Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by footpath 4333 days ago
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 maintain two bank accounts that you may have to pay monthly fees separately or maintain a minimum balance.

There should also be some banks in Canada (including TD and RBC) that offer US Dollar accounts, such as this one from Scotia[3] that seems to offer direct deposit, so maybe look those up as well.

Otherwise, foreign exchange sites like XE or Xoom may be an option as others have mentioned here, but I'm not too familiar with them.

[1]http://www.tdbank.com/personal/cross-border-banking.html [2]http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/cross-border-banking/index.html [3]http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/0,,59,00.html
2 comments
cik 4333 days ago
I loved this idea - until I got more involved with it. Ultimately, business accounts have a limit on cheque deposit (at least here in Canada) whereby deposits from camera can't be for more that $3k in one shot, or $5k/month. At the very least, those are the rules laid down by CIBC and Royal. Ultimately this makes it pretty useless unfortunately.

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 :)

link
graeme 4333 days ago
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.
link
psychometry 4333 days ago
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.
link
preinheimer 4333 days ago
We've also had tremendous success with XE.

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...

link