BMO InvestorLine: Commission-free stock and ETF trades starting Sept 14, 2026 | Page 2 | BMO | Discussion forum

That is assuming the Pay Bill transaction will complete before end of Settlement Day. I wouldn't do it that way from an arm's length bank on the risk the Pay Bill transaction does not complete that quickly. I would only do it (with TDDI) if I had a TD bank account and do an in-house transfer.

ponyFlower said
does BMO InvestorLine have a simple way to transfer money in and out if you don't do any other banking with BMO? I really don't want to have to pay for a checking account 

If you qualify for the old fogeys program, basic checking account has no fee. Also minimum deposit amounts and investment account balances come with advantages.

A consultation with a wealth management representative would provide best options.

Stephen

Wrayzor said

ponyFlower said
Stupid question, but does BMO InvestorLine have a simple way to transfer money in and out if you don't do any other banking with BMO?  

They used to (and maybe still do) have a chequing account that comes with your BMOIL account. So you can write a cheque to move money out. I don't think there's another way without a BMO bank account.

Transfer in is easy - bill pay from any bank account.  

Yes, a virtual checking account is associated with each trading account that acts as a holding location for cash, but to my knowledge paper checks are not available, although a void check can be downloaded for identification. Those accounts can be used to receive deposited funds at a BMO branch, but may be subject to holds, depending on the client's status, my understanding.

In my case an actual checking account was provided with paper checks to accomplish what is being discussed.

The bill pay option is possible, but might involve a holding period that could interfere with the desired timing to conduct trades.

If a checking account fee is the obstacle, and some type of free checking account that can be provided as a perk with various BMO services that include privileges based on minimum deposits is not feasible, then it may not be worth the trouble of transferring investment accounts to BMOIL

Stephen

canadian.100 said

Is this "virtual chequing account" associated with a BMO branch or just BMO Investorline? Can you send interac etransfers from this virtual acct and can you do remote deposit into this virtual acct? I am with iTrade and I do not believe there is such thing as this virtual account. I use another institution as my external link and I can do the bill payment feature to get funds into my iTrade - but I believe it takes more than 1 or 2 days to appear in my iTrade.  

As mentioned, I'm a recent user of BMOIL having transferred from TDDI, so I'm learning my way around.

The transit numbers for the virtual accounts are associated with BMOIL, and although a void check can be dnloaded for ID, not paper checks are available. Remote mobile deposits can be made to these accounts, using CDN funds. BMO does not support USD mobile deposits, so a USD deposit must be made at a branch.

I cannot comment on whether one can send interac etransfers from this virtual acct because I don't use interac; however, once within the BMOIL ecosystem, money can be moved between accounts so if you have a standard svgs of checking acct that supports interac, money could be moved out that way. I know my lead checking acct supports interac, though I do not use that function....or another option might be as a bill payment.

Unfortunately BMO and I believe the other members of the Big SIX, do not support EFT originating from their platforms, like we have become accustomed to with the alternatives we know here on The Forum.

Stephen

To confirm much of the above already written, I have one of these 'virtual' BMOIL chequing accounts associated with my taxable BMO Investorline investment account. This is a very basic chequing account that is connected directly to the cash balance of a BMO Investorline account through a process called AccountLink and must be requested via BMO Investorline itself. It will have a BMO Investorline associated Transit Number based out of 100 King St.

This chequing account allows 2 free withdrawals/transfer outs per month to third parties. One can get a Void cheque for account identification purposes but has no paper cheque capability. This basic bank account has the usual Bill Pay, Wire Transfer and Interac options available to chequing accounts in general. I use this account to Bill Pay to Scotia when I need to do that.

Added: I also have used a EQ bank account pull from this BMO bank account to move funds to EQ Bank. I don't know about 'push' as I would Bill Pay to my BMO IL investment account from third party accounts.

