Whether you are needing to get fast cash at an Arvest ATM or need personal assistance with your accounts at a branch location, there is a new iPhone application to help point you in the right direction. 

I am pleased to announce that Arvest Bank has launched a new iPhone application designed to help locate Arvest branches or ATMs, provide you with branch hours and driving directions using GPS technology.

Arvest has more than 320 ATMs and more than 220 branch locations in over 90 communities.  This new app helps narrow your search to locations near you, or you can search another specific city or location.

The Arvest Branch and ATM Finder app has the following features:

• Use your iPhone GPS to find branches or ATMs near you
• Turn by turn driving directions
• Color-coded location pins show you which locations are open and which are closed
• Branch hours for every location
• Direct link to the Arvest Mobile Banking application for iPhone
• Quick link to launch Arvest's mobile site or full site in your phone's browser

The new Arvest Branch and ATM Finder application is free and is now available for download in the Apple App Store. 

We know many of our customers choose Arvest because of our focus on service, extended banking hours and convenient locations.  This app is a tool to help take advantage of those attributes.

In addition to the Branch & ATM Finder app, there is also an app for iPhone for Arvest Mobile Banking.  You can currently find this in the App Store by searching for Arvest and selecting "Mobile Banking by AT&T". 

Arvest joins a long list of national companies and entities introducing new iPhone apps for their customers including Volkswagen, Allstate, NASDAQ, Benjamin Moore, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, Nikon, GEICO and many others. As the iPhone’s popularity has increased, with record sales of 7.4 million devices in the third quarter alone and market share of 30% among smartphones, companies are tapping into the power and convenience of these apps to make interacting with customers easier and more convenient than ever.

iPhone is currently the only device for which Arvest has a Branch & ATM Finder, but Arvest Mobile Banking is available for almost all smartphones. 

Santa will be making a visit to the Arvest Fort Smith branch! Please join us on Saturday, December 5 from 9 a.m.-10 a.m. at the Arvest Rye Hill location, 11808 Highway 71 South, for pictures with Santa. Refreshments will be served and there will also be a drawing for a $50 Arvest Visa Gift Card.

Arvest Visa Gift Cards are a wonderful way to wrap up your holiday shopping! Click here to learn more.

All your shopping in one go.

Visa makes it easy to do all your holiday shopping in one place. Great deals, great stores, superb selection. So stay right here and go save.

Save money by using your Arvest Visa credit or debit card.

Get discounts off purchases, free shipping on gifts and more!  Take advantage of special offers from dozens of national retailers this holiday season.  It's simple, hit the link below, shop, pay with your Arvest Visa and save for the holidays.

Go Save Now! - ‘tis the season to go save with Visa.

Need a last minute gift?  Visit your nearby Arvest Bank location to purchase an Arvest Visa Gift Card!

The Northwest Arkansas Tip-Off Club was established in 2007 to promote basketball in Northwest Arkanasas. This year's luncheons will be held at the centrally located Springdale Holiday Inn of Northwest Arkansas and will feature key note speakers from the world of basketball. Funds raised by this club will be donated to several Northwest Arkansas High School boys and girls basketball programs. The lunch prices are $17 for members, $25 for non-members and $10 for non-eating, non-members

For more information, contact Wayne Stehlik of Play to Win Consulting here or here, or by phone at (479) 601-1908.

You can visit the NWA Tip-Off Club website here.

December 2, 2009- Corliss Williamson
December 15, 2009- Larry Johnson
January 5, 2010- Eddie Sutton
January 19, 2010- Jeff Long
February 2, 2010- Charlie Spoonhour
February 16, 2010- Charles Balentine
March 2 or 5, 2010- Oliver "Big O" Miller

Click here to receive an entry form for the luncheon. Please complete and return it to any Arvest Bank in Fayetteville. Checks for entry may be mailed to:

Attention: Donny Story
NWA Tip-Off Club
Arvest Bank
P.O. Box 1327
Fayetteville, AR 72701

*Arvest Bank in Fayetteville is a proud member of the Fayetteville Community Foundation.

**Lunch dates subject to change due to speaker's availability and schedule.

This year the Fort Smith region of Arvest is supporting the Salvation Army Angel Tree at multiple locations. The following locations in Fort Smith have Christmas trees in their lobbies with angels attached: 3421 South 74th Street, 4800 Kelley Highway, 5000 Rogers Avenue, and 3200 Rogers Avenue.  The 3 Arvest branches in Russellville also have trees in their lobbies with angels attached as well: 121 North Elmira, 819 South Arkansas Avenue and 3005 West Main Place.  Customers and associates are more than welcome to take an angel and return the gifts to the bank.  If you would like to take an angel, the unwrapped gifts must be delivered to the bank by December 7th.

Arvest is excited to partner with the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce with an initiative to honor all of the men and women who fought for our country and are now buried at the National Cemetery.  Family, friends and volunteers will transform the Fort Smith National Cemetery by placing one wreath on each of the 12,000 headstones in their honor.  Families of service members are welcome on the morning of December 12th from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. to place a wreath on their family member's gravesite.  Friends and volunteers are welcome from 9:30am until the final wreath is placed. At 11a.m. there will be a short ceremony honoring the various branches of the military.  In addition, there will be a candlelight vigil at 5:30 p.m. the following Monday, December 14th for friends, family and the community. 

