The Company has entered into transactions with certain directors and principal officers of the Company, their immediate families, and/or affiliated companies in which they are the principal stockholders (related parties). The aggregate amount of loans to such related parties was $8.9 million and $7.4 million at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. In the opinion of management, such loans, with the exception of residential mortgages extended to any employee that receives a nominal reduction to the interest rate, were made in the normal course of business on the same terms as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions.

The following table presents the amount of loans to and repayments on loans to related parties.


Balance, January 1, 2018	$	7,354
New loans and extensions to existing loans		2,852
Repayments and other reductions		(1,317	)
Balance, December 31, 2018	$	8,889

Unfunded commitments to extend credit to related parties were $1.7 million and $3.7 million at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

The aggregate amount of deposit accounts of related parties at December 31, 2018 and 2017 amounted to $14.0 million and $10.4 million, respectively.

Related parties hold in the aggregate principal amount of $285 thousand of the Company’s subordinated notes, as of December 31, 2018, and at that date, the Company owed these related parties $291.1 thousand in principal and accrued interest with regard to the notes.