CRANFORD, N.J. (March 17) -- First State Bank, central and northern New Jersey's newest full-service community bank, today announced a credit-card processing agreement with NationalCard Processing Systems, a nationwide credit- and debit-card processing firm.

The agreement calls for NationalCard to provide direct sales and marketing support for the bank's credit-card processing to all existing and prospective merchant accounts as well as significant cash-advance capabilities for its business and personal customers.

“Our agreement with NationalCard reinforces our efforts to make First State a community-driven bank,” said William T. Heath, President and CEO of First State Bank. “Now, in addition to our local services such as couriers for large deposits, we will provide our clientele with superb credit-card support.”

First State Bank and NationalCard expressed an interest in expanding their relationship based on the bank's growth and as new community needs developed.

“We are delighted to add to First State Bank's unique capabilities by providing state-of-the-art credit-card processing for their commercial DDA portfolio of merchants,” said Robert J. Abate, Executive Vice President of NationalCard's Agent Bank Group. “Bill Heath's customer-centric approach is very similar to our own.”

About First State Bank: First State Bank is a full-service financial institution offering exceptional customer service along with small-business and personal products such as business loans, SBA financing, mortgages, attorney and trust accounts, personal loans, and savings and checking accounts. Its 6,000-square-foot flagship branch and corporate headquarters is located at 16 Commerce Drive in Cranford, NJ. For more information, please visit www.fsbnj.com.

About NationalCard: Headquartered in Rochelle Park, NJ, NationalCard provides a full range of credit- and debit-card processing services for financial institutions, government agencies, non-profit organizations and retailers throughout the country. NationalCard offers a comprehensive line of processing solutions that include all major credit and debit cards, business-to-business purchasing cards, check verification and guarantee as well as electronic check conversion and gift/loyalty cards. The company also provides for a full range of point-of-sale terminals and industry-focused software/hardware interfaces. For more information, please visit www.nationalcard.net.