How to hedge exchange rate?

[gocamp]

"Originally Posted by Ralph & Paulette
If you do the exchange through your bank, or if you wire the money to ETI as US dollars, your bank or ETI's bank will convert them to Canadian, but will charge you a fee - typically 3 or 4%. Eliminating that fee could easily save you $1000 in exchange fees."

Eti's bank does not charge a 3-4 % fee to convert CAD to us dollars. That is misinformation as quoted. There is no fee. Call them and ask to verify if interested. Happy camping

[thoer]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

The exchange rate online does not represent what the ordinary person will get at any financial institution.
It is likely what the Bank of Canada gets from US Treasury.
We just don't have the clout.

That's exactly what the folks at my credit union said - that only those high level bank transfers get the "official" exchange rates. I've been told that the closest we mortals can get is with credit cards. There are regulations about what rate credit card companies use for exchange rates, closer to the "official" one. But then they are charging merchants about a 3% fee so they make it there. I made my down payment to ETI with my Mastercard and the rate I was charged at was very close to the official one. But ETI then has to pay 3% to Mastercard - thus their maximum of $3000 total payment by credit card.

[LJY]

From what I can see, FXC's rate is very close to those mid-market rates. However, you would still have to take the hit at the end when you actually exchange to CAD$.

From what Everbank told me, if quite a few of us all opened the CAD$ accounts with them and timed our exchanges on the same day (group buy )... we'd get pretty close to those rates too (minus the 0.75% Everbank fee).

[Greg A]

Xe.com would usually offer around 2% below the official published rate. I would book an offer to them at around 1.5% under and they'd usually accept it within 48 hours. I liked the ability to tell them what I would accept. Sometimes they took it, sometimes they didn't.

[luckyone]

What about buying an ETF that hedges the Canadian dollar in your investment account. Seems to be several available. Top CAD (Canadian Dollar) ETF

[stephen99]

Originally Posted by luckyone

What about buying an ETF that hedges the Canadian dollar in your investment account. Seems to be several available. Top CAD (Canadian Dollar) ETF

That's what I did. Bought FXC with some of the money I am saving for the trailer. It's slowly trending up.

[Ralph & Paulette]

Originally Posted by gocamp

Eti's bank does not charge a 3-4 % fee to convert CAD to us dollars. That is misinformation as quoted. There is no fee. Call them and ask to verify if interested. Happy camping

Sorry, I shouldn't have called it a fee. More accurately, it is the difference between the rate you will get through ETI's bank and the rate you can get elsewhere. As others have mentioned, you can likely get a better rate through places like Everbank, XE.com, and as I'd mentioned a few days back, through Vanguard.

[luckyone]

One more thought. The best exchange I received in my purchasing process was from ETI and their bank. I figured about a 1-1.5% markup. Next was Visa which was about 3% (my initial deposit and final small payment) and the worst was the Hampton Inn in Chilliwack....my recollection about 10%.

[gocamp]

Same as lucky one here, The best exchange I received in my purchasing process was from ETI and their bank. I figured about a 1-1.5% markup

[Ralph & Paulette]

Originally Posted by gocamp

Same as lucky one here, The best exchange I received in my purchasing process was from ETI and their bank. I figured about a 1-1.5% markup

When did you guys purchase? When I checked in mid-2015, Vanguard was 3+ percent better than ETI's bank, but I didn't check again when I paid in February. Maybe the lesson here is to check around, and then check again before making your payment if it's been awhile. I'm still very happy with the rate I got. I'm sure folks who bought a couple of years ago would have loved to have gotten the rates we're seeing now.

[LJY]

Originally Posted by luckyone

What about buying an ETF that hedges the Canadian dollar in your investment account. Seems to be several available. Top CAD (Canadian Dollar) ETF

At the end of buying FXC, you will still have to take a hit on exchange rate/fee. With being able to open a CAD$ at Everbank, I'm not sure if there are any reasons for buying FXC.. Only positive is the ability to time your exchanges thru out the day and to write off losses if cad goes down..but you'd have to pay taxes if it goes up too.

[StanLewis]

Posted earlier that the best deal I found was through Morgan Stanley. Here's how it came out: we bought CAD approximately equal to what we think will be the final price of the trailer (don't know for sure since we certainly haven't finalized the build sheet yet) and deposited the money in a CAD bank account. MS will wire the money to ETI when asked. There might be a modest fee for that; I didn't bother to ask. Bank of Canada reported that the exchange rate on the day we did the transaction ranged from 0.7587 to 0.7636 USD/CAD; we bought at 0.7603 and paid MS a fee of $3.76. I'd say, if you have a broker, check with them.

[gocamp]

If paying by cashiers check, escape will email you what it converted at the same day it was delivered/ arrived to them in the mail. like lucky one said, it was about 1.5% over that days exchange rate for me too. The down side to this is the exchange rate was going up the 9 days my check took to get there and clear customs. But, Tammy told me even wiring money can take up to 3 days in their experience at ETI. So the 24 hour wire guarantee is not always true. More advice from Tammy, if you send a cashiers check be sure to get a tracking number. In the past customers have had the mail screw up and go to other countries. Wasting their time if the exchange rate is creeping up.

[Loren & Cathy]

Originally Posted by gocamp

If paying by cashiers check, escape will email you what it converted at the same day it was delivered/ arrived to them in the mail. like lucky one said, it was about 1.5% over that days exchange rate for me too. The down side to this is the exchange rate was going up the 9 days my check took to get there and clear customs. But, Tammy told me even wiring money can take up to 3 days in their experience at ETI. So the 24 hour wire guarantee is not always true. More advice from Tammy, if you send a cashiers check be sure to get a tracking number. In the past customers have had the mail screw up and go to other countries. Wasting their time if the exchange rate is creeping up.

Last year we used fedex international priority at a cost of $46 to send a cashiers check to ETI. I dropped it off in Olathe, Ks around 3:00 PM CDT and ETI had it by noon the next day. I felt it was well worth the cost. Loren

[cpaharley2008]

I just sent a personal check, cost me 3 stamps and it was there within a week.

[LJY]

FYI, I just made a first conversion of funds from USD to CAD in the Everbank foreign currency account. Once the account is opened online, they give you a checking account you can deposit money into. Then when you want to do a conversion, just call between 7:30am to 9am CT and ask what the rate is. Just like their website says, the rate they gave me was less than 1% under the mid-market rate on XE and Google Finance. I believe this is even better rate than what XE gives in my past experience. Really easy process, plus their checking account gives 1.6% interest for the first 6 months.

[Ralph & Paulette]

Interesting article on Exchange Rates and the Canadian Dollar: Exchange Rate 101: How to Save Money on a Terrible Canadian Dollar

[tdf-texas]

How does knightbridge fx compare to XE?

http://www.knightsbridgefx.com/
http://www.xe.com/

[float5]

We did the same as Loren. FedEx cashier's check on Saturday afternoon, there on Monday and ETI confirmed it.

[Greg A]

Originally Posted by tdf-texas

How does knightbridge fx compare to XE?

Currency Exchange Toronto - Best Rates in Canada |Knightsbridge FX
XE - The World's Trusted Currency Authority

I know with XE I was able to make an offer which floats out there till either it's accepted or you terminate it. Can be set to terminate automatically. Once offer accepted they cut a draft in Canadian $$ at agreed on rate and mailed to ETI no charge for anything.
Not sure if that capability is in knightbridge.