Currency Exchange in Canada
El Cambio de Divisas en Canadá
L'échange de Devises au Canada
I did a lot of research and made some mistakes on currency exchange in my first few weeks in Canada. Since I only had US dollars, all my research was based on getting the best rate for converting US dollars to Canadian dollars, and this post is written from that point of view, but all the currency exchange companies mentioned exchange a variety of currencies, so hopefully those of you exchanging from other currencies will also benefit from the information below.
If you need to convert no more than a couple thousand dollars of US cash in a hurry, I recommend the following places:
US credit cards with no foreign transaction fees give the best exchange rates, the rates that banks charge each other. So in your early days settling in Canada, or if you are just visiting Canada, using a US credit card with no foreign transaction fees for all your purchases usually gives you the best exchange rates.
However, not everything can be purchased with credit cards. Sometimes cash is necessary, and if you are settling in Canada and have more than a few thousand US dollars to convert, you will need to go through an institution.
For changing more than a few thousand US dollars to Canadian, I recommend going with a currency exchange company. I researched quite a few but generally found Knightsbridge to have the best rates, with a commission of only about .5%, compared to the 2.5-3.5% Canadian banks tend to charge.
When you use a currency exchange company in Canada, it is very helpful to have a US currency account at a Canadian bank. Unfortunately I do not know of any currency exchange companies that would take a check written from a US bank account or take an ACH transfer from a US bank account. They all require a wire transfer into their US currency account at a Canadian bank (which usually involve expensive international wire transfer fees when done from US bank accounts), a bank draft from a US currency account at a Canadian bank (for which most Canadian banks charge a fee, however, I found out that TD's Borderless account gives free bank drafts), or a US currency account at a Canadian bank for direct debit (the only free option, and therefor the option for me!).
The next problem is how to move US dollars stored in a US bank into a US currency account at a Canadian bank. This step is more difficult than I had thought. Unfortunately ACH transfers can't be sent to any bank outside the US, even if it is a US currency account. Banks will usually just say to send a wire transfer. Unfortunately this would usually be an international wire transfer, because it is going to a bank outside the US, even if it is a US currency account. And as mentioned above, international wire transfers are expensive. Bank of America actually quoted me only $15, which I thought was reasonable, so I gave that a try. Unfortunately the next day, Bank of America deducted an additional $45 from my account. I called customer service 3 times to complain but was unable to get the additional undisclosed $45 waived, so I closed my Bank of America account and gave up on wire transfers.
You can also write a check to yourself from a US bank account and deposit it into a US currency account at a Canadian bank, but usually it takes about 30 days before the funds become available, way too long if you are watching the constantly fluctuating exchange rates for the best rate!
Fortunately TD Bank has a great arrangement that allows customers with an account at TD Bank US and a US currency account at TD Bank Canada to transfer up to $100,000 per day between the accounts for free by calling a toll-free Cross Border Banking number 877-700-2913. And this $100,000 limit is per calendar day, so if you have more than $100,000 to transfer, you can call every calendar day, including weekends, to transfer another $100,000 until you have transferred everything. TD Bank Canada does deduct an incoming wire transfer fee, but the fee is refunded on the next business day.
The process would be:
Fortunately I already had a TD Bank checking account in the US from before, that I had opened with another bonus offer, but if you do not have one, I would strongly recommend opening one before leaving the US if you live in one of the states where TD Bank has branches: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Unfortunately if you do not live in one of these states, TD Bank will not allow you to open an account online from the US, but you can open an account from Canada at the same time when you open your US currency account at TD Bank Canada.
Note: some people in other US states have reported being able to open US TD Bank accounts over the phone, but it seems to depend on the agent you get.
Read my Guide to TD Bank for more on TD Bank for US expatriates or anyone living in Canada who has a fair amount of US dollars.
From what I have observed so far, Knightsbridge tends to be consistently best for amounts over $50,000 (especially starting around $70,000 and up). XE tends to come in second. But Transferwise and XE are both close seconds to Knightsbridge for conversions up to around $50,000.
In my experience, most of these currency exchange companies were a hassle to sign up with in the beginning.
