Flagstar Bank Review: Loyal Customers Get Rewarded

About Flagstar Bank

Flagstar Bank was founded as a federal savings bank in 1987. It now has assets of $29.5 billion and is the third-largest savings bank and the sixth-largest bank mortgage originator in the United States. It has locations in Michigan, Indiana, California, Wisconsin, and Ohio, with a total of 160 branches. Flagstar does not offer banking products in all states. In addition, GOBankingRates named Flagstar Bank one of the Best Regional Bank of 2021 in its annual Best Banks rankings.

Flagstar Banking Products

Here are the banking products you’ll find at Flagstar Bank.

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Flagstar Bank Checking Account

SimplyOne is a “checkless” checking account for those who pay bills online and use a debit card for purchases. SimplyChecking has no minimum balance or monthly service fee.

SimplyPlus+ Checking pays 0.01% annual percentage yield on balances up to $9,999.99 and 0.02% APY on higher balances. SimplyMax checking pays 0.01% APY on balances up to $4,999.99, 0.03% APY on balances of $5,000 to $24,999.99 and 0.04% APY on balances from $25,000 on up. The $25 monthly service fee can be waived if you have an average collected daily balance of $5,000 in the account or $25,000 across accounts.

With any of these accounts, you get a rate reduction of 0.50% on home equity lines of credit and 0.25% on home equity loans, personal loans and personal lines of credit when you make your payments automatically from your checking account.

Flagstar Bank offers several ways to protect yourself from overdraft charges. It assesses overdraft and non-sufficient funds charges after 9:00 p.m. ET, so you can make a deposit before 9:00 p.m. to cover the overdraft. It doesn’t assess overdraft or NSF fees on transactions of less than $5.00 or when you overdraw your account by less than $5.00.

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Features

• Online banking and bill pay
• Mobile banking with mobile deposit
• Free Visa debit card
• Free access to over 56,000 Allpoint and Presto! ATMs worldwide
• Overdraft protection including small-transaction and negative-balance thresholds

Pros

• Reduced interest rates on loans, increased interest rates on CDs with qualifiers
• Interest paid on some accounts, topping out at 0.02%-0.04% depending on location

Cons

• Unable to waive $5 monthly maintenance service charge on SimplyOne account
• Monthly maintenance fees on interest-bearing accounts waived with qualifying balances

Flagstar Bank Savings Account

Flagstar Bank offers SimplySavings, which earns 0.03% APY on any balance. Foundation Savings offers 0.03% APY on balances up to $9,999,99 and 0.15% APY on balances of $10,000 or more. Savings rates may vary based on your location.

The SimplyKids savings account helps kids learn good financial habits early.  There’s also a health savings account so you can make pre-tax contributions to pay for qualified medical expenses if you have a high-deductible health plan.

SimplySavings and Foundation Savings Plus accounts offer a rate reduction of 0.50% on home equity lines of credit and 0.25% on home equity loans, personal loans and personal lines of credit when you make your payments automatically from your savings account.

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Features

• Online and mobile banking
• Free Visa debit card
• Free access to over 56,000 Allpoint and Presto! ATMs worldwide

Pros

• Preferred CD rates when you keep a combined $5,000 in checking, savings and money market accounts
• Monthly fees waived when you have a Flagstar checking account or meet average daily collected balance requirements
• Can link savings account to Flagstar checking account for overdraft protection

Cons

• Low interest rate on modest balances

Flagstar Bank Money Market Account

Flagstar Bank offers the SimplyMoneyMarket account, and simple it is. It earns interest at the rate of 0.03% for all balances. This rate may vary based on location. You can write checks on this money market account, but you’re limited to six withdrawals per month. Withdrawals include checks, ATM withdrawals and point of sale debits, including automatic transactions.

As with checking and savings accounts, you get a 0.50% rate reduction on home equity lines of credit and 0.25% on home equity loans, personal loans and personal lines of credit when you make your payments automatically from your money market account.

Features

• Checkwriting
• Preferred CD rates if you have $5,000 in combined balances

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Pros

• Higher interest rate on balances of $5,000 or more
• Service fee waived if you have a checking account

Cons

• Comparatively low interest rate

Flagstar Bank CD Account

Flagstar Bank offers CDs with terms ranging from 30 days to 144 months. However, the 121-144-month CD is not available in all locations. The 13-month CD offers a promotional interest rate of 0.35% APY. Interest rates for other terms are as follows:

Features

• Minimum opening deposit of $500
• Automatic renewal

Pros

• Wide variety of terms
• Automatic monthly or annual transfer of interest to checking, savings or money market account

Cons

• Could be locked in at low rate if interest rates rise

Banking Experience

Flagstar Bank provides everything you could want in a one-stop-shop type of bank. You can have your checking, savings and CD accounts as well as credit cards, loans and even investment services, all in one place. And you can get rewarded with better rates for having multiple types of accounts.

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Technology

Flagstar Bank offers online banking and mobile deposit. Online banking includes MyWallet to track expenses and manage your accounts at over 17,000 financial institutions. Online banking customers can transfer money to companies and individuals with Zelle, even if the recipients’ accounts are at another bank. Mobile banking includes mobile deposit and text alerts to keep you on top of all your transactions.

How To Make a Deposit

There are several ways to make a deposit into your Flagstar Bank account. You can:

1. Go into a bank.
2. Go to an ATM.
3. Transfer funds through online banking.
4. Use mobile deposit on the mobile app.
5. Transfer funds through telephone banking at 888-248-6423.
6. Set up direct deposit.

Key Information

Customer Service Hours: Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-9 p.m. ET and Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. ET

Customer Service Number: 888-248-6423

Routing Number: 272471852

Flagstar Bank Fees

Flagstar Bank charges fees for some transactions and situations. Before you decide if it’s the bank for you, it’s important to know about some of the fees you could incur.

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Final Take

Flagstar Bank rewards customers for having all their business at one bank. From waiving monthly service fees to offering a reduction in loan interest rates, Flagstar makes it worth your while to do all your banking here. The bank has 160 branches in Michigan, Indiana, California, Wisconsin and Ohio. Flagstar does not offer banking products in all states.

Editor’s Favorite

Flagstar Bank does a good job of encouraging customers to have all their accounts at the bank. For example, you can link your checking and savings accounts and let your savings account act as overdraft protection. You can avoid a monthly service fee on your savings account by opening a checking account. And you get a rate reduction of 0.50% on home equity lines of credit and a 0.25% reduction on home equity loans, personal loans and personal lines of credit when you make your payments automatically from your checking or savings account.

Rates are subject to change; unless otherwise noted, rates are updated periodically. All other information on accounts is accurate as of 12/10/2020.

This content is not provided by Flagstar 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 Flagstar Bank.