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slidebite posted:If you don't do a bunch of in-branch banking, I'd highly recommend PC Financial. You can use CIBC machines fee-free which makes deposits and everything a snap if you don't have a PCF machine nearby. Go with one of the free chequing account banks. Here's a link to Tangerine's ABM network (they work through Scotiabank, of course). http://www.tangerine.ca/en/ways-to-bank/automated-banking-machines/index.html I'm with PCF because points and there's usually a CIBC machine nearby if I ever need cash. I recommend PCF, they also gave me the best rate I could find on car insurance. Bank loyalty is dumb. I made a post about giving someone thousands of dollars for nothing, which sounds absurd, and giving a bank of all things hundreds or thousands of dollars in fees over the years is even more ridiculous.
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Sep 20, 2014 23:49
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Anyone have any advice on US banking? I'm spending more time in the US these days now that I live in Vancouver instead of Montreal, and I figured somebody has already figured out how to min/max this poo poo, so why not ask rather than spend my day reading RFD. Right now I use my Tangerine card at Bank of America ATMs, which seems to cost 3% + $2. Amazon.ca Visa as much as possible which works well, except some places seem to have trouble with foreign cards, only take MC, or whatever. I'd like to have a US credit card, issued from a US bank, that I can pay off with USD from a US chequing account, that I can get cash from nationwide with no fees. I'm not super concerned about ease of moving money between Canada and the US, a friend of mine has US income that I can trade for at the "real" rate. I don't mind throwing 1-2k in the account to prevent fees. I have no US credit history. I do have a family member's US address I can use. The TD premium account thing looks like it would work, except that there are no TD ATMs west of the Appalachians.
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Sep 21, 2014 17:14
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Trying to apply for a US TD account is like pulling teeth. Their customer service is based out of some southern US shithole staffed by barely literate neanderthals. It is also a useless account, as you have acknowledged, because there are no loving TD ATMs in Washington state (and all of the west coast). Short of getting a US social security card and a US address (so you can get an awesome First Tech Federal Credit Union account), just get a TD US dollar account and the associated US dollar credit card (whatever it is). gently caress US TD in the loving rear end. I hate those motherfuckers with the fury of a thousand suns. They are the loving worst. Really, the best option imo is just pay for everything at the going exchange rate out of your canadian accounts. It's not worth the effort unless you're getting paid in US dollars by an American company.
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Sep 21, 2014 17:18
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melon cat fucked around with this message at 04:18 on Mar 16, 2019 |
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Sep 21, 2014 17:49
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Cultural Imperial posted:Trying to apply for a US TD account is like pulling teeth. Their customer service is based out of some southern US shithole staffed by barely literate neanderthals. It is also a useless account, as you have acknowledged, because there are no loving TD ATMs in Washington state (and all of the west coast). Apparently as of last week you can now apply for US TD accounts online as a Canadian! Not sure whether it's picked me out as Canadian due to IP, or perhaps from where I clicked through to their site, but I'm currently filling out an account set up form where it's asking for my SIN, and letting me stick a Canadian address in. I'll consider opening a US TD Premier account, which waves all ATM fees if your balance is above $2500. That plus the Visa debit card that comes with it should work fine for me. I've been thinking about setting up a TD account at home anyway, as Scotiabank is the least convenient of the big banks near my work (6 blocks up a steep hill, gently caress that) so gently caress sticking with Tangerine once I can't use the sketchy credit union ATM a block away from me. TD seems to be the only bank that waves all fees with a minimum balance, which is a plus, as I don't bother keeping my emergency fund in a separate account. Anyone else switching away from Tangerine once the transition is complete? I'll probably keep my account around just for transferring money since all my friends have accounts too.
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Sep 21, 2014 18:39
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US banktalk - for something like that I'd recommend going with a local credit union. I needed my Canadian passport to open it, but didn't have any trouble doing so at the first bank I visited. You could try calling ahead to see what's required if time is at a premium. Smaller branches are less likely to gently caress with you and the people are nicer, in my experience (sample size = 1). Not only is the account free but cheques are free, ATM fees are refunded and I'm making ~1.2% interest in a  chequing account . Find a branch that's FDIC insured and you should be golden.CI, when did you try opening a US account? I tried in 2011 and it weren't no thang 
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Sep 21, 2014 19:34
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melon cat fucked around with this message at 04:17 on Mar 16, 2019 |
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Sep 21, 2014 19:40
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I think Tangerine is still awesome. This is my main bank and I've no intention of switching so far.
