Farmington Hills lost 502 jobs as the Fifth Third-Comerica merger triggered widespread account access failures across metro Detroit.

The cuts hit Comerica's former operations center in Farmington Hills, part of more than 700 merger-related job eliminations statewide, The Detroit News reported. Fifth Third also closed 75 Michigan branches this summer, including 55 former Comerica locations and 20 Fifth Third locations.

Michigan Regional President Steve Davis acknowledged the technical problems on Sunday, Sept. 13, telling WDIV Local 4 that hundreds of thousands of customers overwhelmed online systems when they tried to access accounts simultaneously after the Sept. 8 switchover. Davis said his team had been working around the clock, including overnight shifts, to resolve the issues.

Fifth Third completed the technical and brand conversion of Comerica's roughly 600,000 accounts and 293 banking centers across five states over Labor Day weekend, the final step of the $10.9 billion merger that closed in February, according to PYMNTS. Fifth Third became the ninth-largest U.S. bank, with more than $300 billion in assets.

Customers described the transition in blunt terms. Susan Goldfaden, a decades-long Comerica customer, told WDIV she waited hours on hold, then walked into a branch and closed her account.

"I've been in corporate America my whole life, and I've never seen an unmitigated disaster of this merger," Goldfaden said.

She said she still faces work switching over all her auto-payments.

Jacqui Gretzinger, a Comerica customer for 31 years, told 7 News Detroit her auto-payments were completely canceled during the transition, leaving her facing potential late fees. Tosha Willis, a 15-year Comerica customer, said she could not log into the banking app and was told to visit a branch in person.

Farmington Hills City Council flagged the merger's local impact months earlier. At a Feb. 11 goals study session, Councilmember Knol raised concerns that closed bank locations could need rezoning to be repurposed. No follow-up rezoning applications have been confirmed.

Davis told 7 News Detroit on Sept. 10 that the bank was sorry customers had not had a great experience. On Sept. 8, the day the conversion went live, he told FOX 2 Detroit that customers' money was safe and debit cards remained functional throughout the changeover.

Fifth Third has not announced a date by which it expects all remaining access problems to be resolved. Customers with issues can call the bank or visit a local branch.