canadian dollars in usa bank question

[jerryandmaria]

We got on the list for a new 19 (no easy task) and the gal on the phone told me that I could lock on the exchange rate for Canadian to US dollars by opening an account and loading it with Canadian dollars. Trouble was my bank looked at me like I was crazy. ETI won't let me pay in advance of my april 12 delivery date and every cent up costs me $. Any advice out there?
thanks
Jerry and Maria

[JohnB]

I don't know anything about US Banks.
But here in Canadian Banks you can have a US$ account. A separate account holding US$ value. You deposit US$, or convert CAN$ into US$ and deposit that. That will lock in the exchange rate at the time you do the deposit. When you withdraw later there is no exchange process.

[freespirit]

One current forecast for exchange rate for 1st qtr 2017 is .77, same as today. Whose crystal ball is better? who knows.... Escape says they do not lock down the final cost until your build sheet is due, 90 days before delivery date.
Things change both in the exchange rate and possibly Escape...the good news is you have a date in 2017 which is better than not having one if you want an Escape!

[Jimrules]

I couldn't find any banks that would let me set up an account in Canadian dollars. Not even Canada based BMO. They will let Canadians hold US dollars but not the other way around. The people I talked to thought it was weird too, but it's company policy so nothing they could do about it.

[FlaGman]

Is Escape not taking advance payments new? I was under the impression that many people had paid well in advance if not up front entirely.

[thoer]

Jimrules - I tried that same thing and had the same problem.

[Rossue]

Morgan Stanley broker created an account for us with British pounds last year when our daughter was going to grad school. An sure he could do it with loonies too.

[NW Cat Owner]

Originally Posted by FlaGman

Is Escape not taking advance payments new? I was under the impression that many people had paid well in advance if not up front entirely.

Yeah, that doesn't make sense that they told you you can't pay in advance. Yesterday we paid off The Trailer, even thought it's not due until December. Maybe she meant they wouldn't take final payment now as all they needed was a deposit.

As far as I know you can pay whatever you want, whenever you want. We paid off for the 2016 version soon after getting the build sheet finalized in January. Then paid the difference when we switched to the 2017 model.

I'd send 'em an email to ask for further clarification.

And yeah, no way of knowing what will happen with that exchange rate.

[jerryandmaria]

yeah, I asked if i could send a check for the $30300 now and pay for any options later and was told that I couldn't (accounting issues), so I will try to open an account in a Canadian bank from down here. wish me luck.

[Evergreengirl]

My understanding is the same as NW Cat Owner's. We were told that we could put down as much as we wanted (that was back in January). I'd like to clarify this as we're planning on monitoring the exchange rate and paying as much as we can while the rate is favorable.

[cpaharley2008]

I'm sending all my money this week, up or down, you can not lose something you never had.

[Dave Walter]

Send me your US$ and I will store them in my Cdn$ bank account until you need them. My rates are very competitive.

[NW Cat Owner]

Originally Posted by jerryandmaria

yeah, I asked if i could send a check for the $30300 now and pay for any options later and was told that I couldn't (accounting issues), so I will try to open an account in a Canadian bank from down here. wish me luck.

Maybe they want a build sheet completed first? I dunno. Yep, email them and get exact information from them. Tell them others have paid in full months earlier and why can't you?

Strange. Keep us posted so we don't lose sleep wondering why you can't pay now.

[jerryandmaria]

yes, but not a year earlier

[thoer]

Once your build sheet is complete, signed and accepted by ETI you can start paying as much as you want.

[Loren & Cathy]

Originally Posted by thoer

Once your build sheet is complete, signed and accepted by ETI you can start paying as much as you want.

That's the way we did it last May. We signed off on the build sheet and then sent a check by FDX a couple of days later. Even after that, I made several small changes and additions with no problem or extra charges. Loren

[Evergreengirl]

Originally Posted by jerryandmaria

yeah, I asked if i could send a check for the $30300 now and pay for any options later and was told that I couldn't (accounting issues), so I will try to open an account in a Canadian bank from down here. wish me luck.

If I were you, I'd call them and get more clarification. We talked with our sales person and were told it would be fine to send more money towards our trailer now (in addition to the $2500 deposit). We also talked with Kathy Davis in Accounts Receivable who emailed us information on how to wire funds to ETI in either US or CN funds.

The problems started when we went to our bank to do the wire transfer. Ran into difficulties and finally just had them draw a check for ETI in CN funds and mailed it.

We were also told you could make payments towards your trailer by credit card in amounts up to $3000 per transaction.

[thoer]

Originally Posted by Evergreengirl

....
We were also told you could make payments towards your trailer by credit card in amounts up to $3000 per transaction.

I'm pretty sure that it is a maximum total of $3000 charged to a credit card for the build. It costs ETI about 3% for credit card transactions so it gets expensive for them to take more than that by credit card.

[Evergreengirl]

Originally Posted by thoer

I'm pretty sure that it is a maximum total of $3000 charged to a credit card for the build. It costs ETI about 3% for credit card transactions so it gets expensive for them to take more than that by credit card.

Hmmm...that makes sense. I guess I need to call and get clarification.

[GRINGOandTICA]

If I could have charge the whole thing on my my credit card, it would have earned me enough miles for a round trip plane ticket to Florida

I put my deposit on my CC, and cleared up a small balance in Chilliwack of a few hundred dollars when I picked up. The big nut was a wire transfer.