Comerica Bank Review: Comprehensive Account Lineup

About Comerica Bank

Comerica Bank was founded in Detroit in 1849 as the Detroit Savings Fund Institute. Now, the bank serves customers in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Texas. Although it only has locations in five states, Comerica is considered a national bank and competes with the likes of Chase and Wells Fargo. As of the end of 2019, Comerica Bank held $73 billion in assets, in addition to $50.4 billion in outstanding loans.

As a national bank, Comerica offers the expected broad range of products, from checking and savings accounts to money markets, CDs, loans, IRAs, credit cards and investment products. As such, Comerica is a one-stop shop for those looking to keep all of their banking at a single institution. For these reasons, GOBankingRates named Comerica Bank one of the Best Regional Banks of 2021.

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Comerica Bank Products

One of Comerica Bank’s greatest strengths is the depth of its product line.

Comerica Bank Checking Accounts

Customers can choose from four checking accounts at Comerica Bank: Access Checking, Rich Rewards Checking, Premier Checking and Comerica Platinum Circle Checking.

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Features

• Monthly fees range from $13 to $22, although the Comerica Platinum Circle Checking has a $0 fee and a $50,000 balance requirement.
• Fees are waivable with balances of $1,000, $5,000 or $7,500, depending on the account.
• Minimum opening deposits of $50 required; $0 for Access Checking if opened online.
• Low 0.01% APY on the Rich Rewards Checking, Premier Checking accounts, and 0.03% to 0.05% APY on the Comerica Platinum Circle Checking account.
• Increased rates are available on other Comerica accounts with the Rich Rewards Checking, Premier Checking and Comerica Platinum Circle Checking options.

Pros

• Wide variety of checking account options
• Increasing account levels offer additional perks, from increased interest rates on other accounts to discounts on other products, such as residential mortgage closing costs.

Cons

• Fees are quite high.
• APYs across the board are low, even for the top-tier Comerica Platinum Circle Checking account.

Comerica Bank Savings Accounts

Comerica Bank has a single primary savings account known as the Statement Savings account.

Features

• $50 minimum to open
• $5 monthly fee, waivable with required minimum daily balance, Comerica personal checking account or if you’re an account holder below age 18 or at least 62
• Low 0.01% APY
• $5 excess transaction fee for each withdrawal in excess of six per month

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Pros

• Low $50 minimum to open
• $5 monthly fee is easy to avoid

Cons

• Low 0.01% APY isn’t a great investment option.

Comerica Bank Money Market Account

Comerica Bank offers two money market accounts, the Money Market Investment Account and the High-Yield Money Market Investment Account.

Features

• Both accounts have a minimum opening deposit of $50.
• $12 monthly fee for the Money Market Investment Account, waivable with a Comerica Platinum Circle Checking Account, a $2,500 minimum balance each day or a $5,000 average daily ledger balance.
• $17 monthly fee for the High-Yield Money Market Investment Account, waivable with a $15,000 minimum daily ledger balance.
• $5 withdrawal fee for each transaction in excess of six per month
• Check writing
• Low 0.03% APY for each account

Pros

• Minimum opening deposit for each money market account is just $50
• Both accounts offer check writing and pay interest.

Cons

The monthly fees are high, and the APYs are low. There’s not much to distinguish the High-Yield Money Market option from the standard option, as they both currently pay the same low 0.03% APY.

Comerica Bank CD Account

Comerica Bank offers two types of CDs, the Fixed-Rate CD and the Flexible-Rate CD.

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Features 

• Two categories of CDs available
• Terms up to 10 years
• $1,000 minimum
• Tiered interest rates
• Low APYs ranging from 0.01% to 0.20% on the Fixed-Rate CDs
• Low APYs ranging from 0.05% to 0.15% on the Flexible-Rate CDs
• Flexible-Rate CDs offer ability to withdraw 50% of account value once or to add money to the account at any time.

Pros

• Maturities range from one month to 10 years, offering a wide range of flexibility.
• The Flexible-Rate CD offers the ability to take a one-time, penalty-free withdrawal of up to 50% of the account balance.
• Additional deposits are permitted in Flexible-Rate CD.
• Interest rates are tiered, so customers with higher account balances enjoy higher rates.

Cons

• $1,000 minimum investment is required.
• APYs offered by Comerica’s CDs across the board are quite low.

