Flagstar Bancorp Reviews

I have been working at Flagstar Bancorp

Pros – New hires are generally well paid and given opportunities to establish themselves. Support for training and professional development is also generally high. The bank is also frequently investigating or implementing new systems to bolster it's mortgage and lending platforms.

Cons – At times management and it's actions completely disconnect from reality in the IT department. IT makes solving problems long term very difficult. I can't speak for banking. The new management seems to be aligning the banking and lending arms with the needs of small businesses and mortgage consumers well.

Advice to Senior Management – This company used to have a very "Family Owned" feel to it. There were minor social events which brought the various people and areas of the bank together, if only briefly. I know the more sarcastic employees scoffed at these gestures, but they did have an impact on overall morale and the familiarity of people within various business groups.

I worked at Flagstar Bancorp

Pros – Nice employees.lots of locations. Great products

Cons – lack of advancement opportunity for employees

Advice to Senior Management – keep it up

I worked at Flagstar Bancorp full-time for more than a year

Pros – good location
good pay
easy hours
No supervision

Cons – Worst place I have ever worked.
No one cares about doing a good job.
Salaried employees clock in like they are hourly workers.
Everyone is very unprofessional.
Profanity flies in the office.
Always willing to point finger at others.
The morale is horrible and the leaders have a 'morale boosting' committee that is a joke.

Advice to Senior Management – Fire all the management in IT and start over.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Flagstar Bancorp

Pros – Lunch is about one hour.

Cons – Positions are rigged. Education, experience, don't always move you up the ladder.

I worked at Flagstar Bancorp

Pros – Flexibility to work from home. Good benefits.

Cons – Lack of career path. Goal planning and performance reviews are not taken seriously by employees.

Advice to Senior Management – Quit playing favorites and make the organizational changes to distribute duties to the right teams.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Flagstar Bancorp

Pros – The company has some really skilled programmers and architects that allows a junior to grow.

Cons – However due to all kinds of management changes, you may get luck and get your promotion just by being there the right time and right spot, or you may be given the lip service forever.

I worked at Flagstar Bancorp

Pros – ability to move up, do work as a teller and personal banker, provided two weeks of training (though it didn't seem like enough when I actually got to work. Provided a mentor for your first few weeks. (could have been better if the person was much more friendlier and willing to work)

Cons – Much lower pay than my old job as a teller at a bank with 3 times the amont of work, no benefits, no vacation days. Training didn't apply to real situations. Computer system was way back in time. I came from Chase Bank and they were very up on their technology, training, pay, and benefits.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Flagstar Bancorp

Pros – It is a very employee-focused company, with many events designed to help decrease employee stress levels and to give them a reason to come to work. We had National Pancake Day, where we were greeted with pancakes, sausage and orange juice for breakfast. This company has subscribed to the "Fish Philosophy" and a "Get on the Bus" iniative and recognizes those who do a good job, sometimes even a handwritten note from one of the higer ups. It employs a majority of females, due to the industry, so it's a nice break from any male-dominated industry.

Cons – Due to the economic problems, the bank has suffered, recently selling its branches in Indiana and Georgia. There are not many options to move up in the company, (at least until the economy recovers fully) as positions have also been eliminated.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't lose that employee relationship aspect, no matter how bad things get. Make sure they all know that you are in it together, because it is so hard for tellers to relate to upper management.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Flagstar Bancorp

Pros – Willingness to move onto new technologies, REST SOA type approaches.
Independence and autonomy can be nice, so long as you get good work done in the end.

Cons – Management Change-Over a couple of years ago, and being owned by venture capitalist means a sale of the bank to a bigger bank is likely and the inevitable shakeup that will cause has caused a brain drain of experienced knowledgeable employees, this can be viewed as more opportunity for new people joining the organization to fill such openings.

Advice to Senior Management – Try and capitalize on the unique aspects of Flagstar, make sure those unique aspects are not crushed as we try and move into other areas. The concern is we will be just like all other banks, differentiated in the marketplace. Keep up with the superior customer service.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Flagstar Bancorp

Pros – - Used to have a pretty good management trainee rotation program, but I heard it has since been discountinued.
- Generally friendly people to work with
- There was not a strong expectation to work more than 40 hours in my area

Cons – - The banking industry can be depressing to work in especially when I was there in 2008 and watched an entire department get cut
- Some significant silos were in certain departments (from the top down)
- Pay didn't seem that competitive, although the economy was partially at fault because I worked there 2006-2009 and salaries were frozen

Advice to Senior Management – I was there during the worst crisis in 70 years and unfortunately Flagstar did not get through it well. The capital infusions from both TARP and Matlin Patterson diluted the shares significantly and when I left the company was in shambles. Mark Hammond is a very smart guy and appeared to be a great economist, but he really didn't see this crisis coming.

It appears the current CEO is trying to make things better by diversifying, but I think he is going about it in the wrong way. Just because the CEO has contacts in the Northeast does not make it a good strategy since Flagstar had no existing footprint there. Taking one failed strategy at Soverign and making it a strategy at Flagstar while continuing to bleed cash seems like a very bad short term outcome for all of your shareholders. I wish FBC the best, but I have extreme doubts that any shareholder will get even half of their initial investment (MP included).

One last point to the current CEO, stop blaming "legacy" on everything in your conference calls. You have been there for over 2 years, it is now your responsibility.