On this page, I plan on providing links to as many sources for the Canadian Dollar to US Dollar Exchange rates as I can. It has been fluctuating greatly in recent weeks, so up-to-the-minute figures are best.
Now, there are two kinds of data: The actual rates, and then what rates you can get when you want to actually bring US Currency to a place and change it into Canadian.
Places with Actual Exchange Rates:
- Bank of Canada Exchange Rates: At noon and closing time on every business day, they publish an actual rate. Lots of other exchange rates are included as well. Their data sources are unclear.
- XE.net: these guys have been publishing exchange rates on the internet for, it seems like, as long as the internet itself. Their data sources are actual market transaction rates, so they are actually looking at the rates that funds were converted at between parties. Rates update extremely frequently.
- Google: Very new to the financial news game. Their graphs are very nice, but their rates don't seem to be updated too often. Very nice for trending purposes. You can also punch in any 2 3-letter currency codes together to get their conversion rates, eg: USDEUR or EURCAD
- OANDA: This company seems to be a bit similar to XE, but they actually operate their own currency market, so they publish rates from that. I've linked out to a cross-rate table for the Canadian dollar, but feel free to browse through their site for other services they offer. Their site seems to be a bit confusing though for someone just looking for information, rather than buying a service. If you do subscribe to their forex trading system, the data it provides is pretty impressive.
Bank Exchange Rate Information
These are the actual rates you'll be able to get after fees/commissions. You'll see two rates here, and the reason for that is the bank's commission. Generally, the wider apart these two rates are, the greater the cut/commission the bank is taking, so you should really go to the bank with the least.
Currency exchangers often have better rates than the banks, but sometimes they'll be a bad deal (airport currency exchangers are notorious for this).
Sometimes banks will differentiate between their cash rates, and non-cash rates. Usually the cash rate is slightly worse (since they have to deal with it), and the non-cash rates are if you bring a cheque/draft/money order in that currency to change over. You may also be able to negotiate if you're converting a ton of money (in the several thousands anyway).
And a final tip, most places will NOT accept foreign coins, or give them out, only bills. And if you need foreign currency, especially the more obscure it is, it might not be so easy from a bank (or you might have to actually order it in).
- TD Bank Foreign Exchange Rates: This is their non-cash exchange rate. They don't seem to publish their cash rates online unfortunately, but they should be just a tad worse than these rates. Rates are updated several times throughout the day.
- Scotia Bank Forex Rates: Again, these are non-cash rates. They also seem to offer a "ScotiaFX" Currency exchange service for big business and/or corporate customers. Rates are updated infrequently, and The Bank of Nova Scotia has had terrible exchange rates lately (see discussion below).
- CIBC Bank: Rates not published online, you'll have to call them.
- Royal Bank: These are their cash rates, which as I see today, are around 0.5% to 0.75% worse than TD's non-cash rates, so I'd expect RBC to be competitive with TD on cash rates. Scroll all the way down to "United States" for American Currency rates :)
- BMO: It seems like they don't even publish their rates online, you have to call/visit them, or you can order through online banking (but you'll pay hefty courier fees for that). C'mon people, it's 2008 here!
- National Bank of Canada: No rates published online. They have a really neat daily Canadian foreign exchange analysis.
- Vancouver Bullion&Currency Exchange (for reference): This is a well-known currency exchanger based in Vancouver. You might want to take a look at their retail rates to compare with the big Canadian banks.
In my experience, credit unions tend to not have very good rates.
Canadian Dollar <-> US Dollar Exchange Rates: Banks, Currency
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Canadian check deposited into U.S. Bank Account
This month was the first month that I have deposited a Canadian check into my American bank account. I will be having monthly Canadian checks (pension) from now on. It took almost a full week for the exchange rate to show up in my bank account and I noticed a considerable difference in cost than what I expected after looking up the exchange rate online. Since this will be a monthly occurrence, my question is how can I get a better exchange rate on my monthly checks? Are all banks equal in the amount that they charge to convert Canadian funds into American funds or is there somewhere else I can go to convert my check?
Payline by ICE
In searching for some advice on a FX partner I came across this site and wanted to share my recent experiences....
