Best way to transfer Canadian funds to the US

[kaya541 1]

We are wondering how you guys found was the best and least expensive (fees) way to transfer your Canadian funds to the US when you moved there?

[Emancipation 2]

http://www.customhouse.com/

Absolutely the way to go.. it takes a little to set up- so once you have your US banking info you should set an account up - but it's simple, very easy and best of all NO fees to do a straight EFT

[Flames9_RN 358]

yep custom house!! been using it for years now. I even send $$ back to canada when im heading home. If you do a search on here for custom house, you should find a lot of good info. At 1 time I even jotted down the step by step guide on setting up a CH account. its not that hard and the staff is super friendly, and YES they do call you to verify it is you setting up the account!

[~Laura and Nick~ 5]

We plan on using custom house in the future.

I just got my bank to make out a money order from my account to Nick's and the nice woman at my bank waived the fee. lol She was young and was very happy for Nick and I I've been banking there since I started banking and we were sort of friends.

I lucked out in that aspect. Hopefully once I start getting EI from Canada and the money is put into my account, we'll transfer it using custom house.

[melusine 5]

having no money to transfer, because i was too broke! hahaha

this is how i did it

[T.O_2_FL 0]

Custom house all the way...no problems and reliable!

[Flames9_RN 358]

Others have used RBC, I guess RBC has banks in the USA as well. maybe one of them will pipe up. No clue if they charge fees or give a better exchange rate than CH

One can goto most USA banks and deposit a Canadian cheque, BUT it can give you soem huge headaches, such as:

1) the teller is clueless

2) some charge HIGH fees, one wachovia branch wanted to charge me $75 to cash a $100 cheque!! umm no thank you

3) Some banks will charge you NO fee, BUT the exchange rate they give you is far less than what CH will give you.

4) some banks will put up to a 10 day hold on your cheque. Wachovia did this at first, but then once they knew me, it was instantly credited

I seemed to do ok if I went to the SAME wachovia and saw the teller, but otherwise it was a nightmare,lol Thank god for CH, better exchange rate and service. I left my parents my CDn bank card. So if by chance I get a Cdn cheque, I just mail it back to them and they deposit it.

[thetreble 19]

I wired my money from CIBC to my new US bank account that I obtained way before I even moved to the US. It took weeks to actually reach my US account and there was a pretty significant fee to do so, so I would not recommend this option.

[Eric_and_Corinna 0]

RBC charged us a flat $35 fee to send a wire transfer. All I needed was the swift (routing) number and my account number in the States. I had the money in less than an hour.

[Marilyn. 340]

having no money to transfer, because i was too broke! hahaha

this is how i did it

same here...

although I did keep my Canadian bank account open, my mom loves it because she can just deposit money in there for me, like for Birthdays and Christmas etc.. I added my mom to the account too... oh and a few months after I moved here I got my mom to shut down the checking part of my account which I should have done before I moved.... the checking account would take a service charge out every month and my savings account only takes a service charge out if you take money out or put money in..

[Texanadian 10]

I lucked out in that aspect. Hopefully once I start getting EI from Canada and the money is put into my account, we'll transfer it using custom house.

That's the way to do it.

[shiri 0]

http://www.customhouse.com/

Absolutely the way to go.. it takes a little to set up- so once you have your US banking info you should set an account up - but it's simple, very easy and best of all NO fees to do a straight EFT

Ooh wow... I didn't know about this place... we will definitely check it out. We have only had his dad put money into our US bank account like at christmas... I don't know how much it costed my father in law, but it cost me like a percentage.. I think off of $200 it was like $12 my bank charged me for converting the funds from Canadian to USD. But now after looking at this custom house thing... we may do it all different from now on! Thanks.

[Flames9_RN 358]

custom house does wires as well, but charge ya $$. if you do it electronically, its free. One sees the exchange rate prior to accepting the trade. if you don't like ti you can 1) cancel the transaction and try later, 2) hit refresh button and it may change,it may not, or change for the better or for worse, of course its only a minor change when u hit refresh,, but if ur trading thousands of $$, may make a difference. As well I belive you can enter the exchage rate you desire, and if it ever gets to that rate, I'm not sure if it does the transaction, or emails you stating ur desired rate is avaialble, I have never done it that way!

Registration is easy. Submit your online application. I do believe they require proof of ID, so you can either snail mail it in, fax it in, or scan and securely email it in (which I did) as well you have to submit your banking info by similar means. On the application, it will ask for the best time for them to phone you. Its a very quick phone interview just to confirm everything and for you to ask questions! It takes a bit of time, but not that long.

When you submit a trade, the transaction normally takes 3-4 BUSINESS days. I found 4 to be quite common, but this past June took 6 business days. i was a bit concerned, so I phoned them and in a matter of seconds I had a reason why it took a bit longer. they are awesome to deal with. if your ever in Victoria BC< their office is right downtown by the bus terminal, crystal gardens (if its still there??)

[melusine 5]

xetrade does it too

[Jan and Steve 0]

xetrade does it too

We use our paypal account to transfer US funds to my accounts in Canada. It takes about 5 days at most. I'll have to check out this Customhouse though, I have not heard of it.