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge wanted a notarized copy of my ID, and it seems to be impossible to find free notaries here in Canada. None of the banks have them. After a few phone calls to Knightsbridge, I got them to agree to let me come into their office to show them my ID. The location was inconvenient. The address is 18 Wynford Dr, North York, ON M3C 3S2, different from the downtown one listed on their website. But after I finally had the chance to go in one afternoon, my registration was completed quickly. When I reached someone on the phone from that office, they told me I could come in between 8:30 am and 6 pm, but I would recommend calling their 1-877-355-5239 number to confirm before going, as that location is rather inconvenient (for me at least). However, if you have large amounts of US dollars to convert (at least $50,000 and definitely for $100,000+), I think the good rates are worth the hassle. In fact, the larger your conversion the better the rates. The exchange rate improves at every tier, which I believe are the following: up to $50,000, $100,000, $250,000, $500,000, and $1 million.
Transferwise
If you don't have the Knightsbridge + TD Bank setup I described, Transferwise is easiest to use and gives one of the best rates on amounts up to $50,000, but for amounts over $50,000, I would still recommend Knightsbridge or one of the others mentioned below. In fact, Transferwise has a limit of transferring in only up to $50,000 USD per day. Transferwise also charges huge fees for doing ACH debit from your US bank account, like $75 to transfer $50k, so you're better off wiring the funds. But then you'd have to pay the wire transfer fee for every transfer, so if you have to do multiple transfers over multiple days due to the $50k per day limit, you'll be paying a lot of wire transfer fees. Hoewever, the good thing about Transferwise is their US currency account is actually at a US bank, so doing wire transfer to Transferwise costs a domestic wire transfer fee instead of an international fee.
Update as of October 2018: Effective December 1, 2018, Transferwise will be charging an additional 95 cents Canadian to withdraw funds from Transferwise into your Canadian bank account.
My first (and so far only) experience using Transferwise:
On a Friday evening in June, I was playing around in my Borderless Account at Transferwise and initiated a transfer of Canadian currency from my US bank account at Ally Bank. Transferwise was going to charge quite an exorbitant fee to do an ACH transfer from my Ally Bank account, so I chose the other option of doing a wire transfer from Ally Bank into Transferwise. Ally charged $20, and I later came to know that Bank of America says it charges only $3 to wire into a domestic US bank account with a 3 day turnaround time (although from my bad experience wiring into a US currency account at a Canadian bank, what Bank of America advertises and what it charges can be completely different). Transferwise does have a domestic US bank account to wire into, so at least you can pay the domestic outgoing wire transfer fees to wire to Transferwise.
The wire transfer from Ally reached Transferwise on Monday and there was a message that Transferwise was converting the funds to Canadian dollars. But my funds were on hold with a message saying Transferwise needed to verify my identity, which could take 2 to 3 days.
On Wednesday at 3:04 PM, I received an email from Transferwise asking to log into my account and enter my social security number on a page they gave. I did that right away. My funds still showed as being on hold pending verification at that time.
At 3:20 I received an email from Transferwise with a referral link for me to send out to people to sign up and get a free transfer.
Then a little before 5 PM, I logged into Transferwise again and saw that my funds are available.
On Thursday, I initiated a transfer of my Canadian dollar funds into one of my Canadian bank accounts. They arrived in my Canadian bank account the following Monday.
Transferwise also gave me the exchange rate in effect when my funds hit the bank account of Transferwise, which was a little better than what they had quoted me on Friday. The exchange rate had gone up a little between Friday and when Transferwise had received my funds on Monday. Transferwise does say its rates are guaranteed for 6 hours, so I guess if you don't get your funds to them within 6 hours of setting up the transfer, they will give you their rate as of the time they receive your funds.
XE
https://xe.com/xemoneytransfer/ca/
XE tends to come in second best in CAD/USD exchange rate. However, it is very strict about proof of address and absolutely requires a utility bill. Not even a bank statement, lease, or driver's license. I actually submitted my first cellphone bill from Fido, but unfortunately Fido mistyped one digit in my building number and XE noticed that and rejected it. I did not bother to resubmit after getting my next phone bill since I have been happy with Knightsbridge, so my registration with XE is still pending.
