First Financial Bank (OH) is headquartered in CINCINNATI and is the 6th largest bank in the state of Ohio. It is also the 109th largest bank in the nation. It was established in 1863 and as of March of 2023, it had grown to 2,066 employees at 140 locations. First Financial Bank (OH)'s money market rates are 10X the national average, and it has a B+ health rating.
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Not Thrilled
I have banked at First Financial Bank in Rockford, Ohio for many years. The tellers there are great. They are efficient and friendly. Since our town only has a population of about 1,100 people, there is definitely a small town atmosphere. A couple of things I am not happy about are the service fees on checking accounts and the way deposits are handled. Overdraft charges are very high and can accumulate to a large sum before a person even realizes what has happened. There are not as many free services as before either. Coins that are saved and brought in to be counted and cashed in are no longer done for free. If an individual needs a few checks printed after running through their supply, there is now a charge for that. Overall, I am not thrilled with the bank as a whole, but I do enjoy going into the local branch to do business. It is normally a pleasant experience and is at a convenient location.
Terrible Service
My password online is continually invalid so I call and they want a recent transaction which I can't give them because I can't get online then I have to drive an hour to fix it. Ridiculous procedures at this bank.
Worst Bank Ever!!
I have so many issues trying to get help from this bank. My regret is using this bank period. I had to open a checking account because I was using them for my mortgage loan. The manager who opened the account for me did not know what she's doing. I asked if they would send me my debit card via mail, she said they would. Weeks later, never received it. Someone else had to fix her issue. My cousin recommended me to a loan specialist there, who was great but everything else suck. I had my address changed and updated to my new mortgage. That was a headache. Took over a year for them to update my address correctly. I changed my Mortgage insurance and wanted to make sure it was correct. They verified me with my ss# and name. Then asked me for my phone number, which my main phone number is on my profile { I confirmed }. They told me " Sorry we can't verify you because my SS# came up with a different phone #." They used government system something like that. My phone is in a plan with my sister, which I would need to be with my sister to get verified and help for this bank. She then tell me to stop by a branch. Such a headache trying to get one simple question. I plan on closing all my accounts and refinance my mortgage to go to a different bank. Save yourself some time and go with a different bank. I don't think they have the tools to make your life easy and also most reps are not trained properly.
Clueless Mortgage Loan Dept
My community bank was acquired by First Financial several years ago. I had both a personal and business checking account. I git t o know the manager at the local branch and he was very helpful. I am a real estate developer and went to the branch to inquire about a line of credit. The manager had left the branch and I was referred to the mortgage loan department. It took them two months to get back to me and eventually I got referred to the VP after complaining about the cluelessness of the staff. He seemed to have no idea what their loan products were. After another six weeks of back and forth he finally recommended a loan size that could not buy a used car even with a perfect credit rating and a portfolio of properties. Utterly clueless.
What A Joke!
I was a member of Main source bank that got bought out by First. First has dropped the ball so many times that I have had no choice but to go elsewhere. My mortgage is the only thing I can't move with out major expense. They regularly screw up my payments and try to hit me with late fees. I can't wait to sell this house and move just so I can get this joke of a bank out of my life!
The Phone APP And New Website Have Ruined This Bank
Do I have to give them one star? Zero isn't an option?
I worked at this bank 10 years ago, and eventually left for my "after college job." I loved the bank while working for them, and loved them after. I used to recommend them to everyone for their customer service, hometown feel and great online banking (everything showed right away and was current.)
