BMO Alto Bank Review: Services, Pros and Cons (August 2024) (2024)

BMO Alto is a relatively new online financial institution that began offering services nationwide in 2023. While it has a limited selection of savings products — including a high-yield savings account and several CDs — these accounts earn attractive interest rates and don’t charge monthly maintenance fees.

However, BMO Alto lacks many of the tech features that most online banks have, such as a mobile app and digital payments.

In this review, we at the MarketWatch Guides team will discuss the pros and cons of BMO Alto’s accounts, along with the bank’s reputation and customer experience.

BMO Alto Review

We give BMO Alto 4.2 out of 5 stars after evaluating factors including its branch availability, account fees, interest rates and customer support. Here’s how the company scores in each of our review categories:

*Ratings are determined by our editorial review team. Learn more about our scoring methodology.

BMO Alto vs. Other Top Banks

The main way BMO Alto differs from other top banks is that it lacks the thousands of branches and ATMs they have. If branch and ATM access is important to you, consider using a more traditional financial institution as your main bank. For instance, you could visit a Bank of America, Wells Fargo or Chase branch to handle everyday transactions or get help.

While BMO Alto offers phone support, its lack of physical presence means you can’t do cash withdrawals or deposits. Plus, other banks have options for depositing checks online or in person, along with support for transactions with platforms such as Zelle, a digital peer-to-peer payments platform.

Although other top banks also offer savings and CD accounts, they usually provide more account types. For example, Bank of America has both fixed-term and flexible CD options, while Chase Bank has three types of savings accounts, which offer increasingly better perks for higher balances. Plus, these competitors typically offer many more products and services, including checking accounts, credit cards and loans.

However, BMO Alto takes the lead over traditional banks with its higher APYs and no account fees. Online banks including BMO Alto are able to offer higher APYs and few to no fees since they have lower operating costs than traditional banks, according to the International Monetary Fund.

BMO Alto BBB

There’s no listing for BMO Alto with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), but there is one for the brick-and-mortar bank, BMO. The latter has an A+ rating from the BBB and has been accredited by the organization since 1997.

BMO Bank has a good reputation for being a reliable place to deposit your money. Bauer Financial, which rates U.S. credit unions and banks, rates BMO Bank 5 out of 5 stars, which stands for “superior.”

Plus, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) insures deposits at BMO Alto and BMO Bank up to $250,000 per depositor and per institution. You’ll see this listed on both websites as “member FDIC” or “FDIC insured.”

BMO Alto Pros and Cons

Overview of BMO Alto

BMO Alto is a relatively new, online-only division of BMO Bank, a traditional bank based in Chicago. Formerly known as BMO Harris Bank, BMO Bank has been in operation since 1817 and now ranks 13th among U.S. banks based on assets.

That said, BMO Alto operates separately, meaning its customers can’t use BMO’s regional branches or ATMs or access its online banking site or mobile app.

BMO Alto doesn’t have account fees or minimum opening deposit requirements and offers customers higher interest rates than much of the competition. However, the online bank doesn’t have any branches or access to ATMs. It also doesn’t offer a mobile app or support for cash transactions, paper checks, wire transfers or access to Zelle transactions. The only way to add or withdraw money from a BMO Alto account is by automated clearing house (ACH) transfer.

BMO Alto Bank Accounts

BMO Alto only offers two types of deposit accounts: a high-yield online savings account and high-yield CDs. Both accounts have straightforward online applications that support individual and joint accounts.

Because of its limited offerings, BMO Alto isn’t ideal as a one-stop bank. It doesn’t offer checking accounts, which are typically ideal for paying monthly bills; or money market accounts, which often provide flexibility and potentially higher rates. This bank also lacks the following common personal banking products:

• Credit cards
• Mortgages
• Home equity loans
• Auto loans
• Personal loans
• Investment accounts
• Retirement accounts, such as IRAs

BMO Alto’s online banking portal includes basic features for viewing your account balances, statements and documents. You can check recent and scheduled transactions and update your security settings.

If you have a CD, you’ll have options for choosing what happens at its maturity. Plus, you can set up transfers between BMO Alto accounts or between your BMO Alto and linked external accounts.

