Farmers State Bank President Scott Stanley makes customer service a priority.
By Rich Wicks | Panora Times, August 2025
Farmers State Bank has been a landmark in Yale for many years.
“We’re here in Yale, and this is our only location. We offer all types of deposit accounts, checking, savings, money market, IRAs, CDs, all types of loans. We’ve got three universal lenders here for commercial, consumer and agricultural,” Stanley said. “We can do all mortgages, home equity loans, personal loans, auto loans, commercial and agricultural operating lines of credit, and we offer ATM cards and debit cards, along with our online banking, mobile banking with remote deposit and bill pay, and also notary. That’s a service that we offer for free.”
Stanley shared the history of the bank. Although FSB wasn’t the first bank in Yale, it is the only one remaining. FSB officially opened on March 21, 1921, and was approved to begin operations as a state-chartered bank. The initial bank capital of $30,000 was provided by 35 stakeholders.
Following the stock market crash of 1929, public trust in financial institutions plummeted, leading President Franklin Roosevelt to declare a nationwide bank holiday on March 6, 1933, suspending all banking transactions for four days. Many banks did not survive the crisis.
“FSB was the only bank in Guthrie County to reopen after the bank holiday, making it the oldest bank in Guthrie County,” Stanley said.
Another notable event in the bank’s history was a bank robbery in October of 1931. A framed front page of the Guthrie County Vedette newspaper dated Oct. 22, 1931, now hangs on the wall in the bank and tells the story of two robbers who forced bank employees Jay Hemphill and Ray Hitchens into the vault and made off with more than $4,500, which is the equivalent of about $95,000 today. The two robbers were later arrested and put on trial for the robbery.
A 1931 robbery made headlines.
Presidents of Farmers State Bank over the years have included William Cordis (1921-1951), Francis E. Culver (1952-1964), Jay W. Hemphill (1965-1972), C. V. Lyons (1973-1976), Jay C. Hemphill ((1977-1993), Doug Hemphill (1994-2021) and Scott Stanley (2021 to present).
In explaining what makes FSB unique, Stanley pointed to small-town values.
“It sounds cliché, but we plant a lot of seeds out in the community to grow relationships through contact and trust, and our customer service is second to none,” Stanley said. “There’s no phone tree to go through.”
Another thing that makes FSM unique is something that the bank does not do.
“At this point in time, we don’t charge any loan fees,” Stanley said. He told of a recent bank examination, during which the bank examiner said he was not aware of any other banks that do not charge loan fees. Stanley says that helps keep rates low.
“Our loan rates are ultra-competitive in the market,” Stanley said.
But despite the small size compared to urban banks, Stanley stressed that FSB offers all of the protections customers expect, including electronic alerts (e-alerts).
“You can set pretty much all the standards you want. So, if you set a low balance of $5,000, and it drops below that, you’ll get a text message or an email so you can immediately correct that, so you don’t get dinged with any type of service fees,” Stanley said.
As a small bank, FSB employees help look out for their customers, including today’s financial scams.
“We have roughly 1,100 checking accounts. I believe we’re the smallest bank in Guthrie County. We pride ourselves on being more than a bank,” Stanley said. “We’ve had several instances of customers getting contacted by scams saying your grandchild needs money. Well, we had a customer who had already sent some money, and we caught that. Then they came in and wanted to wire another $25,000,” Stanley said. “Long story short, we did not send the money. The customer left upset with us, but came back the next day in tears, thanking us because they found out it was a scam.” n