yo yo yo comin atcha blacker than your black acura is the alpine scrub with a question for you over border ( over board? ) shoppers who works their credit card to leverage the current asstastic US dollar valuation on the world currency markets, specifically its relative weakness relative to the CANADIAN DOLLAR which I hold 99.9% of my liquid assets in. word.
currently the US dollar is trading 1 to 1.10960 Canadian dollars www.oanda.com, but I am curious what a credit card companys rate would actually be, and how closely tied this is to current trading rates on the world market. I found one credit union mastercard showing conversion rates in the 1.12CAD / USD range, but I’m just curious ya know eh hey?
word life, your favourite flavour of crown saver, hey neighbour to all my coastal amigas, amigos, and amigettes.
It’s usually today’s exchange rate, plus a 2 or 3 % “exchange fee.”
So while the official rate is $1.10, the bank will charge you $1.12 or $1.13 to give you one US dollar.
It’s still cheaper than most currency exchange places, as they not only charge you a percentage, but a transaction fee as well.
Check your bank’s website, they’ll have the credit card fee posted.
On the other hand, if you use your Canadian debit card in an American ATM (usually using the Plus system), you’ll only have to pay the transaction fee, as most banks won’t charge the credit card “exchange fee” on a straight withdrawal. Depends on the bank, though. It also depends on how much money you’re taking out.
When I was in Europe last spring, it was cheaper for me to just withdraw large amounts of cash right from my bank account (and pay the $2 or $3 fee for using the Plus system), than it was to use the credit card (and be hit with the percentage).
Like I said, most banks post all this info right on their websites.
Quite right about taking out your limit every time. Don’t waste any withdrawls on small-time deals, find out you bank limit (usually $1000CAD) and take that out.
When using your credit card to take out money be sure to remember that you get charged daily interest on your Cash Advances, and it’s high! What I do when I need to do a Double withdrawl in one day (to double my daily limit) is to put a whole ton of extra cash (credit) on my MC and do a withdrawl from both that and my Debit card.
Here’s a same-day comparisson a few weeks ago in Frankfurt:
**BMO Withdrawl:Â 600 Euro X 1.468638 +$3.00 Other ABM Use
MC Withdrawl:Â 600 Euro X 1.473767081 +$3.00 Cirrus Intl ABM Cash Advance Fee**
I lost another $3.00CAD to the MasterCard.
So there’s no avoiding the ABM Fee, make sure you make out every time.