Comerica Bank: 2025 Home Equity Review

Affordability: 5/5

• APR: Comerica Bank currently advertises starting APRs that are below average current HELOC rates. This starting rate assumes, though, that the borrower gets a 0.25 percent discount for setting up automatic payment from a Comerica Bank deposit account.
• Introductory APR: FlexLines come with a dramatically reduced APR for the first six months. 
• Fees: For borrowers who get a FlexLine of $500,000 or less, Comerica covers title and property evaluation fees. The bank does charge annual fees in states other than Texas: $80 in California and $50 in Arizona, Michigan and Florida, along with a $100 transfer fee each time you freeze your balance to a fixed rate.  And closing the line within two years (three in California) can result in a fee of up to $350 in Arizona, Florida and Michigan or up to $500 in California (no fee in Texas).

Because Comerica Bank offers competitive APRs — with a fairly impressive introductory rate — and is transparent about its fees, some of which it covers, we scored it a perfect 5 out of 5 for affordability. 

Availability: 2.3/5

• Loan products: Comerica Bank only offers home equity lines of credit (its FlexLine), not home equity loans. 
• Footprint: Currently, FlexLines are available in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Texas–a small footprint, though those states include a third of the U.S. population.
• Credit score: No Comerica team member with whom we spoke was able to disclose the bank’s credit score requirements to us.
• Loan minimum: $10,000, which is low by home equity lending standards.
• Draw requirement: FlexLines only have a draw requirement in Texas. There, the minimum draw is $4,000, as required by state law.

Because Comerica Bank doesn’t offer home equity loans, only offers HELOCS in a handful of states and isn’t forthcoming with its credit score requirements, we gave it 2.3 out of 5 for availability.

Borrower experience: 3.6/5

• Rate transparency: Comerica has a landing page dedicated to showing potential borrowers the starting APR (and the current regular APR thereafter) for HELOCs in their state. 
• Convenience: To start a FlexLine application, borrowers can apply online, visit a branch location (which Comerica calls a banking center) or apply over the phone.
• Customer service: Comerica has two helplines for consumer loans, including HELOCs. If you already have a loan, you can call 855-451-9201 from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. New loan applicants can call 800-266-3742 from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. That said, in our experience, trying to navigate the Comerica phone tree wasn’t easy and requires spending some time on hold. 
• Fixed-rate options: While Comerica FlexLines come with an adjustable rate (as do most HELOCs), borrowers have the option throughout their draw period to convert some or all of their balance to a fixed-rate loan for repayment. 

The Comerica team is reachable via phone and at branch locations, and prospective borrowers can also apply online. We dinged the bank a bit, though, for its lack of consumer loan customer care on the weekends, the runaround we got in its phone tree and the fact that it doesn’t offer fixed-rate home equity loans. That resulted in a score of 3.6 out of 5.

Whether you qualify for a Comerica Bank HELOC depends on a few factors: your credit score, CLTV, existing debt and the collateral used to secure the loan.

The bank limits the CLTV ratio to 80 percent for a HELOC.

When you’re ready to apply for a Comerica Bank home equity product, you can do so in a few ways: online, over the phone (800-266-3742) or at a branch.

Comerica Bank is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has an A+ rating. That said, reviews with the BBB give it an average of 1.04 out of 5 stars.

J.D. Power evaluated Comerica against its competition in the North Central region as part of the 2024 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study. The financial institution ranked last in the region, and a fair margin behind other banks.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued Comerica in early December 2024. The CFPB alleges that the bank has been “systematically failing” over three million disabled and older Americans who were Direct Express (a prepaid debit card program) cardholders — deliberately disconnecting their calls, mishandling complaints, and harvesting junk fees.