OFX
https://www.ofx.com/en-ca/
OFX requires proof of address, in the form of an original downloaded file which can include:
Kantor
http://www.kantor.ca/exchange_rate_calculator
Kantor was a disappointment that I will not use for large currency exchanges. They have one rate for all amounts, so they can be on par for smaller amounts. I called and asked about the process of exchanging at least $50,000 USD and was told I could go into any Kantor location and write a check, and they could deposit the Canadian dollars into my Canadian account after a few days. On a Friday in June, I trekked over in the heat to the one somewhat near me but still a hike, hoping to write them a check and do an exchange. The store is actually a small booth within a grocery store, and when I arrived, they were on a 5 minute break (which ended up taking closer to 10 minutes). No problem, I was not in a hurry. But the lady who helped me was rather unfriendly. She said no, I could not write a check. I would need to give them cash (but I had over $50,000 USD to exchange, I can't take it all out in cash, and it's in the US!) or a bank draft. When I asked how specifically to get the bank draft and whether it could be from a US bank or had to be from the US currency account at a Canadian bank, she got a bit irritated and just said bank draft. I eventually found out that one needs to get a bank draft from a US currency account at a Canadian bank, and TD Borderless account gives free bank drafts, but I have given up on Kantor for more than small exchanges.
CurrencyFair
https://www.currencyfair.com
I only recently heard about CurrencyFair. The rates seem to be among the best and definitely worth checking. I have heard, though, that the turnaround time can be long, so this might not work when you need to convert in a hurry.
InstaRem
https://www.instarem.com/
1-888-409-3307
A friend told me about InstaRem, and the rates looked pretty good. However, I was already nicely set up with Knightsbridge by then, so I have not personally tried this out.
I was able to set up one of my US bank accounts and one of my Canadian bank accounts with InstaRem. However, I am concerned about the following verbiage that appears at the bottom of the page when you send funds:
However, five days after registering, a representative called me to tell me my account was active, and on my first transaction, I could use code WELCOME to get $10 off. So I might try this the next time the exchange rate rises in my favor and see how the numbers work out.
Xendpay
https://www.xendpay.com/
I signed up for Xendpay but have not done a conversion. As of the end of September 2018, I have been emailed twice about limited time promotions where transaction fees were waived.
https://www.xendpay.com/payday/
The rates seem competitive, so this is another service I would keep an eye on.
June 2019 update - a friend of mine tried xendpay during their end of month No Transfer Fees, No Limits Pay Day promotion. Unfortunately xendpay gave only a $3500 limit, despite the No Limits advertising, and sneaked in a $87.50 credit or debit card fee at the end. Apparently it is not even possible to send xendpay the funds to convert by free bank transfer.
Summary
- If I have a small amount of US cash to convert, I post on kijiji or craigslist to find someone local to exchange cash with at the official rate.
- If I can't find anyone or need to convert a large amount (more than a few thousand dollars), I check rates at all the currency exchange places described below but usually end up going with Knightsbridge.
- I transfer US dollars from my TD Bank account in the US to my US currency account at TD Bank Canada and instruct Knightsbridge to take the US dollars from my US currency account at TD Bank Canada and deposit it into the Canadian bank account of my choice.
If you need to convert no more than a couple thousand dollars of US cash in a hurry, I recommend the following places:
- Kantor
- Wall Street Finance - 121 Yonge St. Toronto, ON, M5C 1W4
- Calforex
Getting set up for larger amounts of currency exchange
To get the best exchange rates, never exchange currency at an airport. Airports have the worst rates. Banks are better but still build a commission of 2.5-3.5% into their exchange rates.US credit cards with no foreign transaction fees give the best exchange rates, the rates that banks charge each other. So in your early days settling in Canada, or if you are just visiting Canada, using a US credit card with no foreign transaction fees for all your purchases usually gives you the best exchange rates.
However, not everything can be purchased with credit cards. Sometimes cash is necessary, and if you are settling in Canada and have more than a few thousand US dollars to convert, you will need to go through an institution.
For changing more than a few thousand US dollars to Canadian, I recommend going with a currency exchange company. I researched quite a few but generally found Knightsbridge to have the best rates, with a commission of only about .5%, compared to the 2.5-3.5% Canadian banks tend to charge.
