USD Bank Accounts and Credit Cards

I'm sorry if this has been posted previously, there is just to many pages to go through to verify. If you have a CIBC account I would suggest to get their advantage card. It is a debit card however is used as a visa in the States. I have this card as I do not have a credit card. I shop in the States at least once a month and just state I'm using visa. It's good to use as well cause you can only spend whatever amount you have in your account and the rates are not bad either. There are no other fees for it either.
 
I'm sorry if this has been posted previously, there is just to many pages to go through to verify. If you have a CIBC account I would suggest to get their advantage card. It is a debit card however is used as a visa in the States. I have this card as I do not have a credit card. I shop in the States at least once a month and just state I'm using visa. It's good to use as well cause you can only spend whatever amount you have in your account and the rates are not bad either. There are no other fees for it either.

I have one of these, and they do charge a fee, it's a % of your purchase. Can't remember what it is, but if it's a large purchase, then the fee will be too. Wasn't happy when I read this.

I just got the CIBC U.S. Dollar credit card. $35 yearly fee, and if you pay it off right away, no other fees or interest. Don't know what will be better to use, the Advantage Debit/Visa card where they nickel & dime you, or the US credit card? We'll see.
 
I have one of these, and they do charge a fee, it's a % of your purchase. Can't remember what it is, but if it's a large purchase, then the fee will be too. Wasn't happy when I read this.

I just got the CIBC U.S. Dollar credit card. $35 yearly fee, and if you pay it off right away, no other
fees or interest. Don't know what
will be better to use, the
Advantage Debit/Visa card where
they nickel & dime you, or the US
credit card? We'll see.

I have never been charged a fee.
If something costs say $10,
depending on what the exchange rate is, I only pay that amount. A
couple of mths ago when the
exchange was really good I would
actually paid less, for example if it
was $10.60 US it would be like
$10.40 CDN. I actually really enjoy
my debit visa card. I would recommend it to anyone. I also got a prepaid travel MasterCard from BMO. There is a one time $10 fee for it but is great as well. Since I don't have credit cards this was great to have to book vacation & airline tickets.
 
I have never been charged a fee.
If something costs say $10,
depending on what the exchange rate is, I only pay that amount. A
couple of mths ago when the
exchange was really good I would
actually paid less, for example if it
was $10.60 US it would be like
$10.40 CDN. I actually really enjoy
my debit visa card. I would recommend it to anyone. I also got a prepaid travel MasterCard from BMO. There is a one time $10 fee for it but is great as well. Since I don't have credit cards this was great to have to book vacation & airline tickets.

Can you fill me in on where you got the debit visa you referred to? We are tired of paying the extra transaction fees on our canadian credit card for the exchange!
 


Can you fill me in on where you got the debit visa you referred to? We are tired of paying the extra transaction fees on our canadian credit card for the exchange!

It must be a USD debit card with a visa logo??
All credit cards add a service fee on top of the conversion rate.:confused3
 
Can you fill me in on where you got the debit visa you referred to? We are tired of paying the extra transaction fees on our canadian credit card for the exchange!

I bank with CIBC & it is my regular debit card. I just went into the bank and asked for the new Debit Visa card. I have never had to pay a fee to use it. I always use it when I go to Buffalo shopping.
 
We ended up opening an account at Bank of America - no fees, free debit/VISA card. It was funny when we were opening the account - the manager was handling our paperwork and mentioned that 90% of his bank's account holders are Canadian LOLOL
 


Is it this one?
https://www.cibc.com/ca/features/cibc-advantage-card.html

It's a debit card..so you just pay the regular conversion rate. With 'Visa' that's not the case.

I use my RBC debit (Canadian) and the same applies, no service fee ..I also have a Florida based RBC USD debit card and I like that even better. I transfer into my Florida acct when the rate is best ..and the $$ sits there till I go shopping!!;)
 
I think I remember reading BMO has one, but it is not available online. I'm thinking of getting one this week.

Can someone confirm this card has no fee?:goodvibes

There is a 25 annual fee but if you spend 1000.00 over the year it is generally waved! Hope this helps :)
 
I posted this in a different thread, had no idea there was a sticky for this :). Anyhow, I thought I'd update with current information, in case anyone is interested...

So, I've done some research, and I've come up with some good stuff for us Canadian DVC owners:

RBC has a unique product, that is aimed at Canadian snowbirds. You can open up an RBC Bank US Access bank account right from a Canadian RBC branch. It's a real US bank account, with free cheques, and a Visa debit card, for $2.95/mth. It can be fully linked with an RBC Canadian $ bank account (free), as well as an RBC Canadian USD bank account (also free), with one sign in. This allows you to move money from your US Access account in the US to either account in Canada, instantly and online. You can use the US Access account to set up monthly payments for your DVC Annual dues.

