PayPal --- add a USD bank account possible??

[tomstone607]

With the recent uprising of the Canadian dollar, I'm taking a beating on the currency switch over, since I sell in USD. So I opened a US Dollar account today with my bank, added it to my debit card, and away I went. I got home to try and add my new USD account to my PayPal account, this way I can transfer my USD into my US account, and convert it at a much better bank rate. Turns out, you cannot do this on PayPal. I called the PayPal #, and after being on hold for 17 minutes of long distance call, I was told that it was impossible to add a USD account to a Canadian PayPal account.

There's got to be a way around this. My question, then, is what are my possible options of depositing my US balance from PayPal into a USD account? I thought I heard someone say something about transferring it through some middle-man company... but I don't recall all the details.

What do all you other sellers do? Do you deposit Canadian Dollars into your accounts, and take the currency exchange hit too?

[muminlaw]

modern_ are you saying that TDWaterhouse has discontinued already established accounts?

As far as the 2-stap procedure for transferring money (PayPal to US bank to Cdn US$ acct), I prefer it that way. The more separation between PayPal and my money, the better I like it!

Glenda

[shoplineca]

Glenda
I have and continue to use my TD Waterhouse US acct with no problems and no notices that they are discountinuing. I just believe that the volume of new accounts was more than they planned for and were not equipped to handle it.

The Cdn banks really stand at fault here as they changed the relationship with their customers without providing any notice or guidance when they shange from allowing us to operate US Bank accounts to operating only US Dollar accounts.

The majority of people INLCUDING BANK EMPLOYEES thought it was the same thing. No one was informed, few could assist.

To learn that of all the great Canadian banking institutions that we have and of the two that offer US Bank accounting, only one is now taking on new customers.

This is pretty sad at best and further reflects that our banks are NOT service geared, but profit geared.

Malcolm

[bh542]

javax.swing,

Actually I already started using RBC Centura. The W-3BEN form can be sent out later.

Also I started using XE and found out that they took about 1% out compared with their median exchange rate. It's better than PayPal and most banks but I am not sure if it's better than most money exchangers in the local market.

Andrew

[shooger]

"I signed up for the cheapest (RBC Centura) account which is free with $700 US min. balance in your account."

That's the one I got, too. I keep $700 in there, doing nothing (I call it my "rainy day fund") and I've never paid a cent of fees. Unlimited transactions, free cheques (which I've never used anyway), debit card, and the offer of a Visa (which I declined). I think it's worth setting aside $700 to pay nothing in fees. If you're an accomplished investor, you could probably take that $700 and make more than $6.95 a month with it, and then pay the $6.95 monthly fee with that... but I'm not. 🙂

"I need to sign the form (W-8BEN) and return it to them."

I ripped up that form and recycled it. I emailed my Centura rep and he said not to bother if it doesn't seem like it applies to me. It didn't apply to me. I've had my account a year and never heard anything more about it.

"I can't transfer funds at this time. I signed in online banking and found out there's another step---they will mail me an activation code. After I submit the activation code I can have full access. Now I can only view my balance."

I went through EXACTLY what you're going through. I was annoyed at the initial delays because I was impatient to get my money transferred. 🙂 But it has been very, very worthwhile.

"After HSBC sent me the package I have to sign a whole stack of papers, plus include a certified cheque and a reference letter from my current bank and 3 months of statements. That costed me $7 and $16.50 respectively from my bank."

That sounds very unfortunate. I didn't have any of those steps (or costs) with RBC Centura.

"Also I started using XE and found out that they took about 1% out compared with their median exchange rate. It's better than PayPal and most banks but I am not sure if it's better than most money exchangers in the local market."

XE.com guarentees that they will beat any price, so I'd look into taking them up on that if you think they're overcharging. So far I've never found a bank, PayPal, currency exchange shop, or online company who will beat their exchange rate... but if you find one, do let us know!