SouthState Bank Review: A Regional Bank With a Wide Range of Products
GOBankingRates Score
SouthState Bank
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Checking Accounts
5.0
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Savings Accounts
4.5
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Low Cost
4.5
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Banking Experience
4.8
Pros
- Easy-to-waive monthly maintenance fee for standard checking account
- Round Up to Save makes saving easy and automatic
Cons
- Standard savings account limited to three withdrawals per month before withdrawal charges apply
- Limited number of branches for those who prefer to bank in person
SouthState Bank Overview
SouthState Bank has 240 branch and ATM locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The bank has over $45 billion in assetsand employs over 5,000 people. It offers the same services and features as the big, national banks, like online and mobile banking, money transfer with Zelle, bill payment and customized alerts.
GOBankingRates has ranked SouthState Bank among the Best Regional Banks of 2023.
Key Features
Here’s a look at features to consider to help you decide whether SouthState is the right bank for your needs.
Checking Accounts
The SouthState Checking account has no monthly maintenance fees when you enroll in e-statements. If you don’t, the fee is $5 per month. There’s no opening balance or minimum balance requirement.
In addition to the basic checking account, SouthState Bank offers Choice Checking and Gold Checking, both of which earn interest; Community Hero Checking for those in healthcare, law enforcement, education or the military; and Direct Checking, which has no overdraft fees.
SouthState is currently offering a $200 bonus to new customers who open a checking account by March 31 and meet certain requirements within 60 days. To qualify, you need to make at least 15 debit card purchases or payments and have at least $250 in qualifying monthly direct deposits or $25 in preauthorized automatic drafts.
Savings Accounts
The SouthState Personal Savings account has no minimum opening balance requirement, and if you maintain a minimum balance of $200, you avoid the $5 per month maintenance charge.
If you have both your checking and savings accounts at SouthState Bank, you can enroll in Round Up to Save. This program helps automate your savings by rounding up each debit card purchase to the next whole dollar and transferring the difference to your savings account. So if you make a debit card purchase of $5.55, your checking account will be debited for $6.00, and the extra 45 cents will be transferred to your savings account. At the end of the year, SouthState Bank will match up to 2% of your rounded-up savings, up to $250.
SouthState Bank’s other account options include Gold Savings, which offers tiered interest rates, Health Savings, Holiday Savings and Youth Savings, in addition to CDs and a money market account.
Low Cost
SouthState Bank’s basic checking account has no monthly maintenance fee when you sign up for e-statements, and there’s no minimum balance requirement.
The basic savings account has no minimum opening balance requirement, and you can avoid the $5 monthly maintenance fee by maintaining just a $200 minimum balance.
Banking Experience
SouthState Bank provides its customers with a robust banking experience despite its relatively small geographic footprint. The bank offers online and mobile banking, money management tools and more.
The SouthState Bank mobile app lets you deposit checks, check your balance on your Apple Watch, and set up alerts to let you know when your balance reaches a certain level. The mobile app is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars on the App Store and 4.7 stars on Google Play. You can also send money with Zelle and set up your bills to be paid automatically.
The SouthState Bank website offers information and advice on setting and reaching financial goals and provides access to a financial advisor to help with long-term planning.
Comparable Regional Bank Options
When you’re looking for a bank for a long-term financial relationship, it makes sense to compare your options. Here’s a look at some other banks to consider and how they stack up against SouthState Bank.
First Horizon Bank
First Horizon Bank is a regional bank with locations in eleven states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. First Horizon also offers a comprehensive selection of banking products and services, but its mobile banking app seems to be lacking. Its rating is just 2.2 out of 5 stars on the App Store and 3.2 out of 5 stars on Google Play.
Truist Bank
Truist Bank is a much larger bank with over 3,000 locations throughout the Southeast and mid-Atlantic areas. Truist is the result of a merger between SunTrust and BB&T and is among the top 10 commercial banks in the United States. Truist has a wide range of checking, savings and investment products, but minimum opening deposits are $25 or $50 for most accounts, and there are requirements to waive the monthly maintenance fee in most cases.
Final Take
SouthState Bank is a good place to keep all your accounts together, with local branches and online and mobile banking for when you’re on the go. Fees are low or nonexistent, which lets you keep more of your hard-earned money. And financial education and Round Up to Save will help keep you on track toward your financial goals.
SouthState Bank FAQ
Here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about SouthState Bank.- What type of bank is SouthState?
- SouthState Bank is a regional bank headquartered in Florida, with locations throughout the Southeast. The bank has over 1 million customers and over $45 billion in assets. It offers a wide range of banking products for consumers as well as business and commercial customers.Â
- Is SouthState Bank a real bank?
- Yes, SouthState Bank is a brick-and-mortar bank with locations in six states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
- Is SouthState Bank FDIC-insured?
- Yes. Accounts at SouthState Bank are FDIC-insured for up to $250,000 per depositor, or "ownership category." An individual account and a joint account are separate ownership categories, so you could have up to $250,000 in each of those types of accounts and still be insured.
- Did SouthState Bank get bought out?
- SouthState Bank was not bought, but in February 2022 it merged with Atlantic Capital Bank, which expanded SouthState's presence in Atlanta. The merger resulted in SouthState Bank being ranked eighth in market share in the Atlanta market.Â
Rates are subject to change; unless otherwise noted, rates are updated periodically. All other information on accounts is accurate as of Dec. 9, 2022.
Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article.
To discover the Best Regional Banks, GOBankingRates looked at the top regional institutions (excluding credit unions, online banks and neobanks) with under $100 billion in total assets. To determine rankings, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors: (1) checking product minimum deposit; (2) monthly checking fee ratio (percentage based on the minimum to avoid the fee compared to the monthly fee itself); (3) savings product minimum deposit; (4) savings product APY; (5) Bauer rating (out of 5 stars); (6) products/services offered (auto loans, mortgage loans, credit cards, investment services and insurance); and (7) the average mobile app rating between the Android and Apple app stores. All factors were then scored and combined, with the lowest score being best. Factors (1) and (3) were weighted 0.5 times, factor (4) was weighted 2.5 times, and factor (6) was weighted 1.5 times.
