Update from CEO

With the recent news about the closure of Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) in California and Signature Bank in New York, you may have questions about the security of your deposits with 1st State Bank. Please be assured that your deposits are secure. Both SVB and Signature Bank had unique circumstances leading to their failures. SVB customers were primarily focused in […]

Continue Reading..

Trying Times for Businesses: Surviving Inflation and High Interest Rates

Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve began to increase interest rates in response to high levels of inflation and is likely to continue increasing rates through 2022.  Over the past couple years, demand/supply imbalances for many items have resulted in inflationary rates exceeding 8%, which is significantly higher than the target rate of 2-2.5%.  Interest rates are one tool used […]

Continue Reading..

Positive Pay Service

Our Positive Pay Service offers your business powerful fraud protection against check and ACH fraud.   As business leaders/owners, we continue to face many challenges.  Challenging times often are a catalyst to increased fraudulent activities, and unfortunately, statistics state that eventually every business will be impacted by fraud. At 1st State Bank, we are seeing an increasing level of fraudulent […]

Continue Reading..

Fraud Prevention

There is no way to deny that electronic and check fraud has become a huge issue for businesses. According to the 2018 Experian Global Fraud and Identity Report, over 65% of Businesses have experienced some form of fraudulent financial activity and U.S. Businesses will lose an average of 5% of their gross revenues to fraud. With losses from fraud reaching […]

Continue Reading..

COVID Tax Credit for Employers Extended

With the tax season just around the corner, we felt it was timely to share a piece of important tax information that may be of significant benefit to your company.  A number of changes to employee retention tax credits were enacted under the The Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020.  Changes included modifying and extending the Employee […]

Continue Reading..

Quickbook Web Connect

Quickbooks Web Connect  is available to all Business Online Banking customers.  Please use the information below as a guide for the download process.   Web Connect allows customers to download a Quickbooks formatted file.  This file format supports Quickbooks versions 2005 to current.   To access in Business Online Banking: Choose an Account; Select Download tab; Indicate Activity and Type […]

Continue Reading..

Keeping Your Debit Card Safe

A debit card connected to your checking account is a very common payment choice these days.  Debit cards offer convenience to draw funds from that account when making a purchase as well as withdraw cash through an ATM.    Avoid fraud – Use your Debit Card wisely.   Check Your Bank Activity Often React time is important.  Review account activity […]

Continue Reading..

ACH (Automated Clearing House)

Let us help you develop your company’s Internal Guide for Managing ACH (Automated Clearing House) Transactions. Preventing fraud is top on your list!   82% of businesses have been victimized by payments fraud, according to the Payments Fraud and Control Survey (Click here to review the entire Survey). Of that 82 percent:   • 64% resulted from actions of an […]

Continue Reading..

Online Banking Data Security

1st State Bank has security measures in place to protect your account information, but to make it effective we need your help and cooperation. Many account hijacking attempts come as a result of hacking into individual user accounts, and from there electronically breaking into the bank using your information and security codes.    There are several precautions that you should […]

Continue Reading..

Password Security

Password security has become an important question as more and more of us use online accounts and mobile accounts to access financial information. There are some simple things each of us can do to help protect ourselves online with one of the biggest being the use of “strong” passwords. The keys to a password’s strength are length and complexity. An […]

Continue Reading..