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Sep 21, 2014 19:46
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I'm not super concerned about ease of transferring CAD to USD in one click through TD or RBC, as long as any prospective US account has smartphone cheque deposit. I can, in person, get one of my 3 "bosses" at work who have US income to write me a USD cheque (from a real US account) in exchange for an Interac e-Transfer and then deposit by phone. Good idea on the credit unions, I seem to recall a few in Blaine even advertising ease of opening accounts for Canadians. I assume there is a large CU ATM network in the US similar to the Exchange? I just opened my TD All Inclusive account. Heading to the branch to make my deposit. I'll leave my paycheques coming into my tangerine account until the end of this "free $120" thing (Work switched from cheques to direct deposit 6 weeks ago, right in the middle of the "switch your DD to Tangerine and get $10 a week for 12 weeks!" deal, which I wasn't even aware of).
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Sep 21, 2014 20:19
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Lexicon posted:I think Tangerine is still awesome. This is my main bank and I've no intention of switching so far. Pff, excuse me while I go and get some free food with my ~PC Financial Black World MasterCard TM~
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Sep 21, 2014 20:20
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Guest2553 posted:US banktalk - for something like that I'd recommend going with a local credit union. I needed my Canadian passport to open it, but didn't have any trouble doing so at the first bank I visited. You could try calling ahead to see what's required if time is at a premium. Smaller branches are less likely to gently caress with you and the people are nicer, in my experience (sample size = 1). Not only is the account free but cheques are free, ATM fees are refunded and I'm making ~1.2% interest in a I opened mine in February at First Tech. I love them to bits but as far as I know, there's no way to open account there without an SS number, much less a US mailing address.
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Sep 21, 2014 20:53
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tuyop posted:Pff, excuse me while I go and get some free food with my ~PC Financial Black World MasterCard TM~ Well Tangerine has no credit card so that would seem to be an orthogonal point 
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Sep 21, 2014 21:00
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Lexicon posted:Well Tangerine has no credit card so that would seem to be an orthogonal point Well you get points through your chequing account too, but it doesn't sound nearly as cool as "Black World MasterCard Infinite Elite Premium Nexus+ Shotgun" or whatever they call it.
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Sep 21, 2014 22:12
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Cultural Imperial posted:I opened mine in February at First Tech. I love them to bits but as far as I know, there's no way to open account there without an SS number, much less a US mailing address. They took my passport number instead of a SS, but it could be a branch specific thing. Mail forwarding or giving a buddy's address are alternatives if the branch doesn't let you use your Canadian address. Call ahead I guess 
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Sep 21, 2014 23:41
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Cultural Imperial posted:It's kind of a scam. Supposedly it makes moving money between countries much easier and it allows you to open an account in a foreign country easy. If you've ever had to open a bank account in a foreign country, especially one in the EU, holy moly you will understand what I'm talking about and how this is a benefit. I wanted a Palladium card awhile back so I went through the song and dance with Chase Private Client, but I couldn't convince them to let me get one without initially letting them manage 100k of my assets (which they expect to go up to a minimum of 250k). Too bad, card is baller as gently caress, and I could justify it with the free United Club membership: 
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Sep 22, 2014 02:43
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Hrm.. could of sworn I posted this here but maybe not as I'm not able to find the post. Any good/cheap way to transfer money from Canada to US? I used xe.com to withdraw CAD from my bank account, exchange it, and deposit it into a US account. The fees and exchange rate equaled about $65. Just wondering if there's any cheaper options out there.
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Sep 22, 2014 03:34
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lol internet. posted:Hrm.. could of sworn I posted this here but maybe not as I'm not able to find the post. Good reason to have an account at Interactive Brokers. You can deposit CAD, exchange it right at the market price ($2 commission), and then withdraw USD. You wouldn't want to have an IB account just for that due to their monthly minimum (balance and commissions), but it's one of the perks. Kal Torak fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 04:07
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lol internet. posted:Hrm.. could of sworn I posted this here but maybe not as I'm not able to find the post. xe.com's rates aren't all that great. Vancouver Bullion and Currency Exchange (https://www.vbce.ca) might work for you, they have both an online and retail presence with decent rates, albeit a terrible interface. CurrencyFair.com was the best option but they had to suspend operation in the US due to banking regulations they need to figure out how to navigate. Norbert's Gambit is a technique you can read about, it involves using stock trades which you transfer between US and CDN trading accounts with securities, and it gives you the effective market mid-market rate in theory, but has two stock trade fees built in (~$20.) You can definitely beat xe.com's rates, but the fees will depend on the amount traded.
