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The Yahoo view: BMO is worth a look if you need to tap your home equity or are looking for a low-down-payment loan. The mortgage lender offers various borrower incentives and types of home loans.
BMO (previously BMO Harris) is a mortgage lender in the U.S. and Canada offering a wide variety of traditional and specialty mortgage options, including conventional, FHA, home equity, 1% down, and physician loans. The company offers plenty of borrower incentives, such as rate discounts for banking customers, down payment assistance, and up to $500 in closing cost credits. There’s even a close-on-time guarantee that will give you $5,000 cash back if your loan is delayed.
On the downside, BMO’s loan costs are average, and the lender isn’t very up-front about its interest rates.
Key benefits
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0.125% rate discount if you set up autopay from a personal BMO checking account (0.50% on HELOCs)
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Close-on-time guarantee offers $5,000 cash back if your closing’s delayed
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Up to $500 in closing cost credits on conforming loans
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1% down mortgage options
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Allows for credit scores as low as 580 for VA loans
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$16,000 or more in down payment assistance available on some loan programs, which could cover all of a borrower’s down payment in some locations
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Lots of loan options, including specialty options like physician mortgages, investment property mortgages, and interest-only loans
Need to know
Learn more: What credit score do you need to buy a house?
BMO offers the following types of home loans:
BMO does not offer the following types of home loans:
Dig deeper: How to get a mortgage with a 1% down payment
If you’re a first-time home buyer, BMO has a lot to offer. It boasts a number of low-cost loan programs, including FHA loans and a couple of mortgages that require just 1% down. You can also get $16,000 or more in down payment assistance, and you can get approved with a credit score as low as 580 on an FHA or VA loan.
If you open a BMO checking account and set up automatic withdrawals, you can reduce your mortgage rate by 0.125%. There are also closing cost discounts of up to $500. Additionally, if your loan doesn’t close on time, you get $5,000 back.
Read more: The best mortgage lenders for first-time home buyers
BMO offers both home equity loans and HELOCs. Here’s how those offerings differ:
BMO’s HELOCs have a 10-year draw period and 20-year repayment period, and they automatically come with variable interest rates. There is a fixed-rate lock option, too, which you can use to lock in a rate on some or all of your HELOC for a period of five to 20 years. You can do this three times across your loan term. BMO also lets you reduce your interest rate by 0.50% if you set up automatic payments from your personal BMO checking account.
In most cases, you’ll need a minimum credit score of 650 to 680 to qualify for a BMO HELOC.
While HELOCs are lines of credit, home equity loans provide you with money in one lump sum. BMO’s home equity loans start at $5,000 and come with terms of five to 20 years. You’ll need at least a 700 credit score to qualify, and you can get a 0.25% rate discount for putting your account on autopay.
BMO HELOC and home equity loan fees
As long as you’re using your HELOC or home equity loan on an owner-occupied, one- to four-unit property, BMO will cover your closing costs. However, it may charge you a closing cost recoupment fee if you pay off your debt within 36 months.
There is an annual $75 fee for HELOCs — plus an additional $75 fee every time you use a fixed-rate lock option.
Dig deeper: Home equity loans vs. HELOCs
BMO doesn’t advertise rates for its mortgage products, aside from those on its home equity loans. To get a rate quote, you’ll need to apply for prequalification and work with a BMO loan officer. They will reach out via phone, and you’ll need to provide information regarding your employment, finances, and more.
Yahoo Finance uses 2023 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data comprised of 10 million home loan applications to score mortgage lenders on issued mortgage rates and total loan costs. We score each lender on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).
For example, with mortgage rates a lender with a lower score charged a higher-than-median mortgage interest rate for loans issued in 2023. A higher score would indicate a lender granted lower-than-median home loan interest rates to borrowers in 2023.
With total home loan costs, a lower score would indicate that a lender charged higher than median total home loan costs in 2023. A high rating would mean that a mortgage lender offered lower than median all-in home loan costs in 2023.
What this means: BMO offered around the median mortgage rate of 6.625% and a median total loan cost of $6,099.92 to borrowers in 2023.
Once you’re ready to apply for a mortgage, you can use BMO’s online mortgage application. You’ll fill out your personal and financial information through the application, as well as upload documentation, like W-2s, tax returns, pay stubs, and more.
