I thought that I would provide the web link below to an item on CBC news about getting better conversion rates when buying US$ than you get from your local bank.Apparently Knightsbridge charges 50 basis points (0.5%) to do the conversion compared to the bank's 250 to 300 BP (2.5% to 3%).I don't know what the Canadian snowbird association's rates are.web link

That's good to know. I also use my Amazon.ca VISA card almost exclusively in the U.S. because it is about the only card that does not add the 2.5% to 3.0% on to foreign exchange. Even if you have a premium card like a TD Infinite card for example, they still charge that extra percentage. It usually does not show as a separate fee, it is buried in their exchange rate, but it is there.

Not to sure how it calculates but we use Accu-rate.Works out to 1.3%http://www.accu-rate.ca/rates.php?currency=CAD&to=USD

Don't use a Canadian credit card at all in the U.S. Use a U.S credit card like Visa or MasterCard issued from a Canadian bank and have a U.S. account set up in your Canadian band. The card will automatically pay you statement every month if you wish from your US account so there's no extra 2-2.5% surcharge.If you are going to the same place each year, then maybe it pays to open a local US account in an American bank.The currency news has not been encouraging in the last few days. Some economists are saying the exchange could go to .70 by spring 2016 which is 42.8%. There was one projection saying in the next 5 years the exchange could hit a low of .55 or 81%!Who knows.Toban

toban wrote:Don't use a Canadian credit card at all in the U.S. Use a U.S credit card like Visa or MasterCard issued from a Canadian bank and have a U.S. account set up in your Canadian band. The card will automatically pay you statement every month if you wish from your US account so there's no extra 2-2.5% surcharge.If you are going to the same place each year, then maybe it pays to open a local US account in an American bank.The currency news has not been encouraging in the last few days. Some economists are saying the exchange could go to .70 by spring 2016 which is 42.8%. There was one projection saying in the next 5 years the exchange could hit a low of .55 or 81%!Who knows.TobanToban, we use a US$ Canadian CC as well, the only fly in the ointment is the conversion to get the US$ at the best rate.I'm too lazy to check to see the comparison between the VISA international conversion rate that the Amazon VISA card uses and the bank rate (before the 2.5% add). I wonder if VISA hides some "bump" in that rate. I'll have to do some more digging!

This years conversion equates to take a year to stay home.

Currency conversion for Canadians | Good Sam Community

15 Replies

Tequila
Explorer
Oct 05, 2015
I just opend a Cnadian Forex account, much better rates if you have US accoutn to deposit into. The Canadian dollar has been rising over the last 2 days.
toban
Explorer
Oct 05, 2015
Now Chris, be nice. You know there are no Canadians who would ever think of doing this at any cost!

See you in January.

Toban
Me_Again
Explorer III
Oct 04, 2015
TJ 1975 wrote:
If the dollar drops that low, we won't be able to afford to stay in Canada either. Then what???

Statehood, bring 9 + 3 territories. Chris
ramsaymike
Explorer
Oct 03, 2015
Lots of different approaches but I think it is impossible to beat the Amazon VISA card for simplicity and performance (and a 1% discount). Also, for those looking at a longer term solution, the Canadian government will deposit CPP/OAS cheques directly to a US account at what appears to be a no markup rate. This is the approach we use and it works very well.
gordfromborder
Explorer
Sep 27, 2015
I guess I'll wade in with our method. Keep in mind this has evolved over a few years so for us it hasn't been as complicated as it seems when I write this out. ( also my wife and I are kind of frugal as we retired at 55 and 53 respectively w/ o pensions.)

First we have a CIBC U.S. Chequing acount. All our U.S. Dividend stocks get deposited to this account. Unfortunately we didn't buy more Johnson and Johnson and other stocks when the C$ was at par.......sighhhhh.
Secondly, we opened a trading account with Canadian Forex. They are a currency trader, dealing in pretty much all free world currencies. When we have some extra C$ and we think the dollar exchange rate has bumped up a bit, we go on line to Forex, get a quote on buying US $, and if we like it, book the trade.

Our CIBC US$ and CIBC C$ account are linked to Frorex. They don't have a store front where you can get actual currency, it is strictly inter bank transfers. They take the C$ from our CIBC C$ account and deposit the converted amount to the US$ account. The transaction takes about four to five days.

