[Interactive brokers] Opening Account for currency conversion needs investment experience?

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Mar 23rd, 2022 2:20 pm

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Mar 22nd, 2022 5:09 pm

AmberD17 [OP]: Jr. Member; Mar 2, 2018; 109 posts; 84 upvotes

Mar 22nd, 2022 5:09 pm

[Interactive brokers] Opening Account for currency conversion needs investment experience?

I will be converting 70k USD > CAD in a few months for down-payment on a mortgage. RFD-ers suggested using IRBK for it as the overall cost will be the lowest. So I am applying to open an account with them for solely this purpose. However, the application form asks if I have investing experience but I do not have any investing experience (unless spending money into my business operations counts as investing) so that's what I picked. But it keeps error-ing saying I need investing experience to open an account.
So should I not open an account with them if I have no such experience? Do they require that cuz they do not provide assistance over the phone if I need help with the currency conversion? Do they require proof showing you have investing experience?

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Mar 22nd, 2022 6:45 pm

S5: Deal Addict; Oct 4, 2009; 3330 posts; 2549 upvotes; Montreal

Mar 22nd, 2022 6:45 pm

See this thread in the investing forum. You will face a very long withdrawal hold unless you wire the funds in and pay the associated fees. Not sure if they have extra fees for closing an account after a single transaction and no, they won’t hold your hand.

If you have no intention of using the account beyond this 70k conversion I wouldn’t recommend going this route. There are several currency exchange shops which should do it for less than 0.5%. If you had experience trading stocks then even Norbert’s Gambit would reduce this cost further but for a few hundred dollars probably not worth your time to learn if this is just a single occurrence.

Mar 23rd, 2022 2:20 pm

qazwsx: Newbie; May 27, 2005; 11 posts; 5 upvotes

Mar 23rd, 2022 2:20 pm

When i transfer money into my account it has like a 60 day hold where I can only send the money back to the originating account. So it is not really suited for this. If you are just doing a 1 time transfer won't it be easier to just use a service like Wise?

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