Hey;
I'm just curious to see if any others here have experienced difficulties with their banks or credit unions when attempting to convert Canadian currency to US dollars; for example, if you needed USD for a shopping or vacation trip to the USA.
I'm about to start a two week road trip / camping vacation into the USA and back through BC before coming home.
Since I wanted to take some USD cash with me, I took some of my "on-hand" CDN cash with me to my bank.
Even though I'm a stand-up guy and have special status with my bank, they would not allow an Over-the-Counter (OTC) exchange of the CDN to USD cash.
I was first required to deposit my "on-hand" CDN cash to one of my CDN currency accounts, have it transferred to the USD account of mine (paying the exchange rate of the date/time), and then the money I needed withdrawn from my USD account.
Now, when I usually travel to the USA in the past, I would normally well in advance leave enough CDN money in one of my accounts and transfer it online myself into my USD account, and then pre-arrange the bank to have what USD denominations I needed on hand the day before I go in to withdraw the USD.
For travel to other countries, like Mexico or others, I know my bank has branches in their bigger cities, so it is no big problem to just withdraw local currency direct from my bank's ATM there. But the USA is a different case, as my International bank does not have branches in all the cities to which I travel.
So, my question to you is: have you ever tried an OTC exchange of CDN to USD at your local bank / credit union? (Or, have they given you similar grief as me?)
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Is what you say worth at least a Canadian nickel now?
Cause two cents ain't worth squat anymore !
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Self-sufficient is good. Co-efficient is better.
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This is a new wrinkle for me.
I've bought U.S. and other foriegn currencies from Canadian banks several times always paying for it from Cash on Hand and its never been a problem or an issue. Mind you it has been a few years since my last trip so I suppose things may have changed (obviously not for the better).
My next big trip south of the border is about a year or so away so from your experience I had best start stocking up on my U.S. currency now if they plan on making a once simple thing much more complicated.
One way to avoid bank complications is to walk into an American Casino and exchange your Canadian money there, its not an issue in casino's. Exchange may be a bit more rough but it would allow you to avoid complication and prevent Canadian banks from tracking your spending and/or movements.
DaScribbler
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