Mr. McDonald, President & CEO, has held his current position since the Bank’s inception in 1972, making him the longest tenured African-American financial executive in the country.
With nearly 35 years of experience in the banking industry, Mr. McDonald’s strategic vision and hard work have been crucial to the success of the Bank. Under his leadership, the Bank’s assets have grown from a mere $2 million in 1972 to over $340 million currently
 Liberty Bank Mission
The mission of Liberty Bank is to provide cost- effective delivery of high quality, innovative, customer-driven products and services to the diverse markets with particular focus on the disadvantaged African-American community who traditionally have been financially underserved.
But the only true way to know Liberty Bank and Trust is to experience its power firsthand, join us on the road to recovery as we rebuild our great city.
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Liberty Bank NewsLetter
The purpose of the Liberty Bank Coming Home Newsletter is to provide you with some extra information and tools that will help you get home.
» Post Katrina Update
Road Home Fast Track
This program is intended to provide financing to you as an owner occupant who sustained uninsured losses from Hurricane Katrina and/or Hurricane Rita in 2005
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 ABOUT OUR PRODUCTS
Insurance
Let Liberty Bank help insure the future of yourself and your family.
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Lending
Home Mortgage
We will work to find a mortgage that fits your current budget and your long-range plans.
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Investment
IRA Accounts
Save for your future by making deposits that will generate tax-deferred interest earnings.
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Community Resources
NOLA.TV's mission is to utilize the tools of technology and the Internet to build and bind the New Orleans community. Our goal is to provide useful, quality content about New Orleans and surrounding areas to help generate an even greater interest in our local organizations and businesses. In the process of reaching our goal, we aim to inform, entertain, promote awareness, and develop an interactive relationship with our users. We're leading the way.
www.recoverycorps.org. The Louisiana Family Recovery Corps provides considerable information about various service providers, including its NOLA Bound program. The New Orleans phone number is 504-301-3420; in Baton Rouge, call 225- 381-3915.
www.unifiedneworleansplan.org. This is the official web site for the Unified Plan that is being completed for New Orleans. You can find both the citywide plan and the plan for your planning district (and a map that will help you determine which district is yours). You can provide comments on the plans through this web site, and learn about the vision your neighbors have for your part of town.
www.louisianaspeaks.org. This site presents plans for all of the southeast Louisiana, with an emphasis on flood protection and economic development. Phone number is 225-267-6300.
www.cityofno.com. The official City of New Orleans web site gives you on-line access to some of the permits you will need for rebuilding, as well as information on the status of various city services, programs and facilities. The main city phone number is 504-658-4000.
www.ldi.state.la.us. This is the site for the Louisiana State Department of Insurance. A key item here is the process for filing complaints against your insurance company, and also for filing for arbitration that may help you get a better settlement. The toll-free number is 800-259-5300.
www.katrinaaction.org. The Katrina Information Network has revised its web site and offers a variety of links as well.
www.gnocdc.org. The Center for Data Collection site includes a lot of information about the current state of facilities and services on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis.
You can also use search engines such as Google to get more information. You can enter the name of your neighborhood, for example, and find links to organizations working there and information about your area. For information on schools, enter "New Orleans Public Schools" or "Louisiana Recovery District".
Download the application . . .
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Liberty Bank is Standing Strong!
We are here to serve you with operations in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Jackson, Mississippi.
• 3002 Gentilly Blvd., New Orleans, LA
• 6600 Franklin Avenue, New Orleans, LA
• 3535 General DeGaulle Drive, New Orleans, LA
• 3200 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA
• 7990 Scenic Highway, Baton Rouge, LA
• 8796 Greenwell Springs Road, Baton Rouge, LA
• 200 S. Lamar Street, Jackson, MS
So if you need a personal loan, business loan or a new account, Let Liberty Do It. For more information or to contact a Liberty Bank representative, please call Customer Care at either:
• 1-800-883-3943
• 1-225-774-2381
You may also access your funds by using your Liberty Bank check card or ATM card 24 hours a day. Log on to our website at www.libertybank.net for more information.
