BMO Harris Bank, based out of Chicago Illinois, is now offering an online savings account with a yield of either 4.00% APY (annual percentage yield) or 1.00% APY depending on which state you reside in.

Currently residents who do not reside in the following states (below) will stand to earn the 4.00% APY. Residents of the following states will earn only 1.00% APY:

• Arizona,
• Florida,
• Illinois,
• Indiana,
• Kansas,
• Minnesota,
• Missouri or
• Wisconsin

To learn more about BMO Harris Bank’s online savings account, continue reading our review below.

BMO Harris Bank Online Savings Account Rate + Details

BMO Harris Bank is member FDIC. Deposits held in their online savings account (as well as their CDs, money market or checking accounts) are federally insured up to $250,000 or $500,000 for joint accounts.

There are no minimum deposit requirements to open this account and no monthly balance requirements to earn the advertised APY, making it widely available to all consumers. There are also no monthly maintenance fees of any kind.

Online Savings Account Rate

To put these yields into perspective, the current national average for a savings account and a money market account sit at just 0.30% and 0.38% APY, respectively, according to FDIC data.

That said, there are now a handful of online banks and nationally available credit unions offering high yield online savings accounts with APYs above the 4.00% mark following the FED’s most recent prime rate hike of 0.50% on December 14th.

How to Open and Fund the Account

Opening your BMO Harris online savings account can be done in minutes. You’ll just need to have a few pieces of personal information readily available to complete the process.

1. Your contact information. This includes your physical address, phone number and email address.
2. Identity information. You’ll need your social security number as well as your DOB (date of birth) to confirm your identity and your U.S. citizenship.
3. Current bank or credit union information. You’ll need both the routing number of your current financial institution and your bank account number. This is the account in which your funds will be drawn to fund your new BMO Harris online savings account.

How to Close the Account

The easiest way to close the account is by calling BMO Harris at 1-888-340-2265.

Final Thoughts

If you live in one of the 42 states that are eligible for the high yield, then this online savings account from BMO Harris Bank is going to be a hard offer to beat. The fact that they have no minimum balance or opening deposit requirements casts a wide net to a lot of people who may not be able to meet the minimum requirements of similar accounts.

Oddly enough, BMO Harris Bank doesn’t allow you to navigate directly to their online savings account from BMOHarris.com, so you’ll need to navigate to the online savings account page directly.