BMO Bank has launched a new round of bank account opening promotions. You can earn up to $600 for opening a checking account, and if you also open a Savings Builder account, you can earn up to an additional $60, for a total of up to $660. This promotion works a bit differently from prior offers. For the checking bonus, you do not earn the full bonus by completing one Direct Deposit. Instead, each month you complete at least $1,000 in Direct Deposit, you can earn $100, for up to 6 months, which means up to $600. Account opening deadline: December 15, 2026.
This is a pretty good account opening bonus, especially since you can choose a checking account with no monthly fee. I have also added it to our best bank account bonus ranking.
Separately, if you open their Savings Builder account, you can also earn a $5 monthly bonus by increasing your balance by at least $200 each month. You can earn this for up to 12 months, for a total of $60.
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About BMO
- Account opening link
- Checking account opening bonus: up to $600
- Direct Deposit requirement: at least $1,000 total per month; $100 bonus each month
- Bonus period: up to 6 months
- Savings Builder bonus: up to an additional $60
- Promotion end date: December 15, 2026
- Credit inquiry: none
- Credit card funding: none
- Monthly fee: you can choose an account with no monthly fee
- Early account closure fee: if you close the account within 90 days after account opening, a $50 fee will be charged
Note that this round of account opening bonuses is not available nationwide. Currently, the primary applicant must reside in one of the following states at the time of application:
Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin. That is currently 14 states in total.
BMO, short for Bank of Montreal, is one of Canada’s large banks with a very long history, and it also operates personal banking services in the United States. BMO bank accounts in the U.S. are provided by BMO Bank N.A.
They are also an FDIC Member, so eligible deposits can receive FDIC deposit insurance.
Account Opening and Bonuses
Checking Bonus Up to $600
If you open a new eligible BMO checking account through the promotion page now, you can earn up to a $600 bonus.
Eligible accounts include:
- BMO Smart Advantage Checking
- BMO Smart Money Checking
- BMO Relationship Checking
In my view, the simplest option is to open BMO Smart Advantage Checking directly.
This account currently has no monthly fee and no minimum balance requirement, making it the easiest choice for earning the account opening bonus.
Pay special attention to how this bonus is calculated.
The bonus calculation starts in the next calendar month after account opening. In each calendar month, if you have at least $1,000 in cumulative qualifying Direct Deposit, you can earn $100.
This can be counted for up to 6 consecutive months:
| Month | Qualifying DD for the month | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | At least $1,000 | $100 |
| Month 2 | At least $1,000 | $100 |
| Month 3 | At least $1,000 | $100 |
| Month 4 | At least $1,000 | $100 |
| Month 5 | At least $1,000 | $100 |
| Month 6 | At least $1,000 | $100 |
| Maximum | Complete the requirement separately for 6 months | $600 |
There are two points here that are easy to misunderstand.
- First, you do not get $600 immediately just by completing $6,000 in DD cumulatively. For example, if you deposit $6,000 in the first month, you still only receive the $100 corresponding to that month. To earn the full $600, you need to reach at least $1,000 in qualifying Direct Deposit in each of 6 bonus months.
- Second, if you miss the requirement in one month, the entire promotion does not fail. For example: if you complete $1,000 in DD in December, you earn $100; if you only have $900 in DD in January, there is no bonus for that month; if you complete $1,000 in DD again in February, you can still continue earning another $100.
After meeting the requirement each month, the corresponding $100 bonus will usually be deposited into the account about 10 days after the next month begins. If you plan to earn the full $600, I think the simplest method is to set your payroll Direct Deposit to at least $1,000 per month and keep it going for 6 consecutive months.
Which of the Three Checking Accounts Should You Choose?
If you are opening the account just for the bonus, I still recommend:
BMO Smart Advantage Checking.
The three accounts are roughly as follows:
| Account | Monthly fee | Key features |
|---|---|---|
| BMO Smart Advantage Checking | $0 | No minimum balance requirement; best suited for earning the account opening bonus |
| BMO Smart Money Checking | $5; $0 if under age 25 | No overdraft fee |
| BMO Relationship Checking | $25, waivable | Suitable for users keeping more assets with BMO |
Although Smart Advantage has no monthly fee, if you use paper statements, there is currently a $3 paper statement fee.
So remember to set up paperless statements after opening the account.
That way, this account basically has little to no carrying cost.
Relationship Checking has a $25 monthly fee, but the monthly fee can be waived if the account had a minimum daily Ledger Balance of $10,000 in the previous month, or if you meet the $25,000 Monthly Combined Balance requirement.
In addition, depending on your total assets held with BMO, Relationship Checking also comes with additional benefits at different tiers. If you already keep a lot of money with BMO, you can consider this account; if you are only trying to earn this account opening bonus, I do not think it is necessary.
