Bank of canada monthly exchange rate11/10/2023 ![]() In the trade, this is known as "using a friend as an ATM." Credit card alternativesįor most Canadian tourists going on short trips, most of the time Chandra advises using your credit card to make purchases in the U.S. To get around not having the right foreign currency bank account, people sometimes have the money transferred to the account of a friend or relative where they will be travelling. You can pay off a foreign currency credit card this way, or use it to get cash, but that will require a visit to the bank. The exchange can take up to six business days but usually takes about three. In general, using these services requires some advance planning - the first time you use it, you will need to set up an account - and have bank accounts in both currencies. will get you a slightly better rate than getting U.S. Other companies, like Knightsbridge Foreign Exchange, do transactions over the phone.Īmbarish Chandra, a business professor at the University of Toronto, says using your credit card for purchases in the U.S. That includes websites like TransferWise, OFX, XE Trade, NorthStar and Payline by International Currency Exchange. If exchanging amounts over $5,000, U of T's Chandra recommends online currency exchanges. Chandra teaches business economics, with his current research focusing on travel and trade across the Canada-U.S. He views the rest of the industry as almost in collaboration "to obfuscate pricing and make it much more difficult for consumers to shop around." Peiris, the company's vice-president of growth, says TransferWire strives to be transparent with consumers. The fee on a $50,000 transfer would be about 0.72 per cent. TransferWise does peer-to-peer money transfer, using the midpoint rate for the two currencies and charging a fee of about one per cent on transfers between $500 and $1,000 US, with the rate dropping slightly for larger amounts. and Estonia: Kristo Kaarmann, a former management consultant, and Taavet Hinrikus, Skype's first employee. TransferWise was started in 2011 by two friends who frequently travelled between the U.K. The company is currently improving their setup for transferring Canadian dollars, and by the end of March, Peiris says it will be cheap, easy and fast to transfer loonies into other major currencies using their website. ![]() Nilan Peiris is the vice-president of growth for TransferWise, a U.K.-based peer-to-peer online money transfer service. In the scenario above, both you and the neighbour's relative save that four per cent. If the two of you agree to make the exchange at the mid-market rate for the Euro and the dollar, you will both do better than you could at a bank or currency exchange.Īccording to the Bank of Canada's rough estimate, the fee banks and other financial institutions charge consumers "is typically around four per cent of the amount being converted." Let's say your next-door neighbour has a relative who's just arrived from Europe and wants to convert Euros to Canadian dollars. Your neighbour, knowing you plan to soon leave for Europe, puts you in touch with her relative. So what's a consumer to do? Peer-to-peer currency exchange Peiris refers to that mid-market rate as the only "real exchange rate." Consumers want to exchange at a rate that's close to the midpoint of those buy-and-sell rates. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)īank rates can be better, but they can also be worse. As with many purchases, it's "buyer beware."Ĭurrency exchanges post rates for buying or selling a currency. "Banks do work to ensure that the rates they offer are competitive, and they can be better than other foreign exchange providers," according to the Canadian Bankers Association.Īs a general rule, experts say you will get the worst rates at currency booths in airports and train stations. It should cost less exchanging your Canadian dollars at your neighbourhood bank before leaving on your trip.īut both the University of Toronto's Ambarish Chandra and Friedberg Mercantile Group's Michael Hart tell CBC News better rates exist elsewhere. "It's almost impossible to figure out, as a consumer, if you're getting a good deal," he says.Įxperts tell us, as a general rule, you will get the worst rates at currency booths in airports and train stations. Nilan Peiris, of TransferWise, a London-based online money-transfer company, says it's not easy for customers to find the best deal when it comes to money transfers. ![]() Options abound and it would be nice if there was a comparison-shopping website for currencies, but we didn't find one to recommend. Canadians losing out on cross-border discounts as loonie continues plunge.Canadian loonie: what the world looked like on past lows.The loonie has since fallen by nearly one-third. ![]() But there are ways to save some money on your currency conversion. For Canadians travelling to the U.S., or to many other countries, there's no way around that falling Canadian dollar. ![]()
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