When you use a currency exchange company in Canada, it is very helpful to have a US currency account at a Canadian bank. Unfortunately I do not know of any currency exchange companies that would take a check written from a US bank account or take an ACH transfer from a US bank account. They all require a wire transfer into their US currency account at a Canadian bank (which usually involve expensive international wire transfer fees when done from US bank accounts), a bank draft from a US currency account at a Canadian bank (for which most Canadian banks charge a fee, however, I found out that TD's Borderless account gives free bank drafts), or a US currency account at a Canadian bank for direct debit (the only free option, and therefor the option for me!).
The next problem is how to move US dollars stored in a US bank into a US currency account at a Canadian bank. This step is more difficult than I had thought. Unfortunately ACH transfers can't be sent to any bank outside the US, even if it is a US currency account. Banks will usually just say to send a wire transfer. Unfortunately this would usually be an international wire transfer, because it is going to a bank outside the US, even if it is a US currency account. And as mentioned above, international wire transfers are expensive. Bank of America actually quoted me only $15, which I thought was reasonable, so I gave that a try. Unfortunately the next day, Bank of America deducted an additional $45 from my account. I called customer service 3 times to complain but was unable to get the additional undisclosed $45 waived, so I closed my Bank of America account and gave up on wire transfers.
You can also write a check to yourself from a US bank account and deposit it into a US currency account at a Canadian bank, but usually it takes about 30 days before the funds become available, way too long if you are watching the constantly fluctuating exchange rates for the best rate!
Fortunately TD Bank has a great arrangement that allows customers with an account at TD Bank US and a US currency account at TD Bank Canada to transfer up to $100,000 per day between the accounts for free by calling a toll-free Cross Border Banking number 877-700-2913. And this $100,000 limit is per calendar day, so if you have more than $100,000 to transfer, you can call every calendar day, including weekends, to transfer another $100,000 until you have transferred everything. TD Bank Canada does deduct an incoming wire transfer fee, but the fee is refunded on the next business day.
The process would be:
- move your US dollars into your US TD bank account.
- move your funds from US TD Bank account to Canada TD Bank US currency account for free.
- have Knightsbridge or the currency exchange company of your choice deduct the US funds from your Canada TD Bank US currency account and deposit Canadian dollars into the Canadian account of your choice.
Fortunately I already had a TD Bank checking account in the US from before, that I had opened with another bonus offer, but if you do not have one, I would strongly recommend opening one before leaving the US if you live in one of the states where TD Bank has branches: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Unfortunately if you do not live in one of these states, TD Bank will not allow you to open an account online from the US, but you can open an account from Canada at the same time when you open your US currency account at TD Bank Canada.
Note: some people in other US states have reported being able to open US TD Bank accounts over the phone, but it seems to depend on the agent you get.
Read my Guide to TD Bank for more on TD Bank for US expatriates or anyone living in Canada who has a fair amount of US dollars.
Reviews of Currency Exchange Companies
Here are my reviews of currency exchange companies I looked into if not tried. I have been keeping a spreadsheet of rates on various days from Transferwise, Kantor, Knightsbridge, OFX, and XE, for changing USD $50k, $100k, $200k, and $500k.From what I have observed so far, Knightsbridge tends to be consistently best for amounts over $50,000 (especially starting around $70,000 and up). XE tends to come in second. But Transferwise and XE are both close seconds to Knightsbridge for conversions up to around $50,000.
In my experience, most of these currency exchange companies were a hassle to sign up with in the beginning.
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge wanted a notarized copy of my ID, and it seems to be impossible to find free notaries here in Canada. None of the banks have them. After a few phone calls to Knightsbridge, I got them to agree to let me come into their office to show them my ID. The location was inconvenient. The address is 18 Wynford Dr, North York, ON M3C 3S2, different from the downtown one listed on their website. But after I finally had the chance to go in one afternoon, my registration was completed quickly. When I reached someone on the phone from that office, they told me I could come in between 8:30 am and 6 pm, but I would recommend calling their 1-877-355-5239 number to confirm before going, as that location is rather inconvenient (for me at least). However, if you have large amounts of US dollars to convert (at least $50,000 and definitely for $100,000+), I think the good rates are worth the hassle. In fact, the larger your conversion the better the rates. The exchange rate improves at every tier, which I believe are the following: up to $50,000, $100,000, $250,000, $500,000, and $1 million.
