Personal Finance

Locked: Zenbanx to close all Canada accounts by June 30th

  • Last Updated:
  • Mar 11th, 2020 10:09 pm
Sr. Member
Sep 29, 2009
706 posts
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Toronto
angel_wing0 wrote: Either that or Sofi is never interested on the Canadian side from the very beginning.
I think ultimately Canada is just way behind on Fintech. It's harder to open such businesses, harder for them to get enough customers and be profitable, and harder for them to be viable compared to their US operations. Ever heard of "Venmo"? No? Every American has heard of it. In Canada the space that would be occupied with Fintech is largely occupied by the incumbent banks and credit unions launching new things (hence the involvement of DUCA here). This was probably just incompatible with the SoFi business model. Once they took a look at what it would involve to maintain the Canadian side, of course they shut it down.
Member
Dec 29, 2007
487 posts
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angel_wing0 wrote: If you want CDN, then yes. I sucked it up and paid the fee to transfer to my US account.
Can you guide me through the step-by-step process of transferring to a US account?
I have a US savings account with RBC. But I think I need to open the RBC cross-border US account (chequing account) in this case to transfer out the money.
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Mar 23, 2004
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Markham
noproblem wrote: Can you guide me through the step-by-step process of transferring to a US account?
I have a US savings account with RBC. But I think I need to open the RBC cross-border US account (chequing account) in this case to transfer out the money.
It's not hard really, it's just like sending an EMT. But yes, u will need an actual US account to receive the money.
Member
Dec 29, 2007
487 posts
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angel_wing0 wrote: It's not hard really, it's just like sending an EMT. But yes, u will need an actual US account to receive the money.
Perfect. Thanks!
Newbie
Oct 29, 2013
54 posts
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Montreal
What I can't quite seem to understand with regards to SoFi acquiring Zenbanx just to close down all operations weeks later in Canada is this... close to half of Zenbanx’s 53 employees work in Toronto, and 60 percent of its 40,000 customers are in Canada.

Why keep the US operations running when they represent 40% of your customer base, while shutting down and losing 60% of your clientele?!
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Mar 23, 2004
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MGSayah wrote: What I can't quite seem to understand with regards to SoFi acquiring Zenbanx just to close down all operations weeks later in Canada is this... close to half of Zenbanx’s 53 employees work in Toronto, and 60 percent of its 40,000 customers are in Canada.

Why keep the US operations running when they represent 40% of your customer base, while shutting down and losing 60% of your clientele?!
Well there are a few possibilities:

(1) The 40% US customers bring in more income than the 60% in Canada
(2) Sofi never wanted the Canadian business to begin with
(3) Talks between Sofi and Duca to continue the Canadian side broke down

And the list goes on...
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Mar 23, 2004
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Tonight will be the last night for my Zenbanx accounts, closing them tmr after interest posted.
Deal Addict
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Jul 5, 2005
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Toronto
Bye bye Zen just closed today so lame that u can't transfer the US funds to other Canadian based US accounts

Zen kicks us out after June 30th
Deal Fanatic
Feb 17, 2007
6412 posts
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Mort Réal, QC
krhoff wrote: Too bad the buyers are closing the business, great way to retain customers. Even without the at par deal, zenbanx had the best conversion rates on c$ to usd. Anyone know of other reasonable services? Zenbanx was usually about half a percentage point above xe published exchange rates.
I dunno if it's because they're closing shop, but their current rates aren't nearly as interesting as they used to. I guess it's one last cash grab from them since their clients pretty don't have the choice but the close their positions.

Current market FX rate for USD converting to CAD is 1.3528 as of writing this message and Zenbanx is paying 1.3382.
I can't afford to buy cheap stuff. Always on lookout for deals on quality goods and services.
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Aug 19, 2003
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So I have $ usd and $cdn, do I need to move the usd over to cdn first then close the account?
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Mar 23, 2004
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Tha DraGun wrote: So I have $ usd and $cdn, do I need to move the usd over to cdn first then close the account?
Yes, either that or move the USD to an actual US account (which will cost you $6 CDN).
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Jul 22, 2015
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Saint-Hubert, QC
Just making sure before I convert my sister money back in CAD to transfer to her RBC account.
It is not possible to transfer from Zenbanx (USD) to the RBC U.S. High Interest eSavings® account (USD), even if you link them?
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MoneyHypeMike wrote: Just making sure before I convert my sister money back in CAD to transfer to her RBC account.
It is not possible to transfer from Zenbanx (USD) to the RBC U.S. High Interest eSavings® account (USD), even if you link them?
Not possible.
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Oct 26, 2008
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Victoria, BC
Tha DraGun wrote: So I have $ usd and $cdn, do I need to move the usd over to cdn first then close the account?
I thought it was clear from their email notification what will happen on June 30th:

At 12AM EST on the Account Close Date, all your foreign currency positions will automatically be converted to Canadian Dollars (CAD) at our prevailing exchange rates and your total CAD balance will be transferred to your linked account.


So you don't have to do anything. Unless you suspect that with normal day-to-day currency fluctuations the exchange rate now might be more beneficial to you than at the end of the month.

As noted above by WHO, the exchange rate that SoFi now uses may not be as competitive as it was under the original Canadian ownership - so withdrawing your entire USD position at a surcharge-free ATM in the U.S. (such as at Harborstone) can be best for some.

But Harborstone ATMs seem to vary in whether they dispense $20 bills or $50s. So total may need to be a multiple of 20 or a multiple of 50 depending on location. Up to daily max of course ($500USD).

Note that if ATM only presents two options of withdrawing from Savings or Checking it is the latter if no Debit option.

Or if in the U.S. anyway you can of course try using debit at a participating merchant and asking for extra cash. YMMV.
Deal Guru
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Dec 11, 2004
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Montreal, QC
Can we cash out in USD if we visit the states? How's the border/custom nowadays? Plan on going on a camping trip south
Fees?
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Nov 18, 2008
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I use agilityforex anything over 3k gives the best rate I can find so far.
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Daijoubu wrote: Can we cash out in USD if we visit the states? How's the border/custom nowadays? Plan on going on a camping trip south
Fees?
You can find a bunch of atm's that you can withdraw with no fees...forgot what the network name is though.

Or if you dont care about fees, any exchange/cirrus atm's will work:

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