Evelyn Witham: Helping Members Find ‘Home’

For Evelyn Witham, mortgage loan originator serving Jacksonville, the Little Rock Air Force Base and surrounding areas for Arkansas Federal Credit Union, the home-buying experience is much more than business. It’s a chance to help members find “home.”

“I am very passionate about helping others and making their home-buying experience a happy time, not a stressful one,” she said.

Evelyn appreciates the importance of home. Born in France to a military family, she moved often as a child. Her dad retired while stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base, and the family settled in central Arkansas. Helping Arkansans find their own place to settle is meaningful for Evelyn, but helping military members purchase a new home perhaps means a little more.

“I really like to focus on the importance of helping our military community in Arkansas,” she said. “Many of our active-duty military personnel are relocating here from other states and countries. Having to transfer so often to different places around the world has a big impact on them and their families.”

Evelyn believes it’s important that the credit union do all it can to make the transition as smooth and efficient as possible.

“I work with many military families and am empathetic to all of their needs in the mortgage-purchasing process during their relocation,” she said.

Once settled in Arkansas herself, it didn’t take long for Evelyn to find a home in the banking industry; she started at 18. Her work began at Arkansas Federal in 1997 when she joined the credit-union team as a teller. Since then, she’s worked in new accounts, loan disbursement, business development and marketing, finally finding her mortgage niche in 2002.

Aside from a four-year stint at another financial institution, Evelyn’s been helping Arkansas Federal families realize their new-home dreams ever since. Though she found her way back home to Arkansas Federal, the time away helped Evelyn fully realize those things that distinguish the credit union from traditional banks.

“From my experience, the biggest difference is the ownership individuals have in being a part of a credit union,” she said. “Our competitive products and services such as lower interest rates on loans and higher rates on savings and assets help make the credit union an easy choice. The employees at our branch locations and departments know their members by name and are dedicated to serving them.”

Just as Evelyn makes it a priority to ease the transition for military families and Arkansans in the market for a new home, Arkansas Federal’s mission is to improve the financial lives of its members.

“Knowing you are part of a financial institution that genuinely cares about its members’ financial well-being is the best thing about working here,” she said.