Transferwise
If you don't have the Knightsbridge + TD Bank setup I described, Transferwise is easiest to use and gives one of the best rates on amounts up to $50,000, but for amounts over $50,000, I would still recommend Knightsbridge or one of the others mentioned below. In fact, Transferwise has a limit of transferring in only up to $50,000 USD per day. Transferwise also charges huge fees for doing ACH debit from your US bank account, like $75 to transfer $50k, so you're better off wiring the funds. But then you'd have to pay the wire transfer fee for every transfer, so if you have to do multiple transfers over multiple days due to the $50k per day limit, you'll be paying a lot of wire transfer fees. Hoewever, the good thing about Transferwise is their US currency account is actually at a US bank, so doing wire transfer to Transferwise costs a domestic wire transfer fee instead of an international fee.
Update as of October 2018: Effective December 1, 2018, Transferwise will be charging an additional 95 cents Canadian to withdraw funds from Transferwise into your Canadian bank account.
My first (and so far only) experience using Transferwise:
On a Friday evening in June, I was playing around in my Borderless Account at Transferwise and initiated a transfer of Canadian currency from my US bank account at Ally Bank. Transferwise was going to charge quite an exorbitant fee to do an ACH transfer from my Ally Bank account, so I chose the other option of doing a wire transfer from Ally Bank into Transferwise. Ally charged $20, and I later came to know that Bank of America says it charges only $3 to wire into a domestic US bank account with a 3 day turnaround time (although from my bad experience wiring into a US currency account at a Canadian bank, what Bank of America advertises and what it charges can be completely different). Transferwise does have a domestic US bank account to wire into, so at least you can pay the domestic outgoing wire transfer fees to wire to Transferwise.
The wire transfer from Ally reached Transferwise on Monday and there was a message that Transferwise was converting the funds to Canadian dollars. But my funds were on hold with a message saying Transferwise needed to verify my identity, which could take 2 to 3 days.
On Wednesday at 3:04 PM, I received an email from Transferwise asking to log into my account and enter my social security number on a page they gave. I did that right away. My funds still showed as being on hold pending verification at that time.
At 3:20 I received an email from Transferwise with a referral link for me to send out to people to sign up and get a free transfer.
Then a little before 5 PM, I logged into Transferwise again and saw that my funds are available.
On Thursday, I initiated a transfer of my Canadian dollar funds into one of my Canadian bank accounts. They arrived in my Canadian bank account the following Monday.
Transferwise also gave me the exchange rate in effect when my funds hit the bank account of Transferwise, which was a little better than what they had quoted me on Friday. The exchange rate had gone up a little between Friday and when Transferwise had received my funds on Monday. Transferwise does say its rates are guaranteed for 6 hours, so I guess if you don't get your funds to them within 6 hours of setting up the transfer, they will give you their rate as of the time they receive your funds.
XE
https://xe.com/xemoneytransfer/ca/
XE tends to come in second best in CAD/USD exchange rate. However, it is very strict about proof of address and absolutely requires a utility bill. Not even a bank statement, lease, or driver's license. I actually submitted my first cellphone bill from Fido, but unfortunately Fido mistyped one digit in my building number and XE noticed that and rejected it. I did not bother to resubmit after getting my next phone bill since I have been happy with Knightsbridge, so my registration with XE is still pending.