It’s relatively easy to find prequalification information on BMO’s website, but not preapproval info. If you’re a home buyer in the United States, you’ll need to contact a BMO specialist who can walk you through an online preapproval application.
BMO offers 11 helpful online calculators, including ones for monthly payments, renting vs. owning, estimated closing costs, and more. The lender also has a variety of helpful articles on topics related to buying a home, such as explainers on preapproval and debt-to-income ratios (DTIs).
Read more: How much house can I afford? Use Yahoo Finance’s home affordability calculator.
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Strong affordability. BMO offers a wide variety of loan products, low-down options, down payment and closing cost assistance, and home equity products, giving it 5 out of 5 stars in our Affordability category.
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Lots of loan options. You’ll find government-backed, conventional, low-down-payment, and specialty mortgages at BMO.
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Rates could be lower. BMO’s interest rates are right on par with the industry average.
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Online resources could be improved. While BMO offers lots of calculators and a few articles, it lacks the robust resources many other lenders offers, earning 2.5 stars in this category.
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Transparency is lacking. BMO doesn’t advertise any interest rates, aside from those on its home equity loans. It gets just 1 star in this area.
It’s always important to shop around for more lenders, as their offerings, fees, rates, and service can vary widely. Here’s how BMO measures up to other mortgage companies.
BMO offers more mortgage options than Chase does, boasting home equity loans, HELOCs, medical professional loans, and 1% down loans, whereas Chase does not. Both offer assistance on down payments and closing costs, as well as a close-on-time guarantee. Chase is more up-front about its interest rates, though the advertised rates include discount points and assume a 20% down payment and excellent credit.
Chase mortgage review
BMO also has more options than Bank of America, including construction loans, 1% down loans, and investment property loans, to name a few. Bank of America has a more robust suite of online resources, though, and its mortgage rates are clearly advertised (though they assumed a 740 credit score, 20% down payment, and one discount point). It also doesn’t require interfacing with a loan officer to get rate quote or preapproval, as BMO does.
Bank of America mortgage review
Again, BMO wins out at the product level. It offers home equity loans, HELOCs, medical professional mortgages, 1% down loans, investment property loans, and second home loans, whereas Wells Fargo does not. Wells Fargo’s main standout is its down payment assistance grants and closing cost credits, which can help reduce your up-front costs of taking out a loan.
Wells Fargo mortgage review
BMO (previously BMO Harris) was sued due to a subsidiary’s potential involvement in a Ponzi scheme. An appeals court struck down the verdict against BMO in September 2024.
Yes, BMO’s physician mortgages allow you to borrow up to $2 million and have down payments as low as 5%. They have flexible underwriting guidelines and can allow you to qualify with no income history or private mortgage insurance (PMI).
BMO doesn’t advertise its current mortgage rates. You can get your estimated rate by contacting a mortgage office and filling out an online application for pre-qualification.
Methodology:
Yahoo Finance reviews and scores mortgage lenders with quintile scoring in five primary categories: 1) Interest rates. Using 2023 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data comprised of 10 million home loan applications, we score mortgage lenders on issued mortgage rates below or above the annual median of reporting lenders. 2) Affordability. A measure of loan product availability and the willingness of a lender to offer government-backed loans, low down payments, down payment assistance, and consideration of nontraditional credit. 3) Loan costs. HMDA data is again analyzed, and lenders are rated based on total loan costs compared to the annual median. 4) Rate transparency. The ability of a website user to obtain a mortgage interest rate estimate. We score lenders based on whether rates are enhanced with discount points or high credit score requirements, disclaimers revealing rate assumptions, sample advertised rates, and whether adjustable or no discount point rate estimates are available. 5) Online features. An analysis of the educational material, calculators, and additional resources available to users.
Review of Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) data on regulatory actions can trigger a penalty to the score of any lender with a consumer mortgage-related administrative or enforcement action within the past five years.
Advertisers or sponsorships do not influence ratings.
Editorial disclosure for mortgages:
The information in this article has not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The details on financial products, including interest rates and fees, are accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the lender’s website for the most current information. This site doesn’t include all currently available offers.
This article was edited by Laura Grace Tarpley.