FOR MORE INFORMATION                      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE       Contact James B. Mitchell                 Date:  January 28, 2004        Vice President & CFO                                                    at (620) 331-1660

               FIRST INDEPENDENCE CORPORATION                 DECLARES INCREASED CASH DIVIDEND

     INDEPENDENCE, KANSAS -- First Independence Corporation, parent of First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Independence, has announced that the Corporation will pay a cash dividend of $.15 per share for the first quarter of fiscal 2004.  The $.15 per share dividend represents an increase of $.0125 per share over the previous quarterly dividend.  The dividend will be payable on February 20, 2004 to shareholders of record on February 6, 2004.

     First Independence Corporation was formed in 1993 and acquired all of the shares of First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Independence upon its conversion from a mutual to a stock savings and loan association effective October 5, 1993.

     First Federal serves Montgomery, Wilson, Crawford and Chautauqua, Counties located in Southeast Kansas through its offices located in Independence, Coffeyville, Pittsburg and Neodesha, Kansas.  In addition to the four full service branches, First Federal has a loan production office located in Lawrence, Kansas.  At December 31, 2003, First Federal exceeded all applicable regulatory capital requirements on a fully phased-in basis.

The Corporation had $159.7 million in assets and $15.3 million in stockholders' equity as of December 31, 2003.  The Corporation's stock is traded on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol "FFSL.OB".