I've been exporting timber from BC and Washington state for almost 18 years and foreign exchange has played a significant part in my bottom line. I used Custom House for nearly a decade and found their service's very beneficial as opposed to using the bank. A couple years back they were bought out by Western Union and all the joys of doing business with a Canadian company were out the window. I went from having my own personal broker who over time became a good freind, to dealing with a call center robot. He was layed off and I decided i had to find another solution.
Then I was referred to a company called Payline by ICE. The company is based out of Vancouver Island and recently merged with a company called ICE Currency Exchange, who from what i can see are most likely the largest retail foreign exchange providors in canada. In calling Payline, I instantly felt the same personal service I received years ago and then came to realize many old brokers from the Custom House era have moved over to Payline. They are a much smaller organziation but in terms of service and rates they are fantastic. I do large volumes of 500k+ predominately into USD and when i worked out the quote i got from them, it was saving me nearly $1200 from other rates i compared. Along with the Int'l payments and wires, my broker from Payline was able to get me a fantastic deal on some mexican peso's for a vacation with the family, because of their ICE alliance. I simply told him the amount and when I was flying, and he was able to get the Mexican Peso's ready for me to collect at vancouver Airport on the day i travelled. Overall this company is an all around foreign exchange speicalist. Definitely worth checking out if you need an easy and convenient provider for purchasing foreign currency.
Transaction- usd to cdn
on apr 3 , 2012 I used a m/c (2800) and rbc credit card (20000)to transfer money to a clinic I was attending in the states on the 12th apr 2012. It turned out that the procedure did not go ahead and the money was refunded back to the m/c on the 13th plus $50. however the rbc did not process the refund on the 13th even though it was received then but did on the 16th . This delay cost me just over $1000. Is there any recourse to get all or part of my money back and who can I contact??? rbc claims "suck it up". appreciate any help.
Help with convert ion from USD to CAD
HI, Im new to this post. I recently paid my tuition to the school. The school has an account at The Bank of Nova Scotia and I wired the fees to it. Can anyone help me to convert USD 17400 to CAD $ ? I tried to convert it using rates of The Bank of Nova Scotia , I got confused and don't know which one to use, The selling rate or Buying rate. I agree that this bank has very high rate compared to others. Thank YOu
CAD to USD Exchange
Hi, I'm Canadian heading to school in the US and I need to exchange ~$65,000 CDN for tuition. At the moment i have $15,000 CDN in savings and $50,000 CDN in a loan (at par) i'll have to use. I'm wondering how and when i should convert my money. Tuition is due in June. My Canadian bank is BMO and i have just set up an account with MSUFCU in Michigan. I'm a little hesitant about wire transfers and online exchanges, but willing to find the best rate. Any advice would be great. Thanks.
Have CAD$, Need US$ Tuition money
Since $50k will have to be loaned to you (ie: you'll be paying interest at market rates), and you'll get better currency exchanges with more $$$, I'd suggest converting your money at the last possible moment that gives you time in case something goes wrong, so do it in May. This assumes that you can handle any swings in currency exchange rates.
I don't think it would be efficient to try to time exchange rates, especially since you'll be stuck paying loan interest, which would eat away at any gains (or add to losses). I also don't recommend currency forward contracts, USDCAD shouldn't swing that much in the near future, and if it did, I speculate it would be USD falling, which is to your advantage anyway.
I, of course, cannot make any guarantees as to the safety/security of any exchangeur, so I can only speak about what I would do if I were in your position. Ultimately, it will be your decision as to what you do with your money.
I'd look into Custom House, which is one of the larger currency exchange companies in Canada, and it now appears to be owned by Western Union, giving it more legitimacy. They do have offices which I believe you'd be able to walk in with a local bank draft (which they'd then call and verify) to and get a cheque or wire transfer from them on the spot.
XEtrade is worth looking into, and should be able to deposit directly into your MSUFCU account too, but they're one of those wire transfer online exchange places with a few days of turnaround time.
If you want the best rates possible with pretty good safety, look into the very interesting Norbert's Gambit. The basic idea is buy a Canadian listed stock on the TSX that you don't otherwise own, say, BMO, and then sell it on the US exchange in US$ since the same stock trades on both exchanges.
Your Canadian bank -may- be willing to negotiate a better rate for that large of an amount. The bank is the safest and easiest, but you'll pay for that convenience in currency spreads, even if they sweeten the deal.
