Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
I was just looking at how to open a US$ savings account in Canada. It's not something I realized you could before.
Now I just need to do the math and see if the transaction fees would be worth it. I will also admit that I don't understand all the factors that make the CAN$ lower than the US$. Are these events likely to lead to a lower Canadian dollar? It's actually up about a cent in the past few days, but obviously you can't generate a trend from that.
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I get paid in US$, so to me this current situation is fantastic.
The value in having a US$ account in Canada is in having frequent access / transactions in US$. Taking some money out of your CA$ account(s) and hoping to time the forex fluctuations by trading back and forth between your accounts won't be worth it, unless you're playing with huge figures (but then there are better things to do with the money), especially since I would guess the most significant move in the US/CA$ rates has already happened.
If you do decide it's worthwhile to open a US$ account, the biggest issue is converting currencies between your accounts. Your Canadian bank will (not surprisingly) take an enormous cut on the forex rate (3-4%), so on any transaction of a significant amount, you'll want to use a third-party to handle the transfer. There are local companies and digital companies that can do this for you, essentially at spot rates... Without that, it's essentially pointless and just a nice way to give your bank an extra 3-4% on your money for no reason.