First Bank - Wilmington - Monkey Junction, NC

"My husband and I have been with this bank since 2016. There has only been 1 time that I can recall that I was unhappy with the customer service, and that was in 2021 when I called in to speak with the loan officer on duty. The woman asked me a couple of questions, and proceeded to inform me that she could not qualify us for a home loan based off of the questions she asked; without ever asking for my name, or looking into my account. Her reason was due to the fact that we withdraw cash from our checking account weekly to put into our cash savings, she claimed it would be untraceable (although looking back at our bank statements, you could account for all cash saved). I don't remember her name, but I'm sure she's no longer there. Other than that, this bank has been wonderful, the staff recognize us every time."

"Absolutely rude staff!!! BEWARE take your sunglasses and hats off IMMEDIATELY when entering the building if you don’t want the extremely rude and unprofessional lady at the counter to basically yell at you “take your sunglasses off!” No “oh I’m sorry could you please” nope just “take your sunglasses off” and when asked why as I’ve seen MANY people in there wearing MASKS that cover half their face her response is “because we have a sign on the door” lol some people and their “power” ok I’ll go someplace else"

"Do yourself a favor and find another bank, and I'm not just talking about this location. I have never known a bank with so little follow through, no accountability, and no resolve to fix mistakes that happen repeatedly and often. I took my money out a long time ago. The employees were friendly but my problem of getting "mail fees" over again even though I had gone to all paperless and contacted the bank 3times. they did refund once and I thought it was fixed, couple months later I see the mail fees are back for $5.00 every month. I closed that account. Now my spouse has had various bills not get paid and transfers not go through. The receiving merchants always say the same thing- "First Bank says that account does not exist and reversed transaction". The first time I figured maybe we made a typo mistake and things happen. Now for the 3rd time with a 3rd different merchant, na man we're done completely."

"I very VERY Rarely leave negative reviews (most reviews I ever leave are positive ones because I love when people are praised for their efforts)… HOWEVER, in this case I feel that it is extremely necessary. My husband and I have banked with First Bank since coming to Wilmington, NC over 4 years ago. Have had excellent banking history and no issues what so ever. I went Friday to Close out my account to the branch closest to me in Monkey Junction. It was an incredibly hectic day. I had movers at my home from 8am until 6:30pm. Since we were moving to Tennessee it was necessary to close the account that day! I went in and the bank was very busy due to it being a Friday and after 4pm. The associate who helped me was incredibly kind, as they always are. The usual teller that I see wasn’t there that day, so I worked with whoever was next in line. I was closing our checking and our savings, getting 3 cashiers checks, getting cash to hold us over for the weekend and asked specifically to leave a certain amount of money in the bank to cover any pending charges that may come through as I was instructed that the account COULD NOT be closed as there were pending charges, and to place the remaining balance in a cashiers check. I did ask to stop any further transactions from coming through, including the Cards! (Clearly that was not done at all as I had to handle that on Monday when I was informed that we had a NEGATIVE Ballance which stemmed from the amount not being left in our account that I directed to handle any pending possible transactions) NOW… almost a week later, due to an error (NOT on my part, the correct funds being left in our account as instructed) where the tellers cashed out our Entire Account, my husband and I are in the negative, which we are happy to Pay… HOWEVER… the bank is REFUSING to waive the Overdraft Fees that occurred Due to the Error caused by the teller not following my instructions. Had the amount I asked been left in the account… this would not even be an issue at all. SO… If i had to rate First Bank… It would receive 1 ⭐️ on a 5 ⭐️ scale. What happened to Customer Service? We have no issue taking care of what we owe… However I refuse to pay for someone else’s mistake! Why when we were handling such sensitive information and the amounts we were handling was I not pulled into an office where we could communicate effectively and confidentially instead of out in the open in front of everyone! Again, after 4 years… just very disappointed and extremely disappointed."

"I have had a savings account with this bank for over 2 years. The employees at all the branches I have used have been very friendly and helpful--until today. Went into the Monkey Junction branch today to make a deposit since I was never issued an ATM card for savings only account. 2 tellers and a 3rd employee standing behind their windows. No one looked up or acknowledged me. There were also 2 cars in the drive up window line. I was the only customer inside. I stood there for over 5 minutes as did the cars outside. Finally one of the tellers left her window and went elsewhere in the building. The other teller turned to look at the cars in line and didn't move or call me over to the window. Apparently customers are way down the list for priorities. I finally left and no one looked up as I walked out. Both cars were still waiting for help too."