Airmiles Program

[BMO guy]

Hi everyone,

 

I would just like to introduce myself, Howe Gu, as the new Med/Dent specialist for BMO Bank of Montreal. I`m sure you are all aware that BMO has not had a very significant presence with the medical and dental community as we have never had any specialists for this market. Starting this July, BMO is revamping and refitting the features of a lot of our professional student line of credit and banking products so that we are more competitive and more in-tune with Med/Dent students. I believe this is a great opportunity for you tell us things that you would like to see changed or things that you have found unsatisfactory with your banking so far. I have taken a look at a lot of the resources given to students regarding financial institutions and I can tell you right now that a lot of the features associated with Bank of Montreal are incorrect, and I will show you the advantages banking with BMO. Unfortunately my new role will not start until the 17th of July, so I will be temporarily office-less until then. But feel free to email me or reach me on my cell if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Howe Gu

Professional Market Specialist

howe.gu@bmo.com

cell: 604-720-4408

[agregson]

Are you in Vancouver?

[moltenflammingcore]

Hi Howe, I have not been accepted to a school yet but I am thinking ahead as I would be needing my LOC asap to pay for the deposit. I asked a BMO rep and she said that I would need a co-signer. I would find it impossible to find someone to agree to co-sign a 150,000 loan so I am hoping this is untrue. Can you comment?

[EESH]

Hi Howe, I have not been accepted to a school yet but I am thinking ahead as I would be needing my LOC asap to pay for the deposit. I asked a BMO rep and she said that I would need a co-signer. I would find it impossible to find someone to agree to co-sign a 150,000 loan so I am hoping this is untrue. Can you comment?

 

You don't need a cosigner for any other bank, so if BMO really wants to be competitive, they shouldn't require a cosigner either.

[Kuantum]

You don't need a cosigner for any other bank, so if BMO really wants to be competitive, they shouldn't require a cosigner either.

 

Ya...you shouldn't need a co-signor...maybe e-mail the rep and confirm that.

[kaymcee]

Hi Howe, I have not been accepted to a school yet

This is definitely a requirement to get a professional student line of credit. No bank will give you a massive LOC without a guarantee that you are going somewhere in September. Once you have that invitation, then you can get an LOC very quickly.

 

You will have to e-mail the school and explain your situation for them to hold your place without the deposit.

[Julie]

This is definitely a requirement to get a professional student line of credit. No bank will give you a massive LOC without a guarantee that you are going somewhere in September. Once you have that invitation, then you can get an LOC very quickly.

 

You will have to e-mail the school and explain your situation for them to hold your place without the deposit.

 

Well, maybe, but maybe not? I'm sure the 150 000$ LOC might require you to have the med school guarantee, but with good credit I'd imagine the average bank might give you the 1000$ or so as a loan if you need it for the deposit. Then, once your admission is finalised, you can have access to the 150 000$ and pay the loan back immediately if needed... This is just a guess, anyone have some experience in the area?

[EESH]

Well, maybe, but maybe not? I'm sure the 150 000$ LOC might require you to have the med school guarantee, but with good credit I'd imagine the average bank might give you the 1000$ or so as a loan if you need it for the deposit. Then, once your admission is finalised, you can have access to the 150 000$ and pay the loan back immediately if needed... This is just a guess, anyone have some experience in the area?

If you need to make a deposit, then you're in a position to get the loan. All you need is the acceptance letter, nothing else (you don't need to be registered in the program yet).

[BMO guy]

Are you in Vancouver?

 

Yes I am in Vancouver. My main office will be at Broadway and Willow, but i will have temp offices at 10th and Sass, 4th and Vine, and the UBC Marketplace branch as well. So i'll be all over the place...where ever i'm needed:)

[BMO guy]

Hi Howe, I have not been accepted to a school yet but I am thinking ahead as I would be needing my LOC asap to pay for the deposit. I asked a BMO rep and she said that I would need a co-signer. I would find it impossible to find someone to agree to co-sign a 150,000 loan so I am hoping this is untrue. Can you comment?

 

I know it is a common mis-conception that many people have, but we at BMO do not require any co-signors as long as you can show us your acceptance into either Med or Dent programs. I am working with our national office to try to waive this requirement for other professional programs as well.

[Jochi1543]

BMO_guy, what is the bank's policy on LOCs for US MD programs? I'm applying to both Canadian and US programs, and while I'd love to stay in Canada for many reasons (financial defnitely being #1), I probably have a better chance in the US, so I'm trying to find some place that doesn't require a cosigner for US MD loans - I have no family in Canada, so no one to cosign for me. Unfortunately, I also don't have a house or anything to put as collateral - I rent and make payments on my vehicle.

