Apr 17, 2019 | Payday Lending, Public Policy Blog
By Kathryn Hazelett Back in 2004, Southern was a part of a group called Arkansans Against Abusive Payday Lenders (AAAPL), whose sole purpose was to remove payday lenders from Arkansas. It took another five years, many hours in court, and strong advocates in both the...
Apr 11, 2019 | Public Policy Blog, Tax-time Savings
Back in October, we wrote about the need to save, specifically at tax time. Why? Because that’s the time that most Americans receive their largest lump sum all year. Combined with research that shows savings habits are stronger when money is immediately placed into a...
Mar 4, 2019 | Public Policy Blog, Tax-time Savings
Recently, we talked about New Year’s resolutions and how to make them easier to keep. This week, we’re going to talk about some tools that you can use to help you keep them. All last fall on this blog, we talked about ways to save. A new year and new resolutions can...
Feb 28, 2019 | News, Public Policy Blog, The Un- and Underbanked
By Darrin Williams, Southern Bancorp, Inc. CEO As appeared in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Sunday, February 24, 2019 The last week of February is a big week for savings in America and in Arkansas. It’s America Saves Week, and thanks to a recent proclamation from...
Feb 26, 2019 | Press Releases, Tax-time Savings
LITTLE ROCK – As part of America Saves Week 2019, February 25 – March 2, Southern Bancorp Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Bancorp, Inc. and one of the nation’s largest community development banks, is partnering with Southern Bancorp Community Partners...
Feb 22, 2019 | Public Policy Blog, Tax-time Savings
By Kathryn Hazelett Resolution (/ˌrezəˈlo͞oSH(ə)n/), noun: a firm decision to do or not to do something. Ah, New Year’s resolutions. Most of us make them and very few of us keep them. By this point in the year, we’ve probably all abandoned at least one. How can we...
Feb 20, 2019 | News, Tax-time Savings
Arkansas and Mississippi are encouraging their residents to take the pledge to save and build long-term wealth during America Saves Week (February 26 – March 3). Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson recently proclaimed this same week to be Arkansas Saves Week and Military...
Feb 15, 2019 | Public Policy Blog
By Kathryn Hazelett I’ve been thinking a lot about savings over the past few months as I’ve worked on this blog and on other papers for Southern. I realized that I generally divide savings into three categories. We save for college (ours, our student loans, and our...
Feb 8, 2019 | Payday Lending, Press Releases, Public Policy Blog
Little Rock, Ark. – Southern Bancorp, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) with operations in Arkansas and Mississippi, announced its opposition to this week’s proposed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule change that would remove...
Nov 30, 2018 | Public Policy Blog
A couple of weeks ago, we touched on the importance of having both a checking and a savings account. We mentioned that having your money in two separate places was key to seeing it grow. But what we didn’t touch on was the way your money gets into those accounts...
