Transferring money from CAD account to US account

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

The difference between paypal and customhouse is that paypal charges you a fee and I suspect their exchange rate isn't as good, but I haven't checked that out.

Eh? I transfer money from my account into my wife's regularly, and I've never noticed a fee... Their exchange rates are always to the fifth or sixth decimal point too.

Hmm.

[trailmix 77]

Eh? I transfer money from my account into my wife's regularly, and I've never noticed a fee... Their exchange rates are always to the fifth or sixth decimal point too.

Hmm.

Bah! Now I will have to go compare the rates. Darn it Wyatt.

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Bah! Now I will have to go compare the rates. Darn it Wyatt.

Well, yesterday I did a small transfer to my wife (she's been overstressed at work lately so I told her to buy herself something comforting), and the email of the transaction said:

The exchange rate for this purchase is 1 CAD = 0.943000USD

According to the Bank of Canada website, yesterday's exchange rate was 0.9682 at noon (which was right around when I sent it). So it looks like Paypal must take about 2.5 cents on the dollar. Transactions usually take no more than three days to clear, though.

How does that compare with Custom House?

Edited January 20, 2010 by Wyatt's Torch

[Krikit 1,164]

Well, yesterday I did a small transfer to my wife (she's been overstressed at work lately so I told her to buy herself something comforting), and the email of the transaction said:

According to the Bank of Canada website, yesterday's exchange rate was 0.9682 at noon (which was right around when I sent it). So it looks like Paypal must take about 2.5 cents on the dollar. Transactions usually take no more than three days to clear, though.

How does that compare with Custom House?

Hard to say. Today's a new day. lol. But I was told by my Vantage rep that my account was set up with a better rate than a regular account because the CustomHouse broker set it up for me. (I was using a broker, at first, due to the large transactions.) It also depends on when you do your trade. The market fluctuates up and down throughout the day while the bank rates are static. So, with CH, you choose which rate you want to buy or sell at or just keep refreshing the screen every 30 seconds. There are too many variables. With small amounts it's not a big hit, but with large amounts it obviously makes a difference.

[trailmix 77]

Well I can't log in to my paypal account to do a comparable transaction - so now I will have to contact them - but - this is $5000.00 at customhouse today:

Customhouse

U.S. to Canadian

Exchange Rate: 1 USD = 1.0305

CAD Inverse Rate: 1 CAD = 0.9704 USD

Sub-Total: 5000.00 USD = 5152.51 CAD

Canadian to U.S.

Exchange Rate: 1 CAD = 0.9391

USD Inverse Rate: 1 USD = 1.0648 CAD

Sub-Total: 5000.00 CAD = 4695.72 USD

For Paypal, this is all the info I could find on fees:

Paypal

Sending money outside of Canada or the U.S. to friends or family

Small fee

+0.5%-2% (depends on destination) when paying with bank account or Paypal balance

3.4% - 3.9% plus 30 cents if paying with a credit card

Payments requiring a currency conversion include a 2.5% fee

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Well I can't log in to my paypal account to do a comparable transaction - so now I will have to contact them - but - this is $5000.00 at customhouse today:

Customhouse

U.S. to Canadian

Exchange Rate: 1 USD = 1.0305

CAD Inverse Rate: 1 CAD = 0.9704 USD

Sub-Total: 5000.00 USD = 5152.51 CAD

Canadian to U.S.

Exchange Rate: 1 CAD = 0.9391

USD Inverse Rate: 1 USD = 1.0648 CAD

Sub-Total: 5000.00 CAD = 4695.72 USD

For Paypal, this is all the info I could find on fees:

Paypal

Sending money outside of Canada or the U.S. to friends or family

Small fee

+0.5%-2% (depends on destination) when paying with bank account or Paypal balance

3.4% - 3.9% plus 30 cents if paying with a credit card

Payments requiring a currency conversion include a 2.5% fee

Hmm! Based on that, I think I'll stick with Paypal. Most of my transactions will be in the hundreds, rather than the thousands, and most will ultimately be transferred from the U.S. to Canada, most likely. Very interesting info though. It looks like Custom House is more advantageous for larger sums, but Paypal is faster and more convenient for smaller ones.

[GregBu 1]

Hmm! Based on that, I think I'll stick with Paypal. Most of my transactions will be in the hundreds, rather than the thousands, and most will ultimately be transferred from the U.S. to Canada, most likely. Very interesting info though. It looks like Custom House is more advantageous for larger sums, but Paypal is faster and more convenient for smaller ones.

