A Women-Owned Bank That Helps You Start Over

Divorce can flip your financial life upside down overnight, and the hardest part is realizing how many decisions were being made without you at the table. We sit down with Ashley and Adam from Fortuna Bank to talk about a different kind of banking experience: a women-owned bank built by women for women, designed to feel welcoming, non-intimidating, and genuinely helpful when you’re trying to rebuild.

We unpack what real support looks like when you’re starting over or starting something new. Ashley explains how Fortuna helps women entrepreneurs move from “I have a little side hustle” to a real plan, with connections to the right professionals like CPAs, bookkeepers, attorneys, and marketing resources. We also talk about lending with a growth mindset, where the answer isn’t a dead-end “no,” but a clear path to get you ready in the next few months.

Then Adam breaks down mortgage options that matter during divorce, including conventional and FHA loans plus solutions like non-QM bank statement loans, asset qualifying loans, and DSCR loans for investment properties. We dig into one of the biggest questions we hear: do you have to sell the house? We talk through refinance pressure, ways to evaluate affordability, and what mortgage assumption can look like, including why you need to check your documents and call your loan servicer. Along the way, we highlight early planning, credit-building support, and why getting involved now can save you stress later.

If you want practical next steps and a boost of confidence around divorce finances, listen all the way through, then subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a five-star review so more women can find this support.

Hi and welcome to Thrive and Decide. I’m your host Sarah Thress. This podcast is intended to help women who are going through a divorce, continplating divorce or have lost a spouse feel seen, heard, understood and not alone. All the beautiful souls who share on here are coming from a place of vulnerability and a common belief that sharing your story will help others. You will also hear from industry experts on what to do and not do while going through a divorce.

Sarah Thress
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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of Thrive and Decide Guide to Divorce. This week we are with Fortuna Bank. And what I love so much about this bank is it was created by women for women. I mean, obviously it's not, you know, against men or anything like that, but I just really love the concept. So today I've got Ashley and Adam that are with me, and they're going to kind of fill us in a little bit more on Fortuna and kind of why it, you know, was started and things like that. So Ashley, we'll kick it off with you. Could you just help us to understand, you know, kind of who thought up Fortuna and like who came up with these, these concepts and, you know, kind of what makes you all different?

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Yeah, thanks for the question. And thanks for um having us here. Yes, exactly that. Fortuna Bank is different. It's a different banking concept. Um, it goes beyond just checking accounts, savings accounts, CDs, and loans. Um, we really do care about our primarily our female entrepreneurs and business owners. So we are a bank that was built by women for women. But as you said, we are a bank

Welcome To Fortuna Bank

SPEAKER_03 2:08

for everyone. But, you know, our founder, Lisa Berger, had the amazing concept of starting a women-owned bank with the focus on our females and really dug into the data behind that to understand the need for females to be supported when they're starting their business, scaling their business, looking to sell their business through all of the phases. And it tends to be where they don't have that banker that they can really trust and they don't always feel okay to ask questions. And therefore, you know, there are there's data behind it to show that women tend to get turned down more often than our male counterparts, not because of discriminatory reasons, but truly just because they went into that financing process unsure, unprepared, and with really not a lot of support around them. So we are here to change that and we are here to be that support person for our business owners, for our female entrepreneurs. But like I said, we are a bank for everyone. Um but that's really our intent is to make sure that we are here as a resource, that

Why Women Need Better Banking

SPEAKER_03 3:12

we are creating mentorship opportunities, educational opportunities to provide more empowered, confident business leaders out in our community.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Yeah, I love that. So if someone listening to this, you know, is maybe going through a life event like a divorce, and they're really wanting to like reinvent themselves and they are like, I have this amazing idea that I really want to like, you know, create. What would they do? Like, would they come and talk to you? Like, how do you help them? Can you kind of walk us through that process? If someone was like, hey, I have this awesome idea, here's what I want to do. Would you guys be like, oh, that's so cute?

