BMO PaySmart™​ Installment Plan Resource Hub

A BMO PaySmart installment plan on your credit card lets you pay off a certain dollar amount in monthly payments over a set time frame of your choosing. This feature is available as part of your existing credit card and doesn’t require a credit application.

The type of fees associated with your installment plan will depend on when you set it up.

Canada (excluding Quebec):

• At checkout (online or in store with participating merchants): You’ll be enrolled in an interest-bearing plan with interest charges on your installment payments. You’ll be provided with the total payment, monthly breakdown, and the interest rate (APR percentage). Each month, you’ll pay the principal and interest as part of your minimum payment.
• After purchase using BMO Online or Mobile Banking: You’ll be enrolled in a fee-based plan with no interest. Instead, a monthly fee, shown during set up, is applied based on a percentage of your original purchase amount. Each month, you’ll pay the principal and the fee as part of your credit card minimum payment.

Quebec:

• At checkout (online or in store with participating merchants) or after purchase: You’ll be enrolled in an interest-bearing plan with interest charges on your installment payments. You’ll be provided with the total payment, monthly breakdown, and the interest rate (APR percentage). Each month, you’ll pay the principal and interest as part of your minimum payment.

You qualify for a BMO PaySmart plan if: 

Canada (excluding Quebec):

• You’re the primary cardholder of an eligible personal credit card or the primary owner or co-owner of an eligible business credit card
• Your account is in good standing
• You recently made an eligible purchase of $100 or more with your eligible BMO credit card
• For business credit cardholders, the email address must be associated with the primary cardholder
• You haven’t reached the maximum number of installment plans allowed

Quebec:

• You’re the primary cardholder of an eligible personal credit card or the primary owner or co-owner of an eligible business credit card
• Your account is in good standing
• You recently made an eligible purchase of $100 or more with your eligible BMO credit card ^{footnote †2 †2}
• Your total purchases (excluding refunds and amounts converted to installment plans) since your last statement must be greater or equal to the amount that you’re trying to convert to an installment plan
• You're registered for BMO Online Banking and have an email address associated with the primary cardholder on file.
• You haven’t reached the maximum number of installment plans allowed

During checkout, you’ll be shown the list of installment plan options for qualifying purchases with participating merchants.

To qualify after purchases have been made, transactions need to have been posted to your credit card account but not yet shown on your latest statement.

A credit card installment plan makes sense for purchases where you would like to spread out the cost in a structured and predictable way. Note that your minimum payment will increase as a result of having an installment plan. You must be prepared to make your installment plan monthly payments as part of your credit card’s minimum payment in full each month.

You can easily set up an installment plan in two ways:

During your online or in-store purchase

1. Make a purchase: Use your credit card to make a qualifying purchase with participating merchants.
2. Choose a plan: You’ll be shown various term options to choose from at checkout. Pick the one that works best for you.
3. Review the Terms & Conditions: Review and agree to the terms and conditions of the plan.

After your purchase using BMO Online or Mobile Banking

1. Select your card: From your BMO Online or Mobile Banking home screen, select your eligible credit card and click on the installment plan tab. Click the Create button.
2. Find your purchase: Select a recent eligible purchase you’d like to convert into an installment plan. ^{footnote †2 †2}
3. Select an installment plan: Pick a plan (choose 3, 6, or 12 months) and review the fees that applies. ^{footnote †1 †1}
4. Review the Terms & Conditions: Read and agree to the BMO PaySmart Terms and Conditions.

When you make a purchase, whether in-store or online with participating merchants, it may take up to 30 days for your installment plan to be created, depending on when the transaction is posted. You’ll receive an email confirmation once the plan is set up.

Note: If your purchase includes multiple items charged separately, each charge might create a separate installment plan. All plans will have the same repayment terms and interest rates. Please be aware that multiple installment plans can occur due to factors like split shipments and back-ordered items, which are beyond BMO’s control.

For installment plans created after purchase, it’ll generally take about one business day to become active. Plan details will be shown under the “Active Plans” tab in BMO Online or Mobile Banking.

Quebec:

Your first monthly plan payment consists of just the principal. Each payment after that includes both the principal and interest. The interest is calculated based on your plan’s remaining principal balance, which gradually decreases as you make payments, starting from the second one.

For example: if you put a $900 TV on a 6-month installment plan at 8.99%, and you make your minimum payment on your credit card by your due date, your breakdown may look like.

The final interest payment is determined by how long your plan was active in your previous statement period before your last monthly payment was made.

Thinking of setting up an installment plan? Calculate your estimated monthly payments using our PaySmart Calculator.

Yes, you can have several active installment plans at the same time. There is a limit of 99 plans that you can have active at any given time.

Yes. If your BMO credit card earns rewards on purchases, you will earn rewards on the amount of the original purchase that you select to convert to an installment plan, in the same way that you do on any other purchase made on your account (for example, points or cash back).

See your rewards program terms and conditions for more information on how you earn rewards on your BMO credit card account.

Installment plans are based on the original purchase posted to your credit card account. The amount of that purchase has already reduced your available credit. Enrolling the eligible purchase into an installment plan does not change your available credit.

No new application or credit checks required, the feature is a part of your existing credit card.

If you have signed up for BMO’s optional Credit Card Balance Protection Enhanced on your personal credit card, you will be covered for your total credit card balance, including all installment plans. Your monthly premium rate is equal to $1.00 per $100.00 of your total balance for the billing cycle, plus applicable taxes.

If you do not make your minimum credit card payment by the due date, your installment plan(s) will be automatically cancelled. We will add any remaining balance to your credit card balance and it will be subject to your standard interest rate as of the cancellation date. You can review your minimum payment amount on Online Banking or Mobile Banking, or your monthly credit card statement.

• For personal credit cards, see more information on your standard interest rate
• For business credit cards, see more information on your standard interest rate

This will depend on when you create your installment plan:

• At checkout (online or in store with participating merchants): If you set up your Installment Plan at the time of your purchase, credits for any returns and chargebacks will go toward the plan balance first. This can lower your current or future payments, reduce the number of payments, or pay off the plan. Any excess credits will be handled according to our BMO Credit Cardholder Agreement and BMO Business Mastercard Account Agreement.
• After purchase: We’ll apply any credit amount you receive from returns on the overall account balance, not the installment plan. As a result, this may not affect your plan. You can cancel your installment plan anytime through BMO Online or Mobile Banking.

For more information on how we apply payments to your account, refer to your BMO Credit Cardholder Agreement and BMO Business Mastercard Account Agreement.

Canada (excluding Quebec):

You’ll be shown interest-bearing installment plans for purchases made at checkout (whether in-store or online). The interest rate (APR) will be shown alongside the total payment amount and monthly payment.

For installment plans created after purchase, you’ll be shown a monthly installment plan fee of up to 0.9% of your principal amount. We’ll let you know what your monthly fee is during setup.

Quebec:

We don’t charge fees on interest-bearing installment plans.

This will depend on when you create your installment plan.

Canada (excluding Quebec):

• At checkout (online or in store with participating merchants): You’ll be charged interest on your plan, with the APR percentage displayed at setup
• After purchase: You won’t be charged interest on installment plans. If your plan gets cancelled, you’ll be charged your standard purchase interest rate on your remaining balance

Quebec:

• At checkout (online or in store with participating merchants) or after purchase: You’ll be enrolled in an interest-bearing plan with interest charges on your installment payments. You’ll be provided with the total payment, monthly breakdown, and the interest rate (APR percentage). Each month, you’ll pay the principal and interest as part of your minimum payment

Canada (excluding Quebec):

If you set up a PaySmart installment plan via BMO Online or Mobile Banking, then you’ll see two types of transactions on your account:

1. A transaction called “PaySmart Plan Fee” will be charged every month that your plan is active
2. A transaction by the name of your purchase or your plan nickname (if you create one) will remove the amount from your outstanding balance and move it to your installment plan balance

Quebec:

When you set up a PaySmart installment plan after your purchase, you’ll see two types of transactions on your account:

1. A transaction called “Interest PaySmart” will be charged every month that your plan is active
2. A transaction by the name of your purchase or your plan nickname (if you create one) will remove the amount from your outstanding balance and move it to your installment plan balance

Canada (including Quebec):

You’ll see this transaction twice every time you set up a plan: one will have a (+plus​) sign and one won’t.

For example: if you create a plan for your $400 BEST BUY purchase and you name it “New TV”, you’ll see your original purchase and then two transactions:

BEST BUY $400.00
New TV +$400.00
New TV $400.00

If you put the same purchase on an installment plan but do not create a nickname, you will see:

BEST BUY $400.00
BEST BUY +$400.00
BEST BUY $400.00

This does not mean that your purchase was double charged, it simply reflects the installment plan setup.

You won’t be shown these transactions if you set up your Installment plan during checkout.

In the Installment Plan section of your BMO Online or Mobile Banking, you can review the details for all your active plans. The “Payments left” field shows how many payments remain – this is determined by the length of your plan (3-48 months). This number decreases monthly, and paying more than the minimum amount can shorten your plan duration. “Payments left” may not immediately reflect this change.

Balance Due is the amount you owe this month. It includes all charges on your account that are due this month. If you have any installment plans, only payments due this month are included. If you pay your Balance Due in full by the due date, you will not incur purchase interest charges.

Total Balance is the amount you owe in total on your account which includes total remaining installment payments that are not yet due. If you have any installment plans, paying this balance will cancel those plans.

If you do not have any installment plans, your Balance Due is equal to your Total Balance.

If you have a pre-authorized debit plan set up for your statement balance/ full balance / or outstanding balance - the “Balance due” will be taken out on the due date.

Canada (excluding Quebec):

Your expected end date as shown in Online Banking or Mobile Banking is the date of your next statement after your final installment plan payment is due.

If you pay more than your monthly payment, you may reduce the time that it will take to complete your plan. If this is the case, the “End date” may not reflect the new end date. Instead, it will reflect the original end date you were supposed to have.

You can cancel your plan at any time, without penalty, through Online Banking or Mobile Banking by following these steps:

1. Select your credit card and click on the installment plan tab
2. Under “active plans”, choose the plan you want to cancel
3. Click the cancel button

Canada (excluding Quebec):

Your plan will usually be cancelled in two business days. If you cancel your plan, any remaining balance will be added to your credit card balance and be subject to your standard interest rate as of the cancellation date. We will not charge you any more monthly fees once the plan is cancelled. Please note that you will not be able to re-instate your installment plan for the same purchase.

Quebec:

Your plan will usually be cancelled in two business days. If you cancel your plan, any remaining balance will be added to your credit card balance and be subject to your standard interest rate as of the cancellation date.

You will not be charged interest if you cancel before the first payment due date. If cancelling after the first payment due date, then your plan’s balance will still reflect interest charges incurred before the cancellation. Those charges will appear on your next statement. Please note that you will not be able to re-instate your installment plan for the same purchase.

Canada (including Quebec):

• For personal credit cards, see more information on your standard interest rate
• For business credit cards, see more information on your standard interest rate

You cannot change the terms of your installment plan once it is set up. If you no longer want to continue your installment plan, you can cancel your plan at any time through Online Banking or Mobile Banking.

If your card is lost, stolen, or replaced due to fraud, your installment plan will not be cancelled. If you think your credit card has been lost, stolen or if you notice unusual activity on your account, notify us as soon as possible. You can quickly and easily report your card as lost or stolen through Online Banking or Mobile Banking. You can also visit your nearest branch or call us at 1-800-361-3361 to report your missing card.

We will cancel any active installment plan(s) on your credit card account if you close your credit card. We will add any remaining balance to your credit card balance and it will be subject to your standard interest rate as of the cancellation date. We will not charge you any more monthly fees once the plan is cancelled.

• For personal credit cards, see more information on your standard interest rate
• For business credit cards, see more information on your standard interest rate

As long as the product you are transferring into is eligible for installment plans, the installment plan will remain.

Any active interest-bearing installment plan(s) will remain from purchases made at checkout. If you move to Quebec after a purchase made through BMO Online Banking or Mobile Banking, we’ll cancel any active fee-based installment plans. The remaining balance will be added to your credit card at the standard interest rate, and no additional monthly fees will be charged.