Best place to exchance Canadian money

[Millertime]

Where do you get the best exchange from CAD to USD?

[Calgary14]

I use Calforex and they are usually pretty competitive. My bank isn't able to match their rates most of the time. http://www.calforex.com/en/

[taco.vidal]

Originally Posted by Millertime

Where do you get the best exchange from CAD to USD?

What quantity? As the other poster said, banks will have a tough time matching Calforex's rates on smaller amounts even with Calforvx's small fee. If you're talking large amounts, you may have other viable options.

[DownhillGoat]

Calforex although my bank isn't far off usually. For USD I usually get a small amount here and the rest at the ATM down there. Seem to get better rates that way than actually walking in, but I've never monitored it overly closely.

[Philly06Cup]

Search online for a peer-to-peer foreign exchange site. By far the cheapest -- can get margins at 0.4%

[GGG]

For vacations Calforex before hand is good as it takes no planning no matter where you are going.

[Slava]

I am terrible for this and just take money out using my bank card, but I am curious if that's just moronic. How much are you saving by using Calforex or one of these converters? Say it was like $200 USD you wanted.

[Ducay]

You'd probably save maybe $4-6 versus your bank card on $200, plus ATM fees. I generally go to Calforex, but aside from that, I don't worry too much about the rates, given it'll be a couple bucks give or take ontop of a pricey vacation. If using an ATM in the states is easiest and you're not doing it 100 times a year, impact is negligable.

The big savings are when you're making a large USD purchase (car, house), then I recommend a legit Fx house (XE.com, etc) as your margins are a lot smaller. Thats where the real savings are.

[darklord700]

Speaking of which, what's the best USD credit card? The cheapest one I can find is the ATB USD mastercard which costs $19 a year.

[Huntingwhale]

My good buddy owns the exchange place in Eau Claire. If you PM me I can give him a heads up you are interested and he can hook you up.

[Regulator75]

A time machine...

[heep223]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Speaking of which, what's the best USD credit card? The cheapest one I can find is the ATB USD mastercard which costs $19 a year.

I have the TD one and I think it's free...

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by heep223

I have the TD one and I think it's free...

https://www.tdcanadatrust.com/produc...ollar-card.jsp

This one? It's $39 a year.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Ducay

You'd probably save maybe $4-6 versus your bank card on $200, plus ATM fees. I generally go to Calforex, but aside from that, I don't worry too much about the rates, given it'll be a couple bucks give or take ontop of a pricey vacation. If using an ATM in the states is easiest and you're not doing it 100 times a year, impact is negligable.

The big savings are when you're making a large USD purchase (car, house), then I recommend a legit Fx house (XE.com, etc) as your margins are a lot smaller. Thats where the real savings are.

Yeah I haven't really looked too carefully, but I'm pretty sure I just pay $2.50 at my bank and then if the other bank isn't mine I pay their ATM fee. Aside from that the exchange rate is what it is. I guess I figured for that type of thing I don't really care too much. Maybe I should, but I'm too lazy to go way out of my way to save like $5. Of course if I was looking to buy a car or something like a major purchase it would be a different story though.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Speaking of which, what's the best USD credit card? The cheapest one I can find is the ATB USD mastercard which costs $19 a year.

There's the no-fee Chase Amazon.ca card that has 1% cashback and no forex fees.