BMO Physician Mortgage Review (2026): 0% Down to $1M in 49 States, and the Two Footnotes That Decide Whether You Get It

BMO physician mortgage at a glance

Who qualifies

BMO’s footnote lists four degrees: MD, DO, DDS, and DMD. Residents and fellows are eligible, as are newly licensed and practicing doctors and dentists, up to ten years after training.

The list is narrower than most. Podiatrists aren’t on it; Truist, TD Bank, and KeyBank all name the DPM. Veterinarians aren’t either; Huntington takes the DVM. Pharmacists, NPs, PAs, and CRNAs are not mentioned.

One definition is worth a question if you are a dental resident. BMO defines a resident as “a person who has received a medical degree” practicing under supervision. Dentists are eligible once licensed, but the page doesn’t say whether a dental or oral surgery resident counts as a resident under that wording. Ask before you build a timeline around it.

There is no account requirement to qualify. You don’t need to bank with BMO to apply, and the only relationship benefit is the autopay discount below.

The 5- and 10-year rules

Footnote 3 is two sentences long and sets the terms for half the people who read the page. Physicians who have been practicing for 5 to 10 years are limited to 95% financing. Physicians with more than 10 years in practice after residency or fellowship are not eligible for the program at all.

The ten-year cutoff is a hard stop, where Truist’s fifteen-year rule has a wealth-management exception. If you are more than ten years out, BMO will point you to its standard mortgages. For a physician program at that stage, Huntington and KeyBank publish no years-out limit.

BMO’s wording is “practicing for 5–10 years” in one sentence and “in practice post training (residency and/or fellowship)” in the next. The sensible reading is that both clocks start when your last training program ended. If a fellowship, a research year, or time away from clinical work makes your count ambiguous, give the banker your dates and get the tier confirmed in writing.

Down payment tiers and loan limits

These are the same three tiers Truist and TD Bank publish, and a step below Huntington, which goes to $1.75M at 5% down and $2.5M overall. KeyBank’s ceiling is $3.5M. For most first homes the difference is academic. For an attending buying at $2.2 million in a coastal market, BMO’s program runs out.

Unlike Truist, BMO doesn’t publish a separate, lower limit for trainees. As written, a fellow can use any tier. Whether a resident’s salary supports a payment at those sizes is a DTI question, and BMO doesn’t publish its ceiling.

Where it’s available

Footnote 1 says the program is available for primary residences “located in all states except New York.” Of the lenders we have reviewed, only Truist publishes a footprint this wide, and the two lists complement each other: Truist excludes Alaska, Arizona, and Hawaii but lends in New York; BMO is the reverse.

Then footnote 3 adds a second list. These eight are limited to 95% maximum LTV:

That list holds a great deal of American medicine. California and Florida are two of the four states with the most practicing physicians, and Maryland and DC cover Hopkins, NIH, the University of Maryland, and the Washington hospital systems. A resident matching into any of them should read BMO as a 5%-down program from the start. It can still be worth quoting, since 5% down with no mortgage insurance and a fixed rate is a good loan. But if the reason you wanted a physician mortgage was to keep your cash, Truist publishes 100% financing in all eight.

What BMO puts in writing

BMO’s page is brief, but it answers four questions other lenders leave to the phone call.

• •Fixed or adjustable. “All standard fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgage products are available.” Huntington publishes only ARM terms, and Truist doesn’t say. If you want a 30-year fixed on a physician loan, BMO and TD are the two that put it on the page.
• •Closing before you start. Your employment start date can fall within 90 days after closing, with evidence of the date. That covers the usual case: match in March, close in May, start July 1. No income history is required; BMO asks for proof of future income, such as a residency or employment contract.
• •Property types. One- to two-unit homes, single family, condominiums, and townhomes. Condos are where many physician programs quietly tighten, so having them named helps. The two-unit line matters to a resident considering a duplex: live in one side, rent the other. BMO doesn’t say whether the 100% tier applies to a condo or a two-unit, so ask.
• •Refinancing. Rate/term refinances are in. Cash-out isn’t mentioned, and “rate/term” is specific enough that you should assume it’s excluded. KeyBank is the lender we’ve reviewed that names cash-out.

Second homes and investment properties are excluded, as they are in every physician program on this site.

The autopay discount

BMO takes 0.125% off the rate if you authorize it, at origination, to pull the monthly payment from a BMO consumer checking account. There is no balance requirement on the page. On an $800,000 loan near 7%, an eighth of a point is about $65 a month, or roughly $780 a year.

Compare that with Truist’s discount, which starts at 0.25 points but requires $100,000 held at the bank. BMO’s is smaller and nearly free: open a checking account, set up the debit before closing, and it’s yours. The one condition to watch is timing. The authorization has to happen at origination, so open the account when you apply, not the week you close. Check the account’s monthly fee and how to waive it, too; a $15 fee would eat a fifth of the savings.

What BMO doesn’t publish, and what to ask

• •Student-loan treatment. The page promises “flexible debt-to-income underwriting guidelines” for borrowers with student debt and stops there. Ask: “If my loans are deferred, are they left out of DTI? If I’m on an income-driven plan, do you use my actual payment?” Truist answers both in its disclosures.
• •DTI ceiling. Not published. Ask: “What is the maximum DTI on the physician program?” Huntington publishes 50%.
• •Which tier applies to condos and two-unit homes. The property types are listed; the financing limits for each aren’t. Ask: “Is 100% available on a condo? On a duplex?”
• •How the years are counted. Ask: “I finished training in [month, year]. Which tier am I in, and on what date does that change?”
• •Credit score, reserves, seller contributions, prepayment, and non-citizen eligibility. None are stated. If you are on an H-1B or J-1 visa, raise it on the first call; policies on this vary by lender and nothing on BMO’s page addresses it.

