CIBC Bank USA Smart Account™

IEpicDestroyer wrote: ↑ Do you know if the Canadian savings account incurs a hard credit check on the Canadian side? Do you know if a hard credit check is conducted for CIBC Bank US Smart Account? If so, is it done on the Canadian or American side?

Can't speak for everyone and their experiences I did not get a hard, or soft check on either TransUnion, or Equifax. It seems approval is mostly driven by being an existing client of CIBC Canada. With that in mind, it's hard to say if approval is based on length of history with CIBC Canada, meaning did the applicant open a deposit account yesterday and now wants to open an account with CIBC US? There may be other criteria that's unbeknownst to all of us.

flyjazz wrote: ↑ CIBC USA called a little while ago to let me know the new debit card which arrived today is provisioned for Apple Pay, seems there was a token issue. I asked them this very same question about withdrawing USD from a CIBC Canada ATM using the CIBC USA debit card. The rep I spoke with indicated only CAD can be withdrawn, however, there's a way around everything. It was suggested that it's simply a case of opening a CIBC Canada USD account and using the transfer between accounts function and withdrawing at an ATM, or teller. In most cases, I would assume a 0.75 cent service charge would apply.

Yeh, confirmed this with my CIBC USA Debit Card at Canadian CIBC ATM.
- try to withdraw US currency and it will give a processing error.
- withdraw CAD currency fine, appears to US the Mastercard FX rate (or very close to it) with no markup.

I do also have the CIBC Canada US account, and yes, a withdrawal will incur a 0.75 debit transaction fee.

Did this just as an experiment to confirm the process as I had understood it slightly differently previously.

Rare chance need USD cash in Canada. $20 rebate per month for any ATM draws in US is the most useful feature.

IEpicDestroyer wrote: ↑ Do you know if the Canadian savings account incurs a hard credit check on the Canadian side? Do you know if a hard credit check is conducted for CIBC Bank US Smart Account? If so, is it done on the Canadian or American side?

If you're referring to the Canadian domiciled US$ Savings account, then there is no credit check as it's a Savings product and not a credit product. For CIBC Bank USA Smart account, the credit "lookup" is for ascertaining identity only as it is an online application and you could be anywhere in the world to prevent fraud.

Super cool, just have to wait for my debit card to activate stuff.

Was looking around for the 'best' us bank option for canadians, and this seems great. Originally thought bmo was good...but zelle is nice to have.

Pretty easy:

"Eligibility Requirements
The primary owner must be an account owner on a CIBC consumer checking or savings deposit account in
good standing or have a personal line of credit (PLC) in good standing at CIBC to open the account.
All account owners must be enrolled in CIBC Online Banking or CIBC Mobile Banking with active Card status.
All account owners must be U.S. or Canadian residents."

Edit:
Speaking of receiving wire payments, is there a way to receive them to any CDN bank without a fee? lol, just slowly getting up to speed on that, too bad. Best way to receive a usd wire transfer is wise, or this account and then transfer it.

Wise charges 4.14USD for incoming wires. The cheapest way to get a wire to Canada is to send it to CIBC US, external transfer to wise, convert and pull from tangerine or eq bank. No transfer fees, just the conversion.

islander59 wrote: ↑ Are you able to change your US CIBC account to a US address? This could very helpful when applying for US credit cards.

Didn’t see an answer to this question. Can anyone confirm if you can change the address of the US account only?

I assume so, but a confirmation would be nice before I go open these accounts.

houseofgucci wrote: ↑ Didn’t see an answer to this question. Can anyone confirm if you can change the address of the US account only?

I assume so, but a confirmation would be nice before I go open these accounts.

yes, we can change the primary address to a US address for the US CIBC Account.

I opened this account and next day closed it! Didn't find it useful at all.

1. You cannot link it to CIBC Investor Edge USD accounts (wanted to transfer there dividend)
2. You cannot link it to any Canadian US $ accounts like EQ or Tangerine
3. You cannot withdraw $USD cash in Canada

My son lives in NY, NY and also didn't find it usefull, as CIBC branches are only in MI, IL, WI (close to Private bank CIBC bought), so he just opened similar TD one

PS. IMHO, CIBC just wasted money

gibor365365 wrote: ↑ I opened this account and next day closed it! Didn't find it useful at all.

1. You cannot link it to CIBC Investor Edge USD accounts (wanted to transfer there dividend)
2. You cannot link it to any Canadian US $ accounts like EQ or Tangerine
3. You cannot withdraw $USD cash in Canada

My son lives in NY, NY and also didn't find it usefull, as CIBC branches are only in MI, IL, WI (close to Private bank CIBC bought), so he just opened similar TD one

PS. IMHO, CIBC just wasted money

With all due respect, it sounds like proper research wasn’t done before the account was opened. No US domiciled bank account will be able to address any of the three items listed above.

Here2day2 wrote: ↑ With all due respect, it sounds like proper research wasn’t done before the account was opened. No US domiciled bank account will be able to address any of the three items listed above.

It took me 5 min to open account and 5 min to close it
I spent 30 min on phone with CIBC who gave me wrong info!

