Compilation of US$ Bank Accounts Available for Canadians at Canadian Banks.
I've already written a guide here on getting a US-based US Bank Account as a Canadian. These have to be opened in-branch at a US Bank Branch. RBC, through its Centura operations can do it through a Canadian Branch (I think), but they're kind of expensive.
Also, I've written a guide on the best US$ Credit Card for Canadians here. It has no annual fees and seems to be the only decent card available to Canadians that doesn't have one, plus it has 0.5% cash back, a nice bonus. This card can be paid at any BMO Branch in US$ Cash with no fees even if you don't have any other BMO Accounts.
When it does come for you to convert money from one currency to another, take a look at my comparison of the currency exchange commissions/spreads of different Canadian banks, they can vary substantially, and you're sometimes better off going through a reputable broker.
This guide is for Canadians looking for a low-volume US$ Account. If a bank has a free US$ Chequing account, I've put that one in, if not, I included their cheapest US$ Chequing account. Depending on your needs, an account with a monthly fee may be better than a free "pay-as-you-go" one, kind of like cell phone plans.
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Note that the fees are usually for writing cheques, making debits in branch or at ATMs or for bill payments. Depositing US$ cheques/cash is usually without charge.
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|
Bank Name & Phone # Link |
Account Name |
Monthly Fee (US$) |
Included Transactions/Per Transaction Cost |
|
RBC Royal Bank |
$2 |
6 Included |
|
| RBC Royal Bank |
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RBC US High Interest eSavings |
$0 |
1/Month, Pays 0.35% Interest as of Mar/09 - No Check Privileges |
|
US Dollar Daily Interest Chequing |
$0 |
$1 Each, waived with $1000 balance |
|
|
CIBC |
CIBC US$ Personal Account |
$0 |
$0.75 |
|
US$ Daily Interest Account |
$1 |
Monthly Fee waived with min balance of $200. Debits $0.60 each after 2 (first 2 are free) |
|
|
Practical Plan |
$4 |
10 Included. Fees waived with $1500 balance |
|
| ING Direct |
ING US$ Investment Savings Account |
$0 |
No charges. No teller access (online only). Interest: 0.75% Jul/09. |
| National Bank of Canada | Progress Account in US$ | $0 | $1.25/withdrawal. Waived with $2500 balance. |
With BMO/Bank of Montreal, you're allowed to have multiple accounts under one banking plan (ie: one monthly fee), so you might be able to do it all for free if you have other accounts there, or are willing to move them there.
CIBC gives those over 60 two free transactions under the no-monthly fee plan.
Royal Bank and other banks might make you go through a pointless form to satisfy US government requirements.
PLEASE keep in mind that US$ Deposits at Canadian Financial Institutions are NOT CDIC insured. If the bank goes kaput, you may very well lose all of your US$.
Scotia Bank - Excessive Transfer Rates between CDN / USD
Can anyone explain the 4% surcharge at Scotia
Trying to xfer online from Scotia Power Savings (CDN) to USD Savings.
Today's exchange rate... 1 CAD = 0.9810 USD (TDWH - dec 4, 2:30pm est)
Scotia Online transfer rate = 1.062
Canadian Banks
Dan, I think you should incluse the TD Borderfree Account on your site as well, as it only costs $4.95 for unlimited transactions.
In addition CIBC is enhancing there account so you can exchange money online between US and Canadian accounts. They also have a lot of ATM's that allow USD withdrawals, while TD does not.
I wonder if anyone will ever offer US debit and ATM access on an Canadian based account, that would really improve things.
I find you website informative and it gave me some ideas for a website that I am working on.
Regards,
Bruce
Working in Vietnam, need to convert USD to CAD
I am a Canadian working in Vietnam and am paid in local currency, Vietnam dong (VND). I used to have no problem transferring money back to Canada in CAD but in the last few months the CAD/VND exchange rate has gotten out of control and I'm losing too much money transferring CAD dollars. The USD/VND exchange rate is much more favorable but transferring USD into my CAD account results in bank fees etc.
My question is this: what is the best way to get USD back home to CAD? By depositing them in a USD account at a Canadian financial institution? (I don't know how to open such an account from overseas) Or transferring USD into my CAD account and pay the associated fees. Any guidance is welcome! Thank you!
Banking in Canada
I do a little work annually in Canada and I am paid through different Canadian Banks. There is a significant delay when depositing the checks in the U.S. and wait for clearance. As a U.S. citizen or company I would like to open an account in Canada, deposit the checks in a Canadian bank and make assorted payments for materials by the same bank in Canadian money.
Anu thoughts and recommendations on a Canadian bank that may facilitate this effort.
Thank you
Dennis
Canadian Banking for Americans
If you can make a physical appearance (ie: visit an actual branch in Canada), I'm sure any of the "Big 5" Canadian banks could set up an account for you. I'm a bit partial to TD-Canada Trust, but they all compete quite well on customer service.