Banking Experience

Comerica Bank is only located in five states, but it has facilities and capabilities that are comparable to a bigger national bank.

Physical Branch Locations

Comerica Bank has 435 branch locations stretched across five states, Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Texas.

Mobile & Digital Experience

Comerica Bank offers a comprehensive web-based platform, allowing customers to perform these functions and more:

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• View recent transactions, bill pay and transfers.
• View, download, or print 24 months of eStatements. ​
• Share transaction capability for your accounts with Access Manager.
• Set up funds transfers.
• Request stop payments on checks.
• View and print canceled check images.
• View and export up to six months of your account history.
• Download your banking transactions into Microsoft Excel or Quicken Banking.
• Access Comerica Web Bill Pay and Zelle.

The Comerica Bank mobile experience falls short, according to users of both its Android and iOS apps. Reviews of these apps range from 3.9 stars from Google Play users to just 2.9 stars for users on the App Store.

How To Open an Account

You can open a Comerica Bank account online in about 10 minutes, or you can visit one of the bank’s hundreds of branches. To open an account online, you’ll need the following information:

• A driver’s license, passport or state ID proving that you are a U.S. resident aged 18 or older
• Your Social Security number
• Funding information, such as your current bank account and routing numbers
• Information on any co-applicants

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Simply visit Comerica’s online application page and enter your name, email and phone number to get started.

Customer Service

Comerica Bank has different customer service phone numbers depending on where you are located:

• 800-266-3742, Eastern
• 800-925-2160, Central
• 800-522-2265, Mountain/Pacific

Customer service hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET on Saturdays. The bank also offers a TDD/Hearing Impaired number at 800-822-6546.

Key Information

Customer Service: 800-266-3742 Eastern, 800-925-2160 Central, 800-522-2265 Mountain/Pacific, 800-822-6546 TDD/Hearing Impaired

Routing Number: The routing numbers for the bank vary by state.

Promotions: Newest Comerica Bank Promos and Bonuses

Login: Comerica Bank Login Help

Comerica Bank Fees

As a national bank, Comerica has a wide range of account fees. Most of its checking, money market and savings accounts have some type of monthly fee, and in some cases, those fees are quite high. However, there are ways to avoid most of those fees, typically through a high maintaining balance.

Comerica Bank also has a roster of service fees that can get quite expensive. Two of the most prominent bank charges at Comerica are the $25-$37 NSF fee and the $2 ATM fee for transactions at non-Comerica institutions. The bank also has high outbound wire transfer fees, ranging from $27 for a domestic wire to $48 for an international wire.

Comerica Bank vs. Competitors

Comerica Bank vs. Bank of America

Bank of America’s top 0.05% APY on its savings account is nothing to write home about, but it’s currently higher than Comerica Bank’s 0.01% APY savings rate.

Comerica Bank’s $200 sign-up promotion tops anything currently available at Bank of America.

Comerica Bank vs. Chase Bank

Chase Bank dominates Comerica Bank when it comes to locations, as Chase is a global superpower with more than 4,700 branches in the U.S. alone.

Comerica Bank offers some specialty products, particularly in its insurance lineup, that Chase does not offer.

Comerica Bank vs. Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo tops Comerica Bank when it comes to checking account fees, with a standard $10 monthly charge versus Comerica Bank’s $13-$22 general range.

Comerica Bank has a much broader and higher-yielding CD lineup than does Wells Fargo.

Final Take

Comerica Bank offers a comprehensive range of accounts that will appeal to nearly any customer. In addition to the traditional banking and investment options, Comerica Bank also has extensive loan and insurance coverage, all the way down to pet health and wedding insurance. Customer service hours are also quite generous for a large bank.

The drawbacks of Comerica Bank are not in its services but in its rates and fees. Nearly all of the bank’s basic accounts have monthly service fees, and it can take high minimum maintaining balances to avoid them. Rates earned on checking, savings, money market and CD accounts are low across the board, even in the bank’s High-Yield Money Market Investment Account. Outbound wire transfer, NSF and non-network ATM fees are also high.

Overall, Comerica Bank can be an excellent institution for those who need a broad array of banking products and services but take care to avoid the service fees.

Editor’s Favorite

Nearly any type of bank or service account you could possibly want from a financial institution may be found at Comerica Bank.

Rates are subject to change. Information on accounts is accurate as of 12/12/20.

This content is not provided by Comerica Bank. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by Comerica Bank.