Rates

BMO doesn’t post rates for the physician program; it is priced per borrower, like every physician loan on this site. The benchmark is public. Freddie Mac’s national average for a 30-year fixed conventional mortgage is 6.95% for the week of September 17, 2026. Physician loans typically quote 0.125 to 0.5 points above that in exchange for the low down payment and no mortgage insurance. BMO’s autopay discount takes an eighth of that back.

Because BMO offers both fixed and adjustable products, ask for both quotes. A 7- or 10-year ARM is often priced well under the 30-year fixed, and a resident who expects to move for fellowship or a first attending job in four years may never see the adjustment. Where our benchmark comes from: where our rates come from. Current numbers and a ten-year chart: mortgage rates.

Run BMO’s 0% tier against a conventional loan

The calculator starts from this week’s Freddie Mac average and assumes the physician loan is 0% down with no mortgage insurance, which is BMO’s first tier up to $1M for trainees and doctors in their first five years. If you are five to ten years in, or buying in one of the eight capped states, set the physician side to 5% down. The comparison then turns on mortgage insurance: a conventional loan at 5% down carries it, and BMO’s doesn’t.

Strengths and drawbacks

Strengths

• •Available in every state but New York, with no account required to qualify.
• •Fixed and adjustable rates both offered, in writing.
• •A 90-day window between closing and your start date, and no income history required.
• •Condos, townhomes, and two-unit homes named as eligible.
• •A 0.125% discount that costs a checking account, not a six-figure balance.
• •No separate, lower loan limit published for residents and fellows.

Drawbacks

• •0% down ends after five years of practice, and eligibility ends after ten. Both are the tightest we have reviewed.
• •No 0% down in CA, DC, FL, HI, ID, MD, NV, RI, and no program in New York.
• •Student-loan treatment and the DTI ceiling aren’t published.
• •Four degrees only: no podiatrists, veterinarians, or advanced practice providers.
• •A $2M ceiling and no cash-out refinance.

Who it’s for, and who should keep looking

• •Residents and fellows buying outside New York and the eight capped states: yes. All three tiers are open to you, which covers the Midwest, Texas, most of the Southeast, and the Pacific Northwest.
• •New attendings in their first five years who want a 30-year fixed: yes. BMO and TD publish one; BMO lends in far more states.
• •Matched and closing before July 1: yes, inside the 90-day window.
• •Buying a condo, townhome, or duplex: worth the call, since BMO names all three. Confirm the financing limit for the property type.
• •Buying in California, Florida, Maryland, DC, or the other capped states and wanting 0% down: not here. Quote Truist.
• •Buying in New York: TD Bank, KeyBank, and Truist all lend there.
• •More than ten years out, or buying above $2M: Huntington or KeyBank.
• •Podiatrists and veterinarians: not listed. DPMs should quote Truist, TD, or KeyBank; DVMs, Huntington.

How to apply, and what to have ready

• 1.Check the two lists first. Is the property in New York or one of the eight capped states? Are you past five years in practice, or ten? Those answers set your tier before anyone pulls your credit.
• 2.Call 1-888-482-3781. BMO’s page routes the program through its mortgage bankers, Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central. Ask for someone who handles the Physicians’ Mortgage Program, and ask the questions in the section above on that call.
• 3.Open the checking account when you apply if you want the 0.125% discount. The autopay authorization is taken at origination.
• 4.Gather the file: signed residency, fellowship, or employment contract showing start date and salary; license or training verification; tax returns if you have them; bank statements; and your student-loan servicer statement showing status and monthly payment. If your start date is after closing, the contract is the evidence BMO requires.
• 5.Get a second written quote the same week. Ask BMO for both a fixed and an ARM quote, and compare rate, points, and total closing costs.

Deciding whether a physician loan is right at all: read the physician mortgage guide.

Alternatives to quote alongside BMO

• •Truist: the same three tiers, 0% down for ten years after training instead of five, student-loan treatment in writing, and no state caps. Not available in Alaska, Arizona, or Hawaii, and it doesn’t say whether a fixed rate is offered.
• •Huntington Bank: higher limits ($1.75M at 5% down, $2.5M overall), no published years-out rule, a 50% DTI ceiling in writing, and veterinarians eligible. Only ARM terms published, and no state list.
• •TD Bank: the same tiers with a fixed rate in writing, podiatrists and dental residents named, and New York covered. Limited to 16 East Coast states and requires a TD checking account.
• •KeyBank: a $3.5M ceiling, cash-out refinancing, and no years-out limit for established attendings. Its down-payment tiers aren’t published.
• •Flagstar Bank: lends in New York with no state caps on 0% down, and names podiatrists, veterinarians, NPs, PAs, and pharmacists. ARM-only, to $1.5M.
• •Bank of America: open to physicians more than ten years out, with optometrists, podiatrists, and veterinarians eligible. No 0% tier, and 4 to 6 months of reserves required.

We are reviewing each major physician lender against its own published terms. As each review publishes it is linked here and from the lender comparison.

Sources

• •BMO Physicians’ Mortgage Program (program page and footnotes)

Read September 20, 2026. Terms quoted are from the program page and footnotes 1 through 6. Where this review says “not published,” the page contains no statement on the point.