Bank can't handle investments anymore

[Inky 1,111]

Yea I went in and spoke with them and signed stuff, had my address changed. Had to close out the account but BMO is keeping the money till they can wire it to me in the states.. They said that the rules had been changed and they can only close my accounts and wire the money to the american bank account that i open when i get there. The process is in place to close the accounts already, not a happy day for me =(.

Not sure what to do when i get there about what bank to open with so i can just get some kind of high intrest savings and dump it all in there and leave it there... seems like thats the only option i have right now cus they had no advice on what to do with it in america.

I do have to file taxes for 2009 here cus i worked and stuff, im not going to owe anything tho as i didnt make enough to owe. prolly gonna get a little back too.

any ideas on a good place with high intrest stuff i can put my money in or something? my fiance is military and i heard about a military bank thats safe but dont really know anything about it. he uses sacfederal credit union.

[zyggy 9]

Yea I went in and spoke with them and signed stuff, had my address changed. Had to close out the account but BMO is keeping the money till they can wire it to me in the states.. They said that the rules had been changed and they can only close my accounts and wire the money to the american bank account that i open when i get there. The process is in place to close the accounts already, not a happy day for me =(.

Not sure what to do when i get there about what bank to open with so i can just get some kind of high intrest savings and dump it all in there and leave it there... seems like thats the only option i have right now cus they had no advice on what to do with it in america.

I do have to file taxes for 2009 here cus i worked and stuff, im not going to owe anything tho as i didnt make enough to owe. prolly gonna get a little back too.

any ideas on a good place with high intrest stuff i can put my money in or something? my fiance is military and i heard about a military bank thats safe but dont really know anything about it. he uses sacfederal credit union.

What they are doing is absolutely bogus. Seriously, talk to someone higher up in that organization. I agree that you should remove yourself from BMO, but take your money to another Canadian bank for now. You're going to be taking some pretty big tax hits if you allow them to wire than cash to the US.

On the military banking side, I definitely recommend USAA. They have awesome banking tools, their insurance is top notch, no fees and their investment products are rated among the highest in the industry. It's an organization that values you and your finacial security instead of their profit line. You are eligible to become a member after you are married.

THere are two toher financial institurions that were created by military members for military members. Pentagon Federal Credit Union has some of the best credit card and auto loan rates around. Navy Federal Credit Union has some of the best home mortgage rates around. I am a member of all three. They all have their strengths and weaknesses.

Edited August 18, 2009 by zyggy

[Inky 1,111]

if my fiance doesnt use USAA can i still use it since id be married to military? or does he have to be using it for me to be able to use it? I dont really have another canadian bank that i trust to hold my money for me, if my mom puts it into her account and then i have custom house wire it from my moms account to my new account is that possible to do? or would that just make it really complicated, more so than now.

[Arabella 4]

if my fiance doesnt use USAA can i still use it since id be married to military? or does he have to be using it for me to be able to use it? I dont really have another canadian bank that i trust to hold my money for me, if my mom puts it into her account and then i have custom house wire it from my moms account to my new account is that possible to do? or would that just make it really complicated, more so than now.

Hmm I think you can still use them. I have USAA and am divorced from my military person. Call them at 800-531-2265 if you get a chance. Why wouldn't he sign up with them or help you if you asked?

[Inky 1,111]

if my fiance doesnt use USAA can i still use it since id be married to military? or does he have to be using it for me to be able to use it? I dont really have another canadian bank that i trust to hold my money for me, if my mom puts it into her account and then i have custom house wire it from my moms account to my new account is that possible to do? or would that just make it really complicated, more so than now.

Hmm I think you can still use them. I have USAA and am divorced from my military person. Call them at 800-531-2265 if you get a chance. Why wouldn't he sign up with them or help you if you asked?

he uses SAC federal credit union i asked him about it says he doesnt know anything about USAA and that he likes sac. im just wanting the best place for my money and sac's rates look kind of crappy.. so do their loan agreements and other stuff.. lol also USAA is all over usable sac seems to be only in nebraska? well atleast the branch he uses so if we moved i would have to mess around with my money all over again.. not sure why he didnt sign up with them but alot of his buddys use sac too thats probably why. will use sac as our joint account tho.

[MapleLeafBaby 1]

if my fiance doesnt use USAA can i still use it since id be married to military? or does he have to be using it for me to be able to use it? I dont really have another canadian bank that i trust to hold my money for me, if my mom puts it into her account and then i have custom house wire it from my moms account to my new account is that possible to do? or would that just make it really complicated, more so than now.

Hmm I think you can still use them. I have USAA and am divorced from my military person. Call them at 800-531-2265 if you get a chance. Why wouldn't he sign up with them or help you if you asked?

he uses SAC federal credit union i asked him about it says he doesnt know anything about USAA and that he likes sac. im just wanting the best place for my money and sac's rates look kind of crappy.. so do their loan agreements and other stuff.. lol also USAA is all over usable sac seems to be only in nebraska? well atleast the branch he uses so if we moved i would have to mess around with my money all over again.. not sure why he didnt sign up with them but alot of his buddys use sac too thats probably why. will use sac as our joint account tho.

