Monthly transfers salary from Europe to Canada

[frasts]

Hi all,

I will be receiving my salary on a European bank account (this was not negotiable) for the next two years. What's the best way to transfer part of it regularly to a Canadian bank for all my expenses in Canada?
Transferwise seems the cheapest option but still changes 0.5%.

Related to this, what's your experience with Tangerine bank or PC Financial? I need an online bank with easy access to pay bills/rent/ withdraw cash (not for savings).

Thanks!

 

[steaky]

How about HSBC? Isn't it an European bank?

 

[vensak]

You will need first Canadian bank account to be able to start with Tangerine. As for money transfers, you need to look a bit more carefully, which EU bank may offer such option.
Technically with a good credit card you can do most of the purchases here.

 

[frasts]

The institution paying my salary is German, so I had to open a German bank account in Europe.
As far as I looked, any payment from European banks, in Euros to Canadian banks in Canadian dollars has fees starting from 15€/ transfer.
That's why I looked into the 'cheaper' transferwise option (0.5%, but midmarket exchange rate which is good) to transfer bulks of money to my own Canadian account, from which then I can make all the different payments in Canada (bills, rent, insurance, etc) at the 'normal' cost of 1$ per e transfer. And I can also withdraw cash at no cost.
Does all of this make sense or would there be a better solution?

 

[NetMecca]

Although this may not work for everything, why not just get a credit card at you EU bank and use that to pay your expenses in Canada?

 

[frasts]

Although this may not work for everything, why not just get a credit card at you EU bank and use that to pay your expenses in Canada?

There will be fees for ATM withdrawals, and anyways everytime I have to pay bills/rent I would incur in either the 15€ charge for international transfer, or the 0.5% charge through Transferwise.

 

[steaky]

The institution paying my salary is German, so I had to open a German bank account in Europe.
As far as I looked, any payment from European banks, in Euros to Canadian banks in Canadian dollars has fees starting from 15€/ transfer.
That's why I looked into the 'cheaper' transferwise option (0.5%, but midmarket exchange rate which is good) to transfer bulks of money to my own Canadian account, from which then I can make all the different payments in Canada (bills, rent, insurance, etc) at the 'normal' cost of 1$ per e transfer. And I can also withdraw cash at no cost.
Does all of this make sense or would there be a better solution?

How about Euros to Canadian banks (such as HSBC) in Euros? If you Premier account, the transfer fee might be waived.

 

[frasts]

How about Euros to Canadian banks (such as HSBC) in Euros? If you Premier account, the transfer fee might be waived.

Premier/Advanced accounts require something like 100.000 $ balance.

Transferwise seems to be the best option. How about incoming wires fees though? transferwise says there are no additional fees, but does that include what the receiving bank would charge or not? (e.g. bank of montreal charges 15$ for incoming wire, would that be skipped?)