BMO offers an extensive suite of banking products, including checking, savings, certificates of deposit (CDs) and money market accounts. The checking accounts are pretty standard, with its Relationship Checking offering great perks for select balances. It has a widespread network of free BMO and Allpoint ATMs — but that’s about where the positives end. While its CDs fare better when it comes to APY, its funding minimum of $1,000 is steeper than what competitors with stronger rates offer. But you might be better off with another bank when you combine its abysmal interest rates with the potential monthly fees and opening deposits on many of its accounts.
Best for: Those in need of multiple banking products from a bank with nearby branches and ATMs.
In February 2023, BMO acquired Bank of the West. This acquisition means that Bank of the West customers’ accounts will migrate over to BMO accounts with similar features and benefits. The official transfer will take place on September 5, 2023.
BMO Bank is a national bank offering a wide range of banking products. It’s best for someone in need of a full-service bank with a large ATM network. But if you’re after strong savings, BMO’s APYs are unimpressive.
BMO has a large ATM network of over 50,000, letting you access your cash for free at BMO and Allpoint ATMs. Aside from the breadth of products and large ATM network, that’s really all BMO has going for it.
Its checking accounts come with opening deposit requirements, and many have monthly maintenance and overdraft fees. You’ll also have to watch out for extra charges, including check image and paper statement fees — unless you opt in for estatements. BMO Relationship Checking account is the only one of its checking accounts that’s interest bearing, but it offers a low 0.01% APY.
Its savings accounts are drab as well, and its standard savings account falls short in the worst way possible: It has an extremely low APY of 0.01%. Not only is that rate much lower than the best high-yield savings accounts available, but it’s also lower than the national average of 0.43%, according to the FDIC. And while the actual rate you can get depends on your area, the 0.01% is offered for multiple zip codes.
BMO has three checking accounts to choose from: Smart Advantage Checking, Smart Money Checking and Relationship Checking. Only its Relationship Checking account is interest bearing.
Smart Advantage Checking is BMO’s most basic and straightforward checking account. There’s a $25 opening deposit requirement, and while there are no monthly maintenance fees, if you don’t choose estatements, there’s a monthly $3 paper statement fee.
This account also has overdraft fees — up to $15 for each overdraft. But linking a BMO savings account to this account allows you to set up overdraft protection.
BMO’s Smart Money Checking account has a $5 monthly fee unless you’re under 25 years old, a $25 minimum opening deposit requirement and no overdraft fees or protection.
There’s also a $2 paper statement fee, but it can be waived if you’re aged over 65 or you opt in to estatements.
The BMO Relationship Checking account requires a $25 opening deposit. There is also a high $25 monthly fee, which you can avoid when you meet one of these requirements:
Relationship Checking is BMO’s only interest-bearing checking account, but it offers a low 0.01% APY. Rates vary by your zip code and balance, but based on our research, the 0.01% is consistent with all balances.
This account also has tiers, separated by balance, and offers extra BMO perks. The Relationship Checking balance and other investment accounts you have with BMO can also combine to meet balance requirements to qualify for select lending perks.
Most of the perks are the same across tiers, but higher tiers offer slightly stronger perks, like higher ATM reimbursements. Here are the rewards of the Relationship Checking account based on tier:
| Tiers | Balance required to join tier | Perks | Lending perks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver | Less than $25,000 |
|
|
| Gold | $25,000 to $99,999.99 |
| Same as Silver tier |
| Platinum | $100,000 to $249,999.99 |
| Same as Silver tier, plus:
|
| Premier | $250,000+ |
| Same as Silver and Platinum tier, plus:
|
BMO has one standard savings account called Savings Builder. There are no monthly maintenance fees, but there is a $25 opening deposit requirement. As a bonus, you can earn a $5 monthly reward if you save $200 or more in your first year of having the account.
There are also no transaction limits, whereas most savings accounts still follow Regulation D, which stipulates that savings accounts can’t have more than six transactions per month. That regulation is currently suspended, but many banks still abide by it.
The BMO Relationship Plus Money Market account earns up to 1.00% APY on your entire account balance. This rate is higher than the national average for money market accounts, which currently sits at 0.6% APY, according to the FDIC.
The account comes with a $10 monthly fee, which is avoidable if you keep a $5,000 minimum daily balance. There’s also a $25 opening deposit requirement.
If you also have a Relationship Checking account, you can unlock exclusive rates with the money market account, possibly getting a rate as high as 3.56% APY.
BMO Bank offers many CD products, each requiring an opening deposit of at least $1,000.
Its CD Special rate tops out at 5.10% APY for 13 months. That top rate is high — a 12-month CD has an average rate of 1.84%, according to the FDIC. However, BMO’s rates can vary by zip code.
| CD Special Term | APY |
|---|---|
| 13 months | 5.10% |
| 25 months | 4.75% |
| 35 months | 4.50% |
| 45 months | 4.50% |
| 59 months | 4.50% |
| Standard CD term | APY |
|---|---|
| 3 months | 0.05% |
| 6 months | 0.05% |
| 9 months | 0.05% |
| 12 months | 0.05% |
| 18 months | 0.05% |
| 24 months | 0.05% |
| 30 months | 0.05% |
| 36 months | 0.10% |
| 48 months | 0.15% |
| 60 months | 0.25% |
BMO also offers retirement accounts. You can choose a short- or long-term individual retirement account with opening deposits that start at $100.
Compare checking, savings and CDs accounts by monthly fee, opening deposit and APY. Select Compare to see up to four accounts side-by-side.
The Finder Score crunches over 300 checking accounts from hundreds of financial institutions. It takes into account the product's monthly fees, overdraft fees, opening deposit, customer support options, ATM network and features — this gives you a simple score out of 10.
To provide a Score, Finder’s banking experts analyze hundreds of checking accounts against what we consider is the best option: no monthly fees, no overdraft fees, a large ATM network of 50,000 or more, additional features outside of typical banking services, and the optional perk of earning interest. Accounts that are nearly free to maintain and use are scored the highest, while accounts with costly fees and few features are scored the lowest.
The Finder Score crunches over 250 savings accounts from hundreds of financial institutions. It takes into account the product's interest rate, fees, opening deposit and features - this gives you a simple score out of 10.
To provide a Score, Finder’s banking experts analyze hundreds of savings accounts against FDIC-reported national averages as a baseline. Accounts with rates well over the national average are scored the highest, while accounts with rates well below are scored low.
The Finder Score analyzes hundreds of CDs from more than 100 institutions. It takes into account the product's interest rate for available terms and opening deposit requirements - this gives you a simple score out of 10.
Different banks and credit unions offer CDs for various lengths of time, ranging from as short as seven days to as long as 20 years. For our ratings, we consider the term lengths that the FDIC uses in its monthly updates on national rates.
If a bank or credit union doesn’t offer a CD for a specific term used by the FDIC, we don’t penalize it: Instead, we simply don’t rate it. Each of the standard term lengths has its own APY rating based on the FDIC’s average rates.
BMO is an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and holds an A+ rating, which is based on how fast and well BMO responds to customer complaints.
Like many banks, BMO has a lot of complaints and negative reviews. It has over 1,000 complaints in the last year and a poor customer rating of 1.06 stars. It doesn’t do any better on Trustpilot either, holding a 1.2-star rating, and most reviews are negative.
Customers generally have a good experience when they visit BMO branches in person. But many complain about poor customer service on the phone, limited online functionality and a slow overall banking experience. For example, customers report that it takes over a week to process an address change, and phone hold times average over 30 minutes.
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