The mail you receive and send includes information that deserves special attention. Everything from account numbers and balances on financial accounts to the name and account number on checks you mail can be valuable to thieves and other scam artists.

Here are some ideas to help keep your mail secure:

1. Never send cash or coins. Use checks and money orders.
2. Do not leave mail you receive in your mailbox for any longer than necessary. If you are going to be gone, then have a family member or trusted friend take the mail from your mailbox. If you are going to be gone for an extended period, then have the post office hold your mail until you return.
3. Instead of placing outgoing mail in your mailbox with the flag up, drop off mail in a mail slot at a blue drop off box or at the post office. You can also just hand your outgoing mail to your mail carrier.
4. If you see suspicious individuals around your mailbox, then contact the post office or the police.
5. Investigate getting a lockable mailbox if you are very concerned.
6. Consider using a post office box or renting a private mailbox at a shipping and delivery store.
7. Use checks that are tamper-resistant and write checks in ink.
8. Have incoming checks automatically deposited instead of being sent to you. This direct deposit service may be available for your paycheck. The Social Security Administration can also accommodate direct deposit.
9. If you are expecting a check or other valuable piece of mail and do not receive it, then contact the sender. You can ask them to stop payment on a check if you think it has been stolen.
10. If you believe your mail has been stolen, then contact your postmaster.
11. If you do not receive your mail all of a sudden, then it is possible someone filed a change of address with the post office using your name. Contact your post office to inquire.
12. If you move or change address, then notify the post office and anyone you do business with through the mail.

The views of this article are for general information use only. Please contact and speak with a subject expert when specific advice is needed.

A sea of red, white and blue will accompany the gravesites of fallen veterans in Fort Smith, Ark., this week. The Avenue of Flag Committee, a group of retired military personnel, will place American flags at the Fort Smith National Cemetery on May 23. Volunteers from the Vietnam Veterans of America,* Veterans of Foreign Wars,* Disabled American Veterans,* The American Legion* and Darby Junior High School* will be assisting.

Arvest will be grilling hotdogs at the Fort Smith National Cemetery located at 522 Garland Avenue and South 6th St, Fort Smith, Ark. for all the volunteers who give their time to place flags.

The flags will remain up till May 29. The Avenue of Flag Committee is looking for volunteers to help remove the flags on May 29. To volunteer please contact Joe Gibbs (479) 414-7048.

Links marked with * go to a third-party site not operated or endorsed by Arvest Bank, an FDIC-insured institution.

The EMyth business development process has helped over 70,000 business owners during the last 35 years create businesses that are assets rather than just owning a job. A business as an asset means the entity exists apart from its owner so it can be run by someone else, sold or given as a legacy to a family member.

One of the most famous sayings coined by EMyth* is “working on your business, rather than in it.” You may have heard or read this somewhere, as this simple prescription holds the key to  developing a business that works for you, instead of you toiling and laboring away working for it.

What does working on it and not in it mean? Simply you have to do far more than just deliver a service or product to your customers. You have to know how to lead, manage, control your finances, create your brand and differentiate it, along with having clear ways to market, sell and ultimately deliver and engage with your customers.

Working on it, and not in it, means you get out of the trenches, stop doing stuff and start thinking about how you do it. As we like to say, how you think about your business is how you do business.

For many business owners encountering EMyth provides a revelatory change of perspective that shifts the entire way they look at their business and what is most important to its development.

I love nothing better as a business coach than to experience this perspective shift with my clients. Once they realize the importance of this simple saying they get busy thinking, strategizing, creating then attaching those strategies to structures and systems to make the business integrated with each piece working together as part of the whole business organism.

Once you understand the difference between strategic work and tactical work you start realizing if you want things to be different you have to do them differently and it takes strategic thinking and planning to map out the new way. Once you get it, there’s not much stopping you, except some extra effort and time to develop your business as a true asset.

Just the other day I received a call from a past client, informing me he had successfully hired and trained a general manager to run his business for him, and he was now working to lift off a new business. This is what building a business is all about, creating an asset that doesn’t depend upon you. This is how you become a true entrepreneur, through the daily practice of working on it and not in it, based on your business vision and sticking to it until it’s realized.

