As my up coming jolly to the US is fast approaching, does anyone know the place place to exchange some loonies for american dollars? I'm probably only going to change around $500, but the banks in canada seem expensive.

Thanks

I prepay into my credit card and use that balance to get a minimum of cash from US bank machines for miscellaneous items, cash tips etc, and then I charge everything I can to my cards while Im there.

It seems the most convenient way to deal with it for me.

Some of the banks in the larger canadian cities wll have the occasional cash machine that will dispense US bills too if you dont want to wait till you get to the US to get US bucks. Ive never found a particularly effective way to get around the bank Fx rates for small amounts, the credit card rates are generally as good as you see anywhere else. Dont change cash at the airport though if you can avoid it

I think the banks for that small amount are just fine, if you deal in $10,000 Plus, then there are alternatives.

Five hundred is quite a lot of cash... sure you need that much? Path of least resistance would be to plasticize most expenses and hit a US ATM for enough convenience cash.

If you need US$'s are are prepared for 1 to 1 conversion and are around NYC area--I can certainly help you.

I saw an earlier post of $10K or more. What are the alternatives--as I'd be requiring some CA$ in Nov to put that as a downpayment for house in Toronto.

Thanks

http://www.torofx.com/

We use Custom House Exchange for most of our commercial FX needs (they do personal as well). They are right across the country and often give a slightly better rate than banks. For small amounts wherever you go won't be much different. If you use a credit card, their rate is usually the same as the banks, plus 2.5% premium. When in the US I use my AMEX card, the rate they usually quote is similar to the banks cash rate, and I get a 1% cash rebate.

If you use your credit card to take cash out of an ATM then they will charge you their cash advance interest rate on that amount. Not a problem if you intend to zero your balance before they charge any interest, but usually a credit card interest rate on cash is much higher than on purchases. Also they always put payments towards the lowest interest balance first. So if you have a balance of say $5000 at 11% and then take out $500 cash at 21% and then send Visa or whoever $500 payment they will reduce your balance to $4500 at 11% and still be $500 at 21% so you keep paying that full higher interest on the other amount until you pay everything else off.
Just something to remember, they do it as well with those balance transfer offers. So you transfer say $5000 to a new card at a promo rate of 2.9% interest but then if you use that card to buy anything you get charged full interest, say 19% on a $500 purchase. You will then have to pay off the full lower interest transfer of $5000 before they start reducing purchases so you have that $500 sat there at 19% interest until you pay off the $5000 transfer.
Personally I use the credit card in the US for purchases but for cash just use a regular ATM card for convenience of not carrying lots of cash around, but I am sure the rate you get at your bank won't be far off the rate the credit card of bank chanrges you when you use your card. The airports also have currency exchange booths in the departures terminals so you could drive there if it is near by and see what their rates are.

If you take cash out on a credit card, interest is charged from the day the cash is withdrawn. Credit card companies offer no grace period on cash advances. The premium for using a credit card in foreign currency is 2.5% over the issuing banks cash rate. Good idea to phone and check the rate ahead of time. Amex have always come out better for me, way ahead of Visa.