Comerica bank customers will want to keep a close eye on ATM fees, overdraft fees and other changes, as Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp completes its biggest acquisition ever the day after Labor Day.
Fifth Third is promising that many former Comerica customers could be pleasantly surprised by some key breaks, including ending monthly maintenance fees on many accounts. But how much you save could depend on how you handle your banking, what ATMs you use, and what fees you’d typically get hit with along the way.
Not all fees will be lower, based on a review of information I found online for Comerica’s fees and Fifth Third’s fees. Some Comerica customers will see higher out-of-network ATM fees and significantly higher overdraft fees as the Fifth Third shift takes place Sept. 8.
‘Welcome packages,’ Social Security surprise
Some 619,000 personalized welcome packages – including 261,000 packages for Comerica customers in Michigan – hit the mail as part of the transition to explain how Comerica accounts will transition into comparable Fifth Third products. The packets were sent to those customers with consumer, commercial, small business and wealth accounts.
Ben Mendelsohn, director of product management at Fifth Third, told me in an interview that the objective is to give customers a hard copy to understand the value of the products and services being offered by Fifth Third.
“We believe they will save money by avoiding monthly service charges, overdraft fees and getting their paychecks early,” he said.
The shift to Fifth Third, he said, was planned over the three-day weekend to make sure that all runs smoothly.
Direct deposits will still be on time, he said, in some cases even early. ATM and debit cards will still work, he said.
“There will be no interruption of ability to spend money on your debit card,” Mendelsohn said.
“Similarly, we’re enabling other payments to continue as they always have. Customers direct deposits will continue to flow to their account. Customers’ checks will continue to work before and after the conversion. We’re making sure we minimize the impact to our customers.”
One bonus: Some people will see their direct deposits up to two days early under Fifth Third’s Early Pay product once their accounts are part of the Fifth Third system.
Comerica customers who receive their Social Security benefits each month by direct deposit could see those payments a few days earlier after the Sept. 8 changeover takes place. That’s true for many who have their paychecks directly deposited, too.
The Early Pay feature is automatic with the Fifth Third Momentum checking account and the bank’s Preferred checking account, the premier option for customers with high balances. Comerica customers will be transitioned into one of those two accounts. The Fifth Third Preferred checking account has its perks but also has a $25 monthly fee that is waived if you meet a combined $100,000 balance in deposit and investment accounts during the month.
Getting the money sooner through Early Pay, Mendelsohn said, can help some avoid running short and facing possible overdraft fees for some payments.
“It’s a great way for folks living paycheck to paycheck to help their cash flow a little bit,” he said.
Overdraft structure can be far tougher at Fifth Third
Comerica customers will see a brand new overdraft structure as they join the Fifth Third family – one that might work in their favor or might not, again depending on how they bank.
Fifth Third says customers can save by using its Fifth Third Extra Time grace period that can help some customers add money to their accounts quickly enough to avoid overdraft fees.
Comerica’s overdraft fees were far from low but Comerica did offer a few breaks that Fifth Third does not.
Instead of a maximum of $68 in overdraft fees a day that Comerica customers faced, many Fifth Third customers can face up to $105 in overdraft fees in a day. That breaks down to $35 per overdraft on up to three overdrafts a day on most accounts. Fifth Third Express Banking Accounts do not offer any overdraft coverage and do not pay overdraft fees.
Comerica has a first occurrence fee of $26 per item for personal accounts when you run into an overdraft fee by not having enough money in your checking account to cover a purchase and the bank covers the check or electronic payment anyway. Occurrences, according to Comerica, are collected and used on a rolling 12-month period.
After that, the Comerica overdraft fee jumps to $34 per item with a limit of two fees or $68 charged per business day, according to a list of fees posted online effective Aug. 1, 2025.
At Fifth Third Bank, customers are not charged per-item overdraft fees if their account is overdrawn by $5 or less at the end of the business day. The bank also states that no overdraft fees will be charged on any individual item of $5 or less.
Comerica’s overdraft system likely was more favorable to some consumers who ended up in overdraft situations, including many who live on limited means paycheck to paycheck, according to Aaron Klein, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution.
Previously, Klein served as the deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Department of Treasury between 2009 and 2012. He worked on financial regulatory reform issues, including crafting and helping secure passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.
Klein has conducted extensive research using the quarterly Call Reports filed with federal regulators to analyze overdraft fees for a long list of banks.
He has examined the total revenue for overdraft charges based on the number of deposit accounts that have less than $250,000 in savings in the account.
