Certain directors, executive officers, and companies with which they are affiliated, are clients of and have banking transactions with the Company in the ordinary course of business. These loans were made on substantially the same terms, including interest rates and collateral, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with persons not related to the lender.

A summary of loan transactions with directors and executive officers, including their affiliates is as follows:


	For the years ended December 31,
(dollars in thousands)	2020			2019
Balance, beginning of year	$	10,891			13,969
New loans		4,389			6,709
Less loan payments		(9,490	)		(9,787	)
Balance, end of year	$	5,790			10,891

Deposits by executive officers and directors and their related interests at December 31, 2020 and 2019, were $5.1 million and $2.5 million, respectively.

The Company has a land lease with a director on the property for a branch office, with monthly payments of $9,311. In addition, the Company periodically enters into various consulting agreements with the director for development, administration and advisory services related to the purchase of property and construction of current and future branch office sites, including the development of the new bank headquarters in Greenville, South Carolina. Payments totaling $600,000 were made to the director for these services during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020.

The Company is of the opinion that the lease payments and consulting fees represent market costs that could have been obtained in similar “arms length” transactions.