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Email this9:43 am
May 28, 2013
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I recently started to move all of my US$ deposits to my US account at Hubert. They currently pay 0.75%, which is more than double what ICICI was paying me (0.3%). Neither is great, but I will take the maximum I can get!
Currently, to move US$ about with Hubert, one needs to use their on-line chat system and provide them with data on your external account (institution number, transit number, account number) and they will initiate the transfer for you. They do promise to have a system in place in the new year similar to the way you can move CAD$ yourself on the web via your Hubert account page. (of course, they also promised to have that in place last summer....)
Also useful to note that this Manitoba credit union insures all deposits, including US$.
So far, I have moved one lot of US$ to Hubert with no problem, and am moving the balance of that external account to Hubert today.
A comparison table of US$ interest rates amongst the institutions featured on this site sure would be useful.
10:58 am
December 23, 2011
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The question is.......how quickly can you get access to it? At no cost?
I recently did their survey and asked for an improvement to handle this. Let's hope they do.
Keep in mind that US funds are insured in BC credit unions.
1:40 pm
May 28, 2013
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kanaka, I deal with Coast Capital as well, but cannot find a US$ savings interest rate on their web site. Do you know of any reasonable US$ interest rates at a BC credit union?
2:16 pm
December 23, 2011
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US chequing account rates.
https://www.coastcapitalsavings.com/Rates/Personal_Accounts_Rates/
Don't know why it is a chequing account as for what I understand that our banking systems are not that compatible with the US....it is pointless to write a cheque.
Here are BMO US account rates
https://www.bmo.com/home/personal/banking/rates/bank-accounts
While not the best interest in either. I hold most of my funds at Coast Capital and use the very easy process of buying US funds online at BMO.
At this point I find Hubert with a better rate but cumbersome to get cash in hand in a short notice. So at this point I don't use Hubert.
We use Coast Capital and BMO for bill payments and day to day banking with very minimal balances and neither are my favourites but I think it is prudent to have the ability of some face to face dealings just for "in case of".
4:09 pm
May 28, 2013
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Thanks kanaka. I had seen the rate at Coast Capital for US$ chequing, but that rate is comparable to picking up pennies from the sidewalk. They do not list a US$ savings account.
I will still have a small amount in US$ savings at my RBC branch in case I need some quickly, but the rest will reside at Hubert.
5:56 pm
December 23, 2011
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rhvic said
Thanks kanaka. I had seen the rate at Coast Capital for US$ chequing, but that rate is comparable to picking up pennies from the sidewalk. They do not list a US$ savings account.
I will still have a small amount in US$ savings at my RBC branch in case I need some quickly, but the rest will reside at Hubert.
How quickly can you get US funds from Hubert and is there a cost? I remember seeing a 20 or 25 dollar wire charge.
6:00 pm
April 6, 2013
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kanaka said
US chequing account rates.
https://www.coastcapitalsavings.com/Rates/Personal_Accounts_Rates/
Don't know why it is a chequing account as for what I understand that our banking systems are not that compatible with the US....it is pointless to write a cheque.
...
It depends on type of the cheques used.
The cheques could be CPA-standard cheques drawn on the branch in Canada. Those wouldn't clear automatically in the US.
The cheques could be US$ par-crossed cheques with an ABA-standard MICR and drawn on a financial institution or branch in the US. Those would clear like a domestic US cheque.
6:34 pm
May 28, 2013
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kanaka said
How quickly can you get US funds from Hubert and is there a cost? I remember seeing a 20 or 25 dollar wire charge.
They moved my money from ICICI in about 4 days. No cost; use their secure chat system (not available 24/7 though) and they say it will be done for free. The wire option is another method, and that does cost $25 or so. Once they set up a transfer system for US$ as they have for CAD$, it will be free and one can initiate it oneself on the web.
8:35 pm
October 21, 2013
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When they make it easy to manage, they will definitely get my US$. I will be very happy to move them out of TD!
7:14 am
October 21, 2013
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I just noticed that Hubert is now allowing members to move money back and forth between Hubert's US and Cdn dollar accounts.
"Whenever you want to convert your savings to US funds, all you have to do is transfer money from your Happy Savings Account to your US Happy Savings Account. Or vice versa to convert your funds back to Canadian. Easy peasy! Or, if you want to keep your American dreams in American dollars and transfer your savings to another US account, wire transfer is also available for a fee of $22.50. While our exchange rates are pretty darn great, this may potentially save you even more by avoiding the US-Canadian conversion. To complete your wire transfer, please contact Hubert."