OFX
https://www.ofx.com/en-ca/
OFX requires proof of address, in the form of an original downloaded file which can include:
- Utility Bill
- Government Letter (Unable to accept COPR as it is not original downloaded)
- Bank Statement
- Credit Card Statement
- Loan Statement (from banks only)
Kantor
http://www.kantor.ca/exchange_rate_calculator
Kantor was a disappointment that I will not use for large currency exchanges. They have one rate for all amounts, so they can be on par for smaller amounts. I called and asked about the process of exchanging at least $50,000 USD and was told I could go into any Kantor location and write a check, and they could deposit the Canadian dollars into my Canadian account after a few days. On a Friday in June, I trekked over in the heat to the one somewhat near me but still a hike, hoping to write them a check and do an exchange. The store is actually a small booth within a grocery store, and when I arrived, they were on a 5 minute break (which ended up taking closer to 10 minutes). No problem, I was not in a hurry. But the lady who helped me was rather unfriendly. She said no, I could not write a check. I would need to give them cash (but I had over $50,000 USD to exchange, I can't take it all out in cash, and it's in the US!) or a bank draft. When I asked how specifically to get the bank draft and whether it could be from a US bank or had to be from the US currency account at a Canadian bank, she got a bit irritated and just said bank draft. I eventually found out that one needs to get a bank draft from a US currency account at a Canadian bank, and TD Borderless account gives free bank drafts, but I have given up on Kantor for more than small exchanges.
CurrencyFair
https://www.currencyfair.com
I only recently heard about CurrencyFair. The rates seem to be among the best and definitely worth checking. I have heard, though, that the turnaround time can be long, so this might not work when you need to convert in a hurry.
Sept 2023 update: I just signed up for currencyfair. The rates aren't great but aren't bad. I have yet to make an exchange. They also have a 50 EUR refer a friend program: https://www.currencyfair.com/rafland/?channel=RJ30S1
InstaRem
https://www.instarem.com/
1-888-409-3307
A friend told me about InstaRem, and the rates looked pretty good. However, I was already nicely set up with Knightsbridge by then, so I have not personally tried this out.
I was able to set up one of my US bank accounts and one of my Canadian bank accounts with InstaRem. However, I am concerned about the following verbiage that appears at the bottom of the page when you send funds:
"Please note that additional SWIFT fees (typically, between CAD 15 and 30) could be charged for CAD transfers, and the amount thus received may be less than what is shown on the website."I was also concerned that when registering, Canada was not an option to select for country you stay in. So I selected United States. The application also asks for your nationality, but United States is not on the list, so I just selected Canada.
However, five days after registering, a representative called me to tell me my account was active, and on my first transaction, I could use code WELCOME to get $10 off. So I might try this the next time the exchange rate rises in my favor and see how the numbers work out.
Xendpay
https://www.xendpay.com/
https://www.xendpay.com/payday/
The rates seem competitive, so this is another service I would keep an eye on.
June 2019 update - a friend of mine tried xendpay during their end of month No Transfer Fees, No Limits Pay Day promotion. Unfortunately xendpay gave only a $3500 limit, despite the No Limits advertising, and sneaked in a $87.50 credit or debit card fee at the end. Apparently it is not even possible to send xendpay the funds to convert by free bank transfer.
Updated Sept 2023: conversions from USD seem to have good rates. Conversions from CAD are not worth it due to high fees to transfer the CAD to xendpay. They now have a refer a friend bonus of £/ €/ $ 10: https://secure.xendpay.com/signup/ur/V316993
Xoom
https://www.xoom.com/
I have not personally tried this, but I know someone who recently tried Xoom to convert $5000 USD to Canadian and was happy with both the rate and the turnaround time. The person initiated the transaction on a Friday night, had funds taken from his US bank account the following Monday, and received the Canadian dollars in his Canadian bank account on Tuesday morning. Note though that Xoom has a $25,000 limit, and it is affiliated with Paypal. I avoid Paypal and do only very small transactions when I need to because Paypal suddenly froze my main account one day, so I had to open another one with another email address and bank account that I had never linked before.
Ottawa Foreign Currency Exchange
I haven't tried this, but this is the first place I have seen in Ottawa that seems to have decent rates, so I'm noting it down here for future reference.
Bank of America
So Bank of America is not a currency exchange company but one of the biggest banks in the US and where I used to have a US bank account. But I am including a section here because I had thought it would be an option for making affordable wire transfers for currency exchange but decided to try never to make wire transfers again after my bad experience with Bank of America.
