Consumer complaint received 2026-04-23 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: BMO BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX a portion of my husband, XXXX XXXX, paycheck in the amount of {$800.00} was deposited in a checking account with BMO Bank. That account was in my name only ( XXXX XXXX XXXX. All of our finances are combined and we have been married nearly 10 years. It did not cross either of our minds that this could possibly be an issue. BMO placed a freeze on the {$800.00} as well as the account and we were unable to log in to view any information. We had no idea why we could not log in or why we no longer had access to that money. We were simply provided a customer service number to call when we tried to log in. After calling in multiple times and getting different answers as to what was going on, it was finally explained to us that the issue was that it was my husband 's paycheck had gone into an account that did not have his name on it. At that point we were quite frustrated because it had taken so long just to figure out what was going on, let alone how to fix it. We were then told that we could either add my husband to the account or allow the account to close, and that if we allowed it to close the balance would be mailed to us as a check. We were not interested in continuing any kind of relationship with the bank after all of this so we did not want to take option 1 and add him to the account. We instead allowed the account to close and then waited for a check to arrive. When a check did not arrive after a few weeks we called in to ask what was going on and we were told that the person who had told us a check would be mailed had been wrong, and that the only way for us to retrieve the money was to visit a BMO branch. When we visited a BMO branch the banker explained to us that they could not re-open the account to allow us to withdraw the funds, and also that if we opened a new BMO account they would NOT be able to transfer the funds into that new account, even if that new account was opened in both of our names. They then explained that the only way to get the money back from BMO would be for the original issuer to recall it. I contacted XXXX, which is the payroll processor my employer uses to ask if they could recall the direct deposit. They explained that they could only do that within 5 days of a direct deposit being issued and it had been a few months at that point. Then, with the help of my employer, we contacted XXXX XXXX, who my employer 's business checking account is with, to file a request to have those funds recalled from BMO. On XX/XX/XXXX, my employer received a letter from XXXX XXXX stating that they were unable to recall the funds because it had been too long. Synopsis : BMO has {$800.00} of my money, they will not transfer it to me. The two institutions ( XXXX and XXXX XXXX ) who XXXX says would need to recall those funds have both informed me that they are unable to do so. We simply want and frankly, need, to recover those funds.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation