Which bank do you use?

[phd1969]

Which bank do you use and do any of them offer a USD business account?

[cluless]

We (myself and my wife (just online using her account)) both switched over to Presidents Choice from TD.. dont know anything about the US banking part since we have no use for it.

[aingaran]

For my small business, I use RBC. For my personal account, I used to use RBC, but now it's PC Financial.

[crazyfound]

Banks are for people who solely only care about themselves. Credit Unions are for people who are socially responsible and want to give back to society, which is why I credit union: Van City, Canada's best employer, as voted for.

[TigerEROS]

Check each banks website for information dude!!!

Royal Bank
CIBC
Bank of Montreal
Scotiabank
TD Canada Trust

[wheel]

I do my business banking at scotiabank (only because our local manager is very business friendly). THe majority of my business is US based, and scotiabank offers USD accounts. Actually, the nice thing is I can write USD cheques when paying Canadians, and I get free USD money orders when I need to send money to the states.

The only weird thing with the USD account there is that we can't access it online. Not sure why {checks watch...}, apparently it's 2006 this year, seems like something that should be doable.

[crazyfound]

I do my business banking at scotiabank (only because our local manager is very business friendly). THe majority of my business is US based, and scotiabank offers USD accounts. Actually, the nice thing is I can write USD cheques when paying Canadians, and I get free USD money orders when I need to send money to the states.

The only weird thing with the USD account there is that we can't access it online. Not sure why {checks watch...}, apparently it's 2006 this year, seems like something that should be doable.

I wouldn't touch Scotiabank with a ten-foot pole. They were one of the idiots who totally shut down a south american country (forget which one), and wouldn't allow anyone to have their money. Idiots.

[john widow]

Achieva Financial is like a subdivision of Cambrian credit union isnt it?
It's not really associated with people if you sign up with Achieva is it?

[shellysoda]

I use RBC. They have CAD and US business accounts and you can easily transfer funds online between both of those accounts and your personal account as well if you have one. They're a bit pricey but very convenient! If you have a lot of U.S. funds it will be worth it for sure! Then you can set up ING and link it to the account to save some of that U.S. $$ if you have some left over. I never do so I wouldn't know about that unfortunately, lol :lol:

[Hellfire]

I use ING Direct, PC Financial, ATB Financial, HSBC, TD Canada Trust and BMO.

[danicheman]

TD Canada Trust: ->NO :!:

I can say that in my business several of our troubles have arisen from our banking. Me and my partner have 5 accounts (a USD and CAD one each and one business one).

We do almost exclusively USD transactions and we need to transfer money >$1000USD between these accounts regularly without going into the branch (we're currently not in Canada). It seems to be impossible. Can we do it ...by phoning the branch? Don't think so. By TD "Easy"line? Nope. By fax? "Did you send us a fax?" By Email? (Haha I'm just joking about that...I must be dreaming!) By TD "Easy" Web? not more than $1000.

To add to that, we too cannot view our US$ Business account online.

After reading what the others have written above about US$ accounts and Credit Unions, I have to agree that Credit Unions are probably the best bet for a business using US funds and sending frequent wire transfers. I've heard that their account [$5 (CU) vs. $10 (TDCT)] and wire transfer fees (~$15 vs. ~$32) are lower from two close friends who work in Island Savings Credit Union on Van. Isld.

And, wherever you bank (or..."union?") you'd better either have friends there or make them. It seems that sometimes you can get everything done, and sometimes you can't get anything done (or, that's been our experience at TD).

I hope more RFD'ers can shed some light on this issue and point us in a better direction.

[Duality]

I use CIBC. Easy.

[wheel]

TD Canada trust is horrible for business. I spent three months trying to get set up to take credit cards with TD years ago, and after months of hassle they came back and demanded $50K up front. WTF? Then I went to Canada trust, and it took them three months to basically come back and tell me they don't do business credit card stuff. WTF again? ('scuse my language). I can't imagine the merger of two companies like that created a newer, better company.

Nevermind that the local branch is staffed with idiots who've done some really really dumb stuff with my credit in the past. Like, I'm stuck with a $19.00 RRSP with them because they failed to merge something. Unbelievable.

People probably have stories for all the big banks, AFAIK they're all leaches on the backs of Canadians. You're probably best to find a branch of any bank that has a good manager that'll treat you fair. That's likely more important than the specific company.

[jamied]

We do almost exclusively USD transactions and we need to transfer money >$1000USD between these accounts regularly without going into the branch (we're currently not in Canada). It seems to be impossible.
I hope more RFD'ers can shed some light on this issue and point us in a better direction.

ING allows true net banking including US to CA transfers (assuming you have both a US and CA account with them) with an exchange rate averaging at least 1% higher than BOM or TD. We use our ING accounts solely for the exchange of US to CA funds. Only problem is the 7 day hold they place on funds transfered in from your other financial institution. At least they give you interest on the funds during the hold period...

J.

[ebizimage]

We bank with Alterna. They have US and CA chequing account under one plan as well free BillPay and online banking

http://www.alterna.ca/commercial/CommercialAccounts.asp?Top=3&Sub=1

They also offer a mastercard with very low interest rate like 9.99% if you will keep a balance.

[magicgsm]

I got my BizSmart before they got locked, no interest rates, no transaction fees, 4% line of credit and US account of corse. Now they belong to CIBC, but old customers will stay with old privileges. Contact CIBC for details

[Derek]

I've used TD and CIBC for business banking. I prefer CIBC personally as a lot of their bank machines allow you to deposit US dollars and have it immediately converted to Canadian funds. I think a few of those types of machines exist for TD, but it's quite rare.

[champtechdev]

And for the record (correct me if I'm wrong), none of these banks will open up a US based account as opposed to a USD denomination account?

Matt

[ebizimage]

And for the record (correct me if I'm wrong), none of these banks will open up a US based account as opposed to a USD denomination account?

Matt

BMO can do that. I have BMO USD denomination account and a US based account (BMO's Harris bank). I don't use the Canadian USD banking system that much because the US based one is faster with more features.

[champtechdev]

In order to have this US based account, you need a physical address in the USA to register for it though right? Can you use PayPal to withdraw funds to it from your PayPal account?


Matt