Best Banking Tips for Canadian Expats & Digital Nomads
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ต.ค. 2024
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When people move abroad one of the biggest problems is banking.
Usually, it won’t be that easy to open a bank account in a new country as a foreigner, and your home country's bank account may be difficult for international transfers and payments.
This is especially bad if you’re from Canada.
I can tell you from experience Canadian banks suck when it comes to international payments!
Canadian bank accounts (almost all of them) don’t allow online wire transfers. So if you relocate and try to transfer your money from Canada to abroad you will have issues! You’d need to go to a branch and initiate a transfer. This is a little different if you have a corporate bank account.
On top of this, there are issues with foreign currencies. Canadian banks almost exclusively deal with CAD and a little bit of USD. You can’t expect to bank in any other currency!
So, you need a solution that allows you to transfer money internationally once you’re outside of the country, ideally a solution that’s going to minimize your foreign transaction fees and support multiple currencies.
One of the most basic things you can do is to open a Wise borderless bank account and get their debit card. They’ve just started delivering their cards to Canada, so that’s amazing news! This is one of the good steps you can take before moving, as Wise is a very good bank for small transfers!
Other than this, there are 2 cards worth looking at in Canada: Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Card & HSBC Premier Card.
Both of these cards don’t have FX fees, and you can get some points which is amazing.
What about different currencies? Which bank can accommodate those needs?
Your best options are NBC (National Bank of Canada) and HSBC Premiere.
HSBC can be multinational and if you open a bank account in Canada, you can facilitate that to open a bank account in another country.
Another useful thing to know Is that you can negotiate rates for larger transfers.
RBC and TD have a US presence, so if you’re going to be engaging with the United States these banks are good for you!
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HSBC UAE will allow you to open current accounts in a number of currencies and give you visa debit cards with better perks than either Scotia passport or HSBC. Just FYI.
Depends what you're looking for. UAE doesn't offer a no fx fee card through HSBC. If you're looking for local currency sure but for that they are weak.
02:05 got me hooked. I listened to hear which banks in Canada *do* allow online creation of international wire transfers
4:10 For Can based no forex cards also the free Home Trust Preferred Visa, but they do list being a Can resident as a requirement so expat may have to eventually give it up. When abroad I bring HT Visa, Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite and my Wise attached to my multi currencies account. Sometimes either or sometimes both of these bank cards won’t work I find, but the Wise card has never failed me. Plus, it’s not doing conversion at all because prior to travel I harvest currencies (when rates are best) of countries I go and keep them in my Wise multi currencies, so Wise purchases just draw from the appropriate currency automatically. Yes, the money in Wise makes no interest, but it’s auto conversion function is super helpful. Plus you can send to residents of that country in their currency free of charge too with Wise. I try the bank cards first though because I also collect points and Visa doesn’t bloat up conversion rates. Bank of Canada or mid market, so can’t beat any of the 3 I don’t think.
I've been dealing with brutal Canadian banks for years now! No one understands my pain lol
What's been the hardest part?
😬
Ready for some alternatives?
Nice to see you here man aha
I'm trying to figure out how to get my cad down into Mexican pesos. Apparently Wise doesn't do that between Canada and Mexico.
@raver581 Yes they do. I currently hold MXN in Wise and have been harvesting them via auto conversion for well over 13p/cad for months. Wise Visa debit card should work there too, both for purchases and atm.
You state that the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite card and some HSBC Premier card offers "no FX fees". But all foreign exchange transactions involve costs. Do you mean there are no foreign exchange fees because there is no foreign exchange, because the credit cards support multiple currencies?
Unlike other credit cards in Canada they just charge the exchange rate and not an additional 2%.
How would you go about moving 10 million CAD from Canada to UAE? Would HSBC Bank be the best option for this?
Serious question.
Thanks
Or would wise be the better option?
I live in California and just received a distribution from my mother's estate in Canadian dollars. The distribution came by way of a cheque from Manulife drawn on a Royal Bank of Canada account. I've tried to deposit the cheques into my Bank of America account only to find the exchange rate is about 3% below the spot rate because BofA takes a commission. In addition, they were going to put a hold on the funds for 4 to 6 weeks. I want to avoid paying BofA 3% and I certainly don't want to wait 4 to 6 weeks for the funds to be available. What would you suggest I do?
Also, not sure if you are aware but RBC retail locations in the US were purchased by PNC Bank. I spoke to someone at PNC's corporate office on Tuesday last week and he said there are no different (favorable) sets of rules for RBC account holders than other PNC account holders.
Hi, lots to cover here, and probably best not to discuss personal details in YT comments. Feel free to reach out via Calendly or our website
High value content!
Thanks!
Any tips you'd like to share?😄
Did he say the foreign exchange service was called Firma? I didn't catch the name.
CIBC and BMO also have banks in the US called CIBC Bank USA and BMO Harris Bank
Yeah but not so accessible for the same things, Scotia technically has a branch there too but it's not connected to the Canadian bank.
@@OffshoreCitizen Scotia only has wealth mangmenet and corporate banking in the US
Now that Wise offers debit cards in Canada, to me this solves this.
Have you already opened a Wise account?😀
@@OffshoreCitizen yes I did and use the cards, I use it to accept payments and even faster and higher amounts than the limita for local banks. It is wise to use Wise lol
If bank accounts are frozen will this work? Best way to diversify?
