Sandra Lamb Bridges Joins Lee County Advisory Board

Sanford, NC, March 17, 2006 --(PR.com)-- Doug Gay, city executive of the Sanford office of Crescent State Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Crescent Financial Corporation, (Nasdaq National Market: CRFN), has announced that Sandra Lamb Bridges, president and owner of First Choice Home Care and a recipient of the 2005 Small Business Advocate of the Year Award, has joined the bank’s Sanford Advisory Board. The Advisory Board acts as a liaison between the bank and the community and advises the organization on how to better serve the community. Bridges has served on the Governmental Affairs Committee for Home and Hospital Care of North Carolina and is also an Executive Committee Chair for Small Business Expo. Bridges is a graduate of Central Carolina Community College with a degree in nursing and currently resides in Sanford with her husband Bill and her three children.

“Sandra Bridges’ community involvement and leadership skills will be an asset to the Sanford Advisory Board,” said Gay. “We are honored to have her serve on our Advisory Board.”

About Crescent State Bank:
Crescent State Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Crescent Financial Corporation. The Bank opened in December 1998 to cater to the financial needs of the communities it serves. The bank has total assets of approximately $411 million, deposits of approximately $322 million, and loans of $324 million as of December 31, 2005, with nine full service banking offices in the communities of Cary (2), Apex, Clayton, Garner, Holly Springs, Sanford, Southern Pines, and Pinehurst, North Carolina, and a loan production office in Raleigh.

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Information in this press release contains "forward-looking statements." These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including without limitation, the effects of future economic conditions, governmental fiscal and monetary policies, legislative and regulatory changes, the risks of changes in interest rates, and the effects of competition. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are discussed in Crescent Financial Corporation’s recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its Annual Report on Form 10-K and its other periodic reports.

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