FBT Tuition Lending

First Bank and Trust has reshaped the way parents apply for and pay for tuition loans online with the help of local interactive agency Mudbug Media. The newly revamped FBT Tuition online payment system allows parents to securely apply for a tuition loan and make payments toward that loan online, saving time and paper.

“The team at Mudbug Media has just been fantastic,” First Bank and Trust education division relationship support manager Jimmy Murphy said. “Everyone has been very responsive and professional every step of the way.”

One major advantage of the newly redesigned site over the original is the ease of use for parents, schools and the bank, Murphy said, a necessity since tuition lending accounts for approximately 20 percent of First Bank and Trust’s annual loans.

“We generally end up doing about 13,000 loans every year,” Murphy said. “What this system allows us to do which we couldn’t do before the schools that elect to do this allow parents to elect to make payments to the school directly through the bank draft option, which is something new that we are able to offer.”

More than 1,500 hours of design and programming work have gone into the tuition lending site, according to Mudbug Media web technology director Sean McCann. The interactive agency utilized its designers and developers based in New Orleans plus some that work remotely from Washington, D.C., Houston and Sacramento.

St. Catherine of Sienna school bursar Jane Robbins said the First Bank and Trust tuition system is the most efficient method of collecting tuition she has ever seen. “I have done tuition over here for 10 years and this is the first time it’s ever worked,” Robbins said. “It just made my job so much easier. It is wonderful.”

Murphy said the responsiveness of the Mudbug Media team has given him confidence in the security and efficiency of the system. “Overall I can’t say enough,” Murphy said. “This has been an improvement for our bank and for our customers.”