Would it be worth it to open an American bank account?

[ToliBera]

When I was in Florida at the start of the month my mother suggested opening a US bank account to save up money for my next visit in Dec 2018.

with the fluctuation of the CAD/USD dollars, would opening a US account be worth it for squirreling away money? I already have a Tax Free Savings Account that auto-deducts $50CAD each paycheque, which doesn't hurt too badly, but i worry the additional $20-50USD won't be as fun to tuck away.

 

[starry_solo]

If you do, make sure you open one that has no requirements for minimum deposits.

 

[cjbcam]

We just opened one about a month ago. We are determined to tuck $100 American away every check. It’s an amount that we won’t really notice gone and will add up fast ($400) a month. We travel to the states a lot so it will work well for us.

 

[MommyBG]

I opened a US currency account at my bank. I have the XE rate app on my phone and monitor the exchange rate. When it hits at rate I'm happy with, I simply transfer $50 or $100. It's amazing how quickly it adds up. I think the service charge is $1.00 a month but it is waived if your balance is more that $200. It's nice to just withdraw the money and not think about the exchange since it's already been done!

 

[ToliBera]

is it better to open a US account with a Canadian bank, or with an American bank?

 

[marcyleecorgan]

RBC has US accounts! I use them because it's way more likely I am going to be near a RBC than any American bank... I can pull cash from the ATM at the airport on the way to the security line LOL

 

[mab2012]

is it better to open a US account with a Canadian bank, or with an American bank?

For most people it's going to be more convenient to open a USD account at your Canadian bank.

Holding an account at a US bank can be useful if you own or intend to buy US property (possibly including timeshares or investments), or have other business in the US. But for vacation savings or US retail purchases, a Canadian account works just as well, and is usually easier to access and manage.

 

[TFC_UNTIL_I_DIE]

All of the big Canadian banks have a few different US account options. you do get a better exchange rate by online banking and doing it yourself. Just be aware that you still cannot transfer PayPal US$ to your USD Canadian account - it will need to be exchanged. There are endless boards on here about this topic (note PayPal did away with US$ cheques to Canadians about 1.5 years ago).

You may experience issues trying to pay online with your US$ Canadian bank account on US sites....but its getting harder to set up an account as a foreigner in the US. I noticed Caisse Populaire has a program where you can have a US$ account and use their ATMs in Hollywood Florida, however I believe these are simply Canadian bank accounts still.

 

[TFC_UNTIL_I_DIE]

For most people it's going to be more convenient to open a USD account at your Canadian bank.

Holding an account at a US bank can be useful if you own or intend to buy US property (possibly including timeshares or investments), or have other business in the US. But for vacation savings or US retail purchases, a Canadian account works just as well, and is usually easier to access and manage.

Just one comment on this posting - if you are going to hold a US property as a Canadian resident (for Canadian tax purposes) - be aware of the estate tax consequences in the US. Hold it separately in a trust!

 

[Lexx1214]

We have an RBC US account. We use it for both saving for Disney and online purchases in the US. Depending on the type of account you have RBC offers a premium exchange rate. We use our regular savings account to save $500 each month while watching the exchange rates and when it gets to a level we like we transfer what we’ve saved in the US account. When we travel down to the states we can use our visa debit card for purchases. We even used the visa debit to book and pay for our upcoming September 2018 Disney trip. I love not having to do the math to figure out the exchange when making purchases or having to pay that extra 2.5% fee when using my Canadian credit card.

 

[sk8jdgca]

For estates the general rule of thumb is $60,000 in us holdings but because of tax treaties generally those with worldwide estate worth of 5.34 million or less will not have to pay us estate tax

 

[sk8jdgca]

I do have a usd esavings account at RBC in Canada and a cheating account with RBC Bank in the us. Plus I have a credit card with the us side of the company. I love it