Foreign currency exchange?

[Wahine]

Does anyone here have experience with transferring larger sums of money between countries? I am trying to find a way to move some money I have in Canada to the US with the least cost. Foreign currency exchange companies seem to have the best rates but I've never used one before.

Anyone have any insight on this topic?

[Irulan]

Banks can wire money. This is how we've sent money to my brother in law in Mexico. I forget what the fee is, but I felt comfortable using my bank that I already have a relationship with.
You might be able to use paypal, too. ?

[Wahine]

Banks can wire money. This is how we've sent money to my brother in law in Mexico. I forget what the fee is, but I felt comfortable using my bank that I already have a relationship with.
You might be able to use paypal, too. ?

Thanks for your input. I can definitely wire the money through the banks but they don't give as good of an exchange rate as Foreign currency exchange companies and with large sums that makes a big difference. The bank will be my fall back plan.

[sookiesue]

Many, many years ago when I was traveling in Europe, you could use American Express to do something like this. If you had a bank account in the U.S., you could go to an AmEx office anywhere and write a personal check and they would give you the local currency at the current exchange rate with no fees. You had to have an American Express account, which had a small cost to it, but it turned out to save you money compared to using credit cards with fluctuating exchange rates or paying fees at local banks, or even paying the fees for traveler's checks. I wonder if there's a Canadian equivalent where you could open an account in Canada and then use it somehow in the U.S. to withdraw the money you have in Canada. Sorry, as I write this I realize this might not be much help, it's a lot of 'maybe,' and likely to be completely outdated information. But there it is, FWIW! Good luck.

[Catrin]

I don't know if it is still this way, but several years ago I had a business on the side and I had a couple of European clients. As I remember, I paid less for them to pay me via PayPal than directly through a money transfer. It still cost of course, just not as much. This may have changed in the 4 years or so since then.

[NbyNW]

I'll ask DH as he has done this a few times in the past couple of years. I think he may have wired directly from Canadian bank to US bank, and timed it to happen when the exchange rate was something he was willing to pay, but I'm not 100% on that. Stay tuned ...

[Wahine]

Thanks Ladies!

[Wahine]

A little update for those that are interested... I've started an account with XE Trade. So far it's the best option I've found for transferring Canadian dollars to US.

I'll post a review of the whole process/transaction after it's done.

[SFLiz]

Wahine - I just saw this thread. You've got the right company to do this. We transferred decent sum of money when we lived in Australia for a year. We used XE after researching this. They are among the best.