I'd just call a convenient branch of a bank that has the best banking plan. Let them know that you're an American and can visit the branch. The banks to look at are: Toronto Dominion, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Royal Bank of Canada. Don't let the names fool you, these are all national banks. HSBC has branches in some areas, as does National Bank of Canada.
Of course, they compete so greatly on customer service because they hardly compete on price. Expect to pay a monthly account fee unless you keep your balance sufficiently high enough. Rewards/cash-back credit cards are nowhere near those offered in the US.
Decent credit unions may be an option, especially if you're in BC or Quebec (Coast Capital, VanCity and Desjardins).
Any other questions? Leave another comment!
U.S. Dollar Canadian Bank Credit Cards
Thanks for this Blog. I have had a CIBC US dollar visa card for about 8 years now. My wife and myself spend February and March in Oxnard Ca. each year and I use the card to buy a number of things over the internet from the US. My biggest frustration is that I can not view purchases on CIBC personal banking site nor can I pay over the internet from my CIBC US dollar account. When I set this up I was assured it would only be a year or two before I would be able to do the above.. Do any Canadian Banks with US dollar credit cards have these features available on the internet?
I had US accounts w/ TD and
I had US accounts w/ TD and BMO, but never knew that RBC was the only one that is a US-chartered bank.
Time to open up an RBC account (and possibly close the TD/BMO accounts)
Coast Capital Savings
If you're in BC you can get a decent USD account at Coast Capital with good rates. You can use PayLine for currency exchanges in and out of the account to either send money abroad or between your own accounts for currency trading.
Hello, Thank you for the
Hello,
Thank you for the information.
BMO closed my USD account and returned my funds on deposit for no apparent reason.
Is there any reason why the accounts you listed above would not be open to Americans as well as Canadians?
THank you
US Citizens/residents should
US Citizens/residents should have no difficulty opening up one of these accounts, as long as they appear in person at one of the Canadian branches and bring appropriate ID.
Credit Unions offering US Clearing
Hi
I have a US Dollar Chequing through my local credit union 1stchoicesavings.ca . They offer a US Dollar Account and my cheques clear through the states via Bank of America. I was able to hook it up to Paypal as a US Bank Account (I put the financial institution as Bank of America on Paypal). I'm wondering because many Credit Unions run similarly, that (at least all Credit Unions in Alberta) credit unions offering US Dollar Chequing have clearing in the US.
BTW, I use my account for investing in direct stock purchase plans for US companies.
BMO Changing US Checking Accounts
I had the same problem as Lloyd's regarding BMO's announcement to cease clearing $US cheques through their NYC branch. When I initially contacted BMO about this, they blamed their decisions on some changes in US regulations, which I did not beleive. I then contacted a more senior bank staff, and this is the response I got (i.e. it had clearly nothing to do with americans changing the rules -- it was a decision by BMO in order to reduce costs).
" Thank you for contacting BMO Bank of Montreal. This is Alena and I appreciate the opportunity to respond.
I regret to read that your previous inquiry was not answered to your satisfaction.
With regard to your inquiry I can advise that BMO Financial Group has made the decision, for various operational reasons, to no longer offer ABA (American Bankers Association) MICR encoded or par-crossing cheques. To confirm, this change was not dictated by American regulations.
New and existing customers will no longer be able to write ABA MICR encoded cheques on their USD accounts as of April 30, 2009. They will also be asked to retrieve any outstanding post-dated cheques and replace them with alternative forms of payment by April 30, 2009, to avoid having them returned unpaid.
There are a number of alternatives available for these customers to continue to meet their USD payment needs including U.S. MasterCard, USD cheques that clear through the Canadian payment system operated by the Canadian Payments Association (CPA) or chequing accounts and Global Treasury Management solutions at Harris Bank.
For many customers, CPA MICR encoded cheques will continue to fully meet their U.S. payment needs. Other customers with more frequent or time sensitive USD payment needs may require a combination of solutions. Customers, who use their USD cheques to make payments in the U.S., should be aware that CPA MICR encoded cheques do not clear through the U.S. Federal Reserve clearing system, but clear instead through the Canadian clearing system. This means that when presented at a financial institution in the U.S. the cheque may be rejected, or sent back to Canada for collection. If sent back to Canada for collection it can take up to four to six weeks for the payee to receive credit for the funds. Service charges for this service may also apply.
In situations when CPA MICR encoded cheques do not meet the customers needs the following alternate forms of payment are also available:
• Unlimited USD drafts and / or money orders at no charge to customers holding a USD account. Drafts and / or money orders are negotiable anywhere in the U.S.
• USD BMO Mosaik MasterCard®, issued in Canada
• USD wire payments at standard fees (unless previously negotiated otherwise).
Customers have been notified of the changes by mail in early February, and will receive a follow-up call from Direct Banking to help make sense of the changes and choose the alternative(s) that best meet their needs.
