12:23 am
December 12, 2009
BMO Bank of Montreal as quietly ended its BMO Sobeys no fee everyday banking chequing & savings accounts that it offered under the "BMO Club Sobeys" and "BMO Sobeys AIR MILES" brand names, located at:
http://www.bmosobeys.com/en/banking
Uptake must've been really slow in the nearly three years since its launch in 2012, with likely less than 100,000 day-to-day banking clients given that one of the leaders in self-directed banking, Tangerine, only has roughly 250,000 of its nearly 2 million clients with its no fee chequing account.
The move eliminates a self-directed banking option for Quebecers, leaving Tangerine as the sole offering to Quebec residents (a huge marketing "gift" to Tangerine and Scotiabank).
I think the move is short-sighted and they should've re-tooled it to eliminate in-branch access at BMO branches, given self-directed banking's growth potential.
I will be updating more later and also updating the "free chequing" comparison chart.
Cheers,
Doug
5:03 am
February 20, 2013
This seems to complement their May 1 changes to other banking services. They increased the minimum balance requirements in their no-interest chequing accounts to qualify for a free bank plan. They also removed the unlimited free withdrawals from their super saver account (only 1.05% interest currently). Now you only have 1 free withdrawal per month with a $5 fee for all additional withdrawals in the month. It seems they are trying to increase service fee revenue.
I have been a long time BMO customer but for me this was the last straw. I've switched to PC Financial/Tangerine for my day to day banking.
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