Is it better to just have a $US Bank Account?

rcorp · Jan 13,2011, 08:53 AM

I play on Pokerstars and FullTilt regularly now and I was just wondering whether its simply better to set up a US dollar account. I'm tired of losing small amounts of money to exchange rates.

Does anyone else do this?

Do share your thoughts!

chrisrowl111 · Jan 13,2011, 09:04 AM

The truth is no matter how you go about it, you will most likely be dealing with a currency exchange. Even when you have your account in USD funds although your bankroll may not be fluctuating on a regular basis, as you decide to withdraw funds, you will (I assume) be placing the funds into a Canadian bank account and will therefore be subject to the same fees once your US funds are converted into Canadian Dollars. I personally have just kept everything in USD and opened a USD bank account to save myself transaction fees. Doing so allows me to choose when I want to convert my funds, usually at an optimal exchange rate.

Chris

rcorp · Jan 13,2011, 09:12 AM

Yeah you're right.

Do you use instadebit to transfer your funds?? I was wondering if there were better options. I was thinking of moneybookers...

chrisrowl111 · Jan 13,2011, 10:22 AM

I used to use instadebit but now almost exclusively use entropay.

Wetts1012 · Jan 13,2011, 10:30 AM

Uhhhh.

Canadian Dollar > US Dollar, fwiw.

Tonychanman · Jan 14,2011, 04:32 PM

you don't really lose out on the exchange... when you cash out, you get it back.

rcorp · Jan 16,2011, 04:55 PM

I lost a few dollars when transferring from Instadebit to my bank account

BuyinBank · Jan 16,2011, 05:10 PM

I opened a USD account with TD, linked it to my Moneybookers account, and now can make withdrawals without losing any cash to currency conversions. I'd highly recommend it.

While Wetts is right that at the moment CAD >>> USD, I like being able to control when I make the conversions (ie - when the USD is high, if that every happens again) instead of whenever I make a withdrawal from the sites.

Also, the rate you get at your bank is generally much better than the rate you'll get with MB/3rd party bank/your bank.

rcorp · Jan 16,2011, 05:28 PM

Okay... I think I finally made a decision.

I opened a US savings account with RBC and I'm going to link it to moneybookers.

This was confusing, but thanks to you guys, I finally decided.

And I really hope the US currency does not go down to the pits!

BuyinBank · Jan 17,2011, 07:25 AM

Well, I certainly can't promise that. I've had money just sitting in that account way too long now waiting for a turn around. :s

rcorp · Jan 17,2011, 08:27 AM

I think it should, it is the biggest economy in the world by a good margin...