You too can create a business as an asset. You just have to get started and work on it, step-by-step. In future articles, I will further explain exactly how to do it.

The views of this article are for general information use only. Please contact and speak with a subject expert when specific advice is needed. Find articles like this and much more in the online Arvest Biz Center. Links marked with * go to a third-party site not operated or endorsed by Arvest Bank, an FDIC-insured institution.

Due to the severe weather observed on Monday, both Arvest branches in Moore, Oklahoma will remain closed on Wednesday, May 22. We are very thankful and fortunate to note that all Arvest associates are okay.

The Central Oklahoma Red Cross website contains information on how to get help and find loved ones impacted by the tornado.

We apologize for any inconvenience. We will update this blog as more information becomes available. You can bank 24 hours a day, 7 days a week using:

• Arvest Mobile Banking: Register through Arvest Online Banking; Mobile Check Deposit is also available within the Arvest Mobile Banking App
• Arvest Online Banking: Register at a branch or call us at (866) 952-9523
• 24-Hour Account Information Line: Register at a branch or call us at (866) 952-9523
• ATM: Find a location online

Arvest Mortgage Company (AMC) hopes you and your family have evaded the recent stormy weather without any personal loss or damage to your home. Our thoughts are with anyone who has suffered a loss. We have many customers and associates who have been caught in the path of these recent storms.

If you have incurred damage to your home and will be receiving an insurance claim check, Arvest Mortgage Company is here to help. AMC is working with your local Arvest Bank to ensure the best possible service.

We want to make sure you are informed regarding our hazard claim procedures. Please review the information below. The information below does not apply to homes that are a total loss. For information regarding a home that appears to be a total loss, please contact us directly at (800) 232-5524.

Many times AMC is able to endorse insurance claim checks from your insurance company at your local Arvest Bank. If you have a claim check to be endorsed, then call your local Arvest Bank ahead of time to ensure an authorized insurance claim signor will be available upon arrival. In order for Arvest to endorse the check immediately, you will need to provide a copy of the adjustor’s claim, you will need to sign the hazard claim affidavit (provided to you at the bank) and the following criteria must be met:

• Insurance claim check is $10,000 or less.
• Mortgage loan is current and has a good payment history. (A good payment history exists if there are no payments 30 or more days late in the last 12 months.)
• Current loan-to-value (LTV) is less than 95 percent.

In the event the claim check does not meet the guidelines above and AMC is unable to immediately endorse your insurance claim check, it will be forwarded to the mortgage company. This can be done by your local Arvest Bank, or you may mail the check, with your endorsement, to Arvest Mortgage Company, ATTN: Hazard Claims, P.O. Box 399, Lowell, AR 72745.

Please review the guidelines below for processing insurance claims and for disbursing insurance funds.

• Once AMC receives the insurance claim check, the funds will be placed in an interest-bearing loss draft account. AMC will disburse check(s) made payable to both the borrower and applicable contractor once the following items are received:
  • Hazard claim affidavit signed by borrower(s)
  • Copy of insurance adjustor’s claim
  • IRS W-9 form signed by contractor
  • Contractor’s bill for work completed and/or any other documentation with proof of repairs.
  • A completed contractor’s affidavit may be required if a general contractor was hired to make repairs.

Please note, a licensed and insured contractor must be used to make all repairs to the property. In addition, the property must be restored to at least its original value. In the event restoration costs exceed hazard claim funds, borrower is responsible for paying the difference.

• All items above must be received by AMC before a disbursement can be made from the loss draft account. A check will be placed in the mail to you, the borrower, three to five business days after the receipt of all documentation. (Initial upfront disbursements may be provided in certain instances. Contact us at (800) 232-5524 for details.)
• The following conditions also need to be met if the total claim exceeds 20 percent of the original property appraised value or is $50,000 or more:
  • Up to four completed property inspections may be required and ordered by AMC. (Inspections performed by Arvest Mortgage Company are for internal use only and are not designed or intended to satisfy the borrower as to the quality of the repairs.)
  • Please allow at least five business days for an inspection to be ordered and completed.

Please do not hesitate to call AMC with any questions you may have regarding our insurance claim procedures or any other questions regarding your mortgage loan. You may call (800) 232-5524 and an Arvest Mortgage Company representative will assist you.