# Where do you change CAD$ to foreign currency



## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

I was wondering where people change CAD$ to foreign currency (other than US$)... We always change at the bank ... we have small discount as staff account holders..... but maybe I can better rate in private exchange operators?


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## Barwelle (Feb 23, 2011)

If you're going travelling, or buying stuff online out-of-country, I would seriously consider getting the Amazon Visa credit card. They claim no foreign currency conversion fees. (Though I would investigate it first to make sure there's nothing scammy going on - i.e. a fee hidden in the spread). Also, some cash is necessary as I do believe credit card use is not as widespread outside of North America, even in Western Europe. And there are some countries in which the card won't work in.

If you're just looking for straight-up cash, I don't have an answer.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

I already have amazon Visa... and yes, I'm looking for straigh-up cash


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## leoc2 (Dec 28, 2010)

If you know someone who lives in the foreign country you plan on visiting you can use CurrencyFair. That is how I purchased British pounds last summer. I transferred the currency to my brother in laws bank account in the UK and he withdrew it for me.

https://www.currencyfair.com/


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

To actually answer OP's question, - Accurate.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Barwelle said:


> If you're going travelling, or buying stuff online out-of-country, I would seriously consider getting the Amazon Visa credit card. They claim no foreign currency conversion fees.


+1

@gibor, we use Accu-Rate in Ottawa.


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## bayview (Nov 6, 2011)

It depends where I'm going. Some countries in Asia, it is way much cheaper to exchange the bulk of your forex requirements at the local money changers when you get there. For exchanging CAD into other currencies eg Euro, GBP, Yen and USD I call up at least 3 money changers including Interchange ( there a few within a few km of my humble abode) and get their quotes and I go to the one with the best rates. I never come across one that consistently offers the best rates all the time, so I never stick to one. Worst is when I need 2 foreign currencies and I need to hop to 2 changers to get them.


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## NorthernRaven (Aug 4, 2010)

gibor said:


> I was wondering where people change CAD$ to foreign currency (other than US$)... We always change at the bank ... we have small discount as staff account holders..... but maybe I can better rate in private exchange operators?


If you need a large lump ($500-ish) of cash at the destination, you could pay into your Chase Amazon Visa so you have a positive balance. Then take it as a cash advance one you arrive. You would only pay the 1% cash-advance fee (no forex on the card). Under $500 the effective spread goes up, since there is a $5 minimum fee. You'd want to make sure any purchases after you make the positive balance payment don't eat into what you want as the cash advance.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

I don't know about the rate you get at the bank with the staff discount, but I know for retail customers, the rate at the bank is terrible compared to those little street currency exchange places. We have about 5 currency exchange places within a 10 minute walk of our house so I usually just walk around and look at the boards before doing the conversion.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

We use Intercam in PV MX for cash. They give us great FX rates and immediate access to our cash even though it take 5 days got the cheque to clear.

I would search for something like Intercam in the country you are heading for. If that is too much hassle, just put money on your Amazon Visa and they will charge 1% of the value withdrawn at the ATM with a $5 minimum per transaction. No FX charges.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

Same here. We do not use the bank. Either an FX store or we use our Chase Canada Visa to charge foreign transactions or to withdraw cash.

One of the CIBC tellers told me that they use the FX store as well because the rate is better than their staff discount rate at the bank and they get a much better denomination selection.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> One of the CIBC tellers told me that they use the FX store as well because the rate is better than their staff discount rate at the bank and they get a much better denomination selection


 It's very possible... but I was wondering if you can recommend some reputable "FX store" in Mississauga that it will be safe to exchange there? 
I also have several thousands in US$ account and in worse case will try to exchange USD to EUR directly.... and not sure if bank can do it at all ....


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## Sustainable PF (Nov 5, 2010)

We use Knightsbridge FX.

FrugalTrader (milliondollarjourney.com) had an article I got from his email list a while back that discussed ways to convert currency using ETFs. I will look into that more come the next time we convert USD.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

We are travelling in SE Asia now. To obtain cash at a good rate we load up our Chase Visa with cash. We then go to an ATM and do a cash advance on this Visa card. The past three transactions have come across at the spot rate...no added fees as per the bank. We figure we are saving about $20 in bank fees ( on an equivilant $700 advance) each time. But you need to keep a credit balance othwise you will be charged interest. Between his method of getting foreign cash and using the card for all foreign charges we figure we save anywhere from $300-$500 in hidden bank FX fees each year.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

