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements.

Standby letters of credit are conditional commitments issued by the Company to guarantee the financial performance of customers to third parties.  Standby letters of credit are primarily issued to facilitate trade or support borrowing arrangements and generally expire in one year or less.  The credit risk involved in issuing letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending credit facilities to customers.  The maximum amount of credit that would be extended under letters of credit is equal to the total off-balance sheet contract amount of such instrument at December 31, 2011 and 2010. The Company’s deferred revenue under standby letters of credit agreements was nominal.