The other unique feature is that these are (reportedly) the only USD bank accounts that can be fully linked to your Canadian Paypal account and will allow you to move USD from Paypal into either your US Access account, or into your Canadian USD account, therefore keeping the money in USD's and not having to incur Paypal's crazy foreign transaction fees. If you're regularly renting out points, this can save quite a bit of money.

So, I have gone ahead and set this all up . Note: I don't bank with RBC. I just walked into my local branch, told them I wanted to open a US dollar savings account (called e-savings) and a US Access account. They knew exactly what I was talking about. Someone was available, and we got everything done in about 45 min's (including chit chat). I also opened a free Canadian $ everyday banking account, to get the debit card and be able to do online banking. The two RBC Canada bank accounts were good to go right away, the US Access application was sent to the U.S. from the bank.

A week later, I received my US Access banking information. I called the number, and a very efficient employee from RBC Bank (USA) talked me through setting up my online banking, subscribing to e-statements, linking this account to my Canadian RBC accounts, ordered my cheques, and my Visa debit account. Easy-peasy.

I have since successfully linked both the US Access account and the USD e-savings account to Paypal, and confirmed that I can send money both ways, with no fees. (There is a trick here, you have to use a very specific routing number for the e-savings account, and it's not the one the bank will give you, this is where the research helped). I have also sent money to both USD accounts using XE.com.

So now, I can pay my mf's monthly, and I can accept point rental payments via paypal without paying a currency conversion transaction fee.
 
Yeah, sorry, I had written this in response to a post in a different thread, and just copied and pasted here. In the other thread, the posters seemed to think that they had to go to the US to open a bank account.

Here, the last post about this account goes back to 2011, and there was some question then as to whether the account would still be available. So I thought I'd give some current information about it.

And I'm very happy with it. Too bad BMO didn't have the same kind of product.
 
I just opened my US Access account with RBC Bank today. I'm in BC and across the WA border a couple times a month and I'm tired of paying fees either on my credit card for commissions on exchange or from using my Canadian debit card at POS. $2.95/mo, $25 opening balance. I can transfer direct from my regular RBC chequing to my Access checking. Will come in very handy for WDW in the summer, as well as all my usual Amazon, grocery and Target spending. ;)
 
I don't think this has been posted recently, but I wanted to put a plug in for the Amazon.ca visa. They don't charge the 2.5% conversion fee that all the other credit cards charge, you get 1% cash back on all your purchases, and there are no fees.

I've had it for over a month now. It's perfect.
 
Does anyone have experience with BMO Harris bank? I just purchased DVC and bank with BMO so thought their US affiliate would be a good choice for upcoming banking needs, but now...I'm not sure it really is helpful? How am I going to get funds into my US account, there is no linkage as there is with the RBC accounts discussed in this thread.
 
I came here looking for the same info regarding BMO and Harris. Since there hasn't been a response to the question I presume the answer is no. From what I have read the RBC product is the most seamless. TD has a similar product but you need to call in every time you want to do a transfer as opposed to just doing it yourself online.

Aside from RBC and TD are there any other Canadian banks with such products?
 
I was just in to our TD branch this week and when I mentioned getting travellers cheques for our upcoming trip she told me to consider the credit and debit cards they offer. We haven't decided to do this because we are rarely in the US (once every two or three years) and it just seemed easier to get travellers cheques when we do go. She was suggesting they are obsolete and not recognized may places anymore.

Anyone with experience with this? On our last trip (three years ago) we had the occassional gas station that gave us a little flak but otherwise we had no trouble.
 
My Mom is like that as well and likes to travel with travellers cheques. You won't have a problem at the bigger stores (Walmart, Target etc) but we found smaller vendors would not cash them at all.
 
So....seeing as this thread hasn't been updated in a while, I thought I'd check in and find out what the current options are for Canadian citizens who want to have a US bank account (not just a USD account)? I tried looking on the various bank websites and got confused between the two :rolleyes:.

I was told by our loan company for a short term DVC finance that we needed a U.S. bank account with a U.S. routing number. Does anyone have any good suggestions?
 
Nothing's changed for me...I have a USD account here and a USD Visa? I still have a USD account in Florida which I transfer in and out of easily. I have a debit / Visa card associated with this acct and It works for me..
 

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