SPEAKER_03 3:51

I love that you say that. Like, that's so cute because a lot of people will come to us and they'll say, I've got this side hustle, or I've got this little thing I'm doing on the side. And when we get them to really talk about it and share their business plan, sometimes they even have already some sales to share and some revenue to share. We're like, wow, this is not a side hustle. Like you've got something here. And that's where we really bring in our resources. So it's not just the banker that helps this business through business owner thrive. It's do you have the right bookkeeper? Do you have the right CPA? Do you need a bookkeeper? Do you need a CPA? Do you have a good attorney behind you? Do you have how are you doing your marketing?

Turning An Idea Into A Plan

SPEAKER_03 4:28

How are you networking? So yeah, we're here to talk about all of it and be that just really great resource for them. Because of course we can help them with their banking and help them with that process. But there's so much more that goes into a successful business.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

I love that. And I love that you have all the different resources because again, you know, when you're looking to start a new business, you don't always know, like, oh my gosh, I need to have, you know, an attorney. I need to have a bookkeeper. I need to understand, you know, my profit and loss statement. I need to, you know, be able to scale and, you know, all the things that you just like you don't think about.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

It's just like in a divorce, you know.

SPEAKER_03 5:07

Exactly. And knowing your, yeah, knowing your resources, right? So there are so many different programs. And I know Adam will talk about one that he is specializing in, but there are so many different programs that are out there for our business owners. And we want to educate, we want to make sure you know what those resources are. There are different certifications that you can get as a business owner that can help you along the way as well. Um, there are different grants and programs out there. So there's just so much that's here in the Columbus community to provide support. And we are, you know, a place that you can turn to as a first choice to then say, tell me more, like tell me everything else I need to know. And we want to share. We're here to share all the knowledge we have.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Yeah. I love that. And I love that you, you know, you have the resources within the community that you can connect people to. And then, you know, once they've kind of once you've helped the, you know, the client to realize, hey, I've got something here and I want to do it. Do you guys offer any type of loans that also would allow them to start their business or grow their business kind of scale?

SPEAKER_03 6:12

Yeah, absolutely. And every business is different and every setup is different and every financial need is different. So we would, of course, need to look at that from several several different angles. But again, that's the educating that we want to do. And if there needs to be more thought put into the business plan or the projections, we can guide and advise and direct you to the right people to help you to put that together. But then, of course, then we'll look at and we'll get creative. And our biggest thing that we saw with a lot of our experience as bankers and our business owners' experience is sometimes they're just told no. And we want to be different in that way. It's not a no, it's a here's what we can help you with to get you ready in maybe it's just three months, maybe it's six months. But we want to make sure that it's not a no, it's not a decline. It's how can we help you to eventually get there?

SPEAKER_02 7:06

I love that. So it's not

Loans That Start With A Path

SPEAKER_02 7:07

a no forever, it's a no for right this second, but we're also going to help you. So instead of like, oh, that's a really cute idea, we're not helping you buy. Instead, it's like, hey, like we love your idea. You were not there quite yet. But if you did XYZ, you could get there.

SPEAKER_03 7:24

Yeah. Absolutely. So again, like I said, just that educating and open conversation. And that's something that our team here is so good at because we were all, our entire team was really handpicked because we all know banking. Adam knows mortgages like the back of his hand, but it's that client experience that we're all so passionate about and helping people. So yeah, we are all here to make sure that I lost my train of thought. But we're all here to help.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

I love it. I love it. Yeah, it's all good. Yeah. And I love that, you know, you guys have put so much thought into this and like really given it, you know, a thorough like vetting of okay, so if this person, you know, needs this, and I I have to believe, just based off of getting to know you guys, that if there was something that someone wanted to do and you didn't quite know the answer, you're gonna research it. You're gonna find the right person and you're gonna connect them because again, you don't want people to fail.