I think you folded too soon...You were ill advised. I just moved here May 29th and just changed my address with BMO Nesbitt Burns 9 days ago. They changed the Companies entire way of doing North American business in 9 days? Does that not seem strange to you?

Regardless, be prepared to have to provide MAJOR proof to the US bank and possibly the IRS next year...keep every little piece of paper and history to track the funds from inception....anything being brought into the US ovr $10k needs to be declared, as in reported, and proof provided as to where it came from...helps them crack down on 'dirty money' smuggled from other countries...

Good luck

[zyggy 9]

if my fiance doesnt use USAA can i still use it since id be married to military? or does he have to be using it for me to be able to use it? I dont really have another canadian bank that i trust to hold my money for me, if my mom puts it into her account and then i have custom house wire it from my moms account to my new account is that possible to do? or would that just make it really complicated, more so than now.

Hmm I think you can still use them. I have USAA and am divorced from my military person. Call them at 800-531-2265 if you get a chance. Why wouldn't he sign up with them or help you if you asked?

The person eligible for membership (in military)must sign up first and then sponsor their spouse.

[Inky 1,111]

ok so for now my money is sitting at BMO for intrest till i find out what to do in the states and what all i will need to do n such, this is one big clusterfuck! ill just have to talk to different banks and investment places and figure out what to do once im more settled there.

Thanks everyone for the ideas, help and insight. Ill try and post an update once i figure it out.

[Inky 1,111]

Small update -

the bank is now sending me a USD bank draft of my money after pulling it from my investments, stating they can no longer handle the money, and cus i dont have an account here yet as i havent been able to collect ssn yet they are sending it next week.

[Old Dominion 26]

It's been awhile, but trying to do business with BMO from the U.S. is difficult. Probably because it's headquartered in Quebec. When you get to the US, you'll sometimes find that a smaller regional bank offers higher interest rates but of course right now, that won't be a real big difference. The difficulty will be in opening a US bank account in your own name to begin with. There are procedures for the banks to follow, but most bank clerks don't know or don't care to follow up on them.

[Inky 1,111]

yea im having a real hard time finding a bank out here that i like, most of them have been pretty rude cus i dont have my ssn and refuse to help me out with information. not sure why ssn is taking so long, hope nothing with my papers went missing! yikes.. lol

[Texanadian 10]

Get the money out of Canada and into the USA as soon as you can. Or else you'll be nailed with US taxation on Canadian investment income (even if it's in an RRSP, as the US doesn't recognize RRSP's as being a tax deferred vehicle. They treat them like regular savings accounts) Now there is some form you can file to get the US government to allow you to not be taxed on the RRSP on your federal taxes. But state taxes generally won't have such a form. I'm lucky in that we don't have state taxes in Texas. But still, it's just more hassle for no benefit.

The investment management fees are about half if not less as much as they are in Canada. These add up over time.

Depending on your investment company in Canada, most of them aren't allowed to change things in your account once you're in the US. You can leave it there to grow. But you can't change anything.

You're at the mercy of the Canadian government raising the 25% non-resident tax on withdrawls in the future. It's an easy tax for them to raise as not a lot of people will complain (or vote against them) for it. Remember, the non resident tax used to be 15% not that long ago.

Doing the small withdrawls at 10% doesn't make much difference as it will all be added up at the end of the year when you file your Cdn taxes. That's all based on taking the money out while in Canada. Once you're in the US, you're doing the 25% non resident tax whether you want to or not. Depending on if you work or not in the US, you may be able to get a lot of that money back based on the Section 217 Canadian tax return.

Ultimately there is no good reason to leave your money in Canada.

Edited September 6, 2009 by Texanadian

[Flames9_RN 358]

Regarding RRSPS , for the IRS it is form 8891, very easy form! And it VARIES from state to state if they tax you on it or not! before one does anything drastic, one should find out if ur state taxes you on it or not. I don't believe VA did

[Inky 1,111]

the money is currently on its way out of america and its already been converted at a prime rate from CND to USD. Still waiting on SSN to figure out bank things. Money wasnt in RRSPs was in stocks and mutual funds. Would visiting H&R here be a good idea to talk about things with someone? basically i need everything dummed down for me, my broker tried to explain to me in regular ways but i didnt understand anything so he worked on making it very simple for me to understand which was really nice. and i used H&R all teh time in canada to do my taxes cus i cant figure it out for the life of me on my own lol.

some family is saying to get my money put into a GIC and that might be a good idea for now, others are saying to put it somewhere like ING in a savings account or at a regular bank in a savings account. but still no ssn and no banks really want to talk to me without a ssn! arg

[Flames9_RN 358]

When I first came to the USA I set up an Appt with HR bLocks "cdn" specialist. man, he was clueluess,lol I imagine it differs from store to store!

ING at 1 time had great interest rates, close to 5%, but last I looked at my acct, they were around 1%