US Dollar Savings Account | Tangerine Bank | Discussion forum

I don't know if this will help you.....but.

I used to have a BMO chequing and savings account and a BMO US dollar MasterCard and a BMO US dollar account.

I could transfer Canadian dollars to the US account for the exchange rate only, no service fee. I could pay the US dollar MasterCard by "transferring" funds from the US dollar account to the US dollar MasterCard......but no post dating of payment.

Could I pay my wife's Macy's or Kohl's bill.....no.....as most Canadian banks only allow you to pay vendors within Canada.

So even though Tangerine and other virtual banks offer US dollar accounts I always wonder how do you withdraw cash from the US dollar account for cross border shopping or holidays??

GS

Now it makes sense....duh....I must be in a deep fog!!!

So if you push from Tangerine to RBC ..... does RBC put a hold on the funds? If so, for how long?

OK, so what is a "push" and what is a "pull"?
you can always count on me to ask the dumb questions.

Oh, I see. So, the "push to" or "pull from" relates to the bank of origin, not the one receiving the money.

I am unsure about depositing USD cheques though Tangerine as Tangerine is USD savings only. Within Tangerine it is supper easy to transfer CAD to USD, when ever I make a transaction it asks if I want to do it in CAD or USD. If you do USD to an account that doesn't support USD it will refuse.

I don't know if you can do the same to an other bank. But you can link accounts at different banks very easily with Tangerine but I don't know if they allow you to do so as easily with ACH as with EFT but I would think so.

Overall you will always have better service provided to you by having the best accounts that cater to your needs at the best banks. A USD chequing account at RBC is only $2 a month for 6 debits. So use that unless you need to make frequent USD transactions. Then use your no fee account at Tangerine for CAD chequing and while it's nice to have everything in one place it is worth it to have savings at other bank. It's worth signing up with Tangerine savings for the promotions and if there is an amount you may need quickly you can transfer from savings to chequing instantly. External bank is 1-2 days.

Really having accounts at 3 different banks will serve you most here. Since you only need to pay for USD account then that's $2 for 3 accounts with best rates that's good.

Also pay attention to exchange rates. All banks have a hidden fee in exchange rate. Big banks are usually about a 6 cent spread. Tangerine is a 3 cent spread. If you do large USD transfers though use an online forex broker when your spread is practicality none existent.

Loonie said

Don't forget that there is no deposit insurance protection for US dollar accounts in Canadian CDIC-insured banks, so you are on your own if anything goes wrong. Manitoba credit unions do insure them, but it is hard to access the money.

US dollar accounts are insured in BC credit unions with the provincial insurance.

Hubert advises there is a plan to be able to push US dollars to a bank or credit union US dollar account from which you can do a face to face withdrawal. Only issue there is how long would your funds be on hold after pushed to the other account?

Loonie said

I think the issue may be, when are they going to do it? Is it going to be like Implicity planning EFTs?
It will be great if and when they get it done. Perhaps there are some regulatory issues?
I didn't know the BC CU insurance covered US dollars. It seems though that BC CUs are harder for the rest of us to access than MB's.

Here is what Hubert says about EFT for US Dollar Accounts. "We are currently waiting on Credit Union Central of Manitoba to complete some back end processing for this functionality which they have not provided a timeframe. It was scheduled to be completed in 2014 but I cannot guarantee this at this time."

Here is an article from a BC Credit Union in regards to offering national service. http://www.firstwestcu.ca/medi.....dit-unions
Also some credit unions have already stated they will not to national. But the above article makes you wonder how the Manitoba Credit Unions already do with spin off version from the main CU....but I understand that Steinbach Credit Union has being doing it for years.

By the way the BC Credit Union Insurance goes beyond covering US Dollars. http://creditunionsofbc.com/de.....-guarantee

I have only seen two credit unions in BC with higher rates.....Coast Capital and Revelstoke. BUT not as good as Manitiboa or Oaken. And to be very honest service at Coast Capital is poor.

I recently flushed a Coast Capital (AGENCY) GIC through my branch level account and then moved the funds to Oaken. I did that for two reason....(1) higher interest than what my adviser could provide and (2) he cannot see who I am dealing with. I wanted to see what interest had accrued as the GIC had matured and the balance sat for a month or so and I wanted to see what the transfer fee was and if it was taxed. BUT they closed the RRSP account because I transferred the full amount. I was ticked off and sent them numerous secure emails before one of the numb nuts figured out that I never asked to close the account and that I was NOT going to visit the un-customer service friendly branch. I wanted the account open for two reasons to see the transactions and I want to use it to do the same thing next year. They are not customer oriented....... And who knows maybe they would have been part of my investment plan?? https://www.highinterestsavings.ca/forum/coast-capital-savings/arrogance-at-coast-capital-pitt-meadows/

I no longer find it hard to NOT be loyal to a financial institution.

ps I moved out of BC and had Coast Capital Agency GICs with my adviser and he said it would not be an issue....but just for his statements only we had them delivered to a BC address until we moved back to BC. So I would think it would be an easy work around to be a non-resident.

Hi Calan:

I am a bit late, but:

Currently, you cannot push bill payments from a Tangerine USD account. Currently, there is no option to push bill payments from any Tangerine savings account, CAD or USD. Only the Tangerine chequing account can currently push bill payments. However, it would theoretically be possible to pull bill payments, via EFT, from a USD account, if your payee offers that option.

In addition, this account might be of interest to you: TD Canada Trust currently offers the "U.S. Dollar Daily Interest Chequing Account." This is a USD account held in Canada, with a Canadian transit number. It earns interest and you can write cheques on it, but I'm not sure whether you can push bill payments from it.

james1988 said

For those "snowbirds", a better idea is to open a US-based bank account. RBC, TD, BMO all have subsidiaries in USA. Among them, RBC and TD have better online banking integration for accounts on both sides of the border. One can easily transfer CA$ from TD Canada Trust to US$ in TD Bank (in US). The USD accounts are under FDIC insurance.

Great answer, james! I just thought I'd 'chime in' with a small caveat regarding RBC's U.S. banking operations. They sold their U.S. branch network and branch-based customers, deposit and loan/mortgage books to PNC Financial Services Group approximately a year and a half ago. They did retain a U.S. banking subsidiary, RBC Bank, with a direct bank-based model (i.e., single contact centre-style branch with no physical footprint for customer-facing activities) basically to faciliate cross-border banking access. They might have a surcharge-free ATM alliance for cash withdrawals, perhaps with PNC I'm not too sure, but as far as branches go, they don't have any U.S. branches anymore. Basically, if you're going to be living in the midwest of the U.S., I'd go with BMO Harris Bank and, if you're on the east coast, I'd go with TD Bank. If you're out west, such as in California, I'd recommend going with a U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Key Bank or Chase Bank and transferring money via cheque deposit.

Cheers,
Doug