Savings Bonus
Separately, if you open their Savings Builder account, you can earn a $5 monthly bonus by increasing the account balance by at least $200 compared with the previous month.
You can earn this for up to 12 months in total:
$5 × 12 = $60.
Savings Builder currently has no monthly fee, and the minimum opening deposit is $25.
Note that the rule here looks at the Ledger Balance on the last Business Day of each month and compares it with the last Business Day of the previous month.
You must increase the balance by at least $200 each month to earn that month’s $5.
Also, the month you open the account already counts as the first bonus month, so if you plan to do this promotion, I suggest starting to deposit money right after opening the account instead of waiting until the next month.
If you max out both the checking and Savings Builder bonuses:
$600 + $60 = $660.
Account Opening Requirements
To apply for a BMO account, you generally need to provide:
- Phone number, email address, and U.S. residential address
- Date of birth
- SSN or ITIN
- You need to be a U.S. citizen or U.S. Resident Alien
- Other bank information for funding the new account
The minimum opening deposit for checking is $25. This $600 promotion also has additional geographic and existing-customer restrictions.
The primary applicant must reside in one of the following states at the time of application:
AZ, CA, CO, FL, IA, IL, IN, MN, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WI.
In addition:
- Existing BMO personal checking customers are not eligible
- Customers who have closed a BMO personal checking account within the past 12 months are not eligible
- Each customer and account can only participate in the Checking Bonus once
- Joint Account Owners, Trustees, Signers, etc. also count toward the relevant eligibility restrictions
- When the bonus is paid, the account must remain open and in good standing, with a balance greater than $0
If you apply online through the promotion page, the promo code should be applied automatically, so you do not need to enter it manually.
About Direct Deposit
This promotion requires at least $1,000 in qualifying Direct Deposit each month, starting with the first full calendar month after account opening.
BMO’s website currently defines qualifying Direct Deposit fairly clearly. It mainly refers to regular income from an employer or a similar third party, such as:
- Salary / Paycheck
- Pension Payment
- Social Security Payment
- Other government benefit payments
The deposit must be made electronically directly into the account using your BMO account number and routing number.
The official terms also clearly list several methods that do not qualify as qualifying Direct Deposit, including:
- Regular bank account transfers
- Brokerage account transfers
- Wire Transfer
- ATM transfers or deposits
- BMO Digital Banking transfers
- Debit Card Credit / Real-Time Credit
- Account to Account Transfer
- P2P transfers such as Zelle and Venmo
- Funds received through merchant payment platforms such as Square
BMO also reserves the right to request materials such as a pay stub or earnings statement to prove that these Direct Deposits meet the requirements.
So if possible, the safest method is still to use a real payroll Direct Deposit.
Fake DD / Historical Data Points
If you do not have payroll income, in the past there were also promo-code-style ways to “simulate” Direct Deposit and trigger the BMO checking bonus.
However, one important reminder here:
The following are all historical data points and do not mean they still work now.
Also, BMO’s current official terms now explicitly list regular bank account transfers and brokerage account transfers as non-qualifying Direct Deposits, so the uncertainty around using fake Direct Deposit is clearly higher than before.
BMO has also always been relatively strict about identifying Direct Deposits. If you have a real payroll Direct Deposit, I still recommend using payroll first.
I am keeping the historical data points collected previously below for reference:
- Alliant ACH: 1 (1 no longer counts), 3 (worked again)
- Ally: 1
- American Express:
- Capital One 360: 1, 3
- Chase: 1(business checking) , 2, 3(business checking) , 4, 5(didn’t work) , 6(didn’t work) , 7(business) , 8 (business)
- Discover ACH: 1, 3 (didn’t count: 1), 4(did count) , 5(did count) , 6(didn’t work) , 7 (didn’t work)
- Fidelity: 1 (brokerage)
- Novo: 1
- Robinhood: 1
- Schwab Transfer: 1, 2, 3
- Treasury Direct: 1
- Vanguard: 1 (brokerage)
- UFCU: 1
- Wise: 1, 2, 3
Again, this section is mainly kept as a historical data point database. Transfers whose routing numbers come from ordinary bank or brokerage accounts are not qualifying Direct Deposits, and whether they can trigger the system’s recognition may change at any time.
About bank account opening bonuses
Bank accounts, such as savings accounts and checking accounts, also frequently offer fairly high account opening bonuses. Opening these bank accounts generally does not create a new credit card account the way applying for a credit card does, so for people who can meet the requirements, bank account opening bonuses have always been worth paying attention to.
We have also summarized some of the better current bank account bonuses:
Unlike credit cards, which require meeting a spending requirement for the welcome bonus, bank account bonuses can be earned in more varied ways, such as depositing money, setting up Direct Deposit, meeting debit card transaction requirements, enrolling in online banking, and so on. You need to complete the requirements according to each bank’s specific terms.
For details, see:
