BMO car loans through dealers, anywhere in Canada

Who BMO is in auto lending

BMO finances vehicles indirectly, through dealerships that present the file and receive a decision. It lends in Ontario and Quebec and everywhere else in Canada. The dealer program is prime: it is looking for a clean bureau, verifiable income, and a vehicle within its age and mileage guidelines.

What we notice about BMO is where it is sharpest. On a short term, four years or less, BMO's payment is often the lowest on the bench for a qualified buyer. On the longest terms it is less distinctive, and TD or RBC may edge it.

The files BMO approves

The BMO dealer program is narrow by design. These are the files it says yes to.

• Several years of credit history with no late payments or collections in the recent past.
• A debt-service ratio comfortably inside the bank's limit once the new payment is included.
• A late-model used vehicle; BMO tightens quickly as the vehicle ages.
• Stable employment, or self-employment with two years of returns.

What BMO looks at

Like every bank, BMO reads the bureau, the debt-service ratio and the vehicle. It is particularly attentive to existing revolving debt: a buyer with clean payments but high credit card balances relative to limits is a weaker BMO file than the score alone suggests. Paying balances down below half the limit before applying measurably helps.

What a BMO approval looks like

A fixed rate, a fixed term and a fixed payment, with no tiers. The loan is open, so you can pay it down or pay it out early without penalty. Payments report to Equifax and TransUnion. For buyers who want a short, clean loan and can carry the higher monthly payment that comes with it, BMO is frequently the right answer.

If BMO is not the fit

A BMO decline is almost always about the bureau or the ratio, not about you as a buyer. The next stop depends on the reason. A near-prime file goes to TD Auto Finance; a non-prime file to Scotia Dealer Advantage or iA Auto Finance; a buyer with no Canadian history to a newcomer-friendly program. None of those lenders see or care about a BMO decision. We present once, to the one that fits, rather than walking the file down the street.

BMO where you live

BMO finances buyers on both sides of the river with the same program. Quebec contracts follow provincial consumer protection rules and are available in French; a car bought in Ottawa and registered in Gatineau needs the SAAQ inspection first, which we arrange. Nothing about the approval changes with the province. In Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador the same program applies; the purchase follows that province's rules, with HST at 14 or 15 percent, a current provincial inspection and registration at the provincial registry, and we handle that paperwork the same way.