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BMO Savings Builder Review: Many Withdrawal Options, Low APY

Review Updated
Steven Porrello
By: Steven Porrello
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Steven is a personal finance writer covering topics from mortgages to credit cards to market news. He has written for The Motley Fool Canada, Ramsey Solutions, Nerdwallet, Clever Real Estate, and other major outlets. Steven launched his writing career at the age of four with his first book, "Revenge of the Bad Guys." He currently lives in Portland, Oregon.

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Nathan Alderman has worked with The Motley Fool since 2005, making errors his arch-enemies in a variety of roles including a six-year stint as the dedicated fact-checker for The Motley Fool's premium newsletter services. As The Ascent's Compliance Lead, he makes sure that all the site's information is accurate and up to date, which ensures we always steer readers right and keeps various financial partners happy. A graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Nathan spends his spare time volunteering for civic causes, writing and podcasting for fun, adoring his wife, and wrangling his two very large young children.

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The BMO Savings Builder is a savings account that offers you a small monthly reward when you grow your savings by $200 monthly for the account's first year. Beyond this, it doesn't have many perks to get excited over. If you're a loyal BMO customer, or you're looking for a plain-vanilla savings account, read on to see if the BMO Savings Builder is right for you.

Ratings Methodology
Rates as of Jul 04, 2024

BMO Savings Builder

Read Review
Member FDIC.
Rating image, 2.50 out of 5 stars.
2.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
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Rating image, 2.50 out of 5 stars.
2.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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= Excellent
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APY
0.01%
Min. To Earn APY
$25
  • Welcome offer
  • No monthly fee
  • Low minimum opening deposit
  • FDIC insured
  • Low APY
  • Steep fee for early account closing
  • No checks

If you're looking for a bank account that pays the most interest on your savings, the BMO Savings Builder is likely not for you. The account has a rock-bottom APY, even when the monthly bonus is factored in. It's fine if you're looking for a no-fee savings account to park cash that you'll need for the near future. But if you're trying to save money for long-term goals, you can get more bang for your buck elsewhere.

Compare savings rates

Make sure you're getting the best account for you by comparing savings rates and promotions. Here are some of our favorite high-yield savings accounts to consider.

Account APY Promotion Next Steps
up to 4.60%
Rate info Circle with letter I in it. You can earn the maximum APY by having Direct Deposit (no minimum amount required) or by making $5,000 or more in Qualifying Deposits every 30 days. See SoFi Checking and Savings rate sheet at: https://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet.
Min. to earn: $0
New customers can earn up to a $300 bonus with qualifying direct deposits!
4.25%
Rate info Circle with letter I in it. See Capital One website for most up-to-date rates. Advertised Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is variable and accurate as of April 11, 2024. Rates are subject to change at any time before or after account opening.
Min. to earn: $0
N/A
4.25%
Rate info Circle with letter I in it. 4.25% annual percentage yield as of July 4, 2024
Min. to earn: $1
N/A

BMO Savings Builder interest rate

Account APY Minimum Deposit
BMO Savings Builder 0.01% $25
Data source: BMO.

The APY on a BMO Savings Builder account is as low as you can get, and pretty typical for a big bank savings account. You save in these accounts for the fringe benefits, not the APY. You'll also need $25 to open the account -- it's less than some accounts require, but you can find much higher APYs for no opening deposit.

Full BMO Savings Builder Account review

The BMO Savings Builder is a basic savings account that can give you a safe, FDIC-insured place to park some cash. It's perfect for emergency funds, as it has multiple ways to withdraw your money. With that in mind, let's look at this account's top perks and drawbacks.

Top perks

Potential for a $60 bonus: The headliner perk on the BMO Savings Builder is its welcome offer for new clients. For the first year of your account, you can earn $5 every month when your account balance grows by $200. Over a 12-month period, you could earn a maximum of $60. That would give your savings account a minimum APY of 2.5% for the first year.

Super easy to set up: You can open and set up your BMO Savings Builder account in five minutes or less. You just need to create a BMO account (or log into an existing one), verify your identity, and decide how to fund your account.
No monthly maintenance fees: The BMO Savings Builder account has no monthly fees. It also has a low minimum opening deposit of $25.

What could be improved

Unimpressive APY: If you like earning high interest, you won't find it here. Even with the $5 monthly bonus, you're still only earning 2.5% on your deposits, which pales in comparison to today's top-paying savings accounts.

An array of fees: While it doesn't have monthly maintenance fees, it does have a jam-packed fee schedule otherwise. The most prominent is the $50 fee you'll pay if you choose to close this account within 90 days of opening. Other large fees include outgoing wire transfers ($30) and expedited debit card deliveries ($30).

No check writing: Unlike other savings accounts, this one doesn't come with check-writing privileges.

How to access your money

One of the privileges of partnering with a big bank is the ease of accessing your money. Like other brick-and-mortar banks, BMO provides a variety of ways to deposit and withdraw funds. And because it comes with a debit card, you can also access money at one of BMO's 40,000 fee-free ATMs. Let's look at your options below.

Deposit options

You can fund your BMO Savings Builder account through one of the following:

  • Cash deposits in person or at an ATM
  • Zelle
  • Electronic transfers from an external account
  • Checks (mail or in-person)
  • Mobile check deposit
  • Direct deposits
  • Wire transfers (free)

Money deposited into your savings account will typically be available one to two business days after the day of deposit.

Withdrawal options

Unlike high-yield savings accounts and CDs, which can restrict access to savings, BMO's basic savings accounts gives you a variety of ways to withdraw cash, including the following:

  • ATM withdrawal
  • Branch withdrawals
  • Zelle
  • Wire transfers ($30)
  • ACH transfer

BMO Savings Builder is right for you if:

  • You're looking for a savings account with no monthly fees.
  • You're already a BMO account holder and want to have all your accounts in one place.
  • Earning the highest interest possible isn't important to you.

Keep reading about BMO

Our savings account methodology

At The Motley Fool Ascent, we rate savings accounts on a five-star scale (1 = poor, 5 = best). We evaluate all savings accounts across four main criteria: annual percentage yield (APY), brand and reputation, fees and minimum requirements, and perks that really make a difference -- think ATM access, linked checking accounts, or even branch access.

Our scores are weighted as:

  • APY: 50%
  • Brand and reputation: 20%
  • Fees and minimums: 15%
  • Other perks: 15%

Learn more about how The Motley Fool Ascent rates bank accounts.

FAQs

  • The BMO Alto Online Savings is a high-yield savings account with a competitive APY, much more competitive than the BMO Savings Builder. It also has no fees but it's geared more toward people who want to bank completely online.

  • In a high rate environment, with many high-yield savings accounts sporting APYs above 5%, this account won't be worth it for most people. The $5 monthly bonus might -- might -- give you motivation to save $200 monthly, but when you can earn $10 monthly on a different account with a 5% APY, it's not really much of a bonus at all. This account is only worth it if you want a no-fee savings account to park cash, especially for an emergency fund.