Currency exchange for Canadian Snowbirds

[ramsaymike]

As a Canadian wintering in Texas, converting $CAN to $US is an ongoing issue. It is just very difficult to escape the markup premium all financial institutions put on currency exchanges. We have tried many approaches but now use what I think is the best available. All purchases that can be put on a credit card go on the Amazon.ca VISA. This card offers conversions at no markup so you end up paying based on the actual exchange rate (or very close to it) in $CAN. We have used this for a couple of years and it works very well. For cash, we use a direct deposit of a CPP (Canada Pension Plan) into our US bank. The Canadian government does this at what appears to be very close to the current exchange rate and at no charge at either end. I believe this is available for any government program such as the OAS. Always interested in other approaches...

[quartzster]

I have a US account at my bank the TD bank. I convert and deposit money into that account whenever. All I am paying is current conversion rate plus a small discount as I am doing it in the bank.

I have a US Visa card from the TD bank, and use my Texas Mobile Home address for the card. That way no problems at gas pumps for zip code entry. I use that card for virtually everything. So no conversion or extra fees.

If for some reason I don't have enough US dollars to cover the monthly bill they will immediately draw money out of my regular Cdn savings account, so I don't have to worry about interest charges on the Visa. I realize I am then subject to conversion and roughly 2 percent markup, but that rarely if ever happens.

Works for me.