ralphster

Folks,

I have been looking into the most competitive way to convert UK funds into Cdn Dollar, and want to get your experience on this.

It might seem crazy, but I think it works out cheaper to withdraw dollar from a cash point machine in Canada with a UK credit card than bring over Cdn dollars cash or travellers cheques in the UK. Is this your experience?

Aviator

If you take cash on a credit card, you pay the machine fee, the FX fee to the CC company as well as interest from the day you take out the cash.

Use a credit card for purchases and a debit card to get cash from a bank, teller or ATM.

ralphster

Thanks Aviator. I was thinking more for when you arrive initially and don't have a Cdn bank account and generally the best way to bring funds over gradually to spend as you need them. The (UK) CC I have is £0 fees for cash withdrawals abroad, and you can pay off the the balance same day using your UK debit card, so can limit yourself to one days interest (about 5p per £100 withdrawn). It appears you get the exchange market rate e.g. 1.6055 today, rather than paying 1.55 for trav. chqs or cdn cash in the UK.

Oakvillian

why not just use your UK debit card directly in a Canadian ATM? Check to see what network your bank belongs to - Barclays, for example, has a no-fee agreement with Scotiabank; otherwise yours might be part of Mastercard's Cirrus network, Visa's Plus network, or both. Transaction fees will probably be applicable, but you won't have interest charges if for whatever reason you can't make a payment that day.

dannyg1001

Some branches are linked in each country...

When i went to the UK a couple of months ago, I withdrew some cash on my Canadian debit card from an obscure non-bank ATM in Bury town centre... when i looked at my bank statement is was listed as "ROYAL BANK - UK" and i paid no fee's , just the going exchange rate.

Im going to ask the bank next time before I go...