[mookerbee]

Can these LOCs be garunteed against a house, thereby reducing the interest rate on it (to sub prime levels)?

[BMO guy]

BMO_guy, what is the bank's policy on LOCs for US MD programs? I'm applying to both Canadian and US programs, and while I'd love to stay in Canada for many reasons (financial defnitely being #1), I probably have a better chance in the US, so I'm trying to find some place that doesn't require a cosigner for US MD loans - I have no family in Canada, so no one to cosign for me. Unfortunately, I also don't have a house or anything to put as collateral - I rent and make payments on my vehicle.

 

Unfortunately as per BMO policy, right now we only have approval for professional line of credits for the following schools (this is for all professional line of credits):

Wharton School

University of Pennsylvania

Kellogg School of Management

Harvard

MIT

Duke

Univ of Michigan

Columbia

Cornell

Univ of Virginia

Univ of Chicago

Dartmouth

Yale

and London School of Business

 

BUT....please talk to me about your situation, as each case should be assessed individually, and although your school may not be included in that list, I can always get exceptions from our head office should the case warrants it.

 

Thank you

[BMO guy]

Can these LOCs be garunteed against a house, thereby reducing the interest rate on it (to sub prime levels)?

 

Line of credit using equity as collateral will always be at Prime, this is pretty much industry standard in Canada. Most student line of credit should be prime plus one or two percent, but most financial insitutions have allowed med/dent professional student line of credits to be at prime given lower risk to these professions. So to answer your question, no, unfortunately, additional collateteral will not be able to reduce rates since property equity line of credits are at prime as well.

 

but we if you do have a professional student line of credit with us...it DOES allow us further discretion and discounts on your mortgage. Therefore if you have a property that has equity, we can use that for your education and your mortgage will definitely be significantly lower than prime.

[mookerbee]

but we if you do have a professional student line of credit with us...it DOES allow us further discretion and discounts on your mortgage. Therefore if you have a property that has equity, we can use that for your education and your mortgage will definitely be significantly lower than prime.

 

We currently have prime minus 1.0% on the mortgage (5yr var). If we were to use you for the professional student LOC, what kind of discretion can you exercise on the mortgage beyond our current rate? Feel free to PM me if you're uncomfortable posting numbers publicly.

[BMO guy]

We currently have prime minus 1.0% on the mortgage (5yr var). If we were to use you for the professional student LOC, what kind of discretion can you exercise on the mortgage beyond our current rate? Feel free to PM me if you're uncomfortable posting numbers publicly.

 

I have sent you an email regarding your questions, let me know if you do not receive it.

 

Thank you.

[mookerbee]

I have sent you an email regarding your questions, let me know if you do not receive it.

 

Sorry, it didn't go through. Try sending it to "noel.spam@gmail.com". It's a junk address that I use if I need to post an address in the public domain. I will get whatever you send there.

 

Thanks for the follow up.

[BMO guy]

I noticed many people are very concerned about the reward programs on their credit cards, just thought I`d add my two cents on the Airmiles Program.

 

The Airmiles program has the largest sponsorship network out of any reward program, and allows you to redeem miles earned for not only flights and travel but also smaller/larger things like gift certificates, movie tickets, dvd players, tvs, ipods,toaster ovens, vacuum cleaners, magazine subscriptions etc. I think a great advantage of airmiles is that not only can you earn it through credit card expenditures, but also you can often overlap airmiles on purchases. Like when you buy gas from Shell, you can use your Airmiles Mastercard for the purchase to earn miles, but also by swiping the airmiles card you get additional airmiles as well.

 

And of course being the BMO Guy, the advantages of banking with BMO will allow you to not only collect airmiles on your credit card expenditures, but on any of your purchases using your debit card, having a balance on your line of credit, and having balance on your savings account as well as any balance on a mortgage (just so its clear, its not either or on the things i`ve listed, you actually get more airmiles by having each one).

 

Just thought i`d give my 2 cents on airmiles. Thank you.

 

BMO Guy

[BMO guy]

Sorry, it didn't go through. Try sending it to "noel.spam@gmail.com". It's a junk address that I use if I need to post an address in the public domain. I will get whatever you send there.

 

Thanks for the follow up.

 

As per your request, a new email has been sent to the above email. Look forward to your response.

 

Howe

[red]

Hey BMO guy

 

How does having a professional student LOC to pay down affect your chances of receiving a business loan once you've finished residency?