By his calculation, Fifth Third had an average of $17.29 in overdraft fees per customer in 2025. By contrast, Comerica had an average of $9.50 in overdraft fees per customer in 2025.
Essentially, he said, Fifth Third customers paid close to twice as much in overdraft fees per account as Comerica customers did last year.
To be sure, Klein noted that Comerica had a troubled past with consumer protections – notably being sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in December 2024 and accused of deliberately hanging up on customer service calls, charging illegal ATM fees and ultimately harming many of the 3.4 million seniors and others who use the Direct Express card for federal benefits.
Comerica defended its record involving its 16-year-old contract with the federal government involving the Direct Express card, calling the CFPB suit “regulatory overreach.” On April 11, 2025, the bureau filed a notice of dismissal without prejudice, and the court terminated the case the same day. Under the Trump administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dismissed or rolled back several enforcement actions beginning in early 2025.
When comparing bank overdraft practices, though, Klein notes that it isn’t always the dollar amount of the fee that hits consumers the hardest. The order of how payments are processed can also come into play to drive up the total dollars paid in fees.
“Some banks and credit unions play dirty and generate a lot more overdraft fees than others,” Klein said.
While Fifth Third ranks higher, according to his calculations, than some of its peers, he said, the bank is not in a small group of institutions engaging in predatory overdraft fees.
Many people with steady, dependable incomes and expenses rarely face any overdraft fees.
Consumer watchdog groups, such as the National Consumer Law Center, once cheered when overdraft fees were slated to go down dramatically after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule in 2024 reducing most overdraft fees to $5, saving the average household that pays overdraft fees $225 per year.
But Congress overturned that rule in 2025, and it never went into effect.
Previous research in a 2017 report issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau indicated that overdraft presents serious risks to vulnerable consumers. The report noted that fewer than 9% of consumer accounts pay 10 or more overdrafts per year, accounting for close to 80% of all overdraft revenue.
How will some Comerica customers save money?
Fifth Third has been highlighting “lower fees, Early Pay and new everyday banking benefits” for Comerica customers. It even issued a news release July 30 explaining how “one of the most immediate benefits will be lower banking costs.”
Overall, Mendelsohn said, many Comerica customers will be able to save money, including being able to completely avoid a monthly maintenance fee when they’re transitioned into Fifth Third’s flagship Momentum Checking account. That account has no maintenance fee and does not require a minimum balance.
Many Comerica customers, of course, avoid monthly maintenance fees by signing up for direct deposit or meeting other requirements. Mendelsohn did not have specific numbers of how many Comerica customers pay a monthly service fee for their bank accounts but said it’s a “significant group.”
“We know more than 10% of Comerica Access checking customers will benefit from monthly maintenance fees going away. We believe more than 40% likely will benefit from Extra Time to avoid an overdraft fee,” he said.
How Extra Time works at Fifth Third
Under Fifth Third Extra Time, the customer must make a deposit by midnight Eastern time on the business day after the checking account is overdrawn to bring the balance up to at least $0 as a way to avoid overdraft fees.
You’d want to enroll in account alerts to be on the ball, stay on top of your balance, and deposit the money as quickly as possible to avoid overdrafts.
But here’s the deal: You’re going to have to deposit enough money to cover all the expenses that caused your overdraft – and deposit enough money to cover any outstanding checks, automatic payments, or pending debit card purchases that may be presented that business day.
Mendelsohn said banking customers can save on overdraft fees by using the Extra Time option because they have extra time to bring that account to a positive balance. If they’re cutting it close, the extra time might be enough for a direct deposit of a paycheck to hit within that grace period. Or someone might deposit money via the bank’s mobile app or at a branch.
Fifth Third also notes in a chart online explaining overdraft that customers who prefer that the bank decline transactions when their balance won’t cover the charge could choose to opt out of all overdraft coverage. Then, of course, you could be hit by fees elsewhere when a business or landlord or auto lender isn’t paid.
More fee-free ATMs but some higher fees could prove challenging
Savvy consumers should take an extra step to make sure that they’re saving some money, not paying more, especially if they actively use ATMs.
As 75 branches are being closed in Michigan, some Comerica customers will need to find a new ATM stop along the way. If they don’t pay attention, they might unknowingly be hit with higher fees.
Comerica charges $2.50 a pop for out-of-network ATM fees.
