Using Zelle^® for your small business

Zelle^® is a fast, safe and easy way for small businesses to send, request, and receive money directly between eligible bank accounts in the U.S. ^{footnote 2,3  footnote 2,3 2,3 footnote 2,3} . If your customers use Zelle^® from their financial institution, they can send payments directly to your BMO account with just your email address or U.S. mobile number. ^{footnote 3 3} With Zelle^®, payments typically arrive within minutes.

To get started, log into BMO Digital Banking. To enroll a BMO Digital Banking business profile with Zelle^®, you must use a different U.S. mobile number or email address than the one you used to enroll your personal bank account with Zelle^®. For example, name@email.com would be connected to your personal bank account, and 555-555-1234 would be connected to your business bank account. For BMO Digital Banking personal profiles that display business account details, the personal profile will have the option to use either the personal bank account or business bank account with Zelle^®.

New and existing active business checking and money market checking accounts will be eligible to use Zelle^®. Within the Zelle^® settings, a user may select from eligible accounts to send, request, and receive money. ^{footnote 3 3}

You can send, request, or receive money with Zelle^®. ^{footnote 3 3} To get started, log into BMO Digital Banking and select “Send Money with Zelle^®”. Enter your email address or U.S. mobile number, receive a one-time verification code, enter it, accept terms and conditions, and you’re ready to start sending and receiving with Zelle^®.

There are no limits on receiving money in your BMO account. The minimum amount that you can send or request is $5. We also set limits on the number of times you can send and the amount of money you can send. Your limits are based on the type of account(s) you have. You can find your daily and 30-day limits when you access the “Send money with Zelle^®” feature in BMO Digital Banking. Click "Send", choose a recipient and select the information icon for your limit details.

Once you’re enrolled with Zelle^®, money you receive is typically available within minutes. ^{footnote 2 2}

You can receive payments from consumers using Zelle^® through their financial institution. You can also receive payments from other small businesses if their financial institution offers Zelle^® to small businesses. At this time, you’re not able to receive payments from consumers that are only enrolled in the Zelle^® app.

First, you should enroll your email address or U.S. mobile number with Zelle^® through BMO Digital Banking and associate it with your small business banking account. Second, share your enrolled email address or U.S. mobile number with your customers and ask them to send you payment with Zelle^®. You don’t need to share any sensitive account details; they can send you money by using your enrolled email address or U.S. mobile number to identify you. After the customer sends you a payment with Zelle^®, you will receive your money directly into your enrolled bank account.

Whether you use Zelle^® with a business account or a consumer account, Zelle^® uses the same network to initiate payments to small businesses and consumers. Consumers who are already enrolled with Zelle^® through their financial institution don’t need to do anything different to send money to a business – they use the existing Zelle^® experience they already know and trust. However, the experience is slightly different for small businesses, as small businesses cannot currently send payments to or receive payments from consumers who are only enrolled in the Zelle^® app.

There are a few ways you can encourage your customers to pay you with Zelle^®.

• Tell customers verbally that you accept payments with Zelle^®, and that they can easily send you money.
• Include it on an invoice. We recommend adding “I accept payments with Zelle^®” or “Pay me with Zelle^®”.
• Use Zelle® to request money from your customers (which will send them a notification telling them you’ve requested payment with Zelle^®). ^{footnote 3 3}

Please note, you’ll only be able to receive payments from consumers using Zelle® through their financial institution. You will not be able to receive payments from consumers enrolled in the Zelle® app. If the person you are requesting money from is not yet enrolled with Zelle®, you must use their email address to request money and they will receive a notification to enroll.

You can only cancel a payment if the business or consumer you sent money to hasn’t yet enrolled with Zelle^® through their financial institution. To check whether the payment is still pending because the recipient hasn’t yet enrolled, you can go to your activity page, choose the payment you want to cancel, and then select “Cancel This Payment.”

If you send money to a business or consumer that has already enrolled with Zelle^® through their financial institution, the money is sent directly to their bank account and cannot be canceled. This is why it’s important to only send money to people you trust, and always ensure you’ve used the correct email address or U.S. mobile number when sending money.

Neither BMO nor Zelle^® offers a protection program for any authorized payments made with Zelle^®.

No, Zelle^® does not integrate directly with accounting software at this time. However, since Zelle^® is connected to your bank account, you are able to see all Zelle^® transactions in your online banking transaction records.

Please call BMO Customer Contact Support at 888-340-2265 so we can help you.