 

Red

[BMO guy]

Hey BMO guy

 

How does having a professional student LOC to pay down affect your chances of receiving a business loan once you've finished residency?

 

Red

 

when you finnish residency, your student line of credit becomes a personal line of credit (with the same terms set out when you first took the student line of credit of course), this may affect the servicing capacity for a commerical loan. But for med/dent students who generally have a high overcost when starting their own practise, we take that into account and almost always make exceptions for such situations. I can`t say for other financial institutions, but I have never heard of a doctor/dentist who is trying to start his own practise and got turned down because he has an existing student line of credit.

[JewelLeigh]

And of course being the BMO Guy, the advantages of banking with BMO will allow you to not only collect airmiles on your credit card expenditures, but on any of your purchases using your debit card, having a balance on your line of credit, and having balance on your savings account as well as any balance on a mortgage (just so its clear, its not either or on the things i`ve listed, you actually get more airmiles by having each one).

Hi BMO Guy,

 

First let me say that I am very grateful that there is going to be a med/dent specialist at BMO! I have my med student LOC through BMO and feel that I know the details better than those at the bank who did the paperwork to set it up!! Arg.

 

Second - I was told by the bank that student LOCs (including my professional student LOC) are not eligible to earn airmiles based on the monthly balance. Was this in fact false? I do not actually have a bank account with BMO - just the LOC - does this make a difference?

 

Thanks!

[BMO guy]

Hi BMO Guy,

 

First let me say that I am very grateful that there is going to be a med/dent specialist at BMO! I have my med student LOC through BMO and feel that I know the details better than those at the bank who did the paperwork to set it up!! Arg.

 

Second - I was told by the bank that student LOCs (including my professional student LOC) are not eligible to earn airmiles based on the monthly balance. Was this in fact false? I do not actually have a bank account with BMO - just the LOC - does this make a difference?

 

Thanks!

 

Hello Jewel,

 

I must admit, that BMO has not put a lot of focus in student or professional student line of credits, and thus not a lot of attention has been paid to making sure everyone are aware of the features and benefits of these products. Thus, hopefully with the creation of this new focus we can change that and better service clients such as your self.

 

As per your questions. Yes! Student Line of Credit are able to earn Airmiles. If you are in Vancouver I would be more than happy to help you set it up, or if you are else where, let me know who is taking care of your financial needs and I will show them how to set it up. But yes, you do need to have a bank account with Bank of Montreal in order to collect airmiles on your student line of credit, but since you are a student your banking is free so you really have nothing to lose. If you enjoy collecting Airmiles and see value in doing so, please email me and I can take a look to see how you can best maximize your airmiles collection.

howe.gu@bmo.com

 

Hope that helps:)

[ddawkin]

not to be inflammatory, but when i applied at bmo, i was told because i would not generate significant income during med school that a cosigner WAS required to meet ongoing interest payments (note, we have excellent credit, and have banked with bmo for years, including my undergraduate LOC). also, they require a budget every year and release only $30,000 per year. i ended up going to the royal bank and required no cosigner - they also had a 0.5% lower interest rate, a FREE chequing account (bmo would not give this to me prior because my husband was not also a student), and so on. my point is, check around, and do what feels right for you. it was important to me to know i had all the money i would need to make it through medical school without reapplying each year.

 

just my opinion.

 

dd

[BMO guy]

not to be inflammatory, but when i applied at bmo, i was told because i would not generate significant income during med school that a cosigner WAS required to meet ongoing interest payments (note, we have excellent credit, and have banked with bmo for years, including my undergraduate LOC). also, they require a budget every year and release only $30,000 per year. i ended up going to the royal bank and required no cosigner - they also had a 0.5% lower interest rate, a FREE chequing account (bmo would not give this to me prior because my husband was not also a student), and so on. my point is, check around, and do what feels right for you. it was important to me to know i had all the money i would need to make it through medical school without reapplying each year.

 

just my opinion.

 

dd

 

DD, I'm truly sorry for your experience with BMO, and although there is unlikely anything I can do to make it up you, I'd just like to make clear that I am here to prevent experiences like that to happen in the future (well at least in Vancouver, anyways).

 

Just thought to reiterate, there is no annual limit per year on our professional student line of credits, no co-signors required, our rates are industry standard at prime, and all students, regardless of age, marital status or program receives free banking (up to 20 chequing/savings/premium savings/usd accounts). Again, i apologize for what you went through DD, i hope things are working out for you now.