Banking consultant Patti Blenden, who spoke at Independence Bank's recent Y2K seminar, tells audiences that she thinks of preparing for Y2K like preparing for a hurricane in her hometown of Charleston. The trick is in preventing people from overreacting to such descriptions. Where Blenden thinks of hurricane preparations as entailing a little extra cash and a little extra food, others might think of running for the wilderness with a yearslong cache of supplies. I don't know how to perfectly balance that. We want to provide information and try to counteract the negative media-hype that's misinforming.
Nothing riles bankers more.
Even in the event of a massive computer crash, banks remain the safest place to keep money, they say. Every bank is taking a look at the contingencies. You always want to be prepared. The borrowed money would be available to the banks on three different dates during November and December. Banks including FNB are discussing now whether the Home Loan program will be one of the ways they boost liquidity as the clock ticks toward 2000.