Before finding out about the TD Bank arrangement, I tried making a wire transfer to Knightsbridge through Bank of America for my first smaller currency exchange with Knightsbridge because Bank of America quoted me only $15 to do a wire transfer into Knightsbridge's US currency account when I logged into my account at https://www.bankofamerica.com to initiate a wire transfer. However, an additional $45 wire transfer fee was deducted from my Bank of America account the next day. After speaking with a few Bank of America reps over the course of a few days that week, including being cut off two calls and of course having to wait on hold each time I called back, I was unable to get the additional undisclosed $45 wire transfer fee refunded, so I decided to close my account. I even had to call twice to close my account. The first time I called, the ACH transfer of my remaining funds was still showing as Pending, and the rep said I could not close my account until the transaction is no longer showing as Pending. So I had to call back the next day to close the account.
Bank of America advertises only $3 wire transfer fee to do a 3 day wire transfer into a US domestic account like Transferwise's. Unfortunately with my bad experience with the wire transfer into Knightsbridge's US currency account, I don't trust Bank of America not to tack on hidden fees. So I think I am done with Transferwise. I'll stick with Knightsbridge for all except small cash conversions that I could possibly do with a local person who wants to exchange cash.
I foolishly lost money on this conversion, but at least the conversion amount was relatively small.
FEC - Eaton Centre
My friend was badly ripped off at FEC at 220 Yonge Street inside the Eaton Centre in Toronto with a 1.2125 CAD/USD rate to exchange US dollars to Canadian dollars in the second full week of November 2018, at a time when all the good currency exchange companies were offering at least 1.31.
Xoom
https://www.xoom.com/
I have not personally tried this, but I know someone who recently tried Xoom to convert $5000 USD to Canadian and was happy with both the rate and the turnaround time. The person initiated the transaction on a Friday night, had funds taken from his US bank account the following Monday, and received the Canadian dollars in his Canadian bank account on Tuesday morning. Note though that Xoom has a $25,000 limit, and it is affiliated with Paypal. I avoid Paypal and do only very small transactions when I need to because Paypal suddenly froze my main account one day, so I had to open another one with another email address and bank account that I had never linked before.
Ottawa Foreign Currency Exchange
I haven't tried this, but this is the first place I have seen in Ottawa that seems to have decent rates, so I'm noting it down here for future reference.
Bank of America
So Bank of America is not a currency exchange company but one of the biggest banks in the US and where I used to have a US bank account. But I am including a section here because I had thought it would be an option for making affordable wire transfers for currency exchange but decided to try never to make wire transfers again after my bad experience with Bank of America.
Before finding out about the TD Bank arrangement, I tried making a wire transfer to Knightsbridge through Bank of America for my first smaller currency exchange with Knightsbridge because Bank of America quoted me only $15 to do a wire transfer into Knightsbridge's US currency account when I logged into my account at https://www.bankofamerica.com to initiate a wire transfer. However, an additional $45 wire transfer fee was deducted from my Bank of America account the next day. After speaking with a few Bank of America reps over the course of a few days that week, including being cut off two calls and of course having to wait on hold each time I called back, I was unable to get the additional undisclosed $45 wire transfer fee refunded, so I decided to close my account. I even had to call twice to close my account. The first time I called, the ACH transfer of my remaining funds was still showing as Pending, and the rep said I could not close my account until the transaction is no longer showing as Pending. So I had to call back the next day to close the account.
Bank of America advertises only $3 wire transfer fee to do a 3 day wire transfer into a US domestic account like Transferwise's. Unfortunately with my bad experience with the wire transfer into Knightsbridge's US currency account, I don't trust Bank of America not to tack on hidden fees. So I think I am done with Transferwise. I'll stick with Knightsbridge for all except small cash conversions that I could possibly do with a local person who wants to exchange cash.
I foolishly lost money on this conversion, but at least the conversion amount was relatively small.
Where NOT to go
Always ask a currency exchange company what rate it would give you now to exchange X currency to Canadian dollars. I will list here specific currency exchange companies to avoid based on the very bad experiences of myself and others. If you would like me to add any to this list, contact me with details about your experience.FEC - Eaton Centre
My friend was badly ripped off at FEC at 220 Yonge Street inside the Eaton Centre in Toronto with a 1.2125 CAD/USD rate to exchange US dollars to Canadian dollars in the second full week of November 2018, at a time when all the good currency exchange companies were offering at least 1.31.
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