I have known several people that used Simmons in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and had good experiences. The bank was very good about working with local Arkansas State University students as well as with the university itself. I even used their conference room for local meetings. The people are quite friendly and it seems that this bank's rates and fees are no more or less different than any other regional bank. I would say give them a try.

My first banking experience ever was with Simmons First Bank. I opened it in high school, because it was where my mom banked and that way she would have access to my accounts if I ever needed help. I ended up using it for about five years, opening both checking and savings accounts. First of all, their online and phone based systems were awful. They were tedious, time consuming, and difficult to get the help you actually needed. At one point I had a breach of my account where someone stole my purse and was using my cards. Within a few hours before I could cancel it, they had spent over $400. Simmons was very difficult to work with in filing a fraud claim, and it took over three months to get the money returned to me. Overall the experience caused me to look elsewhere for a more established and national bank.

My father and I went to the Saginaw branch to close his accounts. We were told we had to do that with a personal banker. I have closed acts w/ tellers in the past, so I couldn't understand why I had to go to pb. We had most current statements, so it would be pretty easy to figure the balance. We waited for pb for almost an hour. When we finally saw the.customers leaving, new people started going directly to pb and was being greated by him. During our 50 minute wait, we noticed the lobby was very slow, so tellers were not busy. When the pb started greating and helping walk ins, I really lost my cool. I ended up yelling at him. There is no reason why closing acct should require a pb. Especially when there is only one person available. My father wanted to close his account because of excessive service charges. By the time we finished, the groceries in the car were thawed. If the duties are so unevenly distributed, maybe there should not be so much hobknobbing with customers. No body was rude or lazy. Years ago I took in a personal check to cash but I would have to pay a service charge. That check was returned due to closed acct, and I was charged over $50.00. I have all sorts of stories about the problems this bank has caused.