Fremont Bank - History

History

Fremont Bank was founded in 1964 by Morris Hyman, a decorated World War II veteran who came to the Bay Area with his family in 1945. He attended Stanford, earning both his bachelor’s and law degrees in only four years. Under his leadership, Fremont Bank became one of the most successful independent banks in the Bay Area. Morris died in October 2005 but his legacy lives on with his three children who all co-manage Fremont Bank.

Fremont Bank has always been known as an innovative community bank. In 1968, Fremont Bank launched one of the first iterations of Saturday banking. Fremont Bank was also one of the first of its kind to hold extended banking hours, further breaking the stereotypical mold.

In the late 1980s, Fremont Bank developed the “No Closing Cost” Loan Program which reduced the borrowers costs of refinancing their mortgage with fees refunded at closing. These fees were a direct result of changes in mortgage lending practices that involved title insurance policies, appraisals, escrow services, and other changes that effected mortgage lending. The “No Closing Cost” loan was charged at a slightly higher rate and sold in the secondary market at a price high enough to cover the closing costs and bank overhead while generating a profit for the bank. The “No Closing Cost” Loan Program was a revolutionary idea in the lending market at the time and became the most successful real estate loan program the bank had ever instituted. That continues to be the case to this very day.