How to avoid the Comerica checking monthly fee
Comerica prints a monthly maintenance fee for Access Checking and a different fee for Rich Rewards Checking. The Southeast Michigan brochure and the California brochure, both effective 1 August 2025, are the sources for the dollars below. Check your bank's current fee schedule, because Comerica says these fees may change at any time without prior notice.
Last updated: October 17, 2026
Last checked: Oct 2026
Access Checking is $13 unless a waiver hits
On both brochures, Access Checking has a $50.00 minimum deposit to open and a $13.00 monthly maintenance fee. It is not interest bearing. You avoid the fee by meeting one of the following each statement cycle. Keep a minimum daily ledger balance of $1,000.00. Or make at least one qualifying direct deposit of $250.00 or more. Or tell the bank that any of these applies to at least one owner: full time student up to age 26, active or retired US military, business owner with an open Comerica business checking account, or member of a Comerica Platinum Circle household designated by the Platinum Circle Checking owner.
Footnote 3 says qualifying direct deposits are electronic deposits of payroll, employer pension, or government benefits such as Social Security. Footnote 4 says evidence of full time student or military status may be required, and full time student status needs periodic renewal. A ledger balance is the posted balance, including deposits, credits, withdrawals, and other debits. One day under $1,000.00 can miss the balance path for that cycle if you are using the balance and not the direct deposit. The $2.00 discount for choosing Stop Paper Statements in Comerica Web Banking is a discount off the monthly fee, not a full waiver. The brochures list that $2.00 discount as a feature. Do not subtract $2.00 and call the account free.
Closing the account more than 10 days into a statement cycle may still assess the monthly maintenance fee. The words on the statement are explained on service charge or monthly maintenance fee. Other US checking waivers are on US bank fees and how to avoid the BMO monthly fee in the US.
Rich Rewards and On The Job Banking
Rich Rewards Checking, on the same pages, opens with $50.00 and charges $18.00 a month unless you meet one of its own rules each statement cycle. The Southeast Michigan brochure lists a minimum daily ledger balance of $5,000.00, or a minimum daily ledger balance of $7,500.00 in that account and up to three related Comerica personal savings, money market, or certificate of deposit accounts. You must tell the bank which accounts to combine. The California brochure prints the same two balance paths. Do not use the Access Checking $1,000.00 figure to waive Rich Rewards. They are different rows.
Rich Rewards on the Southeast Michigan brochure also lists 3 free cashier's checks per year, and up to 25 percent off a safe deposit box rental with a $50 maximum, plus $5 off with auto pay. Those are not the monthly fee. The cashier's check price when it is not free is on bank draft and cashier's check fees. The box discount is not a rent. Rents that other banks print are on safe deposit box fees.
On The Job Banking, on the Southeast Michigan brochure, shows a $0.00 monthly maintenance fee only while you keep the account type. Each statement cycle, the employer must be eligible and enrolled in Comerica's On the Job Banking program, and the account must receive at least one payroll direct deposit of $250 or more. If those requirements are not met within any 90 day period, the account converts to Access Checking. After that conversion, the Access Checking $13.00 fee and its waiver list apply. The brochure says the closing fee effect is not applicable to On The Job Banking itself.
What to ask Comerica
Use the number on the statement. Have the date, the fee name, and the amount. Ask which account type is on the statement: Access Checking, Rich Rewards, or On The Job Banking. Ask which waiver they measured for that statement cycle, and whether a direct deposit posted as a qualifying payroll, pension, or government deposit. A transfer you made yourself is not described as a qualifying direct deposit. Asking them to remove a fee is a request. They can say no. A short script is on how to ask your bank to refund a fee.
Upload the statement on Expenvo. The PDF stays on your device. Expenvo lists bank fee lines it recognizes so you can see the date, the name, and the amount before you call. It does not call the bank, and it does not promise a refund. How to ask is on how to ask your bank to refund a fee.
Questions
- What balance waives Comerica Access Checking?
- The 1 August 2025 brochures say a minimum daily ledger balance of $1,000.00 each statement cycle. A qualifying direct deposit of $250.00 or more, or a listed student, military, business, or Platinum Circle status, is a different path. Any one path is enough for that cycle.
- Does stopping paper statements waive the whole fee?
- No. The brochures print a $2.00 discount off the monthly maintenance fee while Stop Paper Statements is selected in Comerica Web Banking. That is a discount, not a full waiver of the $13.00 or $18.00 fee.
- What if On The Job Banking stops qualifying?
- The Southeast Michigan brochure says that if the employer enrollment and the $250 payroll direct deposit are not met within any 90 day period, the account converts to Access Checking. The Access Checking fee rules then apply.
Sources
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