Moving US dollars to Canada

[trumprefugee]

Transferwise did a debit from my BOFA account using my debit card.

Transferwise has 4 options: Debit, ACH, Wire Transfer, Credit Card.

Debit and ACH cost same. I think in my today's transfer Debit was $3ish something and Transferwise fees was $12ish something.

Wire transfer is the one where you need to call US bank and ask them to transfer money to transferwise.

I see. The fee for ACH/debit is a percentage of the amount you are transferring, so for the smaller amounts, it's not that high dollar wise, but for larger amounts, it becomes higher than a domestic wire transfer fee.

Ah the fee is .15% of the amount taken from a US bank account:
https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/pricing
"(there's 0.15% fee to add money from a US account)"

 

[APPNOV2014NY]

Ok. So for bigger amounts Wire Transfer from US bank to Transferwise would be the cheapest option. Right?

 

[trumprefugee]

Ok. So for bigger amounts Wire Transfer from US bank to Transferwise would be the cheapest option. Right?

Cheaper than ACH debit, yes. Transferwise charges $75 to transfer in $50k US. Transferwise also has a daily limit of bringing in $50k, so for larger amounts than that (and often even under $50k), I have found Knightsbridge usually to have the best exchange rates. I believe Knightsbridge has no dollar limit.

 

[Alex54321]

I wish I had seen this thread earlier. Ever since I landed almost 3 weeks ago, I have been trying to figure out and get set up with banking and currency exchange. I am now registered with several currency exchange companies and have been tracking their rates for the past 2 weeks. Knightsbridge generally has the best exchange rates, although it was a pain to get registered at first.

I also tried Transferwise and was very disappointed with its high ACH fees that unfortunately are not avoidable if you choose ACH transfer. It is even cheaper just to wire transfer into Transferwise's account. At least Transferwise's account is based in the US, so it was a domestic wire transfer instead of international. I later found that Bank of America advertises only $3 for a 3 day domestic wire transfer, but I don't know how accurate it is. I was quoted a $15 wire transfer fee to wire US dollars into Knightsbridge's US currency account (at a Canadian bank), but I ended up being charged an additional $45 wire transfer fee on top of the $15 that was taken out of the initial transfer! I am very unhappy about this. I will sign up for a US currency account at TD Canada and bring the remainder of my funds into my TD Bank account in the US for transfer into TD Canada, and then Knightsbridge supposedly would be able to take the funds from the US currency account at TD Canada for free.

Exactly, read my steps above: US dollars to US TD Bank, US TD Bank free wire to USD account in TD Canada Trust, Knightsbridge exchange (free back and forth) from USD TD Canada Trust to CAD TD Canada Trust. That's all. My issue was step one - US dollars to US TD Bank, since I did not have close branch.

 

[awaw]

Dear Members,

My wife moved from US to Canada as resident. However; she hasn't moved her US money to Canada. She was working is US and paid all her taxes in US.
1. If she moves money to Canada; will there be any taxes that needs to be paid in Canada?
2. She will move her US dollars to Canadian bank in US dollar account.
3. One of tax consultant; said there will be no taxes and she can wire her money from US Bank to Canadian Bank.

Please let me know on this and if anyone has goes through this process.

Thank you.
J

If you have a US dollar account in TD bank in Canada and an account in TD bank in the US, you can trasfer miney using the crossborder service at no charges.