Canadians are always looking for better ways to bank in the U.S.
Snowbirds need a U.S. bank account to take care of the bills at their condo. Canadian shoppers want easier ways to pay their Macy’s or J.C. Penney account after cross-border shopping sprees.
Opening an account at a U.S. bank is an option, but you might not be able to get a U.S. credit card because you don’t have a credit history. It’s also a hassle getting cash into those accounts because you either need a money order or have to cross the border, find a bank branch and deposit the cash.
Both RBC and TD Canada Trust are now offering accounts that overcome these hurdle, pairing them with a U.S. dollar credit card. They let you pay U.S. bills online, use American ATMs without access fees and make it easy to transfer money among the accounts. Read More…
Don’t believe TD Bank’s claim that they can provide seamless cross-border service. TD Canada Trust and US TD Bank are two completely separate entities and the interaction between them is no easier than between any other US and Canadian bank. TD Canada Trust still does not have a US dollar debit card. They have a phone number to call 24/7 for cross-border banking, but the line is often backed up and you are put on hold endlessly. Transfers between TD Canada and TD USA take at least one business day, so if you don’t get through to the TD help line on a Friday, you won’t receive your transfer at the other end until Tuesday – later if it’s a long weekend. There must be better ways.
TD has been good but on my last 2 wire transfers I have to call to get the charge reversed as it is free if you hold accounts on both sides of the border. Maybe the call center has a lot of new people not properly trained. Apparently the bank is supposed to post the charge and then credit it back. This isn’t happening so please pay attention to your accounts! It happened to me from US to Canada and Canada to US. It is a great service but time consuming enough with the one phone call let alone having to call to get your fee credited every time. Make sure you are not getting charged!
I had been using RBC for cross border banking until 1 year ago, Never had any problem, quick action and quick response, hassle free….However they closed shop in Florida, hence I had to open TD account for US money transfers within US & Canada, it has been a nightmare ever since on both sides of the border, the representative lack knowledge and the left doesnt know the right…I shall close the account pretty soon…. dont have enough hours to waste over phone and in person
The most difficult aspect for me when cross-border shopping is that i like to use my debit card which works great in the US but because of our “chip” style we all love here in Canada i notice that they dont have the same style in the US.
They are very backwards and so it takes me longer to do shopping and in some cases they cant use my chip-enabled card because their systems dont recognize it despite the logos on the back of the card.
It’s time the US grew up!
You’d think with both our dollars at par 1 to 1 that we wouldnt have to concern ourselves over conversions. Nope. Crazy world 🙄
Yea i have a TD US account and is how i do all my banking. I recently got a US credit card and things are easy. The only problem is their are know gift points 🙁
Poor ScotiaBank. Anyone remember them? They still don’t offer anything for us loyal customers for cross-border stuff.
The best bank for US and Europe activity via cards is RBC Royal Bank in my opinion. They introduced an eSavings US account this year with no fees which is great for paypal.
Because our countries are becoming so similar (products/services) there is less and less of a reason to shop and do business across the border.
A lot of their biggest brick and mortar shops are here.
I think it is funny that it took decades for the big 5 banks to realise people wanted better ways to do banking in America. Sheesh!