Hmmm US$ to $C conversion...

[ricarmic]

Today I saw a grumblingly bad conversion rate in PAYPAL land which prompted me to compare the rate my bank is giving me vs the paypal rate. (my bank rate is 1% better).

I think I saw something from folks here that there were easier ways now to transfer US$ from a PAYPAL account to a US$ account "here". (I still have my "US bank account with a US bank" but moving money through it is a pain and takes a long time including phone calls).

I use TD and from what I read, it appeared to me that my borderless banking account now might be ok. It all depends on where it is viewed as "located" and how it looks to PAYPAL.

To be sure before I tried setting it up, I called PAYPAL and had a good conversation with their CSR. After some investigation she tells me it is still like the olden days, I can't get US$ transferred directly, (My PAYPAL account is a .COM account that says I'm a Canadian) but I think she was thinking in terms of a Canadian bank, when I believe the US accounts here now are generally backed (held) in a US bank?

Anyway I guess the shorter easier question is whether anyone has a TD US$ account that they are able to directly transfer US$ from PAYPAL to it??

[recped]

PayPal will not (maybe can not) transfer US Dollars in to a CANADIAN based US Dollar bank account.

You must get a US based account, it's possible that TD could assist you in opening an account with TD North which is their US Division. Alternatively you can open a US account directly, perhaps easiest with one of the online banks (Capital one for example) or if you ever visit the USA you can just walk in to any bank and open an account.

Getting a US account witho8ut being physically present used to be simple, post 9/11 it got much more difficult but still possible.

Once you have the US account you can use a third-party like xe.com to do the transfers between accounts for a MUCH better rate than your bank will give you. Last time I checked with my Canadian bank the only way to get a reasonable rate was to convert a minimum of $100,000.00 and the best rates were available for conversions over $500,000.00

Specialty currency services like xe have no minimum and only charge a small amount over the official mid-market rates.

As an example, conversion commission (approximate).

PayPal - 2.75%

Major Canadian Bank counter rate - 2.5%

Major Canadian Bank "bulk" rate - 1.5 - 2.0%

Dedicated exchange service - 0.75%

When opening a US based account you will need to complete an IRS form WBEN-8 in addition to the regular paperwork needed to open an account (SIN and other Identification).

Bottom line, a US Dollar account from a Canadian bank will not work.

One thing I don't have a clue on is how this will all work with eBay's Managed Payments. I'm guessing the US roll-out of MP will be mostly complete by the first half of 2020 for US based sellers. At that point it will likely be expanded to Canadian sellers, how the moving of money will work at that point is unknown (to me at least).

[femmefan1946]

The difference is TDCanadaTrust vs TDNorth.

The former is a Canadian bank.

The latter is an American bank.

Same with the Royal Bank of Canada vs RBCBank.

The former is Canadian.

The latter is American.

That being said we can move U$ from RBCBank to our Royal Bank of Canada U$dollar account, without foreign exchange.

If we then move it to a Canadian dollar account, exchange kicks in of course.

[ricarmic]

Hi Recp!!

I am fortunate that I did open a US bank based account prior to 911, however the time to move money from PAYPAL to it, and then to my account here and/or XE trade took days and a phone call (that's the only way I can check to make sure the $$$ has reached my US account given all the "out of country" rules they have these days - no internet access, no card etc allowed). The money should get to the account a lot faster these days but the phone call will still be required.

That's the reason I quit using the process many years ago, by the time I executed the "process" oftentimes the dollar value had changed more than the amount I was saving executing the process.

I also let my XE trade account lapse when they did a big conversion a few years? ago, as I recall it was a pain getting it set up in the first place, and I appear to be getting lazier as I get older, so I'm not sure I'll attempt reopening it.

In the years since I quit using "the process", I've been playing the "watch the PAYPAL rates" game, they only update the rate a couple times? a day (or not instantly anyway) so I watch for when the dollar value increases and I cash out before they update the PAYPAL conversion rates. This usually saves me .5 to 1%.

Today our dollar is dropping, the spread when I go to cash out at the moment is 4.7% (it was 4.2% yesterday).

I'll have to continue to ponder the best way to move ahead.....I may talk with the TD folks, I'm sure that will be an adventure too.....

[recped]

First thing, I haven't used my US account for eBay related stuff since ebay.ca switched to CAD exclusively.

I have no issues with online access to my US account but I rarely if ever looked to "check" if the PayPal transfers got there since they are very predictable.

As far as moving funds, I just write a check from my US account and deposit it in my Canadian USD account. Since I have a good relationship with my bank they do not place any holds so I can access the funds the same day they are deposited in the US based bank (actually even before because it takes a few days for my check to get to the clearing house in NY).

Yeah the xe restructuring was a pain, the new owners changed a lot of things but once it's set up it runs pretty much the same as always (there are quite a few similar services out there, maybe some are easier). One thing for sure, if you use any of the third-party services for currency conversion it will take a number of days to complete any transfer, it's the "cost" of getting the much better rates.

I hadn't looked recently but I see that PayPal now charge 3% on us/ca conversions, that's pretty steep!

[ypdc_dennis]

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@recped wrote:

I hadn't looked recently but I see that PayPal now charge 3% on us/ca conversions, that's pretty steep!

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Trickier than that.

2.9% on us/ca paypal transaction conversions.  Like buying a CA$ item with a US$ balance.

2.5% when converting between paypal balances.  So convert the money between balances first before buying or transferring to your bank account to save 0.4%

Sellers with a Merchant account who have more than $3000 in sales every month can get a 1% lower exchange rate.

-..-

[ricarmic]

Hi Rec!

Yep yesterday the "spread" in PAYPAL was over 5% which is crazy.

Just moving through the US account and chequing to myself, same as you do, was only 3% so for now I will do that, I'll have to check out the XE stuff again when I have a chance....I called the US bank* to make sure everything is as I thought it was, I can now get updates easier than before and the money moves there quicker too so all is good that way.


*I had to laugh when the CSR answered the phone she apologized for the wait. The wait was about 2 seconds. Quite different than calling here!