At $5000C, they charge about 1% plus your bank may ding you $15.00. At $10,000C,
the charge is about 0.5% plus the $15.00. The rate they charge is added to the official Bank of Canada spot rate.

For a Credit card for US purchases, we have a BMO U.S. MasterCard that is linked to our CIBC US account for monthly auto payment. This credit card has a $35 annual fee, but is reimbursed once you have $1500 in purchases......like I said we are frugal.....and survived the 2008 2009 market melt down!

Hope this all makes sense, and it works really well for us.

Gord
TJ_1975
Explorer
Sep 25, 2015
If the dollar drops that low, we won't be able to afford to stay in Canada either. Then what???
TJ_1975
Explorer
Sep 25, 2015
toban wrote:
Don't use a Canadian credit card at all in the U.S. Use a U.S credit card like Visa or MasterCard issued from a Canadian bank and have a U.S. account set up in your Canadian band. The card will automatically pay you statement every month if you wish from your US account so there's no extra 2-2.5% surcharge.

If you are going to the same place each year, then maybe it pays to open a local US account in an American bank.

The currency news has not been encouraging in the last few days. Some economists are saying the exchange could go to .70 by spring 2016 which is 42.8%. There was one projection saying in the next 5 years the exchange could hit a low of .55 or 81%!
Who knows.

Toban
marieb
Explorer
Sep 24, 2015
What we have done in the past if we have to use a Canadian credit card,we use a credit card with a cash back of some sort. Credit cards usually give the best rate of the day.
One year we used an American Express that gave us a Costco rebate.When I used the rebate I felt the two percent rebate is almost what AE charged me for using it in the US
63-Coupe
Explorer
Sep 22, 2015
toban wrote:
Don't use a Canadian credit card at all in the U.S. Use a U.S credit card like Visa or MasterCard issued from a Canadian bank and have a U.S. account set up in your Canadian band. The card will automatically pay you statement every month if you wish from your US account so there's no extra 2-2.5% surcharge.

If you are going to the same place each year, then maybe it pays to open a local US account in an American bank.

The currency news has not been encouraging in the last few days. Some economists are saying the exchange could go to .70 by spring 2016 which is 42.8%. There was one projection saying in the next 5 years the exchange could hit a low of .55 or 81%!
Who knows.

Toban

I just went and talked to my local TD branch. If I had a U.S. account and deposited Canadian money into it today they would use their going rate of the moment which is 1.3620. That is the same rate as I would pay to get U.S. cash over the counter or use their Canadian TD VISA card. They said the rate would be the same no matter what method I used to exchange the currency and at some point I would pay the 1.3620. When I got home I called Amazon.ca VISA (J.D. Chase) and asked what their rate of the moment was, and it was 1.3266. Essentially TD, and I assume all the other big institutions, hide the extra percentage within the rate and just call it their rate of the day. Since my sources of income are exclusively Canadian, at some point that money has to be converted to U.S. dollars.

I was told a year or so ago that the institutions do not set the exchange rate for VISA cards. VISA sets the exchange rate for all transactions at all institutions then the banks add their own hidden charges into the rate. Amazon and a couple of others that I think may have been mentioned already do not add anything to VISA's set rate. Until I find something better I am going to continue to use my Amazon VISA in the U.S. at the lower rate. Two and a half to three percent doesn't sound like much initially but when you are spending several thouasnds it add up quickly.
Tequila
Explorer
Sep 21, 2015
toban wrote:
Don't use a Canadian credit card at all in the U.S. Use a U.S credit card like Visa or MasterCard issued from a Canadian bank and have a U.S. account set up in your Canadian band. The card will automatically pay you statement every month if you wish from your US account so there's no extra 2-2.5% surcharge.

If you are going to the same place each year, then maybe it pays to open a local US account in an American bank.

The currency news has not been encouraging in the last few days. Some economists are saying the exchange could go to .70 by spring 2016 which is 42.8%. There was one projection saying in the next 5 years the exchange could hit a low of .55 or 81%!
Who knows.

Toban

And the bank of Commerce says it will be going up. Nobody can predict these things. IT depend son if the IMF adds china as a world reserve currency next month, the price of oil, all sorts of things.