BMO Alto Savings Account Overview

We give the BMO Alto Online Savings Account a rating of 4.4 stars for its high interest rate, no monthly fees and no minimum opening deposit. It’s a great choice if you want a savings account with a solid return and no fees. This account is also suitable if you don’t mind relying only on electronic bank transfers, including direct deposits, to make deposits and withdrawals.

BMO Alto Online Savings

BMO Alto’s savings APY is much higher than the national average interest rate for a savings account, which is 0.50%. Since the rate is variable, there’s some uncertainty of future interest earned. In other words, while rate increases would benefit account holders, BMO Alto could also lower the rate at any time.

In addition to no monthly fee, you won’t need to pay other common banking fees since you can’t get an ATM card or use overdraft protection. The bank doesn’t charge for any transfers you make between accounts either, though an external bank might do so.

BMO Alto also doesn’t set any withdrawal or transfer limits, which gives you the flexibility to move money often. But keep in mind that you must add money to your account within the first 90 days or of opening or it will be closed.

Rate History for BMO Alto’s Savings Account

BMO Alto’s Online Savings account earns 5.10% APY, which is steady from the rate at the same time last week. Over the last quarter, the BMO Alto Online Savings APY has changed 1 time.

BMO Alto CDs

Our Experience Opening a BMO Alto CD

For a personal look into the BMO account process, we opened a $2,500 CD with a six-month term. Here’s what we liked about becoming a BMO Alto account holder:

• BMO Alto will give you the higher APY if its rate increases between when you open your account and when you fund your CD.
• Convenient option to save your progress on the online application and finish it later
• Lets you close your account online instead of requiring you to call

Since the bank doesn’t offer a mobile app, we only tested its online banking platform. There were several technical glitches we had to work through:

• Asked for location during the application process
• Aggressive account timeout mechanisms, leading to unintended logouts
• Error when linking bank accounts forced us to link manually

BMO Alto CD Account Overview

We give BMO Alto’s high-yield CDs 4.3 stars for their high rates and no minimum opening deposit requirements. These CDs are designed for those who want a guaranteed, high return, and can keep funds in the account until the term expires.

BMO Alto CD Accounts

BMO Alto offers six fixed-term options. However, it lacks specialty CDs such as bump-up and no-penalty CDs, which many competitors have.

While BMO Alto doesn’t require a minimum deposit for opening a CD, you must fund your account within 10 days or it will be closed. After the first 10 days, you would then need to wait until the CD matures to make any additional deposits.

There’s an early withdrawal penalty if you withdraw money outside of the 10-day grace period at your CD’s maturity and you don’t qualify for another waiver. The penalty equals 90 days of interest for CD terms of 11 months or less and 180 days of interest for terms of one year or more. If you haven’t earned enough interest, you’ll need to use some of the principal to pay the penalty.

BMO Alto CD Rate History

The Bottom Line: BMO Alto Bank Reviews

BMO Alto can be appealing if you want a high-yield savings account or high-yield CD with no fees and no minimum deposit or balance requirements. Just make sure that you’re comfortable using its online banking site only and not being able to do cash or paper check transactions.

This bank industry newcomer may eventually offer more account types and features. Until then, you’ll need to find another financial institution if you’re looking for a money market account, checking account, mobile banking app or support for a greater variety of transactions.

Learn More About BMO Alto

See how BMO Alto stands out in our roundups of the best financial institutions and deposit products available today:

• #7 on Best CD Rates
• #2 on Best 3-Year CD Rates
• #3 on Best 6-Month CD Rates
• #4 on Best 5-Year CD Rates
• #5 on Best IRA CD Rates

Methodology

Our team researched more than 100 of the country’s largest and most prominent financial institutions, collecting information on each provider’s account options, fees, rates, terms and customer experience. We then scored each firm based on the data points and metrics that matter most to potential customers. Read our full methodology.

*Rates accurate as of August 15, 2024

**Data accurate at time of publication

Editor’s Note: Parts of this story were auto-populated using data from Curinos, a research firm that collects data from more than 3,600 banks and credit unions. For more details on how we compile daily rate data, check out our methodology here.