【2025.5 Update】BMO Bank (formerly BMO Harris) recently announced a new account-opening promotion with a bonus of up to $400, and if you open a Savings Builder at the same time, you can also get an extra $60 bonus!

This is a pretty good account-opening bonus, so I’ve added it to the bank bonus ranking

Also, if you open their Savings Builder and deposit $200 per month, you can earn a $5 bonus each month. You can collect it for one year, for a total of $60.

About BMO

  • Application link
  • Opening bonus: $400
  • Availability: Open to applicants nationwide.
  • Direct Deposit requirement: $4,000 or more within 90 days
  • Credit inquiry: None
  • Card-funded account opening: No
  • Monthly fee: Can be waived
  • Early account closure fee: A $50 fee will be charged if the account is closed within 90 days.
  • Household account restriction: None

Bank of Montreal (English: Bank of Montreal; French: Banque de Montréal;), abbreviated as BMO, is Canada’s first commercial bank and fourth-largest bank. Founded in 1817, BMO is Canada’s oldest bank and currently has 1,550 branches across Canada and around the world. The bank also operates in Chicago and other parts of the United States under the name Harris Bank. Since 2009, Bank of Montreal has also held the exclusive U.S. and Canada issuing rights for Diners Club cards.

They are also a member of the FDIC, so your deposits are protected.

Banking products and services are subject to bank and credit approval and are provided in the United States by BMO Member FDIC

Account opening and bonuses

Checking bonus

Right now this bank is offering a $400 opening bonus. You only need to receive a total of $4,000 in Direct Deposit within 90 days.

Both checking options have a $350 bonus, and I recommend choosing the no-monthly-fee version. From what I can tell, the fee-paying version mainly offers no overdraft fee, which usually isn’t useful unless you plan to use it as a primary account.

If you open the no-monthly-fee version, be sure to set up paperless statements, otherwise there will still be a small fee

Savings bonus

Also, if you open their Savings Builder and deposit $200 per month, you can earn a $5 bonus each month. You can collect it for one year, for a total of $60.

Relation Checking

Also, if you have more Direct Deposit available, you can participate in the higher-bonus promotion below (it says you need to receive an offer letter to participate). However, it requires $10,000 in Direct Deposit within 90 days.

Please note that this requires opening a Relation Checking account, which has a $25 monthly fee. If you can keep $10,000 in the account or $25,000 across multiple accounts, the monthly fee can be waived. Combined with the $25,000 deposit requirement for the Money Market bonus below, you can just about offset the monthly fee.

Also, there are different tiers of benefits depending on your deposit amount. If you have a BMO credit card, you can get a Direct Deposit

Eligibility

The application requirements are as follows:

  • Phone number, email address, and U.S. address
  • Date of birth, SSN, or ITIN
  • Must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident
  • Other bank information for funding

About Direct Deposit

The post mentions a total of $4,000 in DD within 90 days. If you can change the account where your paycheck DD goes, it’s easy: just switch it to this BMO account, meet the requirement, and then switch it back. If you don’t have payroll direct deposit, you can refer to the methods tested by other readers below to “simulate” DD and trigger the opening bonus. In short, if you have an investment platform account (Robinhood, Schwab, Vanguard, etc.), transferring money to BMO will very likely trigger DD. So I still recommend opening an investment account if you can, since it’s also useful for triggering different DD requirements.

If not, try the ACH methods from banks like Discover and Chase mentioned here. However, according to reader reports, they are very strict and many fake methods do not work, so try to find the latest successful examples below.

  • Alliant ACH:1  (1 no longer counts), 3  (worked again)
  • Ally: 1
  • American Express:
    • Serve: 1, 2  (didn’t work)
    • Bluebird: 1  (didn’t work)
  • 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,

About Bank Account Bonuses

Bank accounts such as savings accounts and checking accounts also offer relatively high sign-up bonuses. Opening these bank accounts generally won’t affect your credit record, so it’s basically free money. We’ve also summarized some of the better current bank account bonuses

Unlike credit cards, which require you to meet a minimum spend requirement to earn the bonus, bank account bonuses can be earned in a variety of ways, such as depositing money, direct deposit, purchase requirements, online banking setup, and more. You’ll need to complete the requirements according to each bank’s terms. For details, see

Application Link