Making a US Paypal account

You can add a US bank account to your Canadian PayPal but the US bank account linked must be a US based one, one with a US routing number and US account number.

If you don’t have any US presences and don’t want to step foot in the US, you can open an account at a US division/subsidiary of a Canadian bank like TD Bank NA, RBC Bank Georgia (warning: monthly or annual fees apply after first year) or BMO Harris.

There used to be a loophole at RBC that would let you deposit to a RBC Royal Bank USD eSavings but PayPal blocked it.

IEpicDestroyer wrote: ↑ You can add a US bank account to your Canadian PayPal but the US bank account linked must be a US based one, one with a US routing number and US account number.

If you don’t have any US presences and don’t want to step foot in the US, you can open an account at a US division/subsidiary of a Canadian bank like TD Bank NA, RBC Bank Georgia (warning: monthly or annual fees apply after first year) or BMO Harris.

There used to be a loophole at RBC that would let you deposit to a RBC Royal Bank USD eSavings but PayPal blocked it.

thanks, i tried with scotia but they didn't allow the routing number, i guess cause scotia doesn't have a us subsidiary. may set up td or cibc.

chowder wrote: ↑ thanks, i tried with scotia but they didn't allow the routing number, i guess cause scotia doesn't have a us subsidiary. may set up td or cibc.

I do want to point out that a US$ account at TD or CIBC won’t work from the Canadian branches, it has to be from their US division.

The good thing is that TD Bank NA has a checking account with only US$100 minimum balance to waive the monthly fee.
You can withdraw at any TD ATM in US or Canada for free so you could ask them if it’s possible to withdraw US$ from a ATM that has US$ from your TD Bank NA account (never tried, so ask them first, you have to call them to sign up anyway if you don’t have US address). Otherwise, transfer over to US$ account at TD Canada Trust and pay the transaction fee or keep the minimum balance in a desired account.

You can also link your paypal to Transferwise and it will allow you to send money to your Canada bank for a small transfer fee and keep everything in USD if you can't go over the boarder to open up a legit USD account.

Cucumference wrote: ↑ You can also link your paypal to Transferwise and it will allow you to send money to your Canada bank for a small transfer fee and keep everything in USD if you can't go over the boarder to open up a legit USD account.

can i send from my USD scotiabank account to transferwise and have it fund my paypal account in usd?

chowder wrote: ↑ can i send from my USD scotiabank account to transferwise and have it fund my paypal account in usd?

Works for me. I have USD Paypal fund my Transferwise account. And then have Transferwise fund my Royalbank USD, Your are on the opposite direction but I don't see why it won't work. At least worth a try.

There is fee, though. It is like $1 or 2 per transfer. Make sure you check and understand what you are paying for for this service, and do a test first.

Cucumference wrote: ↑ Works for me. I have USD Paypal fund my Transferwise account. And then have Transferwise fund my Royalbank USD, Your are on the opposite direction but I don't see why it won't work. At least worth a try.

There is fee, though. It is like $1 or 2 per transfer. Make sure you check and understand what you are paying for for this service, and do a test first.

Wait, are you saying you can send USD from TransferWise to a Canadian USD account without doing a currency conversion? I thought they insisted that all transfers to Canadian accounts be in Canadian dollars.

i made a transferwise account. there doesn't seem to be a way to send USD (from my usd bank account) and get USD (in my paypal account). but maybe if their conversion rates are reasonable i can just send from my cad account.

someweirdo wrote: ↑ Wait, are you saying you can send USD from TransferWise to a Canadian USD account without doing a currency conversion? I thought they insisted that all transfers to Canadian accounts be in Canadian dollars.

Depends on the Canadian USD account. Apparently newer Royalbank Canadian USD account does not have this functionality. Mine was opened decade ago. So I have no idea what they changed for the new account, or if my account will keep working.

I signed up at the Eastern Michigan bank in the USA (canadian friendly) , I don't know if there is a easy way around it. US paypal wants US address and US banking info (different from Canada). I tried doing it with CIBC US account (not the actually USA Cibc), but it didn't work.

I recently noticed that my Canadian PayPal account allows me to change currencies to USD. Maybe you could just use that?

kramer1 wrote: ↑ I recently noticed that my Canadian PayPal account allows me to change currencies to USD. Maybe you could just use that?

The OP is concerned about fees. Paypal has setup Canadian based accounts in a way that requires currency conversions at some point during the process of moving funds and the rate is high.

I have a US funds Canadian RBC account and used to transfer US dollars to it all the time (it worked great for years). I tried to send from this account last year. It appeared to work at first but 2 weeks later was rejected and my Canadian CC was automatically charged the full amount! I ended up paying massive amounts in service fees and Exchange rates.

After that Paypal (or RBC) un-linked my US funds account and I haven't been able to re-connect it (trying every trick out there I could find). I've read that its no longer possible except for those grandfathered in (which I now lost).

Is there any way to get around this? Will Transferwise work? (I will pay a dollar per transfer). I could open up a new account somewhere if I don't have to travel to the US!

Sorry to bring up an old thread, has anyone had any luck with connecting a US account from Canada to Paypal to avoid those absurd fees? I'm thinking of asking my local CIBC branch if they can open the US version account for me.

I have Banner Bank from WA state connected to my paypal which is great except for the fact because of the COVID restrictions I'm unable to cross the border to access an ATM to withdraw US cash.

Previous poster said "you can open an account at a US division/subsidiary of a Canadian bank like TD Bank NA, RBC Bank Georgia (warning: monthly or annual fees apply after first year) or BMO Harris."

Does that mean I have to drive down to the states to open the US version of TD, RBC or BMO? If anyone with experience has a solution, much appreciated.

robsaw wrote: ↑ No - multiple threads on this topic, main one being:

cross-border-us-banking-credit-cards-me ... ad-943374/

and

u-s-based-td-bank-account-now-available ... s-1257782/

Thanks for pointing me to the right place!

confy85 wrote: ↑ Thanks for pointing me to the right place!

If you are a CIBC customer you can easily just do a cross border transfer from your cad account to your US domiciled account -

Cibc bank USA - https://us.cibc.com/en/personal/checkin ... count.html

Right now first year free and if you already have cibc account it doesn’t ask for your SSN or us based address - it’s super easy! Although if you are a TD customer probably easier to get a TD bank USA, RBC Georgia etc basically use the US version of whatever Canadian bank you use with today they all have a US domiciled bank except for scotiabank