Company Response
9/3/2025
September 3, 2025
BMO Bank N.A. is in receipt of your complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") on August 30, 2025 and the Business Consumer Alliance ("BCA") on September 2, 2025. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to your concerns. In your complaints, you indicate that the Bank closed your BMO Alto Online Savings Account (Account) and will not return the funds to you. You request the Bank return all funds to you and monetarily compensate you for lost time, court costs, statutory interest and additional unstated damages.
The Bank takes all customer concerns seriously and has conducted a thorough review of the matter. We are committed to serving our customers in a fair and ethical manner in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. In response to your complaint, we provide the following:?
Our records indicate that on April 23, 2025, you logged in to BMO Alto Online Banking and registered an external bank account. You then submitted a request to transfer funds from your Account to this registered external bank account. Later that day, the Bank restricted your Account, emailed you about the restrictions and requested you provide documents as evidence of your ownership of the external bank account, your funding account, and a copy of valid government identification. As we disclose in the BMO Alto Deposit Account and Online Banking Agreement, the Bank requires that you are the sole owner or a joint owner of the Registered External Account and/or that you have all necessary legal right, power, and authority to transfer funds between your… [BMO Alto] Account and the Registered External Account and the Bank …may restrict your use of your [BMO Alto] Account in the event…we suspect…that any transaction is fraudulent or may involve illegal activity, until the dispute, uncertainty, or suspicion is resolved to our satisfaction.
On April 23, 2025, June 5 and 12, 2025, you spoke with a Fraud Department agent. The agent informed you of the documents that we require from you as indicated in the email sent to you April 23, 2025. On June 23, 2025, the Bank still had not received information from you and as a result, closed your Account in accordance with its rights in Section V.K. of the BMO Alto Deposit Account and Online Banking Agreement which states in part: We may close your account at any time for any reason.
On June 30, 2025, you spoke with a Fraud Department agent. The agent informed you we closed your Account because you did not send us the requested documentation. The agent also informed you that you would need to work with USAA Federal Savings Bank to claim any funds. On July 30, 2025, you sent us documentation about a transaction that you disputed with USAA Federal Savings Bank and a cover letter for a Letter of Indemnity from USAA Federal Savings Bank. There was no Letter of Indemnity included with the cover letter.
The Bank has contacted you to remove the restriction on your Account since April 23, 2025 and since then, you have not provided the requested information. The Bank has not received a Hold Harmless Letter nor a Letter of Indemnity from USAA Federal Savings Bank. The Bank denies your request to pay you interest and monetarily compensate you for lost time, court costs and any damages that you stated. To collect all funds from the Account, you must send (i) recent unredacted copies of statements from USAA Federal Savings Bank account ending in 6973 and the Bank of America account ending in 7487 showing ownership; and (ii) a copy of valid government identification to [email protected]. Once this information is received, we can mail a check for your account balance to your address on file, 12376 Iveson Dr, Haslet, TX 76052. As an alternative, you may ask USAA Federal Savings Bank to send us a Hold Harmless Letter to [email protected]. If this information is received, we can return all funds to the USAA Federal Savings Bank account.
Thank you again for the opportunity to review and respond to your concerns. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused and trust this addresses the concerns presented in your correspondence. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this matter further, please contact us at 855-266-8100.
Sincerely,
Sean D'Esposito
Manager - BMO Alto
BMO Bank N.A.
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