BMO Minimum Monthly Balance to Waive Monthly Fee Increase

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Dec 21st, 2016 4:25 pm

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Oct 21st, 2016 1:06 am

Ashock [OP]: Member; Jun 17, 2007; 212 posts; 72 upvotes

Oct 21st, 2016 1:06 am

BMO Minimum Monthly Balance to Waive Monthly Fee Increase

So it seems like after luring everyone to open accounts with BMO with their Smile400 offer, they're raising the minimum balances to waive account fees starting December 1, 2016

Minimum Monthly Balance to Waive the Monthly Plan Fee
The minimum monthly balance required to qualify for the
Plan fee waiver is increasing

Plan Current New
Practical $1,500 $2,000
Plus $2,500 $3,000
Performance $3,500 $4,000
Premium $5,000 $6,000
Standard2 $3,000 $4,000
i.connect2 $3,000 $4,000

Also, The BMO credit card annual fee rebate included with the Premium
Bank Plan will no longer apply to BMO CashBack® World or BMO AIR MILES World MasterCard®* cardholders.
You will be charged the annual fee on your next anniversary date after December 1, 2016.

Last edited by Ashock on Nov 9th, 2016 9:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

74 replies

Oct 21st, 2016 7:59 am

Troydabes: Deal Addict; Aug 9, 2013; 3173 posts; 727 upvotes; Toronto

Oct 21st, 2016 7:59 am

If charging you an annual fee is the reason you are planning to cancel the card. Think twice. You can still get a rebate on that credit card. It's only World cards that are not eligible.

Oct 21st, 2016 8:29 am

matradley: Deal Addict; Nov 10, 2005; 2012 posts; 305 upvotes; Ottawa

Oct 21st, 2016 8:29 am

Those new waive minimums are quite high... I have not dealt with BMO in years and this would lead me to continue that trend. Plus, there's way less ATMs around here, in Ottawa, compared to most other banks.

RFD 15 73H 1337

Oct 21st, 2016 8:35 am

thetipster: Deal Addict; Dec 13, 2010; 1824 posts; 778 upvotes; ON

Oct 21st, 2016 8:35 am

Thanks for the reminder. I will have to move 1K to my premium savings account before Dec 1.

Oct 21st, 2016 8:39 am

boiledmilk: Jr. Member; Dec 15, 2014; 141 posts; 76 upvotes; Westmount, QC

Oct 21st, 2016 8:39 am

It seems to me they are changing their profit profile - those who don't match will move away, and those who don't care about the raise will stay anyways.

Oct 21st, 2016 10:01 am

mkl38s: Deal Addict; Jan 21, 2014; 4748 posts; 2317 upvotes

Oct 21st, 2016 10:01 am

We opened the accounts in September and plan to convert 2 into one joint account and keep one of the cards after the bonuses paid out. Now they don't even waive the fee and increase the minimum balance to $6K. We will wait till we get our bonuses (don't even know if we could get them to be honest), then cancel them both, $12K is a lot of money and we didn't even get a free credit card. We already have TD AI account with 2 premium CCs so no point having duplicates and not use

Oct 21st, 2016 11:04 am

boiledmilk: Jr. Member; Dec 15, 2014; 141 posts; 76 upvotes; Westmount, QC

Oct 21st, 2016 11:04 am

mkl38s wrote: ↑ We opened the accounts in September and plan to convert 2 into one joint account and keep one of the cards after the bonuses paid out. Now they don't even waive the fee and increase the minimum balance to $6K. We will wait till we get our bonuses (don't even know if we could get them to be honest), then cancel them both, $12K is a lot of money and we didn't even get a free credit card. We already have TD AI account with 2 premium CCs so no point having duplicates and not use

You only need to put one account at 6000$ balance to waive fee for both of you and your wife, up to 20 accounts in total. BMO has a thing called account sharing. So you only need the joint account having 6k, not two accounts with 12k.

+1

Oct 21st, 2016 11:04 am

jessicacha: Deal Addict; Nov 15, 2006; 1685 posts; 415 upvotes

Oct 21st, 2016 11:04 am

boiledmilk wrote: ↑ You only need to put one account at 6000$ balance to waive fee for both of you and your wife, up to 20 accounts in total. BMO has a thing called account sharing. So you only need the joint account having 6k, not two accounts with 12k.

