Anyone have any suggestions on the best Canadian bank to maintain after moving to the USA? I heard that Royal acutally does have "some" ties in the USA.
I am interested in an account that I can have in Canada that I could have money deposited into and yet access it from an ATM or check in the USA. I can do that with my current account but I would get beat with fees and charges etc.
Anyone have any advice?
Thanks
Karen

I bank with the Royal Bank. they have a US branch RBC Centura. It's really convienient as I can transfer funds online between the two of them. The only down fall is most of the Centura branches are in the southern states like the Carolinas and Florida so doing anything at a branch is out of the question and it can be somewhat a pain in the butt to try to get something done via the telephone and fax. It took me quite a while to get my name changed on the account and I'm still waiting on a new bank card - 5 months now.

You can have an account in each country, but they're totally separate because of banking laws. I have a TD account in Toronto (haven't told them yet of my new U.S. address) and there are TD BankNorth branches in New Jersey. But you'd have to call to see if it's legally allowable to do cross-border banking. I doubt it.

Until flames9 comes along, let me direct you to the benefit of www.customhouse.com

I have kept my same old credit union back in Canada that I've had for 20 years, and can do electronic funds transfer to and from my bank here for free!

In Eastern NC here we ahve a RNC centura and it is in NO way affiliated with our Canadian RBC I found that out the hard way. Yes I can go withdraw money, cannot deposit or do anything else. The branch manager told me that they are NOT the same bank company. go figure. So I do all my Canadian banking online with my RBC bank card.

Flames9 made me into a Custom House believer! I have been using them for almost a year now to transfer money back and forth between Canada and the US and it's been great! Upside is that it is free and you usually get better exchange rates than you would at your local bank. Downside is that it does take a few days to set up an account and then usually takes about 2-3 days for a transaction to complete once the account is active. As I recall, in order to set everything up, you have to fill out a couple of forms and you will need to send them some proof of ID to confirm your identity. I had to email a .jpg of my driver's license.

Good luck!

Yep... I was told by our local RBC that they severed ties with Centura sometime last year, I think. We were hoping to go through them for our mortgage, but no dice.

QUOTE(shirlJ831 @ Aug 7 2006, 07:57 AM)

In Eastern NC here we ahve a RNC centura and it is in NO way affiliated with our Canadian RBC I found that out the hard way. Yes I can go withdraw money, cannot deposit or do anything else. The branch manager told me that they are NOT the same bank company. go figure. So I do all my Canadian banking online with my RBC bank card.



Yep... I was told by our local RBC that they severed ties with Centura sometime last year, I think. We were hoping to go through them for our mortgage, but no dice.


How interesting???? I have not heard about any severed ties between the Royal bank and RBC Centura. I am still accessing my RBC Centura account online through the Royal Banks online banking.

I know that I can not deposit money or withdrawl money from my Centura account from the Royal Bank. I can transfer money online between the two banks though. This works fine for me as my income goes into the Canadian Royal bank then I can transfer it to the Centura account have the benefit of being able to use the US account with a US checking, VISA and bank card.

I dug up this link to RBC Centura on banking for Canadians. It was mostly aimed at snowbirds but can may work in other circumstances and works great for me.

http://www.rbccentura.com/personal/snowbirds/index.html

A Canadian bank cannot set up shop in the U.S. As far as I know, international banking rules forbid majority foreign ownership. That's why we can't do cross-border banking with the Big Five.

I worked with RBC for a year and knew their foray into the States was an expensive disaster. I'm not surprised the branches they bought in the south, and re-named RBC Centura, may have folded.

RBC's entry into the U.S. was ill timed. It came when Bush asked Canada to participate in the invasion of Iraq and Jean Cretien refused. Canada was no longer seen as an ally. So when people asked, "What does RBC stand for?" there was a long pause because the name Canada was mud. So they said, "It's Ron Bank's Company." Guess that didn't fool people for long.

Ok, whats the deal with customshouse.com.. I tried to set up an account on there and they want things like credit references? I just want to transfer money between accounts. Right now, I transfer the money from my Canadian Chequing account into a Canadian based US dollar account on-line. Then I just write a check on that account and deposit it into my US checking account. Im looking for better exchange rates. This clearinghouse looks like it might be a better deal but I cant get past the sign up page.

how did you open the account? If it works good I can close yet another Canadian account which is always a good thing to me. Less paperwork!

Hmm, I went online and saw what you are talking about with regards to the Credit References. It's been almost a year since I signed up so I honestly can't remember if I had to provide that information or not. Seems like I gave them either my employer's contact info or my bank's, but I am not sure. I suggest that you call their Customer Service number and ask exactly what they need. I have had to call them a few times and everyone I have spoken with has been very friendly - they are Canadian after all! - professional, and always solved any issues I had. Feel free to PM me too if you have any other questions.

-kj