US Dollar Credit Card

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G13
Member since: Jul 06

Posts: 602
Location: Amidst a glow in the sky.
Post ID: #PID

Posted on: 27-07-12 22:47:12

I will be travelling to US frequently this and next year. What is the best way to spend money in US - carry US dollar cash each time or apply for a US dollar credit card?

Carrying cash is risky, where as spending on CAD $ credit card incurs commission / exchange charges.

Can anyone guide me what are the different options for applying for a US card? Is it necessary to apply from Canadian banks or US banks also allow this option?

What is the most popular card in US - Master card, Amex or Visa?

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sudesingh
Member since: Jul 04

Posts: 2085
Location: Toronto
Post ID: #PID

Posted on: 27-07-12 22:55:52

I have a US$ mastercard from BMO. That's what I use. Their annual fee is $25, but it's waived if you spend a minimum of $1500 / year.

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desi28
Member since: Apr 10

Posts: 67
Location:
Post ID: #PID

Posted on: 27-07-12 23:54:38

I use TD usd card without much problems.

G13
Member since: Jul 06

Posts: 602
Location: Amidst a glow in the sky.
Post ID: #PID

Posted on: 28-07-12 06:26:07

Thanks SS - i checked their website, currently they have lowered the min limit to 1000. This seems to be the best US card in terms of annual fee. TD card is at 39 USD per year, which is also not bad.

jigz787
Member since: Aug 04

Posts: 773
Location: Toronto
Post ID: #PID

Posted on: 28-07-12 08:03:25

TD USD card is free if you have a borderless USD account. This borderless USD account has monthly fees, but if you have select serve CAD account the fee on borderless USD is waived.
If you maintain $5K CAD in Select serve account, the monthly fee is waived.
Basically you need to maintain 5K in your CAD account to get free USD card.
The borderless account also gives you preferred exchange rates on USD.
Select serve account has many other benefits, but it depends if you will really need / use those benefits.

JRF
Member since: Jul 04

Posts: 1853
Location: GTA, Ontario
Post ID: #PID

Posted on: 28-07-12 09:32:51

And how would I credit the USD Bank account (if no business in USA).

Quote:
Originally posted by ashedfc

BMO USD credit card is good, I use it for all my USD shopping. The only problem is when the credit card bill comes due, you have to make a CAD conversion to USD in order to pay ( so you end up taking a currency conversion hit anyways).
Only way to avoid it is to maintain a USD bank account, so you can pay online...

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desi28
Member since: Apr 10

Posts: 67
Location:
Post ID: #PID

Posted on: 28-07-12 10:11:59

As other user mentioned above, I have select service TD account and US borderless account. So I dont pay anything for borderless account, which gives me good exchange rate, and dont pay anything for TD USD credit card (which they insisted I should have once I was there in bank as it is free on my account.). Also it gives me free road assistance and locker in the home branch.

I have always maintained some USD in borderless account when rate is good, so no problem in paying USD credit card.

The only problem is when I want to buy something online from US stores, not all the stores accept Canadian address on USD credit cards, and none of customer care (store or TD) have answer of this.

If someone has tried this, I would like know the way out.

Contributors: G13(3) sudesingh(3) desi28(2) jigz787(2) JRF(2)

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