First Time Traveling Through Canada.
We know the rules for travel in Canada the biggest one being fire arms...... Plus we have no pets We are starting in the Northwest of the USA and going along the boarder (in the US) and crossing in...
Forum Discussion
x96mnn wrote:
99% of the locations, other then automated will take US dollars. Your issue will be they will exchange at $1 for $1. Keep an eye out for gas stations, they tend to offer a better exchange rate to encourage you to buy from them.
I can't see why anyone would be reluctant to get Canadian currency and use it while traveling. The current exchange rate is $1 USD = $1.31 CAD and IMO it is crazy not to take full advantage of it.
Yesterday I used my Wells Fargo VISA/debit card at a Canadian ATM and received $600 CAD for $462 US. That's an exchange rate of 1.298. Wells charges me $5 for use of a non-US ATM. So on that transaction I paid less than 1% service charge. You're never going to get that kind of rate by paying a gas station in US dollars.
For the benefit of first-time travelers to Canada it is worth noting that your US debit cards won't work as debit cards at retail stores but they will work fine as VISA or MasterCard cards. Since using a debit card as VISA or MC still results in the money being taken out of your account it doesn't have any downside for you. However, since you're not using it as a debit card you can't get cash back. That's why we go to bank ATMs to do "bulk exchanges".
As full-timers who spend quite a few summers in Canada we actually maintain a Canadian bank account with debit card. It enables us to make totally "transaction fee free" purchases throughout Canada. The bank we're using (ScotiaBank) offers free checking to seniors so it doesn't cost us anything to maintain the account.
