USD to CAD - Which bank gives you the best rate?
 

This is my experience today.

For a $3,326.99 USD transfer

Royal Bank
$3,346.95 CAD (Rate 1.0059)

HSBC CANADA
$3,384.38 (Premier Rate 1.0172)

HSBC UK
$3,399.07 CAD (Premier Rate 1.0217)

That's one hell of a difference I think. This was a small transfer I was doing, but it sure adds up. There is about a 1.5% difference in the rate from HSBC UK and Royal Bank. That's huge! You would think that the Banks in Canada would give you a better rate eh?

Ugh! It hurts to look at those numbers. Back in may it was 1.22

sucks today td is offering 1.0086

what the fuck...come on usa...get the numbers back up :)

tomorrow the rates will be different, you can try playing in forex, haha

Make sure you find out all of the fees involved. For example, my "main" bank has a slightly worse conversion rate but charges a flat fee of a few bucks to receive a wire. My second bank has a better conversion rate but also charges a percentage based fee.

Some banks also update rates multiple times per day so they don't have to work in so much contingency into their rate.

you should be going CAD to USD. coming to par happens very rarely. The USD will always rein supreme.

The good thing is that our Canadian Economy is doing very well as a whole.

Ouch.. thank god i transferred at 1.25 6 months ago

You should ask an FX broker, not a bank. I use Custom House, they guarantee they'll beat all 5 national bank rates. Be prepared for a ton of paperwork though :(
WG

I usually just use TD since my accts are there. They have a borderless acct that usually gives almost 1% better then the regular rates.

IMPORTANT: That rate can be negociated with the bank if you have a big volume.

I even asked my bank to pay me back for the last 10 months when I negociated my new rate. They did it.