I have some concerns about the US dollar right now so have opened a bank account in another country. Here are some quick points about my experience:
- I went with Royal Bank of Canada after speaking with a Canadian friend and looking at this link (https://gfmag.com/award/worlds-safest-banks-2024-global-50/) & seeing they’re basically third after all of the banks in Switzerland and Germany. They were also largely not impacted by the 08 depression like other countries/banks. Switzerland requires multi-six figure minimum deposits and I just can’t swing that, and Germany has demonstrated severe lack of judgment in the last few years