But Fifth Third charges $3.50 a pop whenever you use a debit or ATM card at an ATM that is not owned by Fifth Third or part of their partner network for most accounts. Fifth Third has a $3 per transaction fee for using an out-of-network ATM for Express Banking and ABLE Checking accounts.
No matter where you bank, it is always best to avoid being nickel-and-dimed on fees, such as ones for using an ATM that is not owned by your bank or is part of your bank’s network.
Some consumers, of course, simply go to the nearest ATM, which could have extra fees if the ATM isn’t part of the bank’s network. In those cases, consumers pay two fees – the fee charged by the company that operates that out-of-network ATM and the fee charged by your bank to use an out-of-network ATM.
Mendelsohn said many Comerica customers should be able to avoid out-of-network fees as far more ATMs will now be available to them.
Currently, Comerica has 456 ATMs, including 228 in Michigan, according to Fifth Third. For Comerica customers, the fee-free access was only at these limited Comerica ATM machines.
After the conversion, Fifth Third says it estimates that its total fee-free network size after some consolidation will be around 21,350 ATMs, including partners in its network.
Best bet: Review Fifth Third ATM locator at 53.com or the bank’s app to figure out how to find the closest ATM within the network. Depending on the area, some of the network ATMs are located in drugstores, groceries and other outlets.
ATM fees are burdensome for bank customers everywhere
In general, ATM fees throughout the industry are at an all-time high, according to a 2025 report by Bankrate.com.
The average total cost of using an out-of-network ATM, as part of that study released in September 2025, was $4.86. The number consists of the average surcharge of $3.22 levied by ATM-operating banks, plus the average fee of $1.64 from one’s own bank for using an ATM outside its network.
Some Comerica customers could save but many might not
Banking fee structures are one complicated mess. For every fee charged, in general, there’s a long list of ways to wiggle your way out of a fee, if you pay attention. And all banks do not charge the same fees.
“If one of my banks got bought out by another, guess how much I’d save in fees? Zero. I’d save nothing,” said Teresa Murray, who directs the Consumer Watchdog office for U.S. PIRG, a nonprofit advocacy group.
“Why? Because I don’t pay any fees. I don’t pay any monthly maintenance fees, overdraft fees, ATM fees, returned deposit fees, stop payment fees, etc.,” she said.
Many people are able to avoid fees.
Comerica customers with an Access Checking account, for example, faced a maintenance fee of $13 a month unless they met certain requirements.
If you informed Comerica that you had a full-time student up to age 26 as an account owner, for example, you could avoid that monthly fee. Or you could be an active or retired U.S. military member. Or make at least one qualifying direct deposit of $250 or more each month, such as a paycheck or government benefits, such as Social Security. Or have a minimum daily balance of $1,000. Some other ways out of the fee existed, too.
Even so, some former Comerica customers, according to Fifth Third, could end up saving $150 to $250 a year in monthly checking account fees alone.
In a news release promoting benefits to Comerica customers, Fifth Third indicated:
As with any merger or acquisition, Fifth Third is laser-focused on holding onto both Fifth Third customers and Comerica customers.
The direct mail approach explaining how the shift will work should help a good deal.
Maoyuan Chen, the equity analyst at Morningstar who follows Fifth Third, wrote in a report in July that it’s encouraging to see that legacy Comerica client retention has been strong.
In another report in July, Chen noted that “Fifth Third’s acquisition of Comerica should largely accelerate its expansion into Texas and California while increasing its market share in Michigan. Any revenue synergies from Comerica clients would be an upside for Fifth Third.”
Fifth Third is targeting $850 million in cost synergies from Comerica, Chen said, noting that the cost savings most likely will be reinvested into the business. She noted, for example, that Fifth Third is targeting 150 new branch openings in Texas.
Fifth Third is not looking at new branch openings in Michigan, Mendelsohn said. A revised list released in June indicated that Fifth Third would close 75 branches in Michigan, with 55 of them legacy Comerica branches and the remaining 20 existing Fifth Third branches.
Fifth Third will have 227 branches in Michigan once the transition is completed.
Big changes can go smoothly – or trigger a few headaches. We’ll see what’s next as this big change on Michigan’s banking landscape moves forward.
(This story has been updated to remove a reference to Extra Time and fees. Consumers are not charged a fee for returned items. Extra Time applies only to transactions that Fifth Third pays on your behalf with Overdraft Coverage.)
Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompor: stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on X @tompor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Fifth Third Bank brings major changes in fees after Comerica merger
Reporting by Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