Do you have this plan yourself? I'm looking into this cuz we separately each have premium account at bmo and I want to consolidate it and not keep so much money in there. But everywhere I read, there seems to be a fine print that says monthly fee waiver is not applicable.

Oct 21st, 2016 6:40 pm

bubak: Deal Addict; Jul 15, 2009; 1834 posts; 944 upvotes

Oct 21st, 2016 6:40 pm

How does the credit card fee waiver work currently? They charged me the annual fee back in August, and still haven't reimbursed it. How long do you typically have to wait?

I'm definitely not keeping the Premium account. So far:
1) They once charged me the $30 monthly fee even though I maintained the minimum balance.
2) They charged me $56 for the "free" cheques.
3) They charged me a $120 annual fee for the credit card that was supposed to be waived.

Oct 21st, 2016 6:59 pm

Ashock [OP]: Member; Jun 17, 2007; 212 posts; 72 upvotes

Oct 21st, 2016 6:59 pm

You are supposed to get your $120 credit after two billing cycles. I'm at my third and also still haven't received mine. I'm asking my FA to follow up for me. You might want to check with your branch as well or call BMO MasterCard directly.

bubak wrote: ↑ How does the credit card fee waiver work currently? They charged me the annual fee back in August, and still haven't reimbursed it. How long do you typically have to wait?

I'm definitely not keeping the Premium account. So far:
1) They once charged me the $30 monthly fee even though I maintained the minimum balance.
2) They charged me $56 for the "free" cheques.
3) They charged me a $120 annual fee for the credit card that was supposed to be waived.

Oct 21st, 2016 8:50 pm

crunchyfrog: Jr. Member; May 7, 2009; 163 posts; 35 upvotes; Toronto

Oct 21st, 2016 8:50 pm

BMO looks like the last of the big 5 to raise min monthly balances. Every 4-5 years they raise it by $500. I had the practical plan for at least 15 years and it slowly rose from $1000 to $1500 and now $2000. I've rarely paid a monthly fee since I've been able to keep a min balance. On the odd time I made a mistake and dipped below the balance, I've been able to get the monthly fee reimbursed-which is nice. I have all my major accounts there (rrsp, tfsa, regular trading). I looked at the no fee chequing accounts from tangerine and pc financial but the convenience of everything in one place keeps me with BMO. But locking in $2000 to avoid a $4 monthly fee is starting to get annoying...

Oct 22nd, 2016 1:44 am

lemieux035: Sr. Member; Apr 12, 2012; 798 posts; 184 upvotes; Toronto

Oct 22nd, 2016 1:44 am

Keeping thousands of dollars unused is quite a bad investment, and I am not a good investor.

RBC has a better deal if you have an active CC and investments. They recently lowered some of the fees. I am not a fan of paying for any "service" that the bank provides because the banks already make lots of money lending your money away. If anything, they should be rewarding their depositors.

The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.
- Mahatma Gandhi

Oct 22nd, 2016 12:34 pm

ace604: Deal Guru; Aug 8, 2012; 10198 posts; 3984 upvotes; BC

Oct 22nd, 2016 12:34 pm

crunchyfrog wrote: ↑ BMO looks like the last of the big 5 to raise min monthly balances. Every 4-5 years they raise it by $500. I had the practical plan for at least 15 years and it slowly rose from $1000 to $1500 and now $2000. I've rarely paid a monthly fee since I've been able to keep a min balance. On the odd time I made a mistake and dipped below the balance, I've been able to get the monthly fee reimbursed-which is nice. I have all my major accounts there (rrsp, tfsa, regular trading). I looked at the no fee chequing accounts from tangerine and pc financial but the convenience of everything in one place keeps me with BMO. But locking in $2000 to avoid a $4 monthly fee is starting to get annoying...

Keeping everything in one place is overrated.

You can deposit directly to Questrade with bill payment from any bank to do RRSP, RESP, TFSA, non-registered trading. Mortgage can be anywhere and do PAD from anywhere. Tangerine/PCF/EQ can give most Canadians everything they need.

If you need frequent bank drafts that would be one exception.

Even if you need a safety deposit box you can find them at credit unions for cheap. $40/yr.

POLL: How frequent is your RRSP-matching?
Plastiq: Pay any bill with credit card for 0-2.5% fee (help meet min spending and keep old cards active!)
Rewards program transfer times (e.g. SPG->Aeroplan, Marriott->SPG, Amex MR->SPG...)