BMO Smart Advantage Checking
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.
Choose your account
Bonus terms are identical across these accounts — compare fees and waivers below.
- 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.
- 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.
Requirements
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.
Direct deposit methods
Confirmed3
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.
Possible1
Robinhood
Reported to post as PPD-coded ACH pushes, but success as a bonus-triggering deposit is inconsistently confirmed in user reports.
Does not work1
Wise
Previously worked when transfers posted with 'direct deposit' memo coding; user reports indicate this method has since stopped triggering the bonus.