SPEAKER_03 8:21

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And that was actually a big start of us starting Fortuna Bank is we became like our business owners. You know, we understand that not knowing what to do or not knowing where to find it or who to turn to. I mean, a lot of the build of Fortuna Bank was a lot of that. I mean, our followers saw us through LinkedIn, social media. We're like, hey, who can help with who do we contact at Venmo to make sure we can connect our clients' accounts to Venmo? Hey, who can help at, you know, this vendor to make sure our clients' accounts can connect here? I mean, we're always reaching out because this is what I was gonna say. Thank you. Yeah. That we provide a safe space to ask questions. Like there is no stupid question. We do want to help them to figure it out. And we create this environment where clients can come in and be really vulnerable and be very honest because it takes that. It takes a client saying, I don't know, for us to be able to really help them. And then to be able to be okay to then receive that help. And that's really the clientele that I feel like are attracted to us because they know that it's welcoming, non-intimidating, just space to be in where you can really get help.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

I do like that. And I will say, I mean, it the second I walked in, I felt very welcome. You know, it wasn't, it wasn't, you know, scary at all to walk in. Whereas I feel like sometimes walking into large banks or large, you know, buildings, whatever, like you can feel like, ugh, I'm so out of place. But I felt, you know, very comfortable here from the second I walked in. So you guys have done a really, really good job. You know, I can't speak for, you know, everyone, but I can speak for myself that I feel like this is such a great mission. It's such a great organization. Like you guys have done really good. Yeah. Thank you very much. Yeah, of course. So then on the mortgage side, we've got our expert Adam. And so thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yeah, of course. So I'd love for you to kind of walk us through like what are the different loan types? Because a lot of the listeners are going through, you know, going through this divorce, this life change. And so they're like, crap, like, you know, what am I gonna do? Or maybe maybe they don't own a house and they're looking at owning a house or, you know, whatever. So what are the different loan types that you guys offer? And, you know, maybe what's kind of different from other lenders?

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Yeah. So I would say, I mean, we we offer all the normal products, so conventional loan. We just got FHA. As we grow, we are expanding our products constantly. So some of the unique ones that we have are would be our non-conforming, non-QM loans. So something like that would be like a bank statement loan, right? Some people write off a lot of their expenses on their taxes, so they don't show a lot of income. So that's where the bank statement loan may come in. We

Mortgage Options Beyond The Basics

SPEAKER_00 11:05

also have asset qualifying loans, certain loans for investment properties, like DSCR is a big one that we're seeing a lot more of. So we're just qualifying it based on the cash flow of that property. We're not looking at their entire income, just the property. And that's just on investment properties. But we have a lot of different solutions for I think most scenarios. Um so we just today added a doctor loan. So wow. We are constantly expanding our product base, and it's really exciting to see what we've what we're building here.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

So Yeah, I love that. And I, you know, one of the big things that I really loved and what I connected with you the most about was that you are passionate about helping people going through a divorce, you know, and helping them to understand their options. Because unfortunately, a lot of people just assume that they have to sell, you know, that like there's no way I can stay here. I can't refinance, I can't own this on my own. I, you know, I've got a 2% interest rate right now. Cause a lot of people, you know, locked in back in back in the fun times of COVID, whenever, you know, you were able to get that 2%. And so they're like, well, now I'm gonna refinance. And, you know, even though I I only owe, you know, X amount, it's not gonna be 6%. So now it's more than I can afford. So I'd love for you to kind of walk us through like some options that when someone comes to you, like, what do you kind of talk to them about? Like, hey, actually you you don't have to sell, you don't have to refinance. Let's look at everything. And maybe after looking at the big picture, you say, hey, it's in your best interest to sell or, you know, whatever. But I, you know, I'd love for you to kind of walk us

Divorce Scenarios And Keeping The Home

SPEAKER_02 12:48

through like that conversation that you have with people to help them understand, because again, knowledge is power.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Yeah. So I would say, you know, I would I like to look at the whole picture. I was a banker before. So, you know, what are we getting out of the divorce? Maybe we have to take some of the assets and either buy the rate down or we are going to reduce that loan amount to make it where it could be affordable for that person. So I I don't know that every there's a every scenario would be different in that aspect. So, you know, we would look at what income might be coming in, that maybe it's alimony or something like that and go from there.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Yeah, absolutely. Now, I've heard that sometimes there is a way that you can assume the mortgage. And I know there's kind of a myth out there that only FHA and only VA can be assumed. But is it is it true that if you're going through a divorce that actually no matter what your loan is, you can actually apply to assume it if you financially it makes sense. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 13:56

