US $ Credit Card

RockerGuy

RockerGuy

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Anybody have a US $ credit card? Any you'd recommend?
How about a US $ account where you can pay off that credit card online?

I'd like to know suggestions, thanks
 
Lightcycle said:
TD All-Inclusive Banking: Keep a $5K minimum balance in a TD chequing account and you'll get the USD savings account and Visa card free, as well as a whole host of other benefits (safety deposit box, CDN Visa card).

https://www.tdcanadatrust.com/products-services/banking/accounts/chequing-accounts/all-inclusive.jsp
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And if you sign up before August 1st you'll get a tablet too. I just got one, it'll be great for tours.

Most purchases I make in US$ now I use the Amazon card... they don't charge the 2.5% currency exchange fee like every other credit card, plus you get a 1% bonus in Amazon bucks.

If I could predict which way our dollar was going to go in respect to the USD I'd buy a bunch of US$ and use the TD card, but since I don't then I just pay the rate of the day with the Amazon card.
 
RockerGuy said:
I'm looking at their site & I believe there is a yearly fee
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There's two levels of US accounts at TD. One you have to keep a minimum amount in and that's free otherwise there's a yearly rate and you get a better level of exchange rate etc, the other is one with no minimum, is free but has a ****** exchange rate.

Either exchange rate is a bit like being mugged by a man in a suit though. I find all canadian banks to be a bit like that book..only paraphrased "50 shades of ****".
 
RockerGuy said:
It doesn't say US$ but I'm sure you know what you're talking about
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Here you go:

ftczeu.jpg


Diesel said:
Most purchases I make in US$ now I use the Amazon card... they don't charge the 2.5% currency exchange fee like every other credit card, plus you get a 1% bonus in Amazon bucks.
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I just signed up for this a few weeks ago. It's a great idea for international travel.
 
after looking at it a lot and looking at possible options I just use my CDN card and pay an exchange. My pay is in CDN so I have to convert to US anyway and get dinged at the bank, I do have a US acct at TD here and a US acct at an American bank near my home in the US. I watch the exchange rate and convert cash when it looks right, kind of a crap shoot, if I was spending more than 15k a yr on an American card I might get an American card, but I collect air miles on my BMO world elite card and that makes me happy. We get about four free flts a yr on points.
 
The TD account is worth it if you have a lot of spare US cash lying around and buy stuff from US frequently. We buy all our business stuff from US so I don't convert US anymore it's not worth the current exchange rate.
 
If you have the TD US$ account and keep a balance of $3k min per month, the USD Visa card fee is waived as are fees on the account. You don't need a CAD account.
Plus Free U.S. Bank Drafts, Traveler's Cheques and cheque orders (if you need that sort of thing - I use the USD cheques to pay for vacations when required)
 
I have an Amazon.ca credit card which doesn't charge for currency exchange and gives cash back. Does that count?
 
I can definitely say it is handy. I have just heard of that All Inclusive Banking plan, however my wife is a TD Employee so it really doesn't matter for me. My USD Card and our USD Bank account are free already. However, I still get a slightly better exchange rate than you guys!! So there! :)

Rockerguy - It is super awesome in terms of buying stuff online, converting money when the exchange rate is in your advantage, going on vacation etc...

I converted a fairly sizable amount when the dollar was at $1.03. Super stoked I did that.... now, when we go on vacation or I need USD, it comes out of my USD account, and I check the current rate for the amount of money I am taking also... that way, when I transfer the CAD back into Savings, if I do it at the current dollar value, the money I took out of my investment in the first place makes a return of the difference in the USD -> CAD. In this case, it is around 10%! Bonus.
 
unL33T said:
I have an Amazon.ca credit card which doesn't charge for currency exchange and gives cash back. Does that count?
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What's the exchange rate like?
 
RockerGuy said:
What's the exchange rate like?
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Can't seem to find the exact rate. Here's what it says on their site:
Foreign currency transactions are converted at the exchange rate set by Visa International, without additional surcharges.
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unL33T said:
Can't seem to find the exact rate. Here's what it says on their site:
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That's something to consider because I don't have 3k US $ now
 
unL33T said:
Can't seem to find the exact rate. Here's what it says on their site:
Click to expand...

Foreign currency transactions are converted at the exchange rate set by Visa International, without additional surcharges.
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You know, this is actually a very good question. You may save 2.5% on foreign currency conversion rates, but what is the actual buy/sell rate set by Visa? Because surely it isn't the same as the actual f/x rate at the time.

So I checked, the "rate set by Visa International" is the corporate rate and can be found daily here:

http://usa.visa.com/personal/card-benefits/travel/exchange-rate-calculator.jsp (enter 0% for bank rate, as that is what Chase Amazon.ca charges you)

For today: Buy USD at $0.916751 CDN, sell USD at $0.910672 CDN, so a difference of +/- 0.3% around the floating exchange rate. Not bad!
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