Don't bother exchanging at your US bank, do not wire CAD$ to your US bank and I wouldn't ever present my US bank with a Canadian-bank issued cheque/draft (even if denominated in US$). Get the money wired over. Americans love Canadians, but they still regard our economy, banking system and currency as 3rd world, even if they'll pleasantly let you have one of their bank accounts. You've been warned.
I'd be wary of any currency exchanger that might be a one-man shop (you'd be surprised how at least one company tries to appear to be far bigger than they are).
If you're going to bring a bank draft over the border, you have to declare any monetary instrument (which a draft and certified cheque are) worth over $10k, and who knows what they'll do when you make that declaration. Just get the money wired over, it's worth it as long as neither bank will charge you a percentage to receive or send. It appears that MSUFCU doesn't charge anything to receive a wire transfer.
Other articles that would be of interest to you:
Please report back here with your experiences (I might have you write up an article if you can).
Hello, I am new to this post
Hello, I am new to this post and find this interesting. I have a TD Waterhouse acct and have both CDN and US currency investments. When I converted, say $10K, into US when Cdn dollar was worth more than US, I was charged about a 0.75% "exchange fee", quite reasonable. I recently changed much more from cdn to US and I noticed the fee was 2.5% (without notice). So if you want to play the exchange game from cdn to US back to CDN say for $100K over 2 years, that's $5K fee and you hope you're on the upside of 5%, which is tricky.
My speculation, as a lay person, is becoause of the percent a day sometimes fluctuation, the banks raise the fee to deter people doing frequent currency exchange and use their own mutual fund investments in their own currency. I would say this is gouging, especially when the banks and self-directed compancies like TD Waterhouse and RBC Direct want you to do regular transactions (with fees) and if you do the exchange thing you get gouged.
I agree the banks are stronger than the government and lobby for breaks behind the scenes which the normal consumer does not see/notice the benefits they get and then the banks gouge the normal customer.
The answer to all this is , even though the CDN banks are a key and solid part of our economy with govt regulations from making them refrain from making stupid high risk loan offers (compared to US de-regulated banks) they still make a killing. The govt should STOP this. A goddam GIC is less than 2% per year and the fees are in excess of this annual investment. SWAP it back and forth and you're 5 to 10 percent in the hole. AND simply for an exchange transaction that some tradimng firms charge $10 or less!
I vote we start a lobby of the normal bank consumer via twitter and overthrow the BANKS greedy gouging. All I need to know is how to start it - I am not a social networking expert... Anyone with an idea?
pls help
hi, can somebody tell me what should i do? I have 50k us saving in bmo since 3 years ago. As i see the us rate getting lower and lower , i can not afford my money getting smaller. So should I change it back to canadian money now? If yes , how can I do it? I mean , should withdraw it out and do it somewhere else or do it at the bank? thanks very much
dont use the banks
whatever you do, dont exchange it at the bank, you will get a worse exchange rate for that amount of money, i would go with XE Trade or someone like that, they have really good exchange rates, plus the USD is probably in your favor now so take advantage of it while you can. hope you didnt convert it yet.
Or look into Norbert's Gambit
Or look into Norbert's Gambit for the lowest possible costs (on average!). A bit of a learning curve, but what's wrong with learning?
U.S. to Canadian - Cheque Deposit
Today I called RBC and my local Credit Union to compare the differences in what I would actually receive if I deposited a U.S. dollar cheque into my account. The Credit Union actually had a better rate. I was surprised and glad that I checked into the differences first. As well, when I called for information - I had to jump through one of those obnoxious and tedious automated phone services at the Royal Bank of Canada, but the Credit Union had a real human being answer my call. To top it all off, the real human being was actually helpful!
100% agree on the tedious
100% agree on the tedious automated phone services. Whenever I go through one, I just think about how the company so little values my time that they'd rather waste 10 minutes of my time rather than 1 minute of theirs and 1 minute of mine. It's unfortunate when you're paying a premium to deal with them or otherwise in a rush and time is of value.
Credit unions+++, although I've become wary of keeping large amounts of money in them because they're not CDIC insured, but rather insured by provincial equivalents that may or may not be as sound.
Online Currency Exchange
Great information....You may want to review XEtrade for better spreads
XE.com verus Knightsbridgefx
My issue is moving a lot of money for a relocation from Canada to the US. I'm selling my house and buying one in the states -- so we are talking about >300k$. As you can imagine, I'm not too worried about flat fees for wire transfers, etc. It's the rate that's it going to matter, and were talking right up to the forth and fifth decimal place!
