Bank of Montreal

BMO will let others take money out of your account and not return it even if the card is reported stolen.

Reaching BMO here in Kanata is a plague. They do not answer the phone (I once waited three hours then their line hanged up). There is a possibility to send them electronic messages and they promisse a reply within few days: I left three messages and never got replies... Never! So my only way to contact them was to go to the branch here on Hazeldean Road. Frustrated by this, I decided to close my Master Card account. Well, I went there, sat with a lady, and she did everything to close the account (supposedly). Yet I kept receiving statements claiming I owe money (interest on interest for a non-existing amount). I went on site another time and asked to reach the Ombudsman so this account gets officially closed. The lady I met told me she would do all necessary steps to definitely close the account, no need to reach the Ombudsman. It took a solid 15 minutes before I was finally free to go. Well, I still receive statements! The account is not closed. I will not bother going there another time: they just don't have the competency to close the account. This is a shame for a Canadian Banking business. I shall never do business with BMO, never!

I successfully passed three phone interviews, and a 4th in-person interview was scheduled in town. I took public transportation to get there (~1 hr) and arrived 30 mins early. A message was left with the interviewer, and at the appointed time asked security to call up again. It was later learned that the person I was to interview with had a sick child that morning, and had asked the recruiter to contact me to reschedule. I never got a message and wasted an entire morning commuting and waiting on one interview. I finally got a half-assed apology via email from the recruiter mid-afternoon. I rescheduled the interview and it went really well, but I did not hear back for over 3 weeks, at which time I was told the position was placed on hold. One would think that a candidate who had made it through to both hiring managers with great feedback would have been called and told this information, rather than having to call this. If the company operates in any fashion as the recruiting practice, I am probably lucky I did not end up working for a dysfunctional company.

"BMO Bank, N.A. (colloquially BMO;US :)[ https://www.startpage.com/sp/search] is an American national bank that is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It is the U.S. subsidiary of the Toronto-based multinational investment bank and financial services company Bank of Montreal, which owns it through the holding company BMO Financial Corporation (formerly Bankmont Financial Corporation, then Harris Financial Corporation). In September 2023, it was the 8th largest bank in the United States by total assets."

We are well on our way towards a one World Bank.

I found myself in this unenviable banking system due to a buyout of 'Bank of the West', a really superb service organization which featured an in house brokerage service that is now being built 'on the fly' as the expression goes at BMO. So again, I will have to build this complaint as I go along because BMO is slow to
Respond to actual consumer issues and I require extra time to process their information.

The controversy ensued shortly after their takeover in Sept of this year when NO INFORMATION appeared in my online banking account concerning my Fixed Annuity previously purchased at Bank of the West.

1-22-24 Update: I added two pictures from information related to the merger of BMO and BOW that gives a breakdown of the financial compensation and conflict regarding the investments they proffer. Note that the booklet is from Bank of the West's (BOW) LPL Financial group. The second photograph clearly lists 'Fixed Annuity' as a brokerage instrument which I would expect BMO to have picked up. There are a couple of reasons why this didn't take place. (1) BMO is not offering a real brokerage service here but some kind of half-way service. (2) There is no one qualified to act as broker for BMO. So now we await the response from my complaint to the federal regulators, in this case, it is FINRA's Kansas City Office.

1-9-24 update: I added a copy of the Bank of the West asset transfer which documents the purchase of the fixed annuity. Annuities are essentially a loan to companies, in this case insurance, at specific interest levels and covering agreed time frames. In my case, It is a 'fixed' annuity which means interest begins when the annuity is purchased. It is NOT life insurance of any kind.

Original
The problem arose when I questioned BMO bank about why there was NO brokerage record of my $*******, fixed annuity investment principal and why there was no record of accrued interest to date. Here is the response from BMO:

"Hi Allen,

I was looking at the document you sent, I believe I have figured this out for you.

This statement that you sent is Life Insurance, through Mass Mutual Ascend. I tried calling the number for Mass Mutual, with the prompts you can request documents you need.

At the bottom of this statement, it appears you can log in to MassMutualAscend.com to look at your account, which currently has a balance of $15,015.19.

We do have the ability with Total Look to add external accounts with your mobile banking.

Just to ensure we are on the same page, this specific account is held with MassMutual, NOT BMO, so you won't be able to see this account online unless we add the external account.

Let me know if you have any questions."

ME:
When I attempted to access the brokerage account window within BMO, I had a NO account listing! After complaining to the branch manager, I checked the next morning and found that my balance was just $0.21. This was a number that I had put into the old Bank of the West brokerage account so that I would not have to look at a zero balance.

I was just on the BMO site this morning to see the brokerage listing of my entire holdings as $0.21.

Now attached is a photocopy (202.001) of the only Two interest documents that I had received from Brian Pond which lists the Great American contract number [Mass Mutual] plus its commencement date and sufficiently validates my Mass mutual financial holdings. I assumed that a complete document set would be accessible through the online brokerage account (as is the practice elsewhere) however IT doesn't exist.

All subsequent brokerage interest is fed into my BMO money market (former BOW savings account) and I HAVE NO ACCESS TO Brokerage statements except for the $0.21 cents and now 2023 1099 forms will be needed for tax filings. How asinine is this?

Here is a replication of my email response to the branch manager and I didn't stipulate it was a BMO account transaction only that it was a BMO brokerage transaction because I could not purchase anything from Mass Mutual unless I was a licensed Broker which obviously I'm not.

My Response to BMO:
The clock officially began yesterday on the 10 day grace period I am allowing for you to get my account up to specifications which includes the information that I have sent plus a rolling interest accumulation for the account to date PLUS the 1099 when sufficient information has been tabulated and available. You will be held accountable if I have any IRS income reporting issues because of your shenanigans.

Allen Williams

If you look through the enclosed pictures you can clearly see that my Mass Mutual investment is marked as an 'annuity'; it is NOT a life insurance policy. The odd thing is that the BMO system treats deposits made to my savings account as third party transactions. But the only entity that can deposit into my savings account was Brian Pond [and now supposedly the new BMO brokerage account manager] All other interest payments go into my debit [checking] account. I was told this by Bank Representative - Jennifer Garcia. So how could this be a third party transaction INDEPENDENT of BMO brokerage?

Email to Branch Mgr:
Attached is the latest screen shot of my BMO brokerage account as of 3:31 PM on Tuesday Jan 2,2024 where Nothing is showing. The screen asks me to pick an account but none are available because you people are still building the system. I have had a belly full of this kind of service. I've got better things to do than troubleshoot a brokerage system that should already be properly handling its financial affairs especially since contacting me two weeks prior to the change with all sorts of extraneous information

Read the claims of BMO's brokerage platform under 'what to expect after logging into BMO Digital banking':L you will be directed to 'Account View' where you can access all accounts linked to your tax ID where you are a primary or secondary account holder. Really? All I have according to BMO brokerage is a $0.21 cash balance.

The overriding question here is what exactly constitutes a BMO brokerage investment? I can't answer this question but I can tell you what it isn't based on responses I have received. First, it isn't a Fixed Annuity and possibly NOT any annuity. Secondly, it isn't a certificate of deposit because the bank directly handles that aspect so maybe it's 'taxfree' municipal bonds or perhaps even derivatives.

I'm suggesting that BMO never had a working system and so I have decided some remedial action is in order. I told the bank that they will have 10 days to get my account in order, OTHERWISE I will file a formal complaint with the Comptroller of the Currency. FINRA and/or elsewhere.

(more later).