I travel frequently to the US, and I have a bank account in Vermont with TD Banknorth that I use to write cheques and withdraw cash from ATMs in the States. I also have a Borderless account with TD Canada Trust here in Canada. Typically I deposit a cheque in Canadian dollars to my Borderless account, and then write a cheque in US dollars from the Borderless account and deposit that in my TD Banknorth account so I have access to it in the US. Making a deposit in Canadian dollars directly to my TD Banknorth account is a bad deal because they charge fees on top of a poor exchange rate, plus it can take a few weeks for my deposit cheques to clear.
The only hassle for me in this arrangement is that I have no other account at TD Canada Trust, so I can't electronically transfer money from Canadian to US; I have to physically go to the closest TD branch, which is more than 45 minutes away (thus taking a couple of hours out of my day). So I'm wondering if it makes sense to open an ING Direct US $ account. I already have an ING Canadian $ account, so I could easily transfer money from my Canadian to US account, and then from there to my Borderless account.
As far as I can tell, TD doesn't advertise its exchange rates for the Borderless account. ING currently offers a rate of 1.145 for buying US dollars. Anyone know which is the better deal?
The only hassle for me in this arrangement is that I have no other account at TD Canada Trust, so I can't electronically transfer money from Canadian to US; I have to physically go to the closest TD branch, which is more than 45 minutes away (thus taking a couple of hours out of my day). So I'm wondering if it makes sense to open an ING Direct US $ account. I already have an ING Canadian $ account, so I could easily transfer money from my Canadian to US account, and then from there to my Borderless account.
As far as I can tell, TD doesn't advertise its exchange rates for the Borderless account. ING currently offers a rate of 1.145 for buying US dollars. Anyone know which is the better deal?