BMO Fined $4M for Overcharging Canadians: How to Check If You’re Owed a Refund
A lot of Canadians trust their bank to charge them the right fees.
But this BMO story is a reminder that even big banks can make mistakes, and those mistakes can quietly cost Canadians money for years.
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, also known as FCAC, fined Bank of Montreal $4 million after BMO charged monthly banking fees to customers who should have received waived or discounted fees.
According to FCAC, 101,091 customers were financially impacted. That means over 100,000 people may have paid fees they were not supposed to pay.
And the part that should really bother people is that this issue went on from 2010 to 2024.
That is not a small mistake. That is over a decade of customers being charged incorrectly.
What happened?
BMO had discounted banking programs for certain groups of customers.
These programs were meant to help:
Newcomers to Canada
Medical and dental students
Indigenous banking clients
People who joined through a home financing promotion
These customers were supposed to get special banking benefits, including waived or discounted monthly plan fees, but according to FCAC, some customers received written confirmations with the wrong start date for the fee waiver.
In simple terms: the paperwork was wrong, the bank’s system did not properly catch it, and customers got charged fees they should not have paid.
FCAC also said that between 2022 and 2024, BMO failed to clearly explain when some monthly plan fees would begin.
That is concerning, because banks are supposed to clearly explain fees before charging customers.
How much money did BMO pay back?
BMO refunded and paid interest to impacted customers, totalling $3,027,956.44.
For money that could not be refunded directly to customer accounts, BMO made a charitable donation of $601,570.17.
BMO also paid the $4 million penalty issued by FCAC.
Now, to be clear: BMO says it reimbursed impacted customers and reported the issue to FCAC. But for everyday Canadians, the bigger lesson is simple:
Do not blindly trust that your bank is charging you correctly.
Why this matters for your money
A monthly bank fee might look small.
Maybe it is $4. Maybe it is $10. Maybe it is $16.95. But small fees become big money when they happen every month for years.
For example:
If your bank overcharged you $10 per month for 5 years, that is $600.
If it happened for 10 years, that is $1,200.
And that is before interest, opportunity cost, or the simple frustration of paying for something you were promised would be free.
This is why checking your bank statements matters. Not because you are “cheap”, but because it is your money.
Who should pay attention to this?
This update is especially important if you banked with BMO and you were part of one of these groups after 2010:
You were new to Canada
You were a medical or dental student
You used Indigenous banking services
You opened an account through a BMO home financing promotion
If that sounds like you, it may be worth checking whether you were charged monthly plan fees on an account that should have been free or discounted.
Even if you already received a refund, it is still smart to review your records.
What should you do if you think you were affected?
Here are a few simple steps.
1. Check your old bank statements
Look for monthly plan fees charged to your BMO account.
Focus on the time after you opened the account or joined one of the special programs.
2. Look for any refund from BMO
Search your statements for credits, refunds, fee adjustments, or interest payments.
If you are not sure what you are looking at, contact BMO and ask them to explain it clearly.
3. Contact BMO directly
Ask whether your account was part of the affected discounted banking programs.
You can mention FCAC Summary of Proceeding #4, which was published in 2026.
Ask these questions:
Was my account impacted?
Was I charged fees that should have been waived or discounted?
Was a refund issued to me?
How much was the refund?
If I did not receive a refund, why not?
4. Keep records
Write down who you spoke to, the date, and what they said.
Save screenshots, statements, emails, and complaint numbers.
This is important to have, if you need to escalate the issue later.
What if the bank does not fix it?
If you have a problem with a federally regulated bank in Canada, you have the right to file a complaint through the bank’s complaint process.
The bank generally has up to 56 days to deal with your complaint.
If the issue is not fixed, or you are not happy with the bank’s final response, you can escalate the complaint to the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments, also known as OBSI.
OBSI is an independent and free service that helps Canadians resolve disputes with banks and investment firms.
This is important because many people stop after the first “no”, but sometimes the first answer is not the final answer.
This is bigger than BMO
This BMO case is not the only recent reminder that customers need to watch their accounts.
In June 2026, FCAC also announced a $4.25 million penalty against RBC after the bank failed to transfer credits from deactivated credit card accounts to customers’ new accounts.
That issue financially impacted 227,947 accounts, and RBC transferred and refunded more than $22.4 million.
Different bank. Different issue. Same lesson.
Banks are big. Their systems are big. Mistakes can happen.
And when they do, you need to know how to spot them.
The real lesson for Canadians
This is not about panicking, it is about paying attention.
Your bank account should not be something you open once and ignore forever.
Every few months, take 10 minutes and review:
Monthly account fees
Credit card charges
Interest charges
Refunds
Subscription payments
Service fees
Overdraft fees
Transfers you do not recognize
You do not need to be a finance expert. You just need to know when something looks wrong. Because if a big bank can overcharge more than 100,000 people, regular Canadians need to be more careful with their accounts.
The money may look small at first, but over time, small fees can quietly steal from your future.
And that is why this story matters.
Sources: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, FCAC Summary of Proceeding #4, FCAC BMO penalty announcement, FCAC RBC penalty announcement, OBSI complaint process.