So far, I had followed the advice elsewhere on this site and opened a XE.com trading account. It took two days, but costs nothing and wasn't too much trouble. From XE.com trading, I have access to the quoting engine (not just the market rates on the public site). XE.com beats all the banks in the list above by almost 1% (see below), it was a bit lower than the vancouver boulion and currency exchange -- but I'm not too sure how I would manage that since I'm on the other side of the country.
With a bit more reading, I came across KnightsbridgeFx. As I was checking out the site, I got one of those typical pop's: Do you want to chat with a representative? So I'm thinking: "It's 12:15 at night, lets see if they really mean it..." Well low and behold, there is someone manning the chat box in the middle of the night!
A quick rate request and I'm told:
1 CND = 0.995000 USD (at market close)
Whereas with XE.com:
1 CND = 0.993059 (at 12:15am)
To put that into perspective, for 100k, that's a 194$ savings with KnightsbridgeFx versus XE.com.
Now, its important to note that XE runs around the clock, whereas KnightsbridgeFx is locked to the Bank of Montreal rates. So there will be some sort of change from the KbFx/BMO closing rate versus the XE market rate. But still, it makes it worth looking at!
So 1.00 CND will buy you in USD:
0.998003 - Vancouver Boulion and Currency Exchange
0.995000 - KnightsbridgeFx
0.993059 - XE.com
0.984737 - RBC
0.984542 - TD
0.983768 - BMO
0.982800 - Scotia
Looking at these numbers, we can see that for 100k$, you will save 1123$ using Knightsbridge instead of is institutional partner BMO. That is a very serious discount they are passing onto their customers. I thought I was doing well with my XE account... It looks like I will be double-checking their day-time rates and perhaps filling in some KnightsbridgeFx forms!
-Nick
[ I am not affliated with any banking or trading institution. ]
XE.com verus Knightsbridgefx - Update
So I've check the rates properly when the market is open and active:
0.993937 - XE
0.992700 - KnightsbridgeFx
Conclusion: XE seems gives you a better rate by 0.12%
Both seem easy enough to use:
- KnightsbridgeFx seems to offer a more accompanied service (a live human at the other end of the line).
- XE is more do it yourself, online.
KnightsbrigeFx uses wire transfers, whereas XE can use either wire transfers (same day, some fees) or EFT (3+3 days, but no wire fees).
-Nick
Knightsbridgefx.com had better rates than xe
Great information guys. I compared both in real time and I ended up going with Knightsbridgefx.com. The exchange rates were better on large transactions, they can do a same day transaction and get the funds wired for me, and they do not charge any wire transfer fees at all, which I really like. they walked me through the process and I was able to open an account in a few hours. I bought a property in the US and everything went really smooth.
[Link removed by moderator, as knightsbridgefx isn't his homepage (or at least I hope it isn't)]
knightsbridgefx for real?
XE.com verus Knightsbridgefx - Update
Nick - you may want to check out the info on using 'Norbert's Gambit' at http://www.finiki.org/index.php?title=Norbert%27s_Gambit - Kevin
Norbert's is the secure (but more complicated) way to go
I'm big on Norbert's Gambit because, not only does the exchange rate works out very well, it's nearly impossible for the "exchanger" to run with your money. When you're dealing with amounts of funds that are, difficult to handle the loss of, this matters a lot. I can lose $20 or $100 and not lose much sleep over it, but if I were to sell a Canadian home to buy a US one, and needed to do a once-in-a-lifetime transfer, I wouldn't trust it with even a well-reputed currency-broker, their regulations and obligations are a fraction of that of a bank or online stock broker.
exchange rates
Banks are criminals and there is not a damn thing you can do about it.
The gouging on the exchange rate is a good example. They are more
powerful than the government. Where are our so called leaders? Under
the haystack fast asleep.
They take a percent or two,
They take a percent or two, they probably lose money overall when you walk into a branch and need to buy under $100 of a foreign currency. It's not overwhelmingly gouging in my opinion, but it's a loss for those that are willing to do a bit of research, such as reading sites like mine :)
Best Spreads and free USD account - BMO Investorline
BMO Investorline offers investment grade spreads when you buy/sell USD/CAD dollars and also gives you a free USD account through their "account link" service with 2 free transactions per month and cheque priveleges. Unfortunately, they do not offer their no fee USD mastercard anymore :( Now $25 dollars per year but free additional cardholders.