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Sep 22, 2014 04:43
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blah_blah posted:I wanted a Palladium card awhile back so I went through the song and dance with Chase Private Client, but I couldn't convince them to let me get one without initially letting them manage 100k of my assets (which they expect to go up to a minimum of 250k). Too bad, card is baller as gently caress, and I could justify it with the free United Club membership: Bro, united club is quite possibly the loving worst. I hate air canada but holy poo poo at least they let you pour your own fuckin booze in the maple leaf lounge. e: by any chance are you using Wealthfront or Betterment? WF got me 7% return in from March to about June and it's just stalled out since. SORRY FOR THE EXPAT CHAT EVERYONE~ namaste friends fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 05:33
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EgonSpengler posted:xe.com's rates aren't all that great. Vancouver Bullion and Currency Exchange (https://www.vbce.ca) might work for you, they have both an online and retail presence with decent rates, albeit a terrible interface. CurrencyFair.com was the best option but they had to suspend operation in the US due to banking regulations they need to figure out how to navigate. Norbert's Gambit is a technique you can read about, it involves using stock trades which you transfer between US and CDN trading accounts with securities, and it gives you the effective market mid-market rate in theory, but has two stock trade fees built in (~$20.) +1 Norbert's gambit. Only way to roll.
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Sep 22, 2014 06:29
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Cultural Imperial posted:Bro, united club is quite possibly the loving worst. I hate air canada but holy poo poo at least they let you pour your own fuckin booze in the maple leaf lounge. I use Wealthfront, have had most of my funds with them since January. It's hard for me to calculate returns for a given time period because I deposit like $1000/week into my account so everything ends up going up and to the right overall. But overall it's up about 9.5%, down from about 11.5% a couple of weeks ago. And yeah United is loving terrible, I didn't fully appreciate that at the time.
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Sep 22, 2014 11:38
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Kal Torak posted:Bloomberg saying Costco to accept Capital One Mastercard (maybe all Mastercards?). I was in Costco on Saturday and they were handing out applications for the Capital One card, but when I said I already had a MasterCard they admitted that they would accept all Mastercards. I assume the Capital One card will just offer the tiered cash-back reward the old AMEX card did. I asked when they would start accepting it in-store and the cashier thought it would be in a couple of weeks (the time it would take to get the Capital One cards in the mail), but she didn't sound confident. Anyone hear exactly when they will start accepting Mastercard in-store? I can't find anything definite in the press releases.
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Sep 22, 2014 14:20
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Aagar posted:I was in Costco on Saturday and they were handing out applications for the Capital One card, but when I said I already had a MasterCard they admitted that they would accept all Mastercards. I assume the Capital One card will just offer the tiered cash-back reward the old AMEX card did. From RFD:  Exactly the same perks as the AMEX card. A bunch of posters from RFD have also claimed to have used their MC at the warehouse and gas bar without any problems since the announcement. I don't think there's anything official from Costco out there yet, though. Speaking of Mastercard, what's the ideal MC around here? I've been looking at MBNA SmartCash, MBNA Rewards World Elite, and Capital One Aspire Travel World. The SmartCash would be great if Costco was classified as groceries and gas, but I don't think it is?
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Sep 22, 2014 15:12
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leaves of logic posted:The SmartCash would be great if Costco was classified as groceries and gas, but I don't think it is? I don't know about the SmartCash, but with the AMEX Gold I used to use, it was really hit and miss as to whether they would consider Costco as groceries. It seemed like anything under $300 would be put in the groceries category, but if the total were over that amount, it wouldn't be considered groceries. Gas was never a problem. I doubt anyone could give you a good answer on that as nobody would have been able to use their SmartCash at Costco before now.
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Sep 22, 2014 15:25
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Lexicon posted:+1 Norbert's gambit. Only way to roll. I'd say if your transaction will be below $2000 it's not better, due to the trading fees.
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Sep 22, 2014 18:05
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EgonSpengler posted:I'd say if your transaction will be below $2000 it's not better, due to the trading fees. Very true. I assumed, erroneously, that the amounts involved were several thousand or more. It's unbeatable at that scale - but the transaction costs render it uneconomical at lower amounts.
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Sep 22, 2014 18:10
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leaves of logic posted:A bunch of posters from RFD have also claimed to have used their MC at the warehouse and gas bar without any problems since the announcement. I don't think there's anything official from Costco out there yet, though. I got gas at Costco yesterday too and I can confirm the pump had a banner saying it accepted MC. Regarding the best MC card, I use the PC MC for most of my purchases. I know the rewards aren't the best, but the points do add up decently fast for groceries.
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Sep 23, 2014 17:00
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So I have an appointment to open a TD Mutual Fund account to get started with e-series. Based on the conversation I had with the woman on the phone, I am optimistic that the process will be relatively painless. Now I'm thinking about what I would like my allocation to be. I'm leaning towards: Canadian Bonds - 20% Canadian Equity - 20% US Equity - 30% International Equity - 30% I see that the Canadian Couch Potato model portfolios weigh a lot heavier towards Canada. But I know there have been a lot of (convincing) arguments in this thread against putting too much weight in Canada. Is there a counter argument about why it would justified to lean almost 50% or more in Canadian funds? Bucswabe fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Sep 24, 2014 |
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Sep 24, 2014 23:48
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Bucswabe posted:I see that the Canadian Couch Potato model portfolios weigh a lot heavier towards Canada. But I know there have been a lot of (convincing) arguments in this thread against putting too much weight in Canada. Is there a counter argument about why it would justified to lean almost 50% or more in Canadian funds? Here's what CCP has to say about it: Canadian Couch Potato posted:Q: The Global Couch Potato has one-third of the equity allocation in Canadian stocks, but Canada makes up only about 4% of the world markets. Aren’t you guilty of home country bias? – Jeremy D. I'm still trying to get my head around currency risk, but the other three reasons are kind of moot if you're using eSeries in a registered account.