Also, for what it's worth, my paypal account has a confirmed checking account attached to it (takes a few days if you haven't already). But it took about 15 minutes for the money to get into my PayPal account and the next day it was in my checking account.

Edited January 20, 2010 by GregBu

[trailmix 77]

Yeah for speed with smaller amounts, paypal is probably the one to use.

So because of all this paypal talk I just had to call them in Florida to sort out all my info, because I couldn't manage to reset my password online as - well all my info was outdated.

It's now all sorted out and I can paypal once again...might go browse ebay now lol

Edited January 20, 2010 by trailmix

[lilacvioletiris 11]

Don't do it! I went to ebay last night to buy a subwoofer for my fiance' and have it shipped to my U.S. address to get "free shipping" and spent about 1.5 hours looking at things I was interested in purchasing.

I am definitely going to get my fiance' to look into the two different ways that seem to be presented for transferring money though to and from a U.S. account. With Canadian EI, it will definitely be a time saver while we wait for his EAD to be processed.

[trailmix 77]

Don't do it! I went to ebay last night to buy a subwoofer for my fiance' and have it shipped to my U.S. address to get "free shipping" and spent about 1.5 hours looking at things I was interested in purchasing.

Yeah I used to buy a few things and sell things on ebay too (MAC eye shadow in fact!) - but haven't used it in a few years, but i'm sure there are good things for me to be buyingggggg

[Carlawarla 1]

Well, I'm just going to say that I had problems with Paypal sometime ago. Maybe things have changed with them, but I really questioned the security of my transactions at one time, as well as personal information. I've never had any concerns about CH. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Carlawarla 1]

This is great news as my fiance' has a car payment with a great interest rate that he doesn't want to lose. Being able to send money to his Canadian bank account to pay for the payment will be good.

A lot of Canadians use it for that very reason. Student loans, gifts to Canada, payments from EI deposited to your account. You can never go wrong with leaving an account in Canada.

One thing that piqued my interest in your posting lilacvioletiris is that you mention your fiance has a loan on his car. Is he planning then on bringing it down with him? You might want to check out this link for importing your car to the U.S.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=185250

I'm not sure if it's in this link, or you might have to do a forum search about car payments, but I seem to recall that you can't import a vehicle that you don't have the full title for, so in essence, unless the car has been paid for, he won't be able to bring it down here.

I hope someone pipes in and clarifies that for you. If not, and you can't find in the forum search, a similar thread, open a new thread and ask that question.

I think I may have misinformed you lilacvioletiris, and if so, I sincerely apologize. The more I think of it, the more I'm sure that what I was thinking of was the importing of a leased vehicle, and not just one that had an outstanding loan. I'm so sorry!

[Flames9_RN 358]

I have a USAA acct in the USA and a Presidents choice acct in Canada, and on avg it takes 3 or 4 BUSINESS days to complete a transaction. I have chatted with CH staff a few times and they have been great, even chatted hockey with 1 for a bit. They will even walk you step by step through the process, which is very easy.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Cash is king. When I immigrated to the US, I went to my bank in Germany, got it all in cash, put it in a small metal box, declared it truthfully to US Customs, and deposited it in the US bank. Transaction fees? $0. I would be worried if it's so much money that it would cause trouble to transport, but up to a Million Dollars should be no problem at all.

[antda 13]

Cash is king. When I immigrated to the US, I went to my bank in Germany, got it all in cash, put it in a small metal box, declared it truthfully to US Customs, and deposited it in the US bank. Transaction fees? $0. I would be worried if it's so much money that it would cause trouble to transport, but up to a Million Dollars should be no problem at all.

Lol....I did a similar thing too...Closed off the Canadian bank account....Got the cash...Put it in a plastic box...Declared it....Put it in a US account...No problems...

On top of that, I got a trip to Canada out of it too...

No need to deal with any banks or anything like that...

And to this day, I still deal with cash and check out the exchange rates..It's the best bet there....

By the way...The official rule is that you're allowed to transport up to $10,000 USD at one time...no problems..

Anything over $10,000 USD I think you have to further declare it with more forms and I think you have to report it to the IRS too.....

(not sure how that works exactly..I don't have that much money at one time....lol..but I'm sure you can find out if you do such....)

So yeah..The bottom line: Cash works the best....and has worked throughout time and history....no problems at all....

Hope this helps too. Good luck on your money transfers too.

Ant

Edited January 20, 2010 by Ant+D+BabyA