Canadian/US Exchange rate
If I needed to pay US dollars for a xmas vacation, do you think I should pay now or in January 2010? Not sure if the rate would be better for Canadian or worse. Paying on credit card.
Help if you can!
Thanks,
Deanna
Buy US Dollars now or later?
It is impossible to predict what the exchange rate will be in January 2010. If either of us knew for sure, we could retire rich on some tropical island :)
My advice: Since you likely get a better return on Canadian dollars in your bank account than US dollars (plus the CDIC doesn't insure foreign-currency deposits), try to keep your funds in Canadian dollars for as long as you can.
However, if you manage to find a friend that has US$ sitting around, try to make a deal with them to save on commissions, which is a guaranteed savings.
exchange rate from USD to CDN on January 18,2008
I do need to know what was the exchange rate of $130,000.00 USD to Canadian dollars on January 18,2008.on a bank draft.
Your quick reply would be appreciated.
I will be having the same amount on January 18,2010
I need to convert around 20K CAD into US Dollars
I need to convert around 20K CAD into US Dollars. I asked the bank, they will charge around 4 to 6%. I think, this is too much. Is it possible to wire transfer, or by a USD check and deposit in the States? Or so? You can buy in Europe a USD checks with pro mills of commission(less then 1% deviation to the market-rate). Something similar in Canada?
IF you are exchanging a large
IF you are exchanging a large amount of money. You should do a wire transfer. ICE Currencies has just merged with another company called Payline. There is a girl who helped me out at ICE and it was simple and quick. Call her (nancy) ICE Branch and mention that you are interested to do Wire Transfer. The branch location si 6046839666
Be careful with large amounts and ??? currency exchangers
These are both old posts, but I must suggest one do their research before ever dealing with a currency exchanger, especially when wire transfers (rather than in person cash in and cash out transactions) are involved. I'm big on Norbert's Gambit, because it yields excellent rates to the average person, and a level of security that's unavailable from any currency exchanger.
What a rip off
I changed 22,090 canadian at CIBC and received 20,000 us$ The exchange rate on Yahoo finance that day was as follows
Exchange rate of 0.9356 on Jan 29th 2010 = 20668.0389 usd
CIBC Charged me 668 USD = about 3.3%
If you find a better solution
Please let me know
I am travelling a lot and this kind of wasted $ will kill me
Thanks a ot
Kyle
Converting Large Amounts of Canadian Currency to US Dollars
Please see these two articles:
Best Canadian Dollar to US Dollar Exchange Rates
Banking & Currency Advice for a Canadian moving to the USA
Percentages?
Is there any where that I can get a percentage of the exchange rate (instead of seeing 1:1.02 or whatever I need the Canadian dollar is ?% of the american)
US$ - CAD$ Exchange Rates
You're not serious are you?
C$-$
Hi,
I am a staff of PC Financial. I use ING Direct to convert money. It is little bit good in my opinion. Have anyone tried ING ?
What is the best way to exchange Canadian money to USD?
What is the easyest and best way to change Canadian money to USD. I have to exchange money monthly, either from USD to Canadian or Canadian to USD.
go to bank is the safest and
go to bank is the safest and easiet way to change money
Best way to exchange CAN money to US Or Mex money
As per Subject.
bank of nova scotia conversion rates
living in canada with a usa pension which comes through nova scotia bank I found that the conversion has dropped about $100
for the month of june.?????????
has anyone had a similar reduction here in canada?
Change US$->CAD$ through a Broker, not a Bank!
If you're getting a significant amount of funds monthly, you should find an actual currency broker to do the conversions for you, rather than pay the retail rates at the bank like you currently are. Just my opinion, YMMV (Your Meterage May Vary).
info
thank you for information , i see that the exchange rate on global forex for USD to CDN is 1.30
and bank rate at TD is 1.2790
Is there way of getting a more fair rate
Thank you
TD customer
Bank Exchange Rate Commisions
PC (Presidents Choice) has also raised their commissions on exchange rates to an astronimical amount!
I am a Canadian citizen who gets paid by a U.S. company in U.S. funds, so each percent taken on commission adds up to a lot over the course of a year.
