Siouxie

I've never heard of them either, but it seems they are legit https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Banking-Canada

DigitalGhost

Oh they're a legit bank. That wiki was one of the first places I checked when I first saw their website over the weekend. They seem to have quite a lot of branches in Toronto as well. I was just a little surprised since their offer seems far more generous than their competitors offer and you know what they say when something seems like it might be too good to be true.

Hurlabrick

Perfectly OK bank, just much smaller than the biggie (eg BMO, Scotiabank, RBC, TD trust, CIBC etc.). Thet tend to have fewer branches, BUT they have branches in most major cities in ON (but often only one). For example, there are 14 RBC branches in London, ON, but only one National).

DigitalGhost

Tbh I doubt I would need to use the branch much. I almost never go to a physical bank in the UK and the last time I was in Canada I banked with RBC and probably went to the branch once every few months, if that. If I was going to stay in Canada long term then I'd probably look to move to something like Tangerine anyway because the British person in me has a huge resentment towards bank membership and transaction fees.

Hurlabrick

Just be aware that Tangerine do not accept wire transfers (but fine for everything else). They will accept Transferwise transfers as these are not wire tranfers, they just come through the Canadian bank payments system. I tried to get our Canadian house sale proceeds wire transferred to our Tangerine account and it failed and took 7 or 8 dsys to find its way back to lawyers escrow account!

I too rarely go into a Canadian bank branch.

DigitalGhost

So NBC emailed me a couple of days after the initial application to confirm that I'd been provisionally accepted and they gave me an account number. Their email said that someone would be emailing me personally to set up a post-arrival welcome meeting but I've heard bugger all since then. It's not off to the most promising start so far tbh.

CAN_do_attitude

Good news. Transferwise just emailed me to say it now has Canadian account details.
Now you can move CAD$ directly to and from your local bank.

DigitalGhost

I thought you could already do that anyway. I was counting on that to pay the deposit on my new condo so I'm glad they've introduced it in time.

Hurlabrick

I think what they are saying is that TW will set you up with a Canadian account (if you dont already have one). Highly likely it will be a segregated customer account at TW (I am only guessing). You can of course easily move money from UK to your own Canadian bank account.

dj322

Hello all, I'm sure this question has come up before so apologies in advance. I will be moving back to Canada and continuing to work for my UK employer remotely. I will be paid to my account in the UK and have an account with a credit union and RBC in Canada already. What is the best way to transfer money from the UK to Canada on a regular basis (every month) for a decent rate without paying too much. I have Revolut but am not sure I can keep the account once I leave. I have instead contemplated opening the Tranferwise border less account which seems to fit my needs. Any suggestions?

Siouxie

Invoice the UK company monthly and get a Transferwise borderless multi currency account,, saving you money on receiving wire transfers to your Canadian bank accounts (currently around $17 [per transfer). You can have a 'virtual' UK bank account with Transferwise that the company can pay directly into... which might save you a little on fees from the UK bank. (Do keep your UK bank account though, for now!). I've only used TW once but was impressed with the speed of transfer and the exchange rate - which was better than standard bank rate. TW have just started allowing 'virtual Canadian bank accounts' as well I believe, which might be useful for you keeping track of income for taxation purposes. ( you don' t want your UK employer deducting tax or NI - hence why you need to invoice them monthly, i.e. freelance self employed contractor). https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Taxes...ada#Income_tax

dj322

Thanks for this. I noticed HSBC only charge £4 to do an international bank transfer so I guess this is another route. Although I guess there might be a charge at the receiving bank. However, when I look at the TW borderless account and test converting £2K from GBP to CAD it is quoting me a charge of £7.37. See here https://transferwise.com/gb/pricing/...rceAmount=2000

Siouxie

There is a fee for Transferwise conversions, which depends on the amount you are converting and sending, but offset against this there are zero charges by your Canadian bank for receiving the money. Wire transfers from HSBC or any other bank will cost you around $17 per wire transfer to receive (plus the £4 plus any 'intermediary bank' charges).

See this: https://www.hsbc.co.uk/international/money-transfer/
The bank charges can be offset against taxes\, if you are self employed - or you could build the charge into your invoice fee structure, to cover the cost involved.