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Why Farmers Are Doing Well Despite a Looming Recession

By: Dale Hershey, SVP, Director of Agricultural Lending, Univest Bank and Trust Co. September 6, 2022

With 52,000 farms and 7.3 million acres of farmland, agriculture is one of the largest enterprises in Pennsylvania. It has an annual economic impact of $135.6 billion and employs more than 575,000 individuals in the Commonwealth.

However, ongoing inflation and rising interest rates have farmers across central Pennsylvania considering their expenses and business plan. Many farmers take out loans to help navigate the complexities of today’s business environment and they need to consider if they have loans maturing. If so, they are subject to repricing at current rates which have steadily increased so…

Preventing Elder Fraud with 4 Easy Tips

By: Univest June 14, 2021

Too often, seniors are mistreated and taken advantage of as the target of fraud. It’s important for our communities to come together to acknowledge, support, and advocate for senior citizens. Beyond protecting their physical wellbeing, senior citizens need to stay financially secure. Here are four easy tips to prevent elder fraud:

Understand and know common fraud scams. Scammers are likely to:
- Pretend to be an organization asking for a donation or money.
- Call to say you have won a prize and they need your bank account information to give you your winnings.

College Check List: How to Finance

By: Univest June 3, 2021

Yay! You’ve been accepted into college, but how will you finance this next milestone in your life? Here are some tips for first-year students.

Determine all expenses associated with college. These may include, but are not limited to tuition, textbooks, housing, meal plan, dorm room essentials, train pass, parking pass, school supplies, etc.
Fill out a FAFSA application with your parent or guardian before its deadline. The FAFSA application is free to fill out and determines how much federal financial aid you can receive based off your household’s income. Even if you think…

Fraud is on the Rise – Beware of these Scams

By: David Schecter, Corporate Security Officer, Univest Financial December 10, 2020

Univest, as with most financial institutions, has seen a significant increase in fraud attempts since the beginning of the pandemic. In this “new normal,” many are working remotely, shopping online and communicating with others through a variety of electronic platforms. Based on cases Univest has investigated and reports from our customers a common theme has evolved. Fraudulent emails, phone calls and texts have increased dramatically.

In some instances, customers have provided their personal credentials, compromising their accounts and resulting in fraudulent mobile deposits and subsequent transfers against those deposits. In other cases, our customers were duped into providing information to…

OSHA Part 1904 Deadline Approaching

By: Univest February 3, 2020

In an ongoing effort to notify clients about risk management trends and regulatory information, Univest Insurance would like to remind you of OSHA’s requirement regarding electronic submission of injury and illness records and the upcoming deadline.

ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF INJURY AND ILLNESS RECORDS TO OSHA

OSHA’s rule within Part 1904 requires the electronic reporting of workplace injuries and illnesses through their online services. Employers are required to electronically report their calendar year 2019 Form 300A data to OSHA by March 2, 2020.

Reporting requirements are as follows:

Establishments with 250 or more employees that are currently required to keep OSHA…

Why College Students Should Consider a Career in Financial Planning

By: Bill Van Sant, SVP and Managing Director, Girard, a Univest Wealth Management Division October 31, 2019

Has your child recently started college, navigating a sea of majors and concentrations in the hope of finding one that fits? Perhaps your student is in the process of applying to universities, and is just starting to think about what they want to do for a living. It’s important for students to consider pursuing a career that will pay off monetarily and also fit their strengths and interests.

With roughly 40 percent of current financial advisors expected to retire in the next 10 years, now is the perfect time for prospective and current students to consider financial services as…

Tips to Help Employees Beat the Winter Blues

By: Univest October 3, 2019

For many, the arrival of fall brings on mental and physical changes as the temperature drops and the hours of daylight get shorter. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression caused by the change in seasons, typically affecting people from fall through the winter months. An estimated 10 million Americans are thought to suffer from this disorder. SAD manifests itself in many ways with symptoms that can differ from year to year, but are consistently associated with seasonal mood changes. Symptoms may include but not limited to:

Difficult waking up in the morning
Mood changes

…

Using Culture to Drive Business Success

By: Kevin Davis, Vice President & Senior Employee Benefits Consultant, Univest Insurance, LLC April 30, 2019

At Univest, we highly value our culture and truly believe it drives performance. We also realize that culture isn’t something that just happens – it has to be defined and cultivated.

Last year, we introduced “The Univest Way” – the brand for our cultural fundamentals. The Univest Way consists of 18 fundamentals that describe the daily principles and practices that make our five core values come to life and truly serves as the foundation of our culture. By incorporating The Univest Way into our daily business practices, we are cultivating a high-performing culture that drives performance and encourages our employees…

Tips to Protect Your Device from Hackers

By: Randy Long, IT Security Officer, Univest Corporation September 23, 2016

Phishing continues to be the most common way for attackers to gain access to your device. Phishing can be done in many forms, most commonly through email. However, the sudden rise of popular games on mobile devices, like Pokémon Go, has given the attackers the opportunity to take advantage of unsuspecting users in new ways.

For phishing to occur in an application, a compromised version of an otherwise safe and well known application will be hosted on a site other than the major distributor of the app (iTunes, Google Play). Once installed, the application will take advantage of a vulnerability…

Protect Yourself from Ransomware

By: Randy Long, IT Security Officer, Univest Corporation June 29, 2016

Have you heard the term ransomware recently?

Ransomware is a form of malware that can be very destructive. It can be downloaded when an unsuspecting user clicks on an email link or visits a website that is infected. Once the ransomware has installed itself, it goes to work encrypting all of the data on the computer’s hard drive. Upon completion of the encryption, a screen is displayed that will inform the user that they have a certain amount of time to transfer the “ransom” to the attacker or their data will be either left encrypted and inaccessible or destroyed. Usually…

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