I used to deposit my U.S. cheques into the PC ATMs and noticed that I was charged 2.5 percent. That jumped to at least 5% not too long ago. I assume that CIBC has the same ratios as PC, since they are the parent. I used PC bank because of the ease of banking. They even have a U.S. currency deposit option right on their ATM services.
Anyway, loosing 5% on every cheque is out of the question. As you have indicated, TD has the best conversion rates. Their "Preferred exchange rate" only charges 1.0 or 1.5 percent (can't remember) commission. This rate is acheived by simply having their $5 a month U.S. account option.
I am currently switching all of my banking over to RBC - as I have a mortgage with them. I feel bad about betraying TD. I am currently in the process of getting an account that has a "preferred exchange rate", and I am hoping it is a good one. I know that their regular commision is 3%. And I am hoping that the "preferred rate" is between 1 & 2%.
The obsurd thing about all this is that I have asked at least two dozen bank employees from different banks and enquired by phone as well, as to what these commissions are and not one of these people even understand what I am asking them. And I have changed the wording of my enquiry to just about every way I can pose the question.
I feel like Truman from the "Truman Show"; eveyone is in on this "pretending to be ignorant" except me (and you two)! Either that, or I (an average Joe) appear to have more banking knowledge than most banking representatives!
Anyway, the way I have found out different rates is to check online for the actual rate (which differs up to a percent depending on where you look) just before I go to a bank and pose the question, "how much will I get if I deposit this cheque for "X" amount - right this second?" To go into the dialogue where I ask the teller, broker or manager the conversion rate commissions whould probably make an intelligent person gag! So I will skip that. Hopefully most readers here are the intelligent people I speak of.
Banks won't tell me their commission on larger transactions
Thanks for all this information -- I'm so glad I found this site. (Whoever the owner is, let's link sites, my Readers would like to know this, too). I've just relocated from California back to Canada (my Work visa ran out -- boo!!), and most of my money is in US funds. I thought I would transfer it up last week, when the Canadian dollar was down (good for me!), but when I went into the TD bank, not only was the teller HORRIBLE, she told me the exchange rate, and it was nothing like what I had just seen online. I have asked numerous times at the bank, is there a charge to convert my US funds to Canadian Funds, in a variety of ways, to try to get to the truth, and not one person will give me a straight answer. Surely that is illegal, to have seemingly 'hidden' fees? Right now, I've decided to leave my money in the US, but if I stay in Canada (things have been annoying enough to make me want to turn around and go back to the States), at some point in the near future, I'll want to buy a house, or some land to build on, and will have to move my money.
Does anyone know if the Bank of Montreal is a better bank for US/Canadian funds transfer? I've been with the TD bank for years, but that last horrible teller was just too much. Plus, if they are actively ripping me off, and won't openly disclose all of the fees involved, that's ridiculous.
Thanks for any ideas to solve this frustrating problem (although, very happy to have the money to transfer! lol!)
Oh, and will the bank hold your US cheques, or will they deposit them, directly? It was next-to-impossible for me to cash or deposit Canadian cheques in the US, so wondered if it will be as problematic up here...
Ailsa
http://www.buildyourownhouse.ca
http://buildyourownhousebodylife.blogspot.com
Thanks for your
Scotiabank charges from Can to US Funds
Today it cost me $79.81 to get $60.00 US via a bank of America ATM that has no fee for Scotia custtomers.
$1.33:$1 is a bit high (as
$1.33:$1 is a bit high (as in, bad for you). Perhaps there were other transaction fees involved (eg: you paid for the ATM, but not the Scotia non-Scotia ATM fee?).
Scotiabank USD to CDN conversion fee is wrong or changed
I'd like to report that over the last several years, Scotiabank has been charging a conversion fee of 0.025 (or 2.5%) of the deposit amount on USD deposits to CDN$ bank accounts. Since November their conversion fee is 0.0625 (or 6.25%). Either someone has keyed in the wrong spread for live rate to buy rate or they have had a shift in policy to do business at a premium for US related transactions:
RBC rate is 1.2104 at 9am this morning on US$ deposits.
SB rate was 1.184 at 9am this morning on US$ deposits.
Anyone know someone at Scotiabank head office to figure out what the issue is? Yesterday and today are 6.25% conversion fee.
Ya, I also noticed that
Ya, I also noticed that their non-negotiated retail rates are markedly worse than TD's or Royal Bank's, but mainly on the buy side, they're only a tad worse on the sell side.