There are ways, yes. Most of those government loans, FHA, VA, USDA, all of those loans are typically assumable. When you close on your loan, it will tell you this loan is assumable or it's not. So you would have to contact your current loan servicer and ask them, can I assume this loan? And then if they say yes, then we you can go down that path. I looked at one recently that really surprised me. Somebody contacted me and told me that their ex was assuming a loan. And I said, Well, was it a conventional loan? And they said, Well, yeah. And

Mortgage Assumption Facts And Myths

SPEAKER_00 14:34

we looked at the closing disclosure. It said it was not, but I don't know how they got it done, but they did. They contacted the ex contacted the servicer, and they were in the whole process of doing that. So I think it depends upon the situation. You're gonna need to call your loan servicer.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

That makes sense. And what kind of led you down this path? Like what made you want to get this designation? Because there's only like, as far as I know, there's only two, maybe three or four people in central Ohio that have the designation. And I could be wrong at that. So if anyone's listening and they're like, no, there's more than that. So sorry.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

As far as letters go, yes. There's only with me being added to that list now, three in Columbus. So what really made me kind of a combination of things kind of drove me towards that. Uh, I've always looked at it, getting it, and it was just the right time when I came to Fortuna. I was a child of divorce, so my parents divorced when I was very young. Really don't remember too much of them being together. But they also, each of my parents, what my father's going through a divorce right now, my mother had gone through another one. So really kind of navigating all that was pretty challenging. And right now, with my father,

Why Adam Focuses On Divorce

SPEAKER_00 15:57

I was seemed like a good time. When I left my previous employer, I had three loans that I was finishing up for one customer as a part of the divorce settlement. So I finished those, came here, and immediately got two clients that were going through a divorce, and it was it's that was the time. It was, I gotta do this now. It I think everything's telling me I need to do this.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

So yeah, I feel like the universe was sending you some clear signals.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

This is the path you need to go down.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

And then also, you know, I I kind of looked at it from Fortuna, you know, what the mission is here as far as helping women and business owners. But typically you'll see that maybe one person might handle the finances. I know that my wife and I, I mostly do that. I'm the banker, so it kind of makes sense. But really, wanting to help people who may not have that knowledge, you know, be able to understand how the mortgage works if they had never gone through that process, or maybe they got went through the process, but they kind of um they didn't they weren't involved as much. You know, hey, we need your pay steps. Okay, I'll grab those. But so I always like to try to involve everybody in the process, not just one person. I think when I first got into mortgages, I was typically speaking to maybe one borrower. Now it's I really try to involve both people in that whole conversation.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

I think that's good. And I I love that that you recognize that, and that you recognize that historically, it's you know, it's not everyone's household, but historically it is the man that you know handles the the banking. And a lot of times, you know, the women haven't been involved in that. They haven't met with the, you know, with the broker to talk about, you know, like all the different things. They haven't met with the financial planner to know like what are what are we even investing in? Where is our money even going? You know, and so I love that, you know, you and Fortuna Bank have really realized that it is, you know, the woman, because again, that's the whole idea behind Thrive and Decide is to help women going through this, you know, process feel seen, heard, supported. And everything that I've learned about Fortuna and everything you all have shared says to me, you guys want to see and take care of and support and guide and like be, you know, on this journey together with people. And that's that's what I love so much about you guys.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Yeah. And I would say, like, you know, you sometimes you'll have a stay-at-home mom who correct has not worked, and now all of a sudden we need a credit score, right? So we have the resources there to guide them. You know, here's what we can do if we need to do some sort of credit repair. I've got partners that I work with to help with their credit score.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

So I think that's huge. I love that you brought that up because I think that, you know, there's a lot of clients that I've worked with that are like, hey, I, you know, uh, I've stayed at home. We made that decision together at the beginning of our marriage that it made the most sense for me to stay at home to, you know, allow him to have whatever job it is that he has. Maybe it's a lot of travel, maybe it's, you know, a lot of sales. I don't know, but long hours, crazy hours. So there's a lot of times that they make that decision together. And then when it comes time, you know, either they're unhappy in the marriage and they feel stuck or the, you know, the other spouse decides that they want out. And so again, they feel stuck, like, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do? So

