Paying US bills from Canada?

[CDNPR2014]

Hello,

Does anyone have experience with and knows of a reliable way to pay monthly US bills from Canada with minimal fees? I am having serious issues paying some US bills and i've tried multiple ways.

I have a "borderless" account from TD Bank and it's so frustrating to use and a joke. It takes at least 2 weeks for a bill to be paid because when I request the bill to be paid, TD will issue a US check and mail it to the company. Besides the ridiculous length of time it takes to pay a bill through this system, it is also not paying bills correctly. I have 2 student loans at the same company, and no matter what i do, it will only pay one of the accounts which is resulting in missed payments on the 2nd account.

I have also recently tried using PayPal to transfer money between canadian and us bank accounts. This is not working because PayPal doesn't seem to like the amount i'm transferring and won't authorize payments from my bank account, it will only prompt me to pay through a credit card, which defeats the purpose of my funds transfer. Calling Paypal basically said that's how it is and i can't change it. I plan to try again with this one in case the issue is related to recently signing up for a canadian account or because the amount transferred is too high compared to my bank balance.

The bank of america app on my old us phone won't recognize Canadian checks for deposit, so that is out too.

This month I have resorted to writing a check and mailing it myself, hoping my bank doesn't charge me an arm and a leg in fees.

Anyone have better luck than me with this? I really don't want to have to drive to the states just to deposit money in my us bank account every month. Even though i'm relatively close, it will be a big pain in the you know what to have to do that.

 

[mrbeachman]

You have the wrong account with TD.

What you need it TD Convenience Checking US based bank account which can be opened in Canada over the phone or online.

You will need a minimum of $US 100 balance to avoid monthly fees and from there you can pay all your US bills online.

I have this account myself. Talk to your TD branch.

 

[CDNPR2014]

You have the wrong account with TD.

What you need it TD Convenience Checking US based bank account which can be opened in Canada over the phone or online.

You will need a minimum of $US 100 balance to avoid monthly fees and from there you can pay all your US bills online.

I have this account myself. Talk to your TD branch.

ok, so it's NOT the "borderless account"? I can pay us bills "online" from the borderless account, but it takes way too long and not reliable. How long does it take for payments to go through with the Convenience Checking account? Also, will i be able to deposit money IN Canada?

Thanks for your input!

 

[mrbeachman]

No, it's not the borderless account. It's a real US bank account.

I don't use it to pay bills, but to receive deposits, however, since this is a us bank it should't take more than 1-2 business days.

I am not sure what you mean if you will be able to deposit money in Canada? Are you talking about US issued checks or Canadian?

You can deposit money into your existing (Canadian) TD bank account or borderless account then transfer money to your TD US checking account which can all be done online. Transfer fees are fully refundable.

 

[mrbeachman]

BTW, this is the account you need to open

tdbank.com

click choose your account and then click I am Canadian Resident.

 

[CDNPR2014]

the td account i have i can't tranfer between us and canada accounts (it's really a stupidly frustrating account). when you say receive deposits, are you receiving a us transfer into your canadian account or vise versa? becausethat would be helpful.

the money i have to pay bills is in my canadian account since i live here now. i am unable to transfer it to my us account or pay us bills through it. right now i have to withdraw the money from my canadian account (not td), exchange it, deposit into td, then go online and initiate a bill payment. it then takes 2 weeks for a check to be sent and cleared. there has to be an easier way!

 

[mrbeachman]

What do you mean you can't transfer? I used to have a borderless account and you can definitely transfer the money. There is even a transfer option in your account.

Anyway, get a TD account. You can transfer money from Canada to USA via visa direct (the number on US debit card). The fees for this will be refundable every time you use it.

 

[Aquakitty]

the td account i have i can't tranfer between us and canada accounts (it's really a stupidly frustrating account). when you say receive deposits, are you receiving a us transfer into your canadian account or vise versa? becausethat would be helpful.

the money i have to pay bills is in my canadian account since i live here now. i am unable to transfer it to my us account or pay us bills through it. right now i have to withdraw the money from my canadian account (not td), exchange it, deposit into td, then go online and initiate a bill payment. it then takes 2 weeks for a check to be sent and cleared. there has to be an easier way!

I am pretty sure there is a way to xfer money from TD accounts, but I haven't used TD in years so I can't remember what we did. Royal bank also has some kind of international account options.

