Best Foreign Exchange Service - US to CAD?

[Ekliptix]

Hi,

I moved home (Calgary) from Houston recently and need to convert a large chunk of USD into CAD after selling my US home. Can anyone suggest a route to minimize the service fee when converting my USD into CAD?

Thanks - G

[you&me]

I've used both Olympia and Axiom for large USD/CAD transactions.

Rates are comparable or better than the rates posted on XE.com. There are no other fees. This will save you ~2.5%+++ over having your Canadian bank handle the transfer.

[realazy]

Do you have a stock trading account?

Google Norbert's Gambit.

Basically, you buy a money market ETF and journal entry it into the other currency's equivalent.

DLR and DLR.U is commonly used, they trade on the TSX. DLR.U is in US dollars, and DLR is in Canadian dollars.

There are slight risks to the fx rate changing while the journal entry takes place, but you pretty much save the fx exchange fees of ~2%.

You'll have to pay the buy and sell commission of the ETF which for most brokerages is under $20.

It's worth it if you have a large sum like you said, but even with $10,000, it'll save over $100.