Personal Finance

What is the best way to send USD to families in the United States from Canada?

  • Last Updated:
  • Apr 26th, 2020 2:59 am
Deal Addict
Nov 9, 2011
1298 posts
1770 upvotes
Toronto

What is the best way to send USD to families in the United States from Canada?

Best way in terms of cost effective, fast & safe.

Not sending a huge amount, just $2,000USD. I have a BMO USD chequing account, that is where the fund is at. If it is easier, I can send it from my CAD account (but not loving the exchange rate right now).

The last time I did this was through wire transfer and it is rather expensive.. Can we do email money transfer from our USD account?

Thanks
18 replies
Sr. Member
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Dec 20, 2017
871 posts
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There's no way to send USD funds from Canada via electronic means to someone in USA. It would have to be sent as a wire, or to your bank's cross border account (BMO Harris) then ACH or other means.

If you had a BMO Harris account, you could send via venmo or PayPal and it would be instant with a card linked as backup.

If the funds were in a PayPal account, then PayPal friends and family (gift) feature in Canada to US recipients used to take 1%, but now it's a flat rate of $2.97 CAD equivalent, which comes out to approx $2.04USD at today's rate. Again can't deposit from BMO Canada USD accounts either.
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Deal Addict
Nov 9, 2011
1298 posts
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Toronto
Thanks @Delight for the info

Have anyone ever use XE or WorldRemit to send money? They came up on my Google search. Not sure how legit they are..
Deal Addict
May 16, 2017
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You can use Transferwise or similar services to send directly to a US Checking account (If you have the recipients account info - ACH transfer).
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Mar 10, 2018
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does it matter?
Delight wrote: There's no way to send USD funds from Canada via electronic means to someone in USA. It would have to be sent as a wire, or to your bank's cross border account (BMO Harris) then ACH or other means.

If you had a BMO Harris account, you could send via venmo or PayPal and it would be instant with a card linked as backup.

If the funds were in a PayPal account, then PayPal friends and family (gift) feature in Canada to US recipients used to take 1%, but now it's a flat rate of $2.97 CAD equivalent, which comes out to approx $2.04USD at today's rate. Again can't deposit from BMO Canada USD accounts either.
This.
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Deal Addict
Nov 9, 2011
1298 posts
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Toronto
Thanks all, it seems like the easiest thing to do is just to do wire transfer via BMO again. Less headaches I guess..
Jr. Member
Jan 14, 2013
123 posts
134 upvotes
Kitchener
tonershop wrote: Thanks all, it seems like the easiest thing to do is just to do wire transfer via BMO again. Less headaches I guess..
I thought the PayPal idea was good, and if you had to do this regularly you could see if the BMO Harris account made sense. I do the TD version of that. Also XE is legit.
Sr. Member
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Nov 23, 2014
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Toronto, ON
Delight wrote: There's no way to send USD funds from Canada via electronic means to someone in USA. It would have to be sent as a wire, or to your bank's cross border account (BMO Harris) then ACH or other means.

If you had a BMO Harris account, you could send via venmo or PayPal and it would be instant with a card linked as backup.

If the funds were in a PayPal account, then PayPal friends and family (gift) feature in Canada to US recipients used to take 1%, but now it's a flat rate of $2.97 CAD equivalent, which comes out to approx $2.04USD at today's rate. Again can't deposit from BMO Canada USD accounts either.

Try XOOM
You can send from Canadian Bank account to USA Bank account
Takes 2 to 3 days for deposit

or try sending through Apply Pay Cash
Newbie
Jan 30, 2010
36 posts
1 upvote
Vancouver, Canada
Is there a US version interac etransfer to transfer between US bank accounts? If so, then I can use HSBC global transfer from Canada to US, then from HSBC US to any other US bank via etransfer. The entire process would be free.
Deal Addict
Nov 9, 2011
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Toronto
Just an update, I ended up doing a wire transfer through BMO to Wells Fargo bank - they charged $25 CAD for the transfer..
Deal Addict
May 16, 2017
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phieulang wrote: Is there a US version interac etransfer to transfer between US bank accounts? If so, then I can use HSBC global transfer from Canada to US, then from HSBC US to any other US bank via etransfer. The entire process would be free.
There is no almost universal thing like interac etransfer in the US but many banks support ACH transfer by one means or another - the thing is you must have the recipients banking details (routing and account #), so some security issues there.
Deal Addict
Jun 19, 2007
1618 posts
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Halifax
Mail a cheque? Money order? I have accounts with Chase, and TD Bank, and TD Canada Trust. I can move between Chase and TD easy enough on the US side, similar to email transfer I guess, and then TD offers free wires between the US and Canadian versions.

It's frustrating having come from Canada when I worked in the US and seeing the banking setups in many other countries, but I've literally had easier times navigating the banking systems of 3rd world countries vs the US.
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Mar 10, 2018
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tonershop wrote: Just an update, I ended up doing a wire transfer through BMO to Wells Fargo bank - they charged $25 CAD for the transfer..
Good to know. TD charged me like $20 or so but it was a while back. I see no problem sending money from Canada to US. All you need to know the details from receiver and bunch of question from your branch. May be the fee is main problem for many here.
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Deal Expert
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Jan 9, 2011
19732 posts
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Paper cheque through the snail mail. I do this about twice a year to send US $1,500 each time to someone in the US. Money is drawn from my USD account at Vancity. No fees for me nor for my recipient.
Sr. Member
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Nov 23, 2014
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Toronto, ON
robsaw wrote: There is no almost universal thing like interac etransfer in the US but many banks support ACH transfer by one means or another - the thing is you must have the recipients banking details (routing and account #), so some security issues there.

Yes,there is
It is called Zelle transfer
You can use zelle for instant transfer between bank accounts.Similar to interac e-transfer
Member
Mar 31, 2020
309 posts
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Greater Toronto Area
I use Transferwise for any foreign remittance. I'm so glad EQ Bank now integrates/uses Transferwise to enable cross-country transfers.
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May 27, 2007
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YWG
Link your bank account with paypal.
Put the funds in your bank account.
Send funds to their paypal account
Fees $3.
Unlink bank account.
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Member
Aug 26, 2008
483 posts
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Vancouver
Zelle, Venmo or Square Cash are probably your best bet if you have a USD account based in the US. If you have a bank account at the same bank they do, then usually there's a free member-to-member of client-to-client transfer service, and usually instantaneous. All the big three do (Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase).

If you have a USD account with BMO (Canada), why not open a BMO Harris account in the US? Free transfer over from BMO Canada to BMO Harris, then you can use Zelle, Venmo, Square Cash or any other ACH-to-ACH service to send for free.
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Sr. Member
Oct 12, 2014
966 posts
687 upvotes
London, ON
Bitcoin or Ethereum. Pay pennies to send the money.
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