AltaRed said
To confirm much of the above already written, I have one of these 'virtual' BMOIL chequing accounts associated with my taxable BMO Investorline investment account. This is a very basic chequing account that is connected directly to the cash balance of a BMO Investorline account through a process called AccountLink and must be requested via BMO Investorline itself. It will have a BMO Investorline associated Transit Number based out of 100 King St.

This chequing account allows 2 free withdrawals/transfer outs per month to third parties. One can get a Void cheque for account identification purposes but has no paper cheque capability. This basic bank account has the usual Bill Pay, Wire Transfer and Interac options available to chequing accounts in general. I use this account to Bill Pay to Scotia when I need to do that. 

If you are a senior (60yrs) the BMO Practical Chequing Acct has no fees - and you are allowed 12 free monthly debit transactions like interac etransfers, ATM withdrawals, bill payments, etc. Scotiabank has similar - no fee for seniors - basic chequing acct permitting 18 free debit transactions per month - they just raised it to 18 not that long ago.

Nehpets said

As mentioned, I'm a recent user of BMOIL having transferred from TDDI, so I'm learning my way around.

The transit numbers for the virtual accounts are associated with BMOIL, and although a void check can be dnloaded for ID, not paper checks are available. Remote mobile deposits can be made to these accounts, using CDN funds. BMO does not support USD mobile deposits, so a USD deposit must be made at a branch.

I cannot comment on whether one can send interac etransfers from this virtual acct because I don't use interac; however, once within the BMOIL ecosystem, money can be moved between accounts so if you have a standard svgs of checking acct that supports interac, money could be moved out that way. I know my lead checking acct supports interac, though I do not use that function....or another option might be as a bill payment.

Unfortunately BMO and I believe the other members of the Big SIX, do not support EFT originating from their platforms, like we have become accustomed to with the alternatives we know here on The Forum.

Stephen  

In TD DI, you do not need a banking account in order to transfer fund in and out. You can " Pay Bill" from external banking account, the fund will always be received in TD DI account around 11:00 am of the next business day, no HOLD , the fund is available right away. You go to a TD branch to register EFT ( bring your VOID cheque) , for transfer the fund out , before 11:00 am you call CRS of TD DI for every transfer out, no fee, you will receive the fund in your another banking AC in the evening of the same day.

TD DI is really good for this kind of thing, quick, no fee service.

In CIBC EDGE, you can link a Simplii banking account, transfer between simplii AC and EDGE AC in real time as CIBC deals with simplii as inter banking AC.

Wrayzor said
I have paper cheques that I use to transfer money out. I have done that a small number of times over the years (and nothing was via AccountLink). My recollection is that I had to request cheques through BMOIL telephone support. And if memory serves me (risky proposition) there was no fee for the first batch of cheques.

This was all years ago. Maybe there is no physical cheque option now. But it's probably worth a call to find out if it's still a feature of the BMOIL account.

For me, a cheque is an easy transfer option when one doesn't have a BMO bank account.  

I would hope this is no longer how this stuff works. It sounds like something from 1991 . I'm primarily interested in BMOIL because of the current promo, but I'm a little worried about the paper cheque/telephone/branch stuff.
Most banking abroad is done in real time and digitally, so I'm hoping this isn't actually as cumbersome as it sounds.

ponyFlower said
I would hope this is no longer how this stuff works. It sounds like something from 1991 .  

Well no one has accused the Big Six of being at the leading edge of providing technology for their customers so it shouldn't be a surprise.

Thinking back, I did pull funds out from another FI where I had the BMOIL chequing account linked. So it's not just cheques I've used to transfer out.

Back to the subject at hand, there is a 2%/1% promo out for moving assets to BMO Investorline. https://www.bmoinvestorline.co.....prog-e.pdf

I decided to take advantage and transfer my TFSA over to BMO Investorline where I already had a taxable (Cash) account. Application and transfer form was completed online on Sept 28th without a hitch, the new account showed within 30 minutes online, and the transfer-in-kind of assets (ETFs) was completed by end of day Oct 2nd.