Any Canadians with US Credit Card ?
 

Getting killed in this exchange rate crap (last year I paid about 12K on that 1-2% difference canadian banks rape you on when you buy some thing on USD).

So is their a secured credit card that will give me a higher credit line (say 50K) if I were to deposit 50K into a savings or money market account with the bank in US or CAD, but the card has to be in USD

Jay

Just open a chequing account in the US and put your 50k in that. Cheque cards are visa compatible here so you can just use it for whatever and not lose all that interest.

Exactly. I use TD Waterhouse in NY ... check / visa card backed by funds in account.

damn,12k is a nice chunk of cash to just burn away.Royal Bank used to have a secured US cc,although they no longer do it.i make most of my US purchases through my US business checking account.

I have a US card through the royal bank, no problem. HOWEVER, they cannot process payments any other way except by check or in person at the branch, they cannot handle online US to US transactions. No need to tie up 50K for nothing.

Alex

I have my TD USD Visa for many years now , there is no special awards /points or anything but if you have a US account with them (must reach montly min. balance) all fees are waived. This is a simple , easy card no annual fee .

But does this work like a reguler Visa. For example I have seen notcies at Car Rental companies saying they dont take it. Also some time when you travel out of the country i hear people have issues.

Jay

Canada Is Not Even A Real Country Anyway

The Royal Bank and CIBC both have a USD card - the only 'bad' part is that you have to process payments the way RawAlex mentions - via check or in person at the branch. No online banking but it sure beats tieing up 50K USD. Go into a branch - describe your predicament, speak to an Account Manager or the Branch Manager and you'll get what you want. They'll most likely take your instructions by phone to apply payment or you can arrange prepayments.

Many car rental companies do accept debit cards (VISA) under certain circumstances. ALAMO i.e. accepts them if you show passport and a valid roundtrip ticket. My debit card was never declined. I even had my daily limit raised without problem.

Royal Bank USD Visa. And yes, for large lines of credit, they'll ask for a 30 day GIC to secure it which is what I did.
WG

I rented a car in Hawaii a couple months ago on it no problem and I have used it in Canada with no problems.

Living in Canada and getting paid in US is fucking terrible...
I just feel like going to the USA sometimes and withdrawing money there and comming back the same day

You know you could deposit your checks into a USD bank account and just withdraw it from an ATM right?
WG

This is perfect for me. I am going to call BMO in the morning and find out if they have some thing like this, if not time to move to Royal

Jay

They don't. TD and RBC are the only two offering USD Visa's since the last time I checked. And I can save you the time, RBC has a descent rewards program and costs $60/year USD and the TD one is $25 but has no rewards. The extra $35 in my opinion is worth it for the gold point rewards, and I'm guessing if you're looking for a $50k/mn limit you'd get a descent number of rewards. As a quick glance, 1 point/dollar spent and 100 points = $1 worth of rewards when you cash out (so you get about 1% of your purchases back via rewards, or roughly $500/mn if you're maxing your card). You can tell I researched this quite some bit as well huh :)
WG

I will buy you a Mojito in Phonix for your help. Also is this a personal or business card ?

Jay

RBC allows you to sign up for a bank account and visa from their US affiliated bank in Florida. Not too sure about the others.

Jay, here's the link to the CIBC card & it's features (no points with this one though).
http://www.cibc.com/ca/visa/us-dolla...visa-ftrs.html

Both, I have the business one as my main card and the same card under my personal name in case I max out the first one or for any other unforseen problems that should arise :)
WG

almost no ATMs in the city offer US$ withdrawals.
They all convert it to CAD$ for you

or else I would use my epass and paypal cards to withdraw us money and keep it like that!

Really? Did you check recently? Over the past year I know of 2 Royal Banks and 1 CIBC ATM's in town here that dispense american cash. It's usually only 1 ATM in the bank that does it but nevertheless...

WG

I've been denied car rental IN CANADA with my US business debit card via MasterCard :disgust

in town..... Waterloo?? or TO

Ohh Yes :)
 

KING :) :thumbsup

Waterloo, for a small town like this to have USD currency dispensed at ATM's, I thought that was pretty cool.
WG