Best place/time to buy USD?

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

I have a wedding in Mexico coming up this summer, and have to pay for the wedding in USD. When the dollar was closer to 0.75, I held out, hoping it would get better, and now it's much worse. As you can tell, that's worked out well for me.

I need to pay for the wedding in USD by mid-April, and I'm wondering where the best place to buy the USD is, and should I hold out longer, or buy now. I'm looking at approx 10k USD. I was thinking of getting half now, and holding out for closer to April to pick up the other half.

I have a US Bank account w/ RBC, but the rates aren't super amazingly favourable, so I'm curious if there's a better place/method to buy USD?

As much as I'd love to postpone it until the USD is better, this is already close to a year in the works, with all the time and travel booked and paid for, so it's not an option at this point. I'll just have to swallow the pain and pay for it, but I'd like to "save" where I can.

[Disoblige]

What is your RBC rate compared to Calforex? Go compare and see. I usually grab my currency exchange from Calforex as I found they usually have the best rates.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Calforex doesn't seem to post their rates.
RBC is trading at 0.6898/1.4497
TD is trading at 1.4509

XE shows that the USD is going for 0.70664/1.41515

[Disoblige]

You can call them :P

[roopi]

Just call Calforex or Cambridge Mercantile and tell them you would like to buy $10k USD and they will provide you with a quote. It will be better then the bank.

[sabad66]

If you have time and have a trading account, use Norbert's Gambit method (google it) which well get you almost exactly spot rate besides a $20 commission. Depending on how much your wedding cost this could be a significant difference.

If you want to keep it simple, I have always had the best rates at Canexforex in Eau Claire market. Call them up and get a quote.

[riander5]

Best place? Spend 5 minutes calling around for rates, write them down on a piece of paper, compare

Best time? 2-3 years ago

People sure create some dumb fucking threads on here

[gwill]

^its not as bad as Reddit tho. The idiots there are 1000x worst then here with some of the same questions over and over again. Using a phone and calling a business seems like such a foreign concept that so many forget about.

My only question is why do you have to pay for the wedding in usd?

[bjstare]

Originally posted by riander5
Best place? Spend 5 minutes calling around for rates, write them down on a piece of paper, compare

Best time? 2-3 years ago

People sure create some dumb fucking threads on here

I was thinking the exact same thing.

[jwslam]

Does it have to be cash?

[taemo]

Originally posted by gwill
^its not as bad as Reddit tho. The idiots there are 1000x worst then here with some of the same questions over and over again. Using a phone and calling a business seems like such a foreign concept that so many forget about.

My only question is why do you have to pay for the wedding in usd?

because Mexican resorts rate their wedding services in USD.
had to pay our wedding in USD last year too at around 0.80

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by gwill
My only question is why do you have to pay for the wedding in usd?

Because they hate pesos. Both their own or the Canadian ones.

[blownz]

Call a few places for rates and then call RBC (your account manager) and they will either match or be so close it isn't worth going anywhere else. That is what I have done many times (although usually USD to CDN) and I am with RBC. They they just make the transfer between your accounts and you don't need to do a thing.

That or find someone with USD that wants CDN and make a deal. I did that lots the past few years as I was averaging $20-30K a year USD in bonus/RSU's from work and wanted it changed to Canadian. Wish I didn't change some of that the past few years and kept it in US but oh well.

[you&me]

I use AxiomFX.

Typically the rates I pay are very close, and sometimes even better, than those posted on XE.com. Calforex and Olympia Trust are two others I've used, and while they're significantly better than the banks, neither quite offers the rates that Axiom does...

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Originally posted by riander5
Best place? Spend 5 minutes calling around for rates, write them down on a piece of paper, compare

Best time? 2-3 years ago

People sure create some dumb fucking threads on here

Originally posted by cjblair


I was thinking the exact same thing.

I've never had to buy a large amount of foreign currency before. As far as I knew, I had to walk into Calforex and buy right then and there. I wasn't aware that you could call around and get quotes.

I guess I'm just not as old and wise as you folks. It's too bad I don't have some sort of online local resource where I can ask other folks for advice.

You're right though, I totally should've bought all the USD I needed for my Mexico wedding that I hadn't even planned yet, 2-3 years ago. Thanks for reminding me that I can see the future. But I guess you didn't read the part where I specified "now or later" rather than in the past.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Originally posted by jwslam
Does it have to be cash?

Not necessarily cash, it just has to be paid in USD, 45 days beforehand. We're already cutting out some unnecessary parts of the decor and such to cut costs.

[HiTempguy1]

Pay with credit card?

Rates are pretty decent, fee isn't absurd. Going and getting physical currency from anywhere will cost you way more than necessary.

Norbit's Gambit is definitely the cheapest, but also has risk involved.

[bjstare]

Originally posted by LilDrunkenSmurf






I've never had to buy a large amount of foreign currency before. As far as I knew, I had to walk into Calforex and buy right then and there. I wasn't aware that you could call around and get quotes.

I guess I'm just not as old and wise as you folks. It's too bad I don't have some sort of online local resource where I can ask other folks for advice.

You're right though, I totally should've bought all the USD I needed for my Mexico wedding that I hadn't even planned yet, 2-3 years ago. Thanks for reminding me that I can see the future. But I guess you didn't read the part where I specified "now or later" rather than in the past.

We're just joshin.


Whatever you do, unless you get great rewards on your CC, don't pay by CC. That's bad advice. haha

[jwslam]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1
Pay with credit card?

This. Certain cards charge just the ForEx rate minus the bank fee. You still have time to apply for these!

[Disoblige]

Originally posted by cjblair

Whatever you do, unless you get great rewards on your CC, don't pay by CC. That's bad advice. haha

I found these rates to be terrible, especially if your card comes from a big bank. So yeah, could differ for others, but is very bad advice to follow if you don't get the perks on exchange rate.