Should you wish to discuss the above described changes further, please visit your local branch of BMO Bank of Montreal to speak to a Financial Services Manager. To determine the location of the BMO Bank of Montreal branch most convenient to you, please click on your Personal Information tab (see Tools and Info).
It was my pleasure assisting you online. Please contact us again, if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you for choosing BMO Bank of Montreal. We appreciate your business.
Sincerely,
Alena Magdolen
Direct Banking Manager
BMO Bank of Montreal Direct Banking
"TRUE" US-based USD checking....
Whoa!
Loosing the real ABA clearing is a big deal for many people!
Just checked RBCBank, and if I understand correctly they still do it.
1---Anybody knows for how long?
2---Do I understand correctly that one would need THREE RBC checking accounts? CAD-RBC, USD-RBC, USD-RBCB???
3---In that case is online transfer between all 3 possible -for funding coming mostly from cdn CAD? And the forex spread is what?
Christian
Thanks for posting the
Thanks for posting the response. I wonder how much it'll cost them when a good chunk of these customers have to go into branches and taking up actual labour to get USD drafts for free.
BMO Changing US Chequing Accounts from US Clearing to Canadian
I received a letter from BMO last Friday that told me that as of April 30th, my BMO US $ cheques would no longer clear through BMO New York City but would now clear through Canada. I use my BMO US chequing account to pay all my bills down in Florida where we own property.
The implications of this change according to BMO are that my payees in Florida - phone bill, electric bill, cable TV, Condo Association will likely have to pay a fee for these Canadian cleared cheques, wait longer for payment and some smaller banks will not accept them at all any longer.
When I complained to the office of BMO's CEO via email, I received a call back today explaining that some new regulation was being put in place and BMO could no longer clear their cheques in the US Banking system. I was told that BNS and CIBC were in the same boat.
Does anyone know if this is true for all Canadian banks?
I will move my business to any Canadian bank where I can write cheques to pay for my US bills as long as they clear through the US banking system and are accepted by US banks and my payees.
This change at BMO, etc must affect thousands of Canadians who own property in the US and use US chequing accounts to pay bills, etc. I wonder if the Canadian banks really understand or care that their customer sevice will deteriorate once they change their existing process.
BMO stated in their letter that their US$ Mastercard might work for customers as well as "free US $ money drafts" as long as the money comes out of the customer's US $ account. In my case, I would be over at my branch over 60 times per year to do this.
So far I've balked at that idea.
I look forward to any comments or suggestions.
Hi Lloyd, As I
Hi Lloyd,
As I understand, BMO stopped offering these so-called "par-crossed" checks a while ago, but continued to honour those that still held them.
I guess that's coming to an end.
For you, there are two possibilities:
1. Open up a US-based account through your local Canadian RBC Branch. RBC a number of years ago bought out a regional Florida bank and now calls it RBC Centura. Since RBC Centura is a US-chartered bank, you shouldn't run into these kinds of problems with them. I do believe they have an actual branch network in Florida as well. If you can meet their minimum monthly balance requirements, you can get away without paying any fees.
2. Open up a regular US bank account at a bank in the US. I wrote a guide on opening up a US bank account as a Canadian. It's not hard, and many/most of them have no monthly fees on their standard accounts. This can have less hassle, but #1 is nice because their US and Canadian operations are quite well integrated.
US$ Checking Accounts in Canada/USA
Thanks for you reply to me Dan!
I have checked with RBC and they have the best answer so far. Open up a US$ account with a Canadian branch of RBC and open up a checking account with their subsidiary in Florida - RBC Centaura. With their on-line banking system you can transfer money from your Canadian US$ account down to the Centaura account to cover payments made on-line or with checks.
BMO tell me that they are working on doing the same thing as RBC/Centura with their subsidiary in the USA called Harris Bank. Unfortunately their automated system won't be available until 2010. So I'm entertaining opening up an account with Harris Bank so I can write US cleared checks or pay bills on-line. My local BMO branch tells me that they will provide me with "free" wire transfers any time I need to move money to the Harris account. This will help us as we rent out our Florida condo and receive US checks that in turn are used to pay our bills down in Florida.
I'm tempted to trial BMO's offer and if it doesn't work, I'll switch to RBC.
How BMO got so far behind their competitor - RBC is beyond me! Taking another year to offer an automated service (tying their on-line banking system together with Harris Bank's) is also beyond me!
Thanks again!
Lloyd
Thanks - great summary
This has saved me hours of time. Thanks for collecting and organizing and sharing this info.
Darlene
Is there any Canadian
Is there any Canadian Financial Institution that offers a debit card for us chequing accounts or savings?
Not that I'm aware of. Heck,
Not that I'm aware of. Heck, the first debit cards for Canadian chequing accounts/savings just got released.
You'll have to go through a US Bank for this (of which RBC and BMO both own US Banks that offer services to Canadians, but you'll be working with their US bank in these circumstances).
canadian banks
i just opened up a rbc checking acct $100 down with debit card online. does that make me eligible for a credit card then. thanks jenna
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