Credit Cards

Is there any CC that allows you to buy in CAD and pay statement in USD?

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  • Nov 16th, 2017 7:03 am
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Newbie
Nov 12, 2017
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Is there any CC that allows you to buy in CAD and pay statement in USD?

In short, I spend in CAD, but have a lot of USD on hand, so I would like to make my purchases in CAD and pay balance with my USD bank account. Otherwise I have to pay my bank a ridiculous 3.25% conversion rate to get the CAD, and then pay my CC statement.

Thanks!
Last edited by newtonin on Oct 16th, 2018 10:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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newtonin wrote: In short, I spend in CAD, but have a lot of USD on hand, so I would like to make my purchases in CAD and pay balance with my USD bank account. Otherwise I have to pay my bank a ridiculous 3.25% conversion rate to get the CAD, and then pay my CC statement.

Thanks!
Get a USD credit card, but i m sure you will have to pay a conversion fee anyway.

I will gladly take the USD off with CDN though :lol: PM me if you interested.
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Nov 12, 2017
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angel_wing0 wrote: I will gladly take the USD off with CDN though :lol: PM me if you interested.
How would that work?


I know theres a CC that basically does the opposite (4% cashback on foreign rx fees which offsets the 2.5% fee) Rogers Platinum, I was hoping there would be something similar for USD
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newtonin wrote: In short, I spend in CAD, but have a lot of USD on hand, so I would like to make my purchases in CAD and pay balance with my USD bank account. Otherwise I have to pay my bank a ridiculous 3.25% conversion rate to get the CAD, and then pay my CC statement.

Thanks!
Many U.S. credit cards don't charge the 2.5% foreign exchange fee, so you can spend in CAD and get the actual exchange rate. Then you can pay it off in USD.

Here are some examples:
Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card
Citi ThankYou Premier Card
Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard
Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card
Amex SPG Credit Card
Amex Platinum Card
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card
Capital One SavorSM Cash Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Platinum Credit Card
Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card
Wyndham Rewards Visa Card
Discover it Miles
Discover it Cashback Match
UnitedSM TravelBank Card
HSBC Gold Mastercard credit card
Last edited by efrant on Nov 14th, 2017 11:11 am, edited 2 times in total.
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efrant wrote: Most U.S. credit cards don't charge the 2.5% foreign exchange fee, so you can spend in CAD and get the actual exchange rate. Then you can pay it off in USD.
That's amazing! That means only Canadian banks are taking us for a ride?
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titaniumtux wrote: That's amazing! That means only Canadian banks are taking us for a ride?
I think the U.S. is an exception. Many (if not all) of the card issuers in Europe also charge a fee similar to Canada.
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efrant wrote: Most U.S. credit cards don't charge the 2.5% foreign exchange fee, so you can spend in CAD and get the actual exchange rate. Then you can pay it off in USD.
That is not accurate. There are definitely cards in the states that do not charge FX but it is not most by any measure.
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McMaggot wrote: That is not accurate. There are definitely cards in the states that do not charge FX but it is not most by any measure.
Fixed it.
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newtonin wrote: all of those require itin right?
If you're a current Amex cardholder in Canada (and have been for at least six months), you should be able to get one of the U.S. Amex cards without an ITIN.
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Feb 17, 2017
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efrant wrote: I think the U.S. is an exception. Many (if not all) of the card issuers in Europe also charge a fee similar to Canada.
Many cards in the UK are forex free as well.
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newtonin wrote: In short, I spend in CAD, but have a lot of USD on hand, so I would like to make my purchases in CAD and pay balance with my USD bank account. Otherwise I have to pay my bank a ridiculous 3.25% conversion rate to get the CAD, and then pay my CC statement.

Thanks!
have you thought about maybe converting the funds outside your bank? either online or in-person. You will get a better rate than the 3.25% by the bank.
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Nov 12, 2017
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Can you give a link to those cards? I dont see any on their website. Also do you think if I call them they could give me one right away if i have good credit?
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newtonin wrote: In short, I spend in CAD, but have a lot of USD on hand, so I would like to make my purchases in CAD and pay balance with my USD bank account. Otherwise I have to pay my bank a ridiculous 3.25% conversion rate to get the CAD, and then pay my CC statement.

Thanks!
No. Convert your money using Norbert's Gambit. Problem solved.
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Keep in mind that Credit card conversion rates themselves from VISA/MC are spread 0.5 upto 1%, so your still not entirely off the hook for the conversion.

You can test this by using this for example:
https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/t ... ator.html/
-Choose 0% bank fee
-Then compare it to xe.com

Perhaps another option is to use XE Trade, Western Union fx or something like one one those online converters to swap currency when the rates are favourable.
-Also good idea from the above thread: "Norbert's Gambit"
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I used to use my interactive brokers (IB) account to do currency trades for usd/cad FX. You can link both CAD and USD bank accounts. If you want to change USD to CAD, fund your IB account using your USD account. Then sell USD on the forex market. Settle funds in CAD. Withdraw CAD from IB to your CAD bank account.

You get actual market spot rates and extremely low commissions (0.2 bps or $2USD which ever is greater). 0.2bps is essentially $2 USD per trade because I doubt you will be moving enough currency to go above $2. 0.2bps means IB will charge you $2 for every $100,000 you convert.

Being that you are converting at spot rates + $2 commission, the exchange rate is extremely good compared to anything out there. The only caveat is a minimum $10 per month trade fee.

Norbert's Gambit is not really a good idea when you have the option of IB. Norbert requires stock trade commissions (1 buy and 1 sell), there is slight market risk in that when you buy it, it could drop before you can journal over and sell. So it will likely cost more and carries a slightly higher risk compared to direct forex trade not to mention having the hassle to call your broker to change over the shares.
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newtonin wrote: Can you give a link to those cards? I dont see any on their website. Also do you think if I call them they could give me one right away if i have good credit?
Here are the links to the Amex ones:
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/cred ... tails-Pos3
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/cred ... ottom-Pos2
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/cred ... ottom-Pos3
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Nov 12, 2017
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so its $10/month as long as you have an account open there? What about deposit/withdraw fees?
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Aug 12, 2017
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[quote=newtonin post_id=28462600 time=1510627530 user_id=1408652]
In short, I spend in CAD, but have a lot of USD on hand, so I would like to make my purchases in CAD and pay balance with my USD bank account. Otherwise I have to pay my bank a ridiculous 3.25% conversion rate to get the CAD, and then pay my CC statement.
[/quote]

Are you spending the CAD $ in Canada? If so, use VBCE.ca to convert from US to CAD . Open a US$ account with any bank in Canada you want, then link that account to VBCE. They will pull the US out of your US$ account, convert it at the best rate imaginable (check to see), then send it free to any Canadian bank you want. From that bank account you pay your CC bill.
You have funds now in a US bank. Is it RBC or TD? If so you can move the money to their US$ bank account in Canada instantly. If not, you can use a US$ account with Paypal in the US and send the necessary funds each month via Paypal to your US$ Paypal account in Canada for free. From there to your Canadian US$ bank account, then VBCE to your CAD bank account which pays your credit card bill. Wow. That is some route for your money! It would be nice if VBCE can do business with Paypal but I don't think this is possible. Check though and let us know if they do. That would be a huge benefit and remove much of the time involved here.
Newbie
Nov 12, 2017
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thanks, I see their fees are about 1%, thats pretty good, any deposit/withdrawal fees?

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