A few years ago, I visited a few of those 'cash payday loan' kind of places that litter the streets of Toronto. I found one of them willing to exchange CAD for EUR at very close to spot market rates. It may have just been a mistake on their part, but perhaps it's worth checking.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

fraser said:


> We are travelling in SE Asia now. To obtain cash at a good rate we load up our Chase Visa with cash. We then go to an ATM and do a cash advance on this Visa card. The past three transactions have come across at the spot rate...no added fees as per the bank. We figure we are saving about $20 in bank fees ( on an equivilant $700 advance) each time. But you need to keep a credit balance othwise you will be charged interest. Between his method of getting foreign cash and using the card for all foreign charges we figure we save anywhere from $300-$500 in hidden bank FX fees each year.



what a brilliant tip! thankx so much! 

the strategy, then, is to load up the credit card in advance? would you mind if i asked whether to load in USD or CAD? asking because common sense suggests that USD might work better than CAD in this feeless deployment.

another question if i might ask ... does pre-loading lead to feeless in all the countries you've visited? again, common sense suggests that the Chase Visa practice might not be universal in all countries.


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## NorthernRaven (Aug 4, 2010)

humble_pie said:


> what a brilliant tip! thankx so much!
> 
> the strategy, then, is to load up the credit card in advance? would you mind if i asked whether to load in USD or CAD? asking because common sense suggests that USD might work better than CAD in this feeless deployment.
> 
> another question if i might ask ... does pre-loading lead to feeless in all the countries you've visited? again, common sense suggests that the Chase Visa practice might not be universal in all countries.


The Chase Amazon Visa is just a standard CAD-denominated Visa card issued by Chase Canada. But one of the features is that they don't charge forex fees on purchases in other currencies - they convert at Visa's "posted" rate, which is relatively neutral. The 2.5% forex that Canadian credit card issuers charge is 2.5% on top of this Visa rate.

So this works for any country. Just load up a positive balance on the card before you leave, and then take a Visa cash advance from an ATM in the destination country. With a positive balance you pay no interest on the cash advance, and with the Chase Amazon Visa there is no forex percentage when converted from the foreign currency to CAD on your statement. There _is_ a 1% cash advance fee, so you in effect pay 1% forex instead of the 2.5% most other credit cards would charge on the conversion. Also, there is a $5 minimum fee on cash advance, so it works out to more than 1% on amounts under $500, so it isn't as suitable for small withdrawals.

I'm not sure how fraser calculated $20 savings on a $700 cash advance. 1.5% (2.5% normal bank fx - 1% cash advance fee) on $700 would be $10.50 saved. But perhaps this was compared to doing a withdrawal from a bank account in a currency where the banks charge more than the 2.5% spread common on the major currency pairings with CAD? It might also represent a saved international ATM fee (I think there would be no charge for Visa cash advance at ATMs on the Visa network), although that's usually only $5 (and some banking packages can provide them free).

For actual Visa purchases you save the full 2.5% that most cards charge, which is nice for big foreign holidays. I may get one of these myself as a secondary CC - I could have saved $25 or more on CC purchases in the UK this fall. But I got tickets to Kate Bush, so as Mastercard would say, priceless...


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Neat. How does a cash advance work exactly. You just pay in excess of your bill balance and the extra stays as a credit available for cash advance? Does the money "stay" on your credit card even if you use it or do purchases get applied against the positive balance?

Say I wanted to spend $1000 cash and 3-4k in credit card purchases on vacation. If I show up in the country and start using my card for purchases does that $1000 balance stay on the card until I choose to withdraw it, or does it immediately start to get used up with purchases?


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

I got a great rate at Costco in Chula Vista buying my peso's...beat anywhere else I could find.


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## bayview (Nov 6, 2011)

peterk said:


> Neat. How does a cash advance work exactly. You just pay in excess of your bill balance and the extra stays as a credit available for cash advance? Does the money "stay" on your credit card even if you use it or do purchases get applied against the positive balance?
> 
> Say I wanted to spend $1000 cash and 3-4k in credit card purchases on vacation. If I show up in the country and start using my card for purchases does that $1000 balance stay on the card until I choose to withdraw it, or does it immediately start to get used up with purchases?


If I understand correctly - see post 8 - the last sentence


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## AMABILE (Apr 3, 2009)

doesn't anyone have a recommendation for 
gibor for a location in mississauga?


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

AMABILE said:


> doesn't anyone have a recommendation for
> gibor for a location in mississauga?


Exactly! I googled and found about 5-6 different FX stores in Mississauga, but couldn't find any reviews...


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

Our Chase Babk Canada Visa card is issued in Csnada. All foreign transactions are converted back to CAD. 

