First Southern Bank S Court St, Florence

I bank here. And have recommended it to everyone I've heard ask about a bank. I've done business with these guys for 20 years. And they're amazing. They've helped me any time I've needed it. Come talk to these guys and I promise, you'll move your money and let these guys take care of you.

You won't find a more friendly and helpful bank than First Southern!

3 years ago I was referred to a banker at First Southern when buying a home. She was an excellent mortgage officer & did a wonderful job. This past summer I began the process of opening my own small business. Because I had once had a great experience with her, I went back to this mortgage officer & allowed her to help me set up my business checking account. I was talked into using their "Merchant Services" for my credit/debit card transaction needs & I meet up with their merchant services rep Jarred. He is awful. My card reader never worked properly from day 1 & he continued to tell me he'd have me a new one. Days later it stopped allowing me to email receipts to my customers. After 3 months of him constantly avoiding my messages and phone calls about my reader problems (and me paying more money to TYPE my transactions because my SWIPE never worked) I was charged a ridiculous $40 fee that he and NOBODY at the bank could tell me what the fee was exactly. I finally was able to get him to answer my call & I canceled my Merchant Services. The next month (month 4) comes along and I was charged the $40 fee AGAIN!!!! I closed my account immediately & I then took my money to another bank (SUNTRUST) and was told by the people at SUNTRUST about a survey that i had to take to avoid First Southerns unknown fee. (Why first southern & Jarred never mentioned this survery to me remains unknown.) But Suntrust advised me to check my spam folder.. and there they were! Also, I closed my account last week & I received another email in my spam folder just yesterday about receiving ANOTHER fee because of unanswered survey. And I can't even click on the survey now because my account is closed!! First Southern completely let me down with their customer service. They continue to explain how the merchant service is a "third party" Yes but its YOUR CHOOSEN third party & as the FIRST PARTY you should take responsibility for all parties involved. OPENING THAT ACCOUNT HAS TURNED INTO NOTHING BUT A HEADACHE. WORST DECISION I HAVE MADE IN QUITE SOMETIME. And here's to hoping this unknown "fee" doesnt go to collections and effect my credit. Guess i'll be calling the 1-800 number first thing in the morning trying to get some answers. Will never ever go back to this bank for anything ever again. No help with anything & kept in the dark the entire time. Its sad that the new bank has obviously heard about what first southern has been doing because they knew right away what had happened to me!! Talk about screwing over numerous customers. Awful. Just awful.