Paypal cracked down on the ability to use a US account with Canadian info, maybe that is the problem. You can however have a Canadian and US account, you can even use your spouse's name on the US account to make it legit. Then you shouldn't have issues transferring. Paypal only allows you to use a CC or bank account one time per account so make sure you remove the ones you want on the other account.

Another way to do it, is to simply send an international wire transfer from your Canadian account to your US account. You can do that online at most major banks. The down side is the fee is quite high, $15-30.

 

[mrbeachman]

I am pretty sure there is a way to xfer money from TD accounts, but I haven't used TD in years so I can't remember what we did. Royal bank also has some kind of international account options.

Paypal cracked down on the ability to use a US account with Canadian info, maybe that is the problem. You can however have a Canadian and US account, you can even use your spouse's name on the US account to make it legit. Then you shouldn't have issues transferring. Paypal only allows you to use a CC or bank account one time per account so make sure you remove the ones you want on the other account.

Another way to do it, is to simply send an international wire transfer from your Canadian account to your US account. You can do that online at most major banks. The down side is the fee is quite high, $15-30.

No need to do all this if the poster simply opens a US TD based account. Transfers are refundable and show it within 2 hours.

PayPal is risky. They treat you like a scammer and can freeze your account any time. Paypal is not a bank hence quite risky and arrogant since they don't have to abide by any rules whatsoever.

 

[scylla]

You have the wrong account with TD.

What you need it TD Convenience Checking US based bank account which can be opened in Canada over the phone or online.

You will need a minimum of $US 100 balance to avoid monthly fees and from there you can pay all your US bills online.

I have this account myself. Talk to your TD branch.

Agreed. Borderless is not for paying US bills from Canada. It's for holding US funds in Canada. You need a US-based bank account.

 

[CDNPR2014]

Agreed. Borderless is not for paying US bills from Canada. It's for holding US funds in Canada. You need a US-based bank account.

I can pay my US bills online from my borderless account. it was a new feature last summer, so that is why i signed up for it. the issue is that when I initiate the payment, all i am doing is asking TD to mail a check to the bill payee. This takes a substantially long time and my payments keep getting messed up.

What do you mean you can't transfer? I used to have a borderless account and you can definitely transfer the money. There is even a transfer option in your account.

Anyway, get a TD account. You can transfer money from Canada to USA via visa direct (the number on US debit card). The fees for this will be refundable every time you use it.

the borderless plan i have is a joke. i can't use atms, i can't go into us banks and get money out. basically the only thing I can do is go to a canadian teller to deposit/withdraw money and pay us bills online. it's not a "real" US account (as apparent from the CDN routing and banking info), it seems just to be a way to deposit us money while in canada.

i have a canadian savings account with TD, and i think i can transfer to it, but it doesn't help what i need it for (plus td's exchange rate is ridiculous, so i exchange my money somewhere else and deposit it at the teller). i need a US account I can transfer money to from Canada that i can pay bills from instantly like every other online banking account allows, so i will try this other account you suggest. none of this wait 2+ weeks for your payment to clear BS.

I plan to check with TD to see if they can cut US checks instantly at the teller for payment (Which seems to be the easiest way to do it - and at least i'd be more aware of the time it takes to clear) and if not, then try to open another US account. If that doesn't work, i'm taking my business to RBC which seems to have US account capabilities.

 

[mrbeachman]

The RBC account is the same account TD offers. BMO also offers a US account that you can open from Canada.

I find TD the easiest.

 

[Alurra71]

I personally used RBC to pay all my US based bills. No minimum amount to keep in the account and the monthly service fee was $2.95. It was easy to transfer money from my RBC checking account here in Canada and drop money directly into the US based account. I was, of course, subject to the exchange rate. I still have the account, however, no longer need to use it as 3 years in and I've paid all my existing debt in the US.

I don't know how easy TD or BMO are to use, as I've been with RBC since I came here in 2012.

There are ways, just find the one that works the best for you.

 

[Caribou]

I just do paypal.
If you register your US paypal account as "seller" account like ebay seller and stuff, you don't have restrictions on amount you can withdraw.
Unless I have US cash and put them in my US bank physically, that has been the cheapest.

 

[mrbeachman]

I just do paypal.
If you register your US paypal account as "seller" account like ebay seller and stuff, you don't have restrictions on amount you can withdraw.
Unless I have US cash and put them in my US bank physically, that has been the cheapest.

And how is he going to pay bills with Paypal?