Consumer complaint received 2017-02-03
Product: Bank account or service — Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management — 
Company: BMO Bank, N.A. (IL)

I recently opened an account with BMO Harris bank through the online platform. The process itself took about an hour and they asked for multiple different documents and information which I have never been asked for previously. Once I completed the online portion I received an email stating that all parties and the account must call in and speak to a representative or the account would be closed. Upon calling into the bank I was asked the same questions that I just finished filling out online. When my wife called and spoke with the representative they advised that the account was already opened and she did not need to speak with them which contradicts the email we received. In order to open the account a deposit of {$100.00} was needed. We opted to transfer money from an existing external account. In order to verify the account the funds were coming from we were to receive XXXX small deposits from XXXX and then verify these deposits on the website. Once these deposits were received we were unable to find the link we were directed to use. Upon calling into the bank we spoke with a gentleman that did not understand the issue at all. We were advised that the transfer needed to be made from our external account and that he would call our bank. We had spent XXXX minutes telling him that we processed the transfer through BMO at the time of the account opening and that BMO already knows my external account number because they deposited the probe charges, and all we needed was to find out where to verify the deposit amounts to complete our transfer. Seeing as this was getting us nowhere we requested a supervisor. After being on hold over XXXX minutes we were informed that his supervisor was not in. So again we requested any available supervisor. When the supervisor came onto the line she began to read off information that was not what we said to the previous person. Now being even more upset we went into the story again and were hung up on. Soon we received a call back from the original gentleman stating that he is going to transfer us to another department since we were " disconnected ''. After the transfer the new XXXX did not have he correct information again regarding our complaint and we went into the story again at which point we were advised that no one would be able to help and we would have to call back another time. After waiting on hold for almost XXXX minutes. At this point we requested to not do any further business with BMO and to close the checking account because this was more irritating and annoying than it is worth. The XXXX advised us that we would have to call back to close the account and we would be charged a fee of {$50.00} for closing the account soon after opening. Something that should have been a single task ended up taking over a week to complete. During the whole conversation with BMO we felt like our concerns were not being heard. After correcting multiple people the wrong information was still being forwarded to the next representative. BMO Harris is using deceptive and unfair business practices and misleading their customers. I would highly recommend that others send their relationship with BMO as well and I would not be referring this bank to anyone else.