In Rural Missouri, The Place to Bring Your Cents of Humor

The Tightwad branch counted assets of more than $2 million at its peak, but managers closed the lobby in the late 1990s after two robberies. With the novelty worn thin and only a single drive-through window staffed, it did not take, well, a tightwad to see that the numbers no longer made sense.

The bank, then owned by UMB Bank, closed in January 2007.

Higdon heard the news one day when he was watching the local weather.

"The proverbial light bulb went off. I thought that might be fun to play with that name a little bit," explained Higdon, a career banker who had teamed with partner Jeff McCalmon to buy the 100-year-old Reading State Bank in nearby Kansas. He called his wife and McCalmon, expecting them to say it was the nuttiest idea ever.

They didn't. So Higdon contacted UMB about buying the building. He also set out to register

the Internet domain name tightwadbank.com -- only to discover that someone else in Kansas City had experienced his own proverbial light bulb. When they were unable to come to terms, Higdon reserved tightwadbank.net instead.

Higdon and McCalmon, who had built the Reading bank's assets from $4 million to $12 million, needed approval from state and federal regulators. They also needed a strategy, not to mention a bank manager, computers -- and customers. Until the feds signed off this year, the bankers remained true to the Tightwadian code by refusing to spend money on new signs.

Along the way, the partners took another big step: They renamed the Reading bank, too.

"I thought, let's step out on a limb here and name the bank Tightwad," said Higdon. "To be really frank, the customer base in Reading, Kansas, was not too excited."

As Higdon was telling his story, he spotted a man and a woman climbing off their motorcycles to pose by the Tightwad sign. They turned out to be Lyndon and Debra Abell, D.C. residents touring the back roads.

"The Tightwad store was okay," Lyndon Abell said, explaining the photograph, "but the Tightwad Bank was too good to pass up."

That is what some of Lindsey's callers say, too. Like their predecessors during the bank's previous incarnation, they want to know how to open an account and draw checks on Tightwad Bank.

Higdon's challenge is to convert curiosity into cash.

To supplement the take from deposits, which have grown from zero to about $1 million, the bank sells Tightwad gear -- $14 hats, a $9 mug, a $30 polo shirt.

The next product will be a Tightwad Bank gift card, designed for "your favorite uncle, also known as Cheapskate Charlie."