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Additionally, if you ever travel and spend money in the US, you can spend in US currency, again avoiding exchange rates.
[1]: http://www.bmo.com/home/personal/banking/bank-accounts/us-do...
Yes, there'll be fees, and it's not as interesting as bitcoin. But it's not a hard thing to do.
1. Charles Schwab
I didn't know that before signing up, but my US Charles Schwab account has Banks all over the world that I can just wire money to, use my US account number as the "subject" of the transaction and it will magically appear in my US account. No fees, good exchange rate. That way I can get the Money from Germany to the US
2. Currencyfair(.com)
They have great exchange rates. You basically send money from Country A to one of their bank accounts in the country A area (e.g. SEPA) and then buy the foreign currency on their site (quick or marketplace) and transfer it out. Very minimal fees, great rates.
3. Debit Cards
My German credit card and my US debit cards (among them: Schwab) allow me to deduct money from ATMs for free. Both of them don't charge any fees (no cash advance for the German ones) and allow me to do so internationally.
I'd say just get a US Bank account from Charles Schwab the next time you're over there. I got mine 4 years ago without having a SSN or a work visa, just using my passport. I guess this is just possible if you do it "in branch" though.
There's a huge gap between the regulated dollar rate and the street price, so the loss is negligible (I used to just extract the money from an ATM)
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" but the big Canadian banks give pretty good exchange rates " Not this sadly.
They really don't (unless you compare them to PayPal, I guess). They take 2-3% of commission to convert your funds, which would mean that they charge you $200-$300 for currency exchange on a $10,000 payment. If you want to convert your funds at a "Big" Canadian bank, please do so at Tangerine, which has the best rate I found (they take 1.45%) - otherwise, there are plenty of other suggestions in this thread that coul…
That said, it's much easier to convert USD to CAD in Canada, then CAD to USD in the US. I had an account at a small regional bank and if you were converting less than $100 of CAD, you'd be lucky if you got 2/3rds of the actual exchange rate.
I've used TransferWise ( https://transferwise.com ) several times to move money from SEK to USD, but it seems they don't support CAD yet. Super easy to get started, and very low fees.
I just tried this yesterday, but ran into a wall: To transfer USD to GBP, you need to get your bank to initiate an international wire transfer. If I could remotely trigger a large international wire transfer from my bank, I wouldn't need a 3rd party service. Living abroad, requests to transfer money are usually met with "just step into a branch and we'll take care of that". But my nearest branch is 2,000 miles away a…
I've used TransferWise ( https://transferwise.com ) several times to move money from SEK to USD, but it seems they don't support CAD yet. Super easy to get started, and very low fees.
I just tried this yesterday, but ran into a wall: To transfer USD to GBP, you need to get your bank to initiate an international wire transfer. If I could remotely trigger a large international wire transfer from my bank, I wouldn't need a 3rd party service. Living abroad, requests to transfer money are usually met with "just step into a branch and we'll take care of that". But my nearest branch is 2,000 miles away a…
How are you currently depositing the US cheques? Both TD[1] and RBC[2] offer cross-border banking accounts, meaning that you can open a TD/RBC account in Canada and a TD/RBC account in the US and link them together, which should allow you to transfer funds between them at an optimum rate. You should be able to deposit US cheques with their smartphone apps. The issue with this approach is that you will have to maintai…
On the flip side, if you find a way around this - especially for Royal, please let me know. It'd make my life a better place :)
Have you tried asking your bank manager? Yes, there'll be fees, and it's not as interesting as bitcoin. But it's not a hard thing to do.
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I use RBC US (RBC Georgia) + XE Trade. Results in 1-2% more money. As long as you can wait 3 weeks to receive it, it's a good option. Transfers are free.
I recommend XE as well. You can transfer using EFT, which saves you money in wire transfer fees a bank would normally charge you. You'll also get the best exchange rates from them.
Cheaper (lower fees + better exchange rate) than the bank, I can do it all online.
I've blogged about our experience here: http://blog.preinheimer.com/index.php?/archives/418-Paying-a...