There is an ever-increasing number of Canadians frequently travelling to or working in the United States. The number of Canadians freelancing for US companies is also on the rise.
This means that more and more Canadian’s are being paid in US Dollars and are facing the challenges of cross-border payments. The main issue? finding the best way of converting their hard earned US Dollars into Canadian Dollars, or vice versa, without losing considerable portions of their money!
So, in order to try and resolve issues like these, many Canadian banks are introducing multi-currency accounts. These accounts aim to simplify cross-border banking, but are they as helpful as they say they are? Let’s find out.
Scotiabank is one of Canada’s most popular banks, and they provide their customers with a USD account called the Scotia US Dollar Daily Interest Account – which we will examine in this post.
Can Anyone Open An Account?
Yes. Scotiabank’s US Dollar Daily Account can be opened by anyone by paying a visit to one of their branches. However, in order to get a bank card and to view your account balance in online banking, you need to have another Scotiabank account in Canadian dollars.
Fees
US Dollar Daily Account holders are charged a fee of US$1.00 per month, this fee is waived as long as you maintain a US$200 minimum daily closing balance.
Users are offered two free debit transactions per month – any additional transactions will come at quite a steep cost of US$1.25 per transaction! There are also some potential record keeping fees involved with this account. In order to obtain your paper statement with cheque image return, you must pay a fee of US$2.50 per month.
Interest Rates
Considering the fee per transaction element of this account type, it’s probably best used as a savings account rather than for day to day transactions.
Interest rates with a Scotiabank US Dollar Daily Interest Account Range from 0.00% to 0.15%. The interest rate percentage breakdown for this account is as follows:
| Amount ($US) | Annual Interest Rate |
| $0 – $1,000 | 0.000% |
| $1,000 – $4,999 | 0.010% |
| $5,000 – $9,999 | 0.025% |
| $10,000 – $24,999 | 0.050% |
| $25,000 – $59,999 | 0.100% |
| $60,000 + | 0.150% |
Is There a Better Way to Make USD Transactions?
To avoid unfair transaction fees and poor exchange rates offered by banks, you should consider using a Money Service Business (MSB). Here at REMITR, we offer the best service available to Canadian both businesses and individuals to send and also receive money in USD.
Sending Money: With REMITR, you can send money to the US (and over 150 other countries) in one business day – for just $5 per transfer. That’s it! Your days of stressing over bank wire transfer fees are over.
Receiving Money: When you sign up for REMITR Collect, you receive a free REMITR Collect Account. This account comes with a US domiciled bank account and ABA routing code. The Remitr Collect Account allows you to receive payments in US Dollars for free. Yes, for free! Users have the ability to withdraw funds from their REMITR account to their local bank account in Canadian dollars at any time they wish.
Here at REMITR, we don’t charge hefty markups when converting currency. We use the best live exchange rate to ensure you don’t lose any money. All REMITR services are available 24/7, meaning you never have to worry about making that dreaded trip to the bank.
Finally, our platform is a 100% secure, FINTRAC-registered service that employs state of the art technology to protect your payments and financial information.
Time is money, save them both by getting in touch with REMITR today.
