Spending money in Canada

[TrentePieds]

Uhm... TD Bank (Toronto Dominion Bank) is one of the "charter banks" I wus on about. There are numerous charter banks, but the remaining four of the "big five" are Royal Bank, Scotiabank (Bank of Nova Scotia) Bank of Commerce and Bank of Montreal. None of them give a damn about "retail customers" but are obliged by law to serve them. Therefore they will "fee you" to death.

If you are a Credit Union member in the US you will indubitably find it easy enuff to be accepted as a member of a Canadian C/U. I believe the current limit to "cash in hand" that you can bring into Canada, no questions asked" is Can$10K - good enuff for starters.

TrentePieds

[pcmm]

All good advise, Canada is BIG on debit. in fact its the single most popular way to pay for things. followed by Credit, then cash. Don't bother with cheques ( yes that's how its spelled) almost no one uses them for anything except maybe rent and the occasional bill! We're on the same book of cheques for 5 years and still have most of them left.


everyone just about takes debit, we use it so much that we rarely even bother to carry real cash!

[bvander]

Actually compared to many of the small US banks, Canadian banks actually are fairly light on services and fees.
For example, on the cross border movement of funds with TD Bank, if done by phone transfer your charged a small service fee, which is then refunded that same day.

As an aside most Canadian Banks have a MOU with a major US bank. For example Bank of Nova Scotia has and agreement with Bank of America so when each others ATMs are used there are no service fees charged, only the going exchange rate.

[adlib2]

Originally Posted by muttskie

Wow! Great information from everyone. Thank you all very much.
I think I'll open a TD Bank account and take advantage of their cross-border banking set-up.
And thanks Bill for the addendum about cell phones and data usage. Very helpful!
Looking forward to experiencing B.C. in all it's glory!

I live in Florida and visit Canada a few times/year. I have both TD Canada Trust Cards (Credit and Debit) and same for TD US. Any charges for transferring funds between accounts are refunded. I use Canadian CC in the US and the only hassle is gas pumps not accepting the card outside resulting in having to go inside to complete the purchase.
TD US CARD I use anywhere in Canada, gas, restaurants, pubs, retail stores and super markets. etc.
I also have CIBC Cards (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) and Barclays UK Cards that I use in the US or anywhere else in the world without hassle.
As my purchases are for incidentals that don't amount to much I'm not concerned about a few percent fee; although, it does pay to check fees as one Bank in the Caribbean wanted to charge $20 for a $100 cash withdrawal. I went elsewhere.
My income is all derived from Canada and UK and my living expenses all in the US, I'm transferring funds every month to the US but certainly not through Credit Cards.














































































TD US

[pcmm]

not to highjack this thread, but the secret to using a Canadian CC at US gas pumps is to use the numbers in your postal code as the zip code. EG if my postalcode was L1Z1G7 , then I would enter 11700 as my zip code in the gas pump! Works every time!

[AiniA]

Not directly related to the thread, but our bank, TD in Canada no longer wants/needs to be informed of where we are travelling to. Found this out when we tried to contact them with travel plans to SE Asia.

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by AiniA

Not directly related to the thread, but our bank, TD in Canada no longer wants/needs to be informed of where we are travelling to. Found this out when we tried to contact them with travel plans to SE Asia.

CIBC as well.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by pcmm

not to highjack this thread, but the secret to using a Canadian CC at US gas pumps is to use the numbers in your postal code as the zip code. EG if my postalcode was L1Z1G7 , then I would enter 11700 as my zip code in the gas pump! Works every time!

This worked intermittently for me during my recent seven month motorcycle trip through the US. Never did see a pattern.


Why go fast, when you can go slow

[adlib2]

Originally Posted by pcmm

not to high jack this thread, but the secret to using a Canadian CC at US gas pumps is to use the numbers in your postal code as the zip code. EG if my postal code was L1Z1G7 , then I would enter 11700 as my zip code in the gas pump! Works every time!

As I reside in the US my mailing address for my Canadian Account and credit cards are St. Augustine, Florida with Fl Zip Code and it will not accept it at the pump. I don't have a Canadian Post Code so can't try your system as much as I'd too.

[alverz2007]

Banking? Credit cards? Didn't you know, we all live in igloos and use dog sleds for travel !

[goat]

I thought all Americans used Charles Schwab for banking when traveling.

Sent from my XT1058 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[smac999]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Why the apparent assumption that Canadian fiscal arrangements are either primitive or hostile to Americans? Canada is not Gujarat or Sierra Leone.

I find US is the primitive one. I still have to sign my CC receipts every time I down there after swiping. up here it's all chip and passwords.

[smac999]

Originally Posted by AiniA

Not directly related to the thread, but our bank, TD in Canada no longer wants/needs to be informed of where we are travelling to. Found this out when we tried to contact them with travel plans to SE Asia.

My TD visa was stopped a couple years ago within a week when I went traveling overseas. I never told them. and they couldn't reactivate the chip untill I came home and stuck it into one of there machines at my bank... that wasn't much fun.