I'm flying to Virginia in a couple weeks and I was wanting to give my US fiance a CDN check while I am down there for him to cash into US $$$. Has anybody ever tried cashing a CDN in the US? He banks with Navy Federal, not sure if you can only cash cheques with your own financial institution or not. If I can't do this, what are my options without having to bring the cash with me (not a good idea cause it's a significant amount). I guess I could wire him the cash, but then I don't feel like paying the $30 fee.

Hey,

I'm not sure if all banks are the same. But my husband banks with Bank of America. We had a check payable to both us of that was drawn on a Royal Bank Account in Canada. We tried to cash it at his bank. #1 - we obviously were going to lose the exchange rate, which we anticipated. #2 - They were going to charge us a "collection" fee in order to get the money from a Canadian Bank. They would not tell us what that fee would be up front but said it depended on how much "collection effort" went into getting the money. it could have been anywhere between $20-40 dollars. Not sure if all banks do the same. But that was BOA.

Hope that helps.

I also tried to cash a Government of Canada check at Bank of America...they told me the same thing as PP...I emailed their customer service to find out why I couldn't but my friend in Atlanta had no problems, they said each branch varies with what they will accept. I have found that the more south you are from Canada, the more difficult it is to do anything with Canadian money.

The agent at the bank did suggest that I go to the airport to exchange the money...but if you have a significant amount I would just wire the money and pay the $30...especially if you do write a check and it has to go through collections, that could get costly...

HTH

I don't know how much money your cheque would be, but I myself would just use an ATM machine with my Canadian debit card, and take the cash out while I'm down there. If it's a sizeable amount, there is usually daily limits as to what you can withdraw, but for example if you have a daily withdrawal limit from an ATM of say $1500.00, depending on how long you're there, you could take some out daily. I think the fee is $1.50 per transaction. Another option may be to take a cash advance on your Visa, or Mastercard at any American bank. An ATM machine with the Cirrus logo on it, I believe will accept any Canadian debit card.

Carla

Maybe a money order will be simpler?

I just did this yesterday. i recieved a pittance of the child support owed to me in form of a cheque from Family responsibility office, they wont direct deposit to foreign accounts. i just took it to my bank, asked if i could deposit it, explained it was canadian funds from a canadian bank, they said no problem, no fees were mentioned so they better not frikkin charge me any. The teller just suggested I not spend it for a few days until they had time to figure out the exchange rate and adjust my account to reflect the exchanged money. Good to know! This was Charter One

I use Charter One also. A branch where I work (Lakewood) will exchange the check into US funds on the spot. Other branches deposit but then goes through their foreign exchange department who then converts and deposits the money into my account (takes a few days usually).

Just make sure to let them know its a Canadian dollar check. I think most banks will either convert right away or deposit and have their foreign exchange department convert and then deposit.

Thanks for all your replies... I'll see if the CDN cheque works, if not, I'll do the daily withdrawals with my debit bank card

Change the money into U.S. and wire it from your Canadian bank. It's safe and you'll get a decent exchange rate. The $30 fee is worth the peace of mind and secuirty when dealing with large sums. If you insist on taking it from the ATM, be careful and don't flash the cash.

It costs nothing to open a us dollar account in Canada and BOA has no issue with those checks :-) err cheques.

Or just ask for a US dollar bank draft. They cash those at BOA no problem.

Cashing a Cdn cheque at a USA bank varies. So e charge fees, others do not, but they may not give one a very good exchange rate. Best to cash it in Canada and convert it into USD. Another option is Customhouse.com but it takes a bit to set up, but its free and gives good exchange rates. They gave me much better than Wachovia. Best of luck

I deposit Canadian Royal Bank cheques to my (WA state) Bank of America account in Tennessee all the time, and don't pay any fees. The exchange rate's comparable to what you'd get at the Royal Bank. Just make sure to remind them it's in Canadian funds.

I had a cheque in Canadian funds to cash and I was told it would cost me $25 to do it. Since I knew I was going to be home in less than a month, I held onto it and deposited it myself in my Canadian bank account. I had another cheque sent to me that was from a US Funds account in a Canadian bank -- I won't tell you the hassle I had cashing that one! From that point on, any family member that wanted to give us some money for Christmas or whatever has just given it to my parents and they deposit it directly to my account -- SO much easier!

whenever I've had a cheque in Canadian funds here in the US the bank (credit union actually) has held onto it until it clears the Canadian bank. They will not release funds until they've received them. Even when I had a certified cheque.

If you're doing it just to have cash here in the US, use your debit card. A few Canadian banks have agreements with Bank of America and won't charge you the extra $3 in fees. Check with your bank before you leave tho to find out what fees, if any, there are.