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Many of our customers tell us that the money they have received from their insurance companies is not enough to pay for the cost of rebuilding their homes and businesses. The state's Road Home program is supposed to help fill this gap; while Road Home seems to be working better than it was a few months ago, the program is still very slow. Fortunately, Liberty Bank has a couple of ways to help you fill these financial gaps.
The first is the Fast Track Road Home Loan Program, a joint program of Liberty Bank and the City of New Orleans. This program can help put Road Home funds in your pocket a lot faster than the state can deliver them to you. If you have received notice from Road Home that you will be getting a payment but are still waiting for the money to arrive, bring the award letter into your nearest Liberty Bank office. If you qualify, we can lend you the money up to $50,000. You then pay us back when you receive the funds. More good news: the loan is interest-free for up to six months, thanks to the City of New Orleans paying the loan interest for you.
If you still have a gap after your insurance and Road Home money, we may be able to help you fill it. One option is to refinance your entire property, allowing you to get cash from some of the equity you have in your property to help you rebuild it. Again, please be sure to bring your Road Home award letter with you when you come talk to us, as it may help you qualify for the loan.
If you did not own a home prior to Katrina but are interested now, this may actually be an excellent opportunity. Sadly, many of our fellow citizens are not planning to return to the city and the region; but some of them are putting their properties up for sale at very affordable prices. Come talk to our mortgage department about how you might qualify, and let us see if we can help you get started on the road to home ownership.
Information is one of the most valuable commodities in our post-Katrina world, but it has been very difficult to come by. Sometimes it seems like there is more mis-information out there. The Internet is a very valuable tool for getting the information you need for rebuilding; if you do not have access yourself, your local library is a good place to go. People there can help you navigate to the sites that provide the most reliable, up-to-date information on tools, status and benefits that may be available to you.
Here are some particularly useful web sites:
www.LouisianaRebuilds.info. This site has a wealth of information on many aspects of the recovery, plus links to a lot of other useful sites. You can also call them toll-free at 877-527-3284.
www.lra.louisiana.gov. This is the official site of the state's Louisiana Recovery Authority. It has information about a variety of state programs, including the Road Home program for both homeowners and renters. It will also link you to other state services. Phone number is 225-342-1700.
Working With Contractors
If you have not yet begun rebuilding your home or business, it is very important that you be prepared for the new realities of working with contractors.
For starters, construction costs in southeast Louisiana are running about one-third higher than they did before the storm. For example, a new roof that might have cost you $10,000 pre-Katrina is likely to cost you $15,000 today.
Even at these higher prices, simply finding a contractor is an enormous challenge. A lot of contractors won't even come out to give you a bid, because they have so much work in hand that they consider it a waste of their time. Even when you do get a contractor lined up, they may tell you it will be weeks or even months before they can start working on your job.
An even more serious problem is that, unfortunately, there are a lot of unethical individuals running around ripping people off. A few are local, many are from out of state; but that does not mean that all out of state contractors are bad people. Here are a few key steps you can take to protect yourself from bad contractors:
Ask for references. No matter how badly you want to get your work started, if your contractor won't give you references, you are probably better off waiting until you can find someone else.
Do NOT give your contractor a lot of money up front. It is reasonable to give them some funds initially - perhaps 20 percent of the total job cost - but beyond that, you and your contractor should agree on specific stages of work to be done and base future payments on completion of these stages. NEVER give the contractor final, full payment until you are completely satisfied that the job is finished.
Check with the Better Business Bureau to see if the contractor is a member and/or there are any complaints against his company. If the contractor is out of state, contact the BBB in the contractor's home city. Liberty Bank can also help you with choosing your contractor. We have compiled a list of local firms with good reputations, and will happily share that information with you.
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