This bank has since grown and everything I loved about them has turned to trash. First, they are doing "maintenance" on the accounts every few weekends making it impossible to access, transfer or view any of your money (for entire weekends??) They no longer have a "home town" feel. If you call the branches, you get tranferred back to the 1-800 recording and you sit on hold forever. When someone finally does answer, they are reluctant to give you a branches phone number and many times they seem very untrained. If you go into the branches, you see new faces so often that no one even knows you. (high turnover is a bad sign in my opinion)
When you download their App for iphones, you have to jump through a million loops to get access to view your accounts, and they more loops after that if you want to have the right to transfer YOUR money from account to account (savings to checking, vice versa.) I had to actually call the bank and ask for this, they confirmed that I had the password pin set up and I was good to go- then I went on a cruise where I learned that my password pin was actually not set up so I had no way to access my money on vacation. I guess there is a glitch in the system that lost my pin or maybe the customer service person was clueless. They wanted to charge me money to transfer the money via phone because of their mistake!!
Half the time their app isn't working, the other half of the time you can't do anything with your accounts anyway because of "maintenance" or a glitch. I can't tell you the number of times I have tranfered money into my checking, or my husbands, from our saving and get the confirmation that the transfer worked, then I get to the register and get denyed because the system isn't updated. How embarassing! This bank seriously seriously seriously SUCKS!!!! IF YOU ARE GOING TO GROW INTO A LARGE BANK, PLEASE INVEST THE MONEY TO MAKE YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM AND APP WORK PROPERLY.
I have called so many times to tell them about these issues, and each time the customer service reps seem either completely clueless or completely unapologetic. Today, she just said "I can't even see your accounts, there is nothing I can do" Meanwhile, I am standing at a store I drove 2 hours to get to, and I don't have any access to MY hard earned money?? After I had prepared and transfered everything before leaving home??
I'll be switching banks Monday.
Avoid This Bank. Nothing But Hassles And Run Around.
My bank was bought out by First Financial about 2 years ago. I have several accounts through them and prior to the FFB takeover.
First they changed the account number on my Heloc loan which made my box of checks useless and then they removed credit card access to that account. They apparently don't allow credit card access to Heloc accounts. I also have a visa credit card through them which I cannot use because they block purchases, requiring a phone call to authorize.
At the time I also had an auto loan which they demanded I provide proof of insurance at a time when I was away from home on business. I don't appreciate demands from any company I do business with.
I have on occasion noticed what I would cosider batching of transactions meaning that they collect debit card transactions for serveral days and then process them at the same time. This is fine however, if you overdraw your account they will charge you a fee for each transaction in the batch that overdraws your account.
This company is more trouble to deal with than they're worth. They have hassled me to the point that I'm going to find a new bank.
Totally Unimpressed!
As happens with most banks, my bank, Flagstar, was purchased by First here in Indiana. I have had NOTHING but problems with them, including most recently, they were not showing any direct deposits in my acocunts for hours to DAYS after the fact. These deposits were from my employer, a very large organization, and I have NEVER had a problem before. I think what was finally the last straw from me happened this morning when I called to inquire about my deposit still not being available, and they listened to my entire speil before the customer service rep finally said, "Well, we're not actually even OPEN right now, so call back in 25 minutes or so and we'll look it up for you." Seriously??? Why even answer the phone?
Over it. Definitely time to switch banks. Oh, and btw, their website is amateur-looking and poorly designed. Looks like a mom-and-pop-one-branch kind of bank, rather than a regional contender.
Data as of Q1 2023
Learn why bank health mattersHealth Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| FDIC Certificate # | 6600 |
| Year Established | 1863 |
| Employees | 2066 |
| Primary Regulator | FED |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 1.85% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 14.27% |
| Annual Interest Income | $208.5MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q1 2023vs Q1 2022 | $16.86B$15.93B |
| Loans | Q1 2023vs Q1 2022 | $10.30B$9.13B |
| Deposits | Q1 2023vs Q1 2022 | $12.78B$12.88B |
| Equity Capital | Q1 2023vs Q1 2022 | $2.23B$2.30B |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q1 2023vs Q1 2022 | $141.6MM$124.1MM |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q1 2023vs Q1 2022 | $33.2MM$40.9MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q1 2023vs Q1 2022 | $191.00K$72.00K |