The difference is that they are converted at the then prevailing spot rate-that includes credit card charges AND cash advances on the card. Most other banks charge a hidden 2.5 percent FX fee on foreign Visa charges AND a hidden fee on foreign ATM withdrawals in the form of a 2.5 to 3 percent premium on the exchange rate.

Our most recent foreign withdrawal as a cash advance was the equivilant of $732. CAD. Chase charged a fee of one percent...$7.32. Had we used our bank card, our bank would have charged $21 in excess hidden FX fees plus a $5 ATM fee for a total of $27.21 in fees. We have an over 55 bank account. No monthly service charge but our bank does charge us $5 every time we touch a foreign ATM.

When travelling, we keep our Chase Visa card in a positive balance by transferring money from our bank account to this card.....all in CAD. Then we withdraw the money from a foreign ATM by way of a cash advance on this Chase Bank Canada Visacard. We do not pay interest charges on the cash advance because we maintain a positive balance on the card.

You also need to realize that Chase does charge a one percent fee for this with a minimum fee of $5. But, our CAD bank charges us a $5 ATM fee on a foreign FX withdrawal do it is a wash. We typically withdraw $500-700 when travelling.

The charges can add up. If we withdraw the equivilant of $200 from a foreign ATM our bank charges us a $5 fee plus a hidden Fx fee of 3 percent, ie $6. That adds up to $11 in fees.....a fee rate of 5.5 percent! It goes even higher if the foreign bank is also charging you a fee....and most do. This is how we save about $20. In bank fees every time we do a cash advance on our Chase card vs. a withdrawal form our 'big six' bank.

When we travel we charge as much as possible on this card. In some countries there is an extra few percent charge when you use a credit card. Some places insist on cash or give discounts for cash. We use cash advances on this card to fund our cash requirements.

So far this has worked for us in Europe, US, Thailand, and Malaysia. We are in Australia and NZ in a few weeks so will know about those countries soon enough.


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## NorthernRaven (Aug 4, 2010)

gibor said:


> Exactly! I googled and found about 5-6 different FX stores in Mississauga, but couldn't find any reviews...


You might try over at RedFlagDeals - the chances of finding someone who has used a physical FX shop in a particular place may be better.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

Keep in mind that fx stores have different rates...some have better rates but also have a transaction fee.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

fraser, I want to exchange not CAD, but USD directly to EUR with good rate....this cash I'll use when it's more convenient (or the only option) than Visa.
I have Anazom Visa , so I gonna use it when it will be more convenient (and depends also on FX rate CAD vs EUR)... why do I need cash advance?


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## smihaila (Apr 6, 2009)

If one has to pay "credit" card cash advance fees (1%) when withdrawing his/her own money (i.e. in case of a negative balance), then I don't find such method palatable  I guess Norbert's Gambit is still the best - especially with large amounts of money (10k+).


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## travelgeek (Nov 29, 2009)

I just withdraw from my TD All Inclusive account. There are no ATM fees charged by TD other than the foreign currency conversion fee and any fees charged by the owner of the ATM. I'm sure I can save lots by using the Chase visa card method, but I can withdraw small amounts as many times as needed (of course at ATM's which don't charge fees).


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## ptam (Sep 10, 2015)

*Can you really prepaid your Chase Visa card?*

Can anyone tell me how much you can prepaid to your Amazon Visa card and then you can withdraw the money out when you travel?

I checked with Chase Canada before and they said they do not allow customers to prepaid their credit cards due to money laundry issue.

Does anyone have any issue for preparing their Amazon credit card?

I am curious.

The last posting for this thread was on Feb 2015 and now it's Sep 2015. I just want to get an update.

Thanks!


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## Jaberwock (Aug 22, 2012)

FX exchange fees and foreign ATM withdrawal fees are one of the most annoying fees charged by the banks.

I avoid the FX exchange fee on US dollars by having a US dollar account at my bank. I also have an account at Interactive brokers. If I need to change CAD to US, I transfer from the CAD bank account to IB, make the exchange (the spread is usually less than .0002%, the transaction fee is only $2.50), then I transfer back to my US bank account.

To avoid foreign ATM fees in the Caribbean, I use Scotiabank ATMs which do not charge a fee for withdrawals from a Scotiabank account. I still get dinged with a lousy exchange rate, but at least I don't pay a $5 fee on top.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

IB FX is good for the minority of investors who have IB accounts.

but most folks arb their currencies with what are called gambit trades. They wind up with an inventory of US dollars that they can use to make USD investments, keep in USD bank accounts, pay USD bills, whatever.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Gosh are those gambit trades wonderful. Thanks a ton to humble_pie and others for showing me. This is by far the most valuable thing I have learned on this forum... it has saved me thousands of dollars in fees.

