BMO Relationship Checking — BMO

High bonusDD methods confirmedRegional

$400

Our take

All three products pay the same $400, so the real decision is which fee you can dodge: Smart Advantage charges nothing at all and is the easy default, Smart Money's $5 fee only disappears if you're under 25, and Relationship's $25 fee only pays for itself if you're already parking $10k+ in the account (or $25k combined across BMO).
The $4,000 has to land as genuine direct deposits — teller deposits, wires, transfers from another bank or brokerage account, and P2P apps like Zelle or Venmo are explicitly excluded, so just moving money in yourself won't get you there.
Fidelity's "Someone Else" EFT option is the workaround actually landing as a qualifying deposit for people without payroll to route here — a normal transfer to your own linked account does not trigger it. Wise used to work the same way but has reportedly stopped counting, so don't rely on it.
This one is ChexSystems-pulled and geo-restricted to residents of 14 states, and you're locked out for 12 months after closing any BMO checking account — worth checking both before you apply.
The bonus doesn't land until roughly 100 days after opening, and the account has to stay open with a positive balance when it pays — plan to leave it alone longer than you might expect.

Bonus terms are identical across these accounts — compare fees and waivers below.

Fee waiver — any one of:

The $5 monthly maintenance fee is waived if the primary account owner is under 25 years of age on the day the fee is assessed.

BMO Relationship Checking$25/mo

Fee waiver — any one of:

Waive the $25 monthly fee by keeping a minimum daily balance of $10,000 or more in the account throughout the prior calendar month.
Waive the $25 monthly fee by maintaining a $25,000 combined balance across eligible BMO accounts for the prior calendar month.
Waive the $25 monthly fee if you are enrolled in BMO's Best of BMO U.S. employee-benefits program and request the waiver.

Core details

Receive a cumulative total of at least $4,000 in qualifying direct deposits posted within 90 days of opening the account. The $4,000 is a running total across deposits, not a single deposit or a fixed number of deposits. Qualifying deposits are electronic payments of regular income — payroll, pension, Social Security, or other government benefit payments — sent to your account and routing number. Teller and ATM deposits, wire transfers, in-app BMO transfers, debit-card credits, transfers from another bank or brokerage account, and person-to-person payments (Zelle, Venmo) do not count.

Fidelity CMA
Works when the transfer is pushed from a Fidelity Cash Management Account using the 'Someone Else' EFT recipient option, which posts as an ACH direct-deposit credit. A standard EFT to your own linked account does not trigger the bonus. Linking a BMO account to Fidelity can be difficult and is sometimes blocked at Fidelity's end.
Fidelity Brokerage
Works when pushed from a Fidelity brokerage account via the 'Someone Else' EFT recipient option, posting as an ACH credit. A standard EFT to your own linked account does not trigger it.
Chase Business Checking
Chase Business Checking 'payroll' ACH pushes trigger the bonus and post with PPD coding. A sole proprietorship is sufficient to hold the account.

Robinhood
Reported to post as PPD-coded ACH pushes, but success as a bonus-triggering deposit is inconsistently confirmed in user reports.

Wise
Previously worked when transfers posted with 'direct deposit' memo coding; user reports indicate this method has since stopped triggering the bonus.

Terms & reference

Monthly fee$25

Credit pullSoft pull

Payout timing100 days

Credit card fundingNo

Early termination fee$50

Pulls ChexSystemsYes

No monthly maintenance fee for the first two statement periods — the fee begins in the third calendar month after the account is opened.

Waive the $25 monthly fee by keeping a minimum daily balance of $10,000 or more in the account throughout the prior calendar month.
Waive the $25 monthly fee by maintaining a $25,000 combined balance across eligible BMO accounts for the prior calendar month.
Waive the $25 monthly fee if you are enrolled in BMO's Best of BMO U.S. employee-benefits program and request the waiver.