And yes, it doesn't really make too much sense considering that their rates aren't properly distributed around the mid-market rate, so it seems like more of a mistake rather than them trying to increase their commissions.
Or maybe their reserves of US$ currency are low, so they're loathe to sell it off, but again, you'd think such a desire would show up in their rates on buying up your US$ currency too.
Rate issue confirmed by Scotiabank Head office
Hi Dan,
I spoke to a resource at Scotiabank's head office and I had them compare today's rate spread of 8% between the sell to customers (withdraw US funds) and the buy (deposit US funds) with any date in the past. She was able to bring up dates in 2004 and 2007 that all say 4% was the spread. She was not able to tell me what was causing the problem and that she would research it and get back to me likely by Tuesday.
I am baffled as to why that are not taking this seriously? I told her that this is not only me but EVERY Scotiabank customer depositing US funds in their accounts across the Country. It not only could mean 4% is being overcharged but from a corporate perspective, once they realize they have an issue can you imagine how long it will take to reimburse all those transactions? If they even bother telling their customers that haven't noticed. So far I am the only person in Canada that has discovered the error (other than you too).
Do you know how I can "move" Scotiabank to react to this National error?
Greg, I'd agree, it really
Scotiabank has confirmed - they changed the rate fee
Dan, their head office confirmed that due to volatility in the foreign exchange markets and their limited business with handling USD cheques, they had chosen to increase their "buy" conversion fee on USD cheques from 2.5% to 6.25%. The only problem is that they did not notify any of their customers. I'm just finding out now and they've been switched for a while. I said that they shouldn't be allowed to change a rate fee like that and they said that the 2.5% was not given anywhere in their literature. I checked my fine print in my booklet given when I got my account 8 years ago and they are correct - No conversion fee rate is given. I have already notified them that I am closing my Scotiabank accounts and moving my business to Royal Bank. It's a business account so it is a painful process to complete but I'm losing a lot in conversion fees so I have to do something. RBC's "BUY" conversion fees are 2.25% versus 6.25% from Scotiabank.
The question is, how do we go about letting all Scotiabank customers know that there has been a rate fee hike. Scotiabank is not announcing it and it's customers are not notified of the change.
Scotiabank Selling "Cash" spread..
I was astounded today when my wife went to Scotiabank to purchase U.S.cash...Yes a cash transaction ..They took a spread of almost 6% over the inter bank U.S.dollar conversion rate of 99.25 from cdn to us....Scotiabank charged a whopping 1.0445 rate on a "Cash" transaction....Daily volatility is minimal in cash for cash transaction as their U.S.Head Office is settled daily.. Their spread was the highest of all the Canadian Banks.. Hong Kong Bank was the lowest with a spread of 2.97 %..
This is just plain gouging the public....
Thanks for letting us know
Uhhhh, that sounds about right. I think your inter-day rates are wrong. Per Xe.net, US$1 = CAD$1.01156, and you received $1.0445, which means their premium was 3.2%, which I think is okay. Their total spread right now is 5.8%
The spread in ING Direct is
The spread in ING Direct is 2.8%. Why would anyone use any other bank?? I think once everyone switches their business to ING, maybe it will teach them a lesson.
Well, 40+ people per day are
I can also make another entry specifically regarding Scotia's rates. Interesting how none of the other banks felt the need to make this change. I'd imagine that cashing USD checks is a limited business for all of the banks really.
Also, their rationale of "volatility" is interesting. If it's volatility, then the gains and losses should even out on average. I'm sure a Big 5 bank could stomach any potential losses (in case the losses do happen to outweigh the gains).
If they are speculating that the US$ will continue to gain, then I'd hope their currency trading desk is making that bet.
Finally, (and I'll have to check on this when I have the chance), are their cash rates also out-of-whack, or just their cheque/check/draft rate? Usually drafts get a preferred rate, would be interesting to see if they're giving cash a preferred rate nowadays.
The final suggestion that I could offer is to open up a US$ account somewhere, deposit US$ checks there, and then periodically get US$ drafts that you could take to a real currency exchanger, or do it all through someone like xe.net.
Once again, thanks for all of your research on this, and for sharing it with all of us.
Preferred exchange rate commissions
PC (Presidents Choice) has also raised their commissions on exchange rates to an astronimical amount!