If you're doing any substantial FX, even just for thousands of dollars, I think you might as well use gambits coupled with a USD based bank account (I use TD Borderless & TDDI). This gives you the ability to walk into branches and do USD transactions, then do conversions through gambits.

My net FX conversion fees with gambits has been:
0.42% on $4 K
0.33% on $10 K
0.08% on $15 K ... yes that's right, 8 basis points. Got a bit lucky with mkt moving my way.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

james there might be some news on gambit commish at the big green after the end of september, i'll try to keep you posted if i learn anything ...


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Wow, yes let us know. You think it may be possible to get web commission on both sides?


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

but you have been getting web commish on both sides, no?


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Yes but only because I memorized a nice agent's extension. I think their official policy is to charge full commission on the side they execute (?)


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

yes as you know the official policy is to charge full commish on both sides but in actual practice the situation is higgledy-piggledy

reportedly the big nobs are looking into the inconsistencies & there should be some sort of national policy around the end of this month.

although there are some surprising arguments in favour of web commish, my gut feeling is that the big green will rule in favour of the agent-handled jobs, in the end.

i don't believe there's anything the clients can do except natter on among ourselves. Some of the licensed representatives are exceptionally knowledgeable & moreover, some among these reps are sympathetic to the clients' wishes to stay with web commish. They're also aware that TD clients with frequent gambit needs can easily open a backup account at BMO or roybank, where instant online gambits are cheap & easy.

i don't know if any kind of compromise is even possible but fwiw i tried to send in the message that perhaps the big green could compromise on registered accounts, as those were the clients who had benefited in the past? ie web commish in reg'd accounts but full commish in non-reg'd accounts.

we all know that ISM based broker systems do not allow instant online gambitting. The reason BMO & roybank permit this is that they're using another mainframe that executes client web orders by CUSIP number. Thus with an interlisted stock, it doesn't matter where the stock is located.

i deduce from this that the old TD monocurrency RRSP & TFSA platforms had been built so that the system "thought" that all securities were canadian-listed securities, even US securities. Therefore the coding allowed gambit trading to take place.

in any event, all that is history now that TD has brought in dual currency registered accounts.

technically, the easiest way for the TD to handle clients' gambit trades is for the client who wants to gambit CAD-->USD to first buy the interlisted carrier stock on canadian exchange, in canadian account. An online transaction.

next, the client sells the same stock on US exchange, but still in canadian account. An online transaction. Note how important it is to specify US exchange.

obediently, the system will sell - after all, it's not a short sale - but the system will now be poised to wallop the proceeds of the US sale with the usual FX fee, which is hovering somewhere around 1.50% for transactions under 10k.

next, the client must phone a representative & request a CFO (change former order) of the stock over to the US account. This will rescue the stock from the threat of FX & preserve those brand-new greenbacks in US account. The client must phone this request the same day, he has a little leeway after trading stops at 4 pm but he must get the CFO done same day. If he leaves the position overnight it will be hit with the FX fee.

note how dicey this can be. Everything depends upon the willingness of the representative who answers the phone to carry out this CFO. I imagine that some reps will, some won't, what a mess.

the problem for the client, if he reaches a representative who won't, is that it will then be too late to change anything.

but - technically speaking - i'm told that the above is the easiest procedure for the big green to follow.

i hear that the big nobs are having a meeting later this month to decide on a uniform strategy.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Well hopefully to stay competitive they will find a way to please customers  There's lots of great competition.

What's the story on iTrade for gambit and journalling? Any idea?


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## godblsmnymkr (Jul 15, 2015)

everyone should really have an IB account. keep your usd trades there for $1-2/trade and exchange currency for $2.5/conversion at pretty much spot. you also get one free wire transfer/month.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Can you transfer US dollars into and out of IB ? I don't recall being able to do this back when I had one.

For someone who already has an IB account, I can see this making sense (if they have a way to move US dollars in and out). But the downside is that IB charges a monthly account fee. So if you're only using it for occasional forex, that's a pretty expensive account to open.


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## godblsmnymkr (Jul 15, 2015)

james4beach said:


> Can you transfer US dollars into and out of IB ? I don't recall being able to do this back when I had one.
> 
> For someone who already has an IB account, I can see this making sense (if they have a way to move US dollars in and out). But the downside is that IB charges a monthly account fee. So if you're only using it for occasional forex, that's a pretty expensive account to open.


ofc you can


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