In any case, I don't believe this account can be useful for many Canadians , only or those who work in 3 states around Chicago

Here2day2 wrote: ↑ No US domiciled bank account will be able to address any of the three items listed above.

There are multiple banks in the US that are happy to address the Northbound portions of #1 and #2 by sending wires. Lots of the premium account packages in the States include a free (or unlimited) number of international wires that can be sent to most banks and brokerages in Canada in USD.

For #3, withdrawing USD cash you do tend to need a Canadian domiciled USD account though if you want to do so without currency conversion fees.

Optimizer88 wrote: ↑ There are multiple banks in the US that are happy to address the Northbound portions of #1 and #2 by sending wires. Lots of the premium account packages in the States include a free (or unlimited) number of international wires that can be sent to most banks and brokerages in Canada in USD.

For #3, withdrawing USD cash you do tend to need a Canadian domiciled USD account though if you want to do so without currency conversion fees.

OP was referring to linking Investors Edge account in Canada with a U.S. bank account.

Here2day2 wrote: ↑ OP was referring to linking Investors Edge account in Canada with a U.S. bank account.

I understand that. I mentioned "Northbound" in my reply, because it seemed like they were perhaps hoping to transfer dividends from Canada to US. But it wasn't entirely clear if they were only interested in that direction, so I wanted to make sure other RFDers are aware that many banks in the US can send the Northbound transfers to brokerage accounts in Canada, as well as the Northbound portion of #2 as well. So there are several US domiciled bank accounts that can partially address #1 and #2 in case people need that.

gibor365365 wrote: ↑ I opened this account and next day closed it! Didn't find it useful at all.

1. You cannot link it to CIBC Investor Edge USD accounts (wanted to transfer there dividend)
2. You cannot link it to any Canadian US $ accounts like EQ or Tangerine
3. You cannot withdraw $USD cash in Canada

My son lives in NY, NY and also didn't find it usefull, as CIBC branches are only in MI, IL, WI (close to Private bank CIBC bought), so he just opened similar TD one

PS. IMHO, CIBC just wasted money

If those are the primary things you want a USD account for then a Canadian domiciled USD account would have fit the bill.
If you already have a CIBC account, then opening a CIBC Canada USD account where you can instantly transfer between the CIBC Bank USA account would have effectively enabled 1, 2 and 3.

robsaw wrote: ↑ If those are the primary things you want a USD account for then a Canadian domiciled USD account would have fit the bill.
If you already have a CIBC account, then opening a CIBC Canada USD account where you can instantly transfer between the CIBC Bank USA account would have effectively enabled 1, 2 and 3.

Except you pay for every transaction. They don't have any options/plans that would exempt you from paying fees for every single transaction on the account, at least not that I'm aware of.

Jagstyles wrote: ↑ Except you pay for every transaction. They don't have any options/plans that would exempt you from paying fees for every single transaction on the account, at least not that I'm aware of.

$0.75/transaction is pretty reasonable compared to the alternatives. Rather pay that once or twice a month than maintain a minimum balance. Scotia does give 2 transactions with a minimum balance of $200 (or waived if you have the Ultimate Package IIRC) but it's pretty useless outside of funneling funds to iTrade.

tofinoguy wrote: ↑ There's no fee to transfer INTO the Canadian account.
I find most months I only have the pay the fee twice - once for any money that I'm transferring to the US-based account (which I do monthly), and once for my payment to the CIBC USD Visa. That takes a bit of planning, but it's doable.
It's annoying but for $1.50/month I wouldn't say it kills the usefulness of the account.

Which USD credit card did you apply for? Is it domiciled in Canada or the U.S and I’m assuming it’s a way for you to make USD purchases without FX fees?

Other good thing about Scotia's US account is they issue up to 2 free US bank drafts each month. The draft is drawn on a US bank- think it was US Bank in Minneapolis last time I got one, anyhow you can get a free draft then use your cell phone (mobile deposit) it in your US account south of the border. If you do have ultimate package you also don't have to maintain the $200.00 balance in the US account to waive the monthly fee.

CIBC should waive the $0.75 transaction fees and do away with US draft fees drawn on the CIBC US account at least for Smart Plus customers. (I've been told different things from different tellers on this some will say oh your smart plus and waive the fee, others will say no only if drawn on the Canadian smart plus account- is there an official CIBC position on this?)

As stated avove, Smart Plus will waive the fee for a US draft if it is drawn on the Canadian Smart Plus chequing account but then you have to pay for their foreign currency profit grab on the exchange so that is no good.

The other stupid thing is if one was to get the US credit card for no annual fee (cause you have the US banking bundle in place) it says that you have to pay the card using a CIBC account. Why the heck can't I set up pre-authorized payment for it using some other bank that doesn't have transaction fees, or at least pay it by a Scotia US account cheque.

Jagstyles wrote: ↑ Except you pay for every transaction. They don't have any options/plans that would exempt you from paying fees for every single transaction on the account, at least not that I'm aware of.

Exactly! It always was free and last year they start charging fee for every transaction! I talked to CIBC rep and he advised to open no fee Smart USD account.....this is why I opened it and closed next day for the reasons above...
The problem that I cannot withdraw USD cash from my Tangerine USD account