An Arvest account has been set up for people to donate to the Christmas Honors fund to help make this initiative a success.  As people make a donation into the account, they can also fill out a Christmas Honors form so the Chamber can thank them and so they can honor a loved one if they would like. 

It’s been quite the week for our banks in Northwest Arkansas! As we mentioned last week, our banks have partnered with the local radio station, KLRC, to encourage residents in our community to Pay It Forward. The concept is rather simple, do something nice for another person, without expecting anything in return. If you are the recipient of a kind gesture, instead of repaying that person, do a kind thing for someone else.

Throughout the week, we’ve posted encouraging messages on our Facebook page and Twitter account hoping to inspire others to Pay It Forward! Our feedback from associates and their efforts has been overwhelming! Here are a few of their stories:

Fayetteville
“We gave money to a man that was walking down the street with backpacks and a sleeping bag and a beautiful dog named Sequoyah.  We found out he was originally from Kansas City and had been in the military and was waiting on a housing voucher to come through.  We asked him where he had planned to stay the night and he said he would find a place "up under a bridge". We saw him later going into McDonalds.“

Springdale
“Early this morning a group of us went to Harps to give someone money for gas.  We wanted it to go to someone we felt could really use help with buying their gas.  This gentleman pulled in and we knew we had to pick the right person.  He told us that was the best and nicest thing anyone has done for him in a long time.“

Bentonville
"A group of associates went to Northwest Medical Center in Bentonville and delivered snacks and water to employees and folks waiting in the waiting rooms for family members. The volunteer coordinator at the hospital was blown away! “We were so blessed to have you. It is good to know that there is still good in the world.”

 These are just a few of the heart-warming stories we’ve been sharing with one another all week. We hope they inspire you as much as they have inspired our associates!

Visit our Facebook page for pictures! http://www.facebook.com/ArvestBank

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, now is the time to start preparing for a special day. Whether you are looking forward to partaking in long-standing traditions or are wanting to spice things up, keep in mind that Thanksgiving day is all about remembering those things for which you are thankful. It's not about the dollars you spend, it's about the memories you make.

Thanksgiving decorations:

• Use what you have. Any combination of white, orange, red or brown dishes can be mixed and matched to create an autumn feel. This is also a great opportunity to bring out the seldom-used china. This is, after all, a special occasion.
•  Take a hint from nature. Gourds come in many interesting shapes and sizes and can be purchased inexpensively at department stores. Seasonal fruit such as apples, oranges and cranberries can add variety and color to a centerpiece and can be used later for meals and snacks. Free decorations can be found simply taking a walk through the neighborhood. Collect leaves, pine cones and acorns, placing any combination of these items in large or small bowls.

An extensive list of fun Thanksgiving crafts for children can be found here on the Disney website.  

Create a new tradition:

-Try the "Thankful Bowl". Older children can cut leaf shapes out of autumn-colored construction or scrapbook paper. As guests arrive, encourage them to write down those things for which they are thankful. After dinner, take turns reading from the Thankful Bowl as you count your blessings.

-Invite an individual or family for dinner. For many people, the holiday season can be a lonely time. Why not share your blessings with them?

-If you are looking for a big change this year, consider volunteering at a soup kitchen. Perhaps serving others could become your new Thanksgiving tradition.

Tiffany is a special contributor to the Arvest Bank blog, providing her insight and opinions on personal and family finance issues. *Photo courtesy of Rockelle Munsch

Arvest has been proud to partner with KLRC, a local radio station, to Pay It Forward in Northwest Arkansas for the past three years. The concept of Pay It Forward is simple - do something good for someone in response to a good deed done on your behalf or a gift you received. However, when you pay it forward, you don't repay the person who did something nice for you. Instead, you do something nice for someone else. Through our sponsorship, we are providing $101 to help KLRC listeners Pay It Forward during their 25 Days of Pay It Forward. 

Arvest associates got excited about this concept of helping others and are going a step further: This week Arvest associates will be spreading random acts of kindness across Northwest Arkansas. We will keep you updated on what we are doing and, in return, we would love for you to share your Pay It Forward story on Arvest's Facebook page or as a comment on our blog. Follow us at twitter.com/ArvestBank and use #payitforwardnwa for stories, events and highlights. Whether a stranger made your day by buying your lunch, or your kind act helped brighten someone else’s day, we want to hear about it!

Here is an example of how people are already paying it forward:
On Thursday morning, Arvest associate Xochitl Baxter made a visit to Starbucks in Fayetteville. As she was getting ready to pay, the Starbucks employee told her that the car in front of her had paid for her coffee. He said he didn't know what was going on, but she was the 31st car in a row that had their ticket paid for by the previous customer! Xochitl told him that she was sure that Northwest Arkansas was Paying It Forward and so she Paid It Forward to the car behind her.

Small random acts of kindness are happening throughout our region turning frowns into smiles. One act can even change someone’s day!