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Sep 25, 2014 00:13
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leaves of logic posted:Here's what CCP has to say about it: Currency risk: if all your costs are in Canadian dollars, it sucks if many of your assets, denominated in foreign currency, start to devalue because CAD gets stronger. This is more of a problem for people at or approaching retirement. As a young person, I take the opposite view: I want more exposure to other currencies not less, because I have no particular confidence that CAD is going to appreciate relative to other currencies over a multi-decade horizon.
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Sep 25, 2014 00:23
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Lexicon posted:Currency risk: if all your costs are in Canadian dollars, it sucks if many of your assets, denominated in foreign currency, start to devalue because CAD gets stronger. Plus I don't exactly see where the short-term strength argument is for the currency of a country whose two biggest financial features are 1) being a petrostate with heavy exposure to China's imploding economy and 2) having the world's largest real estate bubble. The American economy is doing better than ours, and as long as that is the case (hint: it will be the case for a decade or more), I see our dollar being weak. Not to mention, I don't really give a poo poo what currency my stocks are denominated in, so long as they aren't in the eggs-in-a-tiny-basket TSX.
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Sep 25, 2014 00:43
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^ agree wholeheartedly.
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Sep 25, 2014 01:11
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leaves of logic posted:Here's what CCP has to say about it: Sorry, I probably should have dug around the CCP site a bit more before asking the question. I appreciate your help! So does a 30/30 split for US and international equity sit well with people? Other than wanting to keep the Canadian weight a bit lower, I'm not sure where sweet spot is.
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Sep 25, 2014 01:29
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Bucswabe posted:Sorry, I probably should have dug around the CCP site a bit more before asking the question. I appreciate your help! I think that sounds good, subject to the usual warnings about only investing money you don't need in the medium term horizon, blah blah blah. Some extreme Bears will tell you to avoid Canada entirely but I think that's foolish. Housing and China were a concern in 2010 also, and not being invested since then would have been a costly error. Just keep it reasonable - 20% is roughly where I'm at.
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Sep 25, 2014 01:34
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e:oh poo poo sorry namaste friends fucked around with this message at 02:03 on Sep 25, 2014 |
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Sep 25, 2014 02:00
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^ I think you accidentally the wrong thread.
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Sep 25, 2014 02:01
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Lexicon posted:I think that sounds good, subject to the usual warnings about only investing money you don't need in the medium term horizon, blah blah blah. Out of curiosity, if the Canadian market absolutely tanked, would you then bump up your allocation to Canadian funds to take advantage of the rebound?
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Sep 25, 2014 02:28
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Bucswabe posted:Out of curiosity, if the Canadian market absolutely tanked, would you then bump up your allocation to Canadian funds to take advantage of the rebound? The problem with this thinking (which is theoretically correct/sound, just not in this particular case) is that the Canadian indexes are very heavily weighted with bank stocks. If the Canadian market tanks it will likely be either caused by, or concomitant with, the banks also making GBS threads the bed, rendering most Canadian equity indexes a poor investment for the medium term. After all, they're dividend stocks, and they will be down for the duration of the recession, if not pressed to the point of crisis (depending on how their CMHC claims go, for instance). The TSX is literally "banks, oil, some other natural resources, and a little fig leaf".
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Sep 25, 2014 03:18
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Bucswabe posted:Out of curiosity, if the Canadian market absolutely tanked, would you then bump up your allocation to Canadian funds to take advantage of the rebound? That's the logic of indexing, but it can take balls to do it, and also it's recommended you do it on a fixed cycle so as to not pointlessly bias your thinking towards market timing.
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Sep 25, 2014 03:35
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Franks Happy Place posted:The problem with this thinking (which is theoretically correct/sound, just not in this particular case) is that the Canadian indexes are very heavily weighted with bank stocks. If the Canadian market tanks it will likely be either caused by, or concomitant with, the banks also making GBS threads the bed, rendering most Canadian equity indexes a poor investment for the medium term. After all, they're dividend stocks, and they will be down for the duration of the recession, if not pressed to the point of crisis (depending on how their CMHC claims go, for instance). So how much do you allocate for Canadian poo poo?
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Sep 25, 2014 03:51
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