Hi all. We are a family of 4 planning to land Aug 09, Calgary. We plan to open an account on arrival, though will be returning to the UK within two weeks. We are thinking of getting a bankers draft from here and open an account with it. Is this reasonable? What are the other possible options? We use NatWest. Thanks.

Do read Wiki for guidance in this area. It is cheaper to look at alternatives such as currency exchange banks and ebanking!

This could cost you a lot more money in the long term. Are you taking a CAD dollar draft or GBP. ?

If you only wish to open an account, why not just use cash?

When you finally land, you will be able to transfer money via Moneycorp, HIFX, etc. prior to your arrival and your funds will be waiting for your arrival

HI,

HSBC offer a good foreign currency account, you open the account from the Uk and you get a Canadian chequing account, savings account and Canadian credit card, you can also open a currency account which allows you to keep your GBP over in Canada until the rate is good then do a direct transfer into CAD, look into to it, it seems like a good deal....

MR79

Surely you wont need a huge amount to open an account with, i think wiring funds over will be alot more secure than a draft, if you are taking a decent amount it is worth using a broker to make the transaction, even if you bank with HSBC on both sides they can still give a weak rate

If you don't need the money right away, take your UK cheque book and write yourself a cheque. There will likley be a 30 day hold on the funds. If you need immediate access to funds, do cash and cheque.

The Royal Bank VIP account costs a flat rate of $35 per month, which includes 2 premium credit cards and most bank charges & safety deposit box. You also get a preferred exchange rate on FX. We got one as soon as we got here and managed to get Visa, line of credit and so on with no problems.

For large sums, I would use an FX house such as Custom House Currency exhange. Easy to do and a couple of points higher than the banks.