NOTE 13 - COMMITMENTS

The Company leases several of its operating facilities under various noncancellable operating leases expiring at various dates through 2022. The Company is also responsible for common area maintenance, taxes and insurance at the various branch locations.

Future minimum rent payments on the Company's leases were as follows at September 30, 2017:

(dollars in thousands)
Year ending December 31:
2017 remaining	$	410
2018		1,350
2019		754
2020		496
2021		382
Thereafter		130
	$	3,522

The minimum rent payments shown above are given for the existing lease obligation and are not a forecast of future rental expense. Total rental expense, recognized on a straight-line basis, was $1.1 million and $1.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

In the ordinary course of business, the Company enters into financial commitments to meet the financing needs of its customers. These financial commitments include commitments to extend credit, unused lines of credit, commercial and similar letters of credit and standby letters of credit. Those instruments involve to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest rate risk not recognized in the Company's financial statements.

The Company's exposure to loan loss in the event of nonperformance on these financial commitments is represented by the contractual amount of those instruments. The Company uses the same credit policies in making commitments as it does for loans reflected in the financial statements.

At September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, the Company had the following financial commitments whose contractual amount represents credit risk:

	September 30,		December 31,
	2017		2016
(dollars in thousands)
Commitments to make loans	$	97,116	$	68,003
Unused lines of credit		97,662		92,378
Commercial and similar letters of credit		4,144		8,966
Standby letters of credit		1,575		1,250
	$	200,497	$	170,597

Commitments to extend credit are agreements to lend to a customer as long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contract. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements. The Company evaluates each client's credit worthiness on a case-by-case basis. The amount of collateral obtained if deemed necessary by the Company is based on management's credit evaluation of the customer.

The Company is involved in various matters of litigation which have arisen in the ordinary course of business and accruals for estimates of potential losses have been provided when necessary and appropriate under generally accepted accounting principles. In the opinion of management, the disposition of such pending litigation will not have a material effect on the Company's financial statements.