I did another video on this. Open foreign bank accounts, get crypto in non custodial wallets and keep some cash & jewelry around.
But these banking options are still ok
I was once threatened by CIBC that I'll not have access to my accounts anymore as my bank accounts was deactivated due to a long period of non-activity. They said they can't reactivate my accounts and ask me to come to Canada to do that. So I closed all my acounts after many international phone calls and asked them to send me a check abroad.
Take all your cash out before they start freezing funds over mean tweets.
Also get rid of your Twitter account while you are at it.
I do not use Twitter myself.
Wouldn't recommend the NBC euro account. Their support lines, managers, in person staff have no idea how the accounts work.
What would be your recommendation?
Banking while overseas is more than transferring money from Canada. You need to have access to your Canadian on line banking in order to maintain Canadian credit cards and possibly a bunch of other things. HSBC was good for this but is no longer an option. Scotiabank and CIBC apps can be used overseas to monitor and maintain your accounts. BE AWARE: TD, RBC, and BMO APPS CANNOT BE USED OVERSEAS! HSBC customers going through the transition to RBC need to be aware of this-- RBC is not pointing this out to customers.
My RBC app works fine in Asia because the SIM card doesn’t effect the app, no I’m having a big issue right now with BMO, they have locked me out because it could not authenticate, then it says please call your branch to fix the problem, they have no email for me to reach out to them and a call threw an automated phone q is almost impossible, what a crock of shit !
Haha, when I moved from Toronto to Japan way back in 2010, I took my money in traveller's cheques!
Interesting about the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Card and HSBC Premier Cards. I've been out here in Tokyo a while, so that's great to know, thanks.
By the way, any advice on the best investment options / investment brokerages for Canadian expats abroad who haven't declared as Non-Residents? One day I want to return to Canada, so I maintain my Canadian driver's license, credit cards, bank accounts, etc. and am therefore technically a resident of Canada.
I've only heard from Andrew Hallam about CI Direct Investments, and possibly DBS Vickers in Singapore, as viable investment brokerage options for Canadian expats. Really curious about your opinion on investment options for us Canadian expats/digital nomads who live and earn abroad but maintain nominal residency/ties to Canada!
In general the first choice is always IB if you can't use IB for some reason we explore other options.
@@OffshoreCitizen what;s IB?
@@raver581 Probably interactive brokers. Recommend them myself.
@@OffshoreCitizen Yeah, IB is the best as you can open an account online. I was also interested in TD Direct Investing, but I was told I need to come to Canada and visit one of the branches to open an account.
To open an account at DBS Vickers in Singapore, you need to have an address in Singapore as they require you are a resident of Singapore.
Thank you for this. I'm a Canadian citizen living overseas (South America). Is there a way to open a bank account in Canada remotely?
Interesting stuff
Thanks! Anything you'd like to see next?
Yes is the money safe in Dubai banks
I would like to know if it is safe to invest in Dubai banks
I'm currently about to use a FX company in Toronto to transfer my USD/CAD in my Canadian bank account to Europe. They claim that they can do ACH transfers from my bank so no need for wire transfers.
But overall yeah, Fuck Canadian banking so much.
BUT, my mom told me that she's allowed to send wire transfers online with Simplii (simple ones at least - like USD goes to America and EUR goes to Europe, etc)
Let us know how it goes 🤞
How did you like the video?
Since you’ve made a video on CARICOM, can you make a video on others like GCC, ASEAN, ECOWAS, East African Community, African Union, UNASUR, India-Nepal-Bhutan Freedom of Movement etc.?
Definitely will at some point!
How did you like today's video?
@@OffshoreCitizen
I liked it but it wasn’t as applicable to me as I’m not Canadian.
Could you make a video on where Americans could move to save on taxes, other than Puerto Rico, as that’s well known.
I lived in Panama for 6 years and knew a lot of Americans there. (I'm Canadian.) Unless you renounce your citizenship in the USA, you'll still have to pay taxes. In fact, several of my gringo friends in Panama actually flew back to the USA in March to do their taxes! But, if you became a resident abroad, there is I think $100k tax-free income for you and another $100k if you're married. So possibly you could earn as much as $200k as a married couple and not pay any taxes in the US ... I'm not a US tax advisor nor do I play one on TV ... but that's my understand.
Nobody mentions the importance of leaving a POA
what is a POA?
I found transferwise is not allowed to use the card outside Canada. CIBC has great options for there USA Bank CIBC USA. It works perfect anywhere in the world
I've used my Canadian Transferwise card in Europe.
What do you mean it's not allowed outside of Canada? It definitely is that's the point
do one for Aussies!
Will do!
Have you seen some of our videos on Australia?
Laws change. It’s smart to not make it easy for the bureaucrats and politicians to take your wealth in the future.
What would be your advice?
@@OffshoreCitizen keep as much as possible outside jurisdictions with budget deficits, looming pension crisis, and growing welfare
Can you do a video on BEPS
Will see what we can do 👍
How did you like today's video?
@@OffshoreCitizen very good video, I’m setting up a Banking as a Service with EQIbank. As a global digital bank, we solve the problems mentioned in the video.