Hey malican, I just got off the phone with RBL, they said no. RBC said no. Trying to get on to Scotia, but they had me on hold too long. I will try again and let you know what they've said.
Yup... like I said we are pretty screwed. Do you have an alternative? The only thing I can think of is going the way I am with the letter. Other than that RBC is giving out like 200 to 500 at a time. But that would require you going there frequently and queueing up.
The banks actually advised that you can leave a letter of instruction with them that would allow them to wire funds (as the currency become available) to your CAD account. Fortunately for me, my mother-in-law would be in Trinidad. So my intention is to open a joint account with her and then when I get to Canada after I've shown my proof of funds to the 'landing' agents, I would transfer the funds (via online banking to the joint account). My mother-in-law would then leave an instruction with the bank to have the money wired in parts (as the currency becomes available) to the Canadian account. Therefore on a daily basis, I average about $200 to $500CAD would be wired across.
I considered that too but that wouldn't work for me as i would have to pay a wire transfer fee everytime. And then depending on how much i want to get out that will take a very long time as 200 to 500 a day will take a while and be costly. Also depending on what bank I chose the currency will definitely not be available on a daily basis. RBC is the only once that sounds promising but even they have a daily limit for cash, drafts and wire transfers. Definitely not RBL, Scotia or FCB. I've explored all the possible options and ran out of ideas! Worst possible... use my CC for everything once I can.
The only way CC can work for me is if I am able to withdraw all funds from my CC in a day (which I doubt can happen). If this is possible, I can use online banking to put the money back on to the CC after every withdrawal, and keep withdrawing everyday until I get all my funds across. That option would be a long and tedious one.
For me everytime there is a CC withdrawal a ridiculous amount of interest is charged so wouldnt advise that. But what about paying for all bills and purchases with your TT CC and then transferring the funds from your TT bank account to pay for it (granting both your CC and bank account is with the same bank). But for apartment rental and car purchase this option may not work depending on payment type available. For most other things you should be able to pay... day to day expenses, transportation, clothes, food, shopping etc.
Congratulations and thank you for the detailed timeline... I did indicate I will do one as well but quite swamped right now. Hopefully soon! I think we are getting a better understanding of POS VO now.