Depending on your reason for keeping a US account, this could be handy. Not so good if you need to access the US cash but good if you just want to be somewhat invested in US dollars. Unfortunately they don't offer cheques, so you can't pay your US bills from it.
You'll still be stuck with some kind of mark-up on exchange, I would think, but that's the same everywhere.
10:58 am
December 23, 2011
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In my opinion this account is useless and will be, until you can access for "cash in hand" or with a little planning be able to EFT it to a local bank or credit union at no cost.
12:05 pm
May 28, 2013
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kanaka said
In my opinion this account is useless and will be, until you can access for "cash in hand" or with a little planning be able to EFT it to a local bank or credit union at no cost.
Disappointingly, Hubert is about a year overdue on getting their EFT system in place for the $US account. I am a fan of Hubert, but this continuing delay is not good PR.
That said, as I mentioned before, I did move the bulk of my US cash into Hubert at no cost, and I do keep a bit of US cash in a local bank account if I need to access paper currency. The 0.75% rate is still better than any I have seen elsewhere.
12:40 pm
December 23, 2011
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Rhvic. I remember they said they were trying to get something in place for EFT soon. Soon has now past and maybe an update is due from Hubert? Perhaps it is a Canadian banking issue moving foreign funds from FI to FI or money laundering or???
4:00 pm
October 21, 2013
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I doubt that Hubert ever really intended to make it possible to transfer US funds directly to external US dollar account. And there may well be some regulatory limits on that since US dollars are not our national currency..
I think that making it possible to make the internal transfer is significant progress.
They make it clear that this is a savings account. It's not meant for people who need to regularly access US funds. I would say it suits people who are trying to hedge their money and diversify or save up for a major expense in US dollars. f you are, for example, planning on an expense of about $6000US, the transfer cost would absorb 6 months of interest. It gets more economical with higher amounts or longer duration.
4:09 pm
May 28, 2013
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It is surely not impossible to have electronic transfers for US$ accounts, at least if the banks on each end are Canadian. I have a US account at ICICI's Canadian branch, and from that I can transfer easily to/from my US account at RBC using self initiated transfers via the web. Hence, I think that Hubert should be able to set this up as well - it is just taking them a painfully long amount of time to do so. Come on Hubert, it is nearly a year since you announced working on this project!
12:54 am
April 2, 2015
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Having parked the bulk of my USD at Tangerine, it's meagre 0.25% has been a major turnoff, but that is still much better than the 0.10% or less if I leave less there at TD. I was considering the Hubert USD account at 0.75%, but seeing there is no EFT for USD, it doesn't look like an option. I have am easily able to move USD between Tangerine and TD USD accounts, so I don't see why Hubert has such a problem implementing EFT for USD.
10:23 am
May 28, 2013
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I checked with Hubert as to when their EFT system for $US will be initiated. You may recall that they started to talk about this in early 2015. Well, they now assure me that it will (maybe) be in place by the end of 2016, perhaps even by October. Alas, I am not holding my breath. I like Hubert, but this huge delay in getting this system up and running is absurd. How different does it need to be from their existing system for transferring $CAD from one Canadian institution to another?
It's not like this cannot already be done. I have done EFTs via ICICI to transfer $US from one Canadian institution to another.
Let's hope Hubert gets this up very soon.
10:50 am
August 4, 2010
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It is likely that many of the core systems that Manitoba credit unions use to interact with the national clearing and transfer networks is done through Credit Union Central Manitoba, the trade group. So Hubert may need to wait for CUCM to get a certain capability in place.
Even if the back-end system now has the functionality, Hubert probably has limited capability for developing customer-facing interfaces for this sort of stuff - there would have to be all the prudent design, testing, etc. I'm guessing this keeps falling down the priority list for more important stuff.
5:18 pm
June 3, 2015
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Ive been EFTing in and out of my US$ Hubert account for 5 months now. All I do is call them or "Chat" them and its done....just as fast as doing it myself. 
Tangerine....Canada's best bank. LBC.............Canada's 2nd best bank.
Hubert.....worst bank in Canada.
11:45 am
July 19, 2016
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Hi all,
I've been wanting to open a US$ account for an year however was waiting for a CAD$ to bounce back. So far, after reading many threads on US accounts, Hubert seems to be the most appealing. For those who deal with Hubert financial, is there any things I should be aware off before opening an account with them?
PS, I am very new to this investment stuff so please don't mind my questions.
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