US dollar bank accounts

[tinkerone]

I'm not 100% sure about this. When I make a purchase on my Rogers MasterCard, the pending amount and the eventual posted amount are never the same, indicating that different rates are used. I've never looked into what the difference was from, but I suspect they are using the rates on the day the transactions are posted.

Here is a snippet from Rogers FAQ, indicating that it uses the rate on the day the transaction is posted, not the transaction date:

All purchases made in a foreign currency are converted to Canadian dollars at the rate established by Mastercard® International on the date that your purchase is posted to your account, plus a foreign transaction fee equal to 2.5% of the transaction amount after it has been converted to Canadian dollars. To verify the Mastercard® exchange rate before you make your purchase, please visit: www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion.​

Sorry, I wasn't saying that, I was asking if that was what she/he meant. That was why I was asking for confirmation. Going back and re-reading the post I see that was not what they were saying at all. Your post of the snippet is exactly what BMO Mastercard does.
Again, sorry for the confusion.

 

[FigmentSpark]

What do you mean by that? The bank rate can and does change with the markets minute by minute, is that what you mean?
Also, as far as Mastercard goes, if you make a purchase today while it may not show for a couple days you will get the rate from the day you made the purchase. Is that what your saying?

I meant that it doesn't appear as though the bank was passing any movement in the rate on to me, as a customer, but that I saw some variability in the rate I was quoted at Currency Exchange. It may be that the bank does make rate changes for customers, but maybe only a few times a day or maybe they were too small for me to have noticed with only a $1000 purchase, but that was how it was appearing to me.

@cdnSpinalTap was much more succinct in saying what I meant.

So if I put $1000 down on my WDW cruise or resort on my Cdn dollar MasterCard or Visa, I have to hope the rate doesn't crash a cent or more before it clears in a day or two. A lot of people don't concern themselves with that fluctuation, but if you're someone who likes to control it, then having a USD account and a USD card is the better way to go. That's all I was implying.

I hope I was clearer than the mud I posted before.

 

[cdnSpinalTap]

Sorry, I wasn't saying that, I was asking if that was what she/he meant. That was why I was asking for confirmation. Going back and re-reading the post I see that was not what they were saying at all. Your post of the snippet is exactly what BMO Mastercard does.
Again, sorry for the confusion

No worries - thanks for clarifying.

 

[Mikey15]

It’s not offered to Canadians, at least not yet, but they are saying it will have no fees, no late charges and no forex fees. You’ll also get cash back (amount varies depending on how you pay).

I’m intrigued by the Apple product as well. For what it’s worth though, we can already get Canadian cards with no FX fees and cash back:
-Home Trust Visa , no annual fee, 1% cash back
-Scotia Passport Visa Infinite , $139 annual fee, 1-2% cashback
-Rogers World Elite MasterCard, charges 2.5% FX fee but gives 4% cashback on FX purchases for net 1.5%. 1.75% cashback for Canadian purchases

All are usually a better deal than converting CAD to USD to pay a USD Visa.

 

[Mikamarii]

So if I put $1000 down on my WDW cruise or resort on my Cdn dollar MasterCard or Visa, I have to hope the rate doesn't crash a cent or more before it clears in a day or two. A lot of people don't concern themselves with that fluctuation, but if you're someone who likes to control it, then having a USD account and a USD card is the better way to go. That's all I was implying.

Thanks for this. This is why the usd account works for us. There are always going to be ways to get the absolute best price on something but we’ve always tried to balance cost vs convenience. When we pay for a 5000+ cruise that quick fluctuation in forex rates can be big which is why I like to know that when I transfer the money THAT is the price I’m paying.

We have a West Jet world elite Mastercard (bank waives the annual fee for wife and I)that we use at home. 1.5% in WJ dollars, companion flight and fee checked bags. The free checked bags for us is huge as that saves us over 200$ a trip to the us. Plus I’d rather have the WJ dollars than the 40ish dollars cash back every month. That’s a personal preference though. Anyway, the odd time I’ve used my WJ MC in the states the posted rate on my statement has always been worse than the transfer rate from my cdn account to US account. (Once I realize I used the cdn card I check the rate to see what the damage will be) so for us the convenience of the us bank is great as it simplifies the use of US dollars. With the account we signed up for we get two credit cards (and two debit cards) for 40usd annual fee. The US visas do carry rewards as well which can be converted to cash back. It works for us . And I can control it all through one app which again.... the convenience .

 

[sk8jdgca]

I have the same set up as the OP. The nice thing is that you can instantly transfer from your Canadian based accounts to your US ones online. There is no waiting period.
It is free for a year right now plus the credit card includes trip cancellation/interruption insurance.
http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/dms/cro...2.2125785428.1554792877-1964428760.1544044620