Discount Window & Risk Administration Contact Information for Atlanta

Seasonal Lending Program and Application Form for Atlanta (6th District)

Overview
General Requirements
Completing an Application
Pledging Collateral
Interest Rate & Fees
How to Contact Us


Overview

Under the seasonal lending program, a depository institution ("institution") may qualify for funding for up to nine months during the calendar year, to meet seasonal borrowing needs of the communities it serves. The seasonal lending program is for institutions with demonstrated liquidity pressures of a seasonal nature and will not normally be available to institutions with deposits of $500 million or more. Institutions that experience fluctuations in deposits and loans-caused by construction, college, farming, resort, municipal financing and other seasonal types of business-frequently qualify for the seasonal lending program.

Seasonal credit may be drawn down incrementally as needed; both partial and full prepayments are allowed without penalty. Advances under the seasonal lending program are available daily.

The seasonal lending program was not designed to act as a substitute for core deposit growth. Therefore, institutions are expected to meet a portion of their seasonal funding needs from existing liquidity resources. A graduated deductible is subtracted from the estimated seasonal need to determine the amount of seasonal credit that an institution may borrow from its Reserve Bank at any given time during the program.

Institutions are not permitted to use the program to increase sales of federal funds or to purchase other assets. However, net sales of federal funds are appropriate, as long as they are consistent with the institution's normal operating pattern. The maximum levels of net fed funds sales and investments allowed while borrowing under the program are established during the qualification process. Reserve Banks consider the financial condition of any depository institution before granting a seasonal qualification or extending seasonal credit.

Additional information can be found in FRB Atlanta's Seasonal Brochure.

Eligibility for seasonal credit is based mainly on two factors:

  1. Your institution's deposit size (as a proxy for reliable access to national money markets).
  2. Your projected seasonal need for funds, as indicated by a consistent pattern of significant seasonal swings in total deposits and loans during the last five years. If your institution qualified for the Seasonal Lending Program in the previous year, you are only required to provide data from that year. Whichever period is appropriate please provide the data in complete calendar years. Under the Seasonal Lending Program, borrowers may obtain longer-term funds from the discount window during periods of seasonal need so they can carry fewer liquid assets during the rest of the year and can make more funds available for local lending.

General Requirements
An institution must meet the following requirements to participate in the seasonal lending program:

  • Demonstrate a recurring seasonal need for funds that persists for at least one month;
  • Complete a Seasonal Lending Program Application
  • Complete borrowing documentation (in compliance with Operating Circular No. 10) with FRB Atlanta; and
  • Submit weekly data (selected balance sheet items) on Form FR 2046 to FRB Atlanta. The FR 2046 form should be completed with only Wednesday data. The FR 2046 should be submitted weekly to FRB Atlanta beginning two weeks prior to the start of the seasonal borrowing, should continue to be submitted on a weekly basis while an institution is in the Seasonal Lending Program and should continue to be submitted for two weeks after the institution has left the Seasonal Program.

Back to Top

Completing an Application

An application for the seasonal lending program should be completed well in advance of the anticipated need for funds. As part of the initial application process, an institution must provide up to five years of monthly loan and deposit data to FRB Atlanta and must also provide the prior year's securities owned plus five years of federal funds purchased and sold data. We will analyze this information to determine eligibility as well as the amount and duration of the approved seasonal credit line.

Seasonal Lending Program Application Form
Using Steps 1-3 below and the instructions provided on the application form, calculate your monthly deposit and loan figures and enter them on the form. If you are new to the Seasonal Borrowing program, you must provide deposit and loan data from the previous five years (three years of loan and deposit data may be accepted if five years are unavailable). If you qualified for a seasonal line last year, you need to provide the previous year's data only. Please record all data legibly, completing all sections as requested.

1.a. Calculating Loan Data:
Your monthly loan figures should represent only loans to borrowers in your trade area. Therefore, the figures should be adjusted to exclude federal funds sold, marketable commercial paper, or participations in correspondent loan portfolios. However, if you are required to buy a participation from a correspondent as a condition of the correspondent taking an overline from you, this loan indirectly represents funds made available to your local borrowers and should not be excluded.

The loans that you report should include any earning asset which represents funds made available to borrowers in your trade area (e.g. tax anticipation certificates purchased each year from a local unit of government).
1.b. Calculating Deposit Data:
Your monthly deposit figures should be adjusted to exclude any unusual deposits not reflecting regular deposits, such as a temporary deposit of funds from local tax collections or from a bond issue. Any unusual changes in month-to-month figures during the year suggest possible need for adjustment. If your deposit figures do not reflect any temporary or unusual deposits, report them as they appear on your books.
2. Reporting Loan and Deposit Data:
Deposit and loan data should represent month end data.

The figures you submit will be used as the basis for determining your institution's projected seasonal borrowing qualification. Please describe in writing any special circumstances that would apply (for example, if your institution's deposit figures dramatically increased due to acquiring a branch or a merger). We will send a letter stating the monthly amounts that you are eligible to borrow, if applicable.

We limit the use of seasonal credit to nine calendar months. If the calculation shows a seasonal qualification of eleven months, for example, we would restrict seasonal borrowing to your choice of any nine of those eleven months. For each month, you may borrow all or part of your seasonal qualification and prepay in part or full throughout the month. In addition, you may request modification of your credit arrangement. Note that all advances and repayments must be made in thousand-dollar increments.
3. Provide a statement of your Seasonal need:
Write a brief description of the factors causing your potential seasonal need (causes of Seasonal fluctuations in Loans and Deposits).
Send the application to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

The Seasonal Application and the Statement of Seasonal Need may be sent to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta via the following methods:

E-mail:
Discountwindow@atl.frb.org
(Please include "Seasonal Lending Program Application" in the subject line)

Mail:
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Credit and Risk - Seasonal Lending
1000 Peachtree Street N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30309-4470

Pledging Collateral
All loans made by FRB Atlanta must be secured by acceptable collateral. We accept a wide variety of collateral including, but not limited to, U.S. government and agency obligations, municipal securities, CMOs, commercial, consumer and real estate loans.

Interest Rate & Fees
The interest rate charged on seasonal credit loans is a floating market rate comprised of the average of the federal funds rate and the rate on three-month CDs rounded to the nearest five basis points. The interest rate is reset every two weeks and applies to all outstanding seasonal credit loans.

There are no commitment fees, stock purchase requirements, prepayment penalties, or other expenses or penalties involved in setting up and maintaining a seasonal line of credit.

How to Contact Us
For additional information on this or any other lending program, collateral arrangements, or borrowing requirements, you may contact the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta at (888)-500-7390, option 1.

Back to Top