Credit, Alimony Rules, Early Planning

SPEAKER_02 19:40

I love that you guys don't go, oh well, too bad. You haven't worked, you know, for years. That sucks. Instead, you guys are like, oh, okay, well, let's figure out how to help. So I love that you have that because that is, you know, something that comes up a lot.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Yeah. Yeah. I I like to get involved early, as early as possible, because we can then plan better for these types of situations, whether it be on the income side, because that can be that can be challenging when going through a divorce. So being able to coordinate with the attorneys, right? Hey, we this is how we need to set this up, or because there's some weird lending rules with let's say alimony, right? You gotta have that alimony for six months before you can do anything. So the earlier we can get involved, I think the better.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Yeah, I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Excellent. Well, I really appreciate you guys taking time out to come on, you know, share everything, you know, go ahead and tell us more about like Fortuna and all of that. So I really appreciate that. If there was like one thing that maybe you feel like you haven't said, I don't know if maybe as you were sitting here, we're like, man, I wish I had said this. What do you like? Is there one thing that you wish maybe you had said?

SPEAKER_03 20:58

I really want to just really play on something Adam said, but it's the getting involved. So there are so many women throughout my career that as I've been helping them, we're sitting, we're opening an account, or you know, whatever it is, and they're they had no idea how to do it because they'd never been involved. They'd never, they didn't know who held the mortgage. You know, they didn't know how to pay the bills. So that's really what has always made me very passionate about helping women in the financial area and the financial space is to encourage them to get involved, have a seat at the table. When you're meeting with your financial advisor, go to the meeting. Don't just let your spouse handle that. And if you go and you don't feel comfortable asking questions, then maybe search around for a new financial advisor because you should be with someone that you feel comfortable asking those questions to and have a good understanding of your financial finances. Um I also would encourage you as you're married or in a relationship, have financial date nights. So it's like time set aside that

Seat At The Table Money Talks

SPEAKER_03 22:01

you both know that what the topic is going to be. Because I know there are many times where like I'm ready to talk about our finances, but my husband's like not in the right headspace for that, or vice versa, you know? So you can have that time set aside that you know what the expectation is of what you're gonna cover, and you can be on the same page about it and be working towards something together. So even if it does result in a potential divorce, at least you felt very involved with the household finances. You know, women tend to just be involved with like the everyday budgeting of like, here's what's going to groceries, here's what's going to daycare, here's what here's what's going to like gas money or whatnot. But then when you ask them about like what does your retirement look like, what do your investments look like, that doesn't get discussed. And so make sure you're at the table, make sure you have the conversation and ask questions.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

Yeah. I love that because I that's something that like my husband and I have started doing is the you know, financial date nights where, you know, we're just trying to stay on the same page and you know, understand, you know, we each have been divorced and now we're, you know, remarried. And so we're trying to make sure that we're not making the same mistakes that maybe were were done before. But to your point, even if someone listening is contemplating divorce, maybe contemplating like, ugh, I'm not happy, I don't want to be here, have these conversations like sooner rather than later to know because to your point, it's gonna be much easier, you know, whenever it comes to the finances, and it's gonna be much easier if you're trying to start something, you know, or end a marriage to know exactly where that money is. And, you know, it saves you saves you a lot of forensic accounting and things like that. So yeah, absolutely. I love that. Anything else you want to add?

SPEAKER_00 23:47

No, I mean, you know, I'm kind of the new kid on the block here as far as Fortuna goes, haven't been here too long, but I just love this team. I mean, we really work together really well as a team. You know, I met with somebody today and we were talking mortgages and oh hey, he has a client who needs something. And, you know, I went to our commercial banker and yeah, we I think we can help them. So I think we really work well together.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Excellent. Well, thank you guys so much again for taking time out and and meeting with me. I'll make sure that we have all the links in the show notes to Fortuna, you know, to you guys, so that if someone listening is like, oh my gosh, these this is who I need in my life, they'll know how to get a hold of you. So all right. Yeah. All right, excellent.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us this week. And make sure that you are leaving feedback. That is the greatest gift that you can give us. A five star rating is always much appreciated. And make sure you're sharing this with someone that may need this

Team Support And Closing Requests

SPEAKER_02 24:48

information. So see you next time on Thrive and Decide Guide to Divorce.