How to Fill Out the Flagstar Bank Direct Deposit Authorization Form

To set up direct deposit into a Flagstar checking, savings, or money market account, download the Flagstar Bank direct deposit form from the bank’s switch kit page, fill in your account and routing numbers, and hand the completed form to your employer’s payroll department.¹ The paperwork takes a few minutes. The first electronic deposit usually lands one to two pay cycles later.

Where to Get the Form

Flagstar hosts a printable PDF as part of its online switch kit. Open the switch kit page on flagstar.com and click the direct deposit form link; you can complete the fields on-screen or print a blank copy and write by hand.¹ Any Flagstar branch will also give you a paper copy.

Your employer may hand you its own direct deposit authorization form instead. That’s fine. The account details you enter are the same either way.

Information You Need Before You Start

Have these ready:

Your full legal name, address, and phone number, matching what’s on the Flagstar account.
Your employee ID, which appears on a recent pay stub.
Your Flagstar account number, found in online banking, on a monthly statement, or printed to the right of the routing number along the bottom of a check.
The account type: checking, savings, or money market.²
Your Social Security Number or ITIN, which payroll needs for tax reporting.³

Which Routing Number to Use

Flagstar has two routing numbers because of past mergers. Most customers, including those who came over from New York Community Bank, use 226071004. Legacy Signature Bank customers use 026013576. If you’re not sure which applies, log into Flagstar online banking or call the bank.² Copy the routing number from Flagstar’s own site or from your checks; outdated numbers from the pre-merger banks still circulate on third-party sites.⁴

Voided Check or Substitute

Many payroll offices ask for a voided check stapled to the form so they can visually verify the routing and account numbers.⁵ If your account doesn’t come with paper checks, which is common for savings and money market accounts, a printout of your account details from online banking or a deposit slip usually substitutes. Ask payroll what they’ll accept.

Filling Out the Form

Print clearly in ink, or type into the PDF before printing. Verify the account number against a statement or online banking. A single transposed digit can send your pay to the wrong account or bounce the deposit back.

Splitting Your Pay Between Accounts

Most authorization forms let you split the deposit. You might send a fixed amount, say $300, into savings and route the rest to checking. Each account line needs its own routing number, account number, account type, and either a dollar amount or a percentage. If there’s only one account slot on the form, ask payroll for a second form or a multi-account version. Designate one account as the remainder or balance account so any rounding has somewhere to land.

Submitting the Form

Hand the completed form and any required voided check to your employer’s payroll or HR office. Many employers now accept uploads through an internal HR portal, which is the fastest option and keeps your account number off paper. If your workplace doesn’t have a portal, delivering the form in person is safer than email. An unencrypted email carrying your account number and SSN is a data breach waiting to happen. If email is the only route, ask whether payroll accepts a password-protected PDF.

You don’t need to file anything separately with Flagstar. The form tells your employer where to send the money; the bank simply receives deposits once payroll starts sending them.¹

When the First Deposit Will Arrive

The deposit won’t hit your account the very next payday. Payroll systems first run a prenote, a zero-dollar test transaction that confirms Flagstar accepts the routing and account combination. The prenote clears in about three business days, and most employers wait one or two full pay cycles before switching you to electronic pay. You’ll receive a paper check or your prior payment method during that window.

If the prenote fails, usually from a mistyped number, Flagstar’s system returns an error to your employer’s bank. Payroll should contact you to correct the details, and the clock resets. Watch your account during the first couple of pay periods. Once a real deposit lands, future paydays will arrive automatically.⁶

Changing or Canceling Direct Deposit

To change your setup, whether that means a new account, a different split, or moving from checking to savings, fill out a fresh authorization form with the new details and give it to payroll. Submit it well ahead of the next pay date, because the change triggers another prenote cycle. Cutting it close risks a deposit hitting the old account, which is a real problem if that account is already closed.

Canceling is simpler. Write a short request to payroll asking them to stop electronic deposits and pay you by check instead. Keep a copy. Flagstar doesn’t charge to stop incoming direct deposits, and it doesn’t charge NSF fees when it declines a transaction on its end, though your employer’s payroll provider may handle a failed deposit differently.⁷

You Can’t Be Forced to Use a Specific Bank

Under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, no employer can require you to open an account at a particular financial institution as a condition of employment.⁸ If direct deposit is mandatory at your workplace, you generally get to pick the bank. Some states also require an employer to offer a non-electronic alternative such as a paper check. If a deposit posts to the wrong account or in the wrong amount, report the error to Flagstar and your employer’s payroll office promptly; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes guidance on your rights under the same law.⁹

1
Flagstar. Switch Accounts to Flagstar
2
Flagstar. Banking FAQs
3
Internal Revenue Service. U.S. Taxpayer Identification Number Requirement
4
Flagstar. Direct Deposit
5
Nacha. Direct Deposit Without a Voided Check? Absolutely!
6
Nacha. How ACH Payments Work
7
Flagstar Bank. Overdrafts and Bounce Protection
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. Chapter 41, Subchapter VI – 1693k Compulsory Use of Electronic Fund Transfers
9
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Electronic Fund Transfers FAQs