I am a Canadian citizen who gets paid by a U.S. company in U.S. funds, so each percent taken on commission adds up to a lot over the course of a year.
I used to deposit my U.S. cheques into the PC ATMs and noticed that I was charged 2.5 percent. That jumped to at least 5% not too long ago. I assume that CIBC has the same ratios as PC, since they are the parent. I used PC bank because of the ease of banking. They even have a U.S. currency deposit option right on their ATM services.
Anyway, loosing 5% on every cheque is out of the question. As you have indicated, TD has the best conversion rates. Their "Preferred exchange rate" only charges 1.0 or 1.5 percent (can't remember) commission. This rate is acheived by simply having their $5 a month U.S. account option.
I am currently switching all of my banking over to RBC - as I have a mortgage with them. I feel bad about betraying TD. I am currently in the process of getting an account that has a "preferred exchange rate", and I am hoping it is a good one. I know that their regular commision is 3%. And I am hoping that the "preferred rate" is between 1 & 2%.
The obsurd thing about all this is that I have asked at least two dozen bank employees from different banks and enquired by phone as well, as to what these commissions are and not one of these people even understand what I am asking them. And I have changed the wording of my enquiry to just about every way I can pose the question.
I feel like Truman from the "Truman Show"; eveyone is in on this "pretending to be ignorant" except me (and you two)! Either that, or I (an average Joe) appear to have more banking knowledge than most banking representatives!
Anyway, the way I have found out different rates is to check online for the actual rate (which differs up to a percent depending on where you look) just before I go to a bank and pose the question, "how much will I get if I deposit this cheque for "X" amount - right this second?" To go into the dialogue where I ask the teller, broker or manager the conversion rate commissions whould probably make an intelligent person gag! So I will skip that. Hopefully most readers here are the intelligent people I speak of.
USD / CAD exchange rates
After $4000 in extra fees with Scotiabank on currency conversion, I took your advice Dan and signed up for an account on www.xe.com. I am very satisfied thus far. My average exchange fee is 1.8%.
Compared to the 6.25% at scotiabank and 2.25% at RBC, this is a bargain. Wouldn't anyone want to pock more of their own cheques?
There are some interesting points if others consider the xe.com path.
GOOD - SECURITY VERIFICATION - The account approval process will take about a week or more as applicants (me) have to submit verification for bank accounts and they contact your bank to verify your banking information and identity before giving you trading ability. This is for the electronic funds transfers from account to account - free transfers via EFT. It was a bit frustrating but well worth the wait as at least they are verifying everyone's information.
GOOD - PROCESS IS EASY - They have a live demo of their exchange system. Basically you enter your amount of USD to sell, pick a currency to buy (CAN), pick your method (EFT) and then your account from and to, then your exchange rate pops up and you have time to decide whether to confirm or cancel. you can hit the rate refresh all day if you need to.
GOOD - LOCK IN A RATE FOR UP TO A YEAR: You can do a "forward trade" option which effectively can lock in an exchange rate for up to a year. For instance, in Feb 09 I locked in a forward trade at 1.9% conversion fee and actual exhange rate of 1.255 on $30,000 USD and was able to do 5 transactions though March, April and May to use it up. All the while the exchange rate at the bank fell from 1.23 down to 1.15. I wish I had locked in more. Only downside is that they lock up 10% of the trade value until the last transaction and then release it to your "to" account.
NOT SO GOOD - With the electronic funds transfers from your source account and to your target account, each side of the deal takes 3 days. From the time you book the trade to delivery to your target account takes about 6 days. Patience needed.
NOT SO GOOD - xe.com's live demo uses the live currency exchange rate but they trick you by using a conversion fee in the demo of 0.9% (assumed) making you believe that the conversion fee is extremely low. After you sign up and wait for your account to get approved, you make you first transaction and it's 1.8% conversion fee and you're somewhat let down. I went back and I verified that nowhere in there demo to they state they are using actuals however it is very very very misleading. However, after 10 months of trading and using the forward trades I've saved a ton of money.
XE.com is the way to go if you're with Scotiabank (where I was getting charged at 6.25% conversion fee - see first posting) or PC financial. If you're with RBC at 2.25% then it's a harder decision to take the waiting period of 6 days for a 0.7% savings...guess it depends on your volume of cash being traded.
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