Transferring money from the US to Canada with minimal fees?
- Thread starter Mthornt
- Start date
I have used Transferwise, and it was the easiest and cheapest option between bank accounts. Many of the banks and Western Union can charge $30USD or more, whereas Transferwise only charged me about $10 and gave me a much better exchange rate.
If you need to transfer on a regular basis (as in every month, etc.), I would try researching other options such as a bank that may have international accounts available.
If you need to transfer on a regular basis (as in every month, etc.), I would try researching other options such as a bank that may have international accounts available.
Few posts in this discussion might help you.
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/a-few-questions-about-moving-to-canada-from-usa.469337/#post-5718644
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/a-few-questions-about-moving-to-canada-from-usa.469337/#post-5718644
I have TD bank checking account in US and TD CanadaTrust account in Canada. I just put money in my US account and call them to wire money to my Canadian account ( using cross boarding service). The wire transfer is free.
I looked at tons of options, including TD and Scotiabank and services like Transferwise. I used Transferwise a bit and I sent some international wires from my bank in the USA when I was initially figuring some things out, but what I eventually landed on was using RBC.
The way I have things set up now, I can easily move money around without paying any fees at all, and I'm satisfied with my exchange rate (it's always presented to me in the transfer process online and I can check it against any other services before completing the transaction). I have checking and savings accounts with RBC on both sides of the border and moving money between them using the RBC web site, which is super easy and instantaneous. If you find any feedback to the contrary, it might be outdated, they updated their sites very recently and you can do everything by just logging into the Canadian side once you have things linked up (which they'll walk you through, it's easy).
Back in the USA, I added one of my American RBC accounts to my online banking with my American bank, as an "external account" which allows me to drop money into it anytime I want without paying any kind of fee. It generally shows up the same business day, usually within a few hours and then I can use the RBC site to move it over to Canada immediately if desired.
Since we have a lot of family in the USA, visit the USA a lot and still earn income in the USA from certain jobs, this was all really essential to us and needed to work smoothly. Having chatted with folks at all the major Canadian banks I found nothing as well configured and easy to use as the current RBC setup. My initial goal, on personal/ethical grounds, was to stick with credit unions and not use a big bank at all...but this was all just way too smooth and convenient to pass up, especially when so many other immigration related tasks were complex and demanding of attention.
The way I have things set up now, I can easily move money around without paying any fees at all, and I'm satisfied with my exchange rate (it's always presented to me in the transfer process online and I can check it against any other services before completing the transaction). I have checking and savings accounts with RBC on both sides of the border and moving money between them using the RBC web site, which is super easy and instantaneous. If you find any feedback to the contrary, it might be outdated, they updated their sites very recently and you can do everything by just logging into the Canadian side once you have things linked up (which they'll walk you through, it's easy).
Back in the USA, I added one of my American RBC accounts to my online banking with my American bank, as an "external account" which allows me to drop money into it anytime I want without paying any kind of fee. It generally shows up the same business day, usually within a few hours and then I can use the RBC site to move it over to Canada immediately if desired.
Since we have a lot of family in the USA, visit the USA a lot and still earn income in the USA from certain jobs, this was all really essential to us and needed to work smoothly. Having chatted with folks at all the major Canadian banks I found nothing as well configured and easy to use as the current RBC setup. My initial goal, on personal/ethical grounds, was to stick with credit unions and not use a big bank at all...but this was all just way too smooth and convenient to pass up, especially when so many other immigration related tasks were complex and demanding of attention.
We use linked RBC accounts - one for the US and one for Canada. We pay the US account fee since there doesn't seem to be a way around it, but since we move money monthly it ends up being cheaper and faster than wire transfer fees. The CA account fee is waived if you have (& use) a credit card monthly.
When you say RBC fees were not high, did you mean between USD accounts or USD->CAD? When I looked at RBC USD->CAD they were not as good when compared to transferwise... We looked at this because my spouse had an RBC account in US (USD) and RBC in Canada.
Hi threre,
Thanks for sharing. I'm in US now, will probably land in new few months and would like to bring my USD to CAN,
I would like to ask that:
Were you able to open RBC/TD account in the USA before you went to Canada to open these bank account in cad?
Or you had to land in Canada, opened RBC or TD account in CAD and then, open another RBC/TD account in USD in Canada?
I'm using Chase now, was thinking that if i'm able to open a RBC account in USA now, i can transfer my usd to RBC, then when i land i will get a RBC or TD account in Cad and linked both account.
Thanks.
Cheers
Hi there, what we did first was open the CAD account with RBC, from the states, online. They allow you to start the process before you even land which was super helpful. Then when we landed, I finished opening the CAD account at RBC (and got my debit/ATM card, etc) and opened the USD account with them as well. They helped me make sure everything was linked up properly on their web site (you can managed both accounts from one login which is awesome).
Then, I logged into my previous American bank and I added my RBC account in USD as an "external account" of mine using a quick process that most US banks support where they deposit small test amounts of a few cents back and forth to verify your identity (like PayPal and others do). Once that was accomplished, I was able to move money from my previous American bank to my RBC account in USD with no fees from either end, then anything I wanted to move across the border I could do within the RBC web site, again with no fees whatsoever. It was super helpful during our move!
I now have both checking/chequing and savings with RBC in both currencies, and I have a credit card with them for each country. It all works really smoothly and is easy to manage from one web site, which I really appreciate. I believe I'm paying a small fee for the checking account in the USA but the fees for my Canadian accounts are waived for having multiple lines with them. All in all, it's the best possible deal for us with our usage, others' mileage may vary.
Yeah to be clear, that's what we do too. When I said "no" fees I meant moving money around between CAD and USD never costs us a fee. We do pay the $4/month for the USD account with RBC (and nothing for the Canadian ones due to having lots of products with them). The $48/year ends up being a pittance though, because it's a tiny fraction of what we get in cash back on both our CAD and USD credit cards (which you can deposit right into your accounts on the same web site).
One can totally just use a different bank in the USA for checking if desired, as nearly all American banks offer completely free checking (even free paper checks, which isn't a thing as much in Canada) but for us the convenience of having one-stop-shopping and everything managed from one web site is well worth the slight charge...plus the convenience of using those PNC Bank ATM locations all over the USA is hard to beat.
"The $48/year ends up being a pittance though.." - I understand that, and probably RBC ( on Canadian side) provides easy exchange between USD Canadian account and CAD Canadian account, but what exchange rate do they provide? How close their exchange rate to the published Bank of Canada exchange rate on that day? If RBC charge 2% on exchange from USD (US salary) to CAD (living expenses) it could cost ~$150 USD on, let say, $6000 USD exchange monthly vs $38 USD fee if you use third party exchange rate, which could cost you close to 0.5%...
We use RBC crossborder banking, too. We are waiting for PR. We live and work in the US and my pay goes into an RBCUSA acct and then we move to Canadian side. The fee is 2%. It has been super convenient, as we've purchased both a home and several properties in Canada and the Canadian side account has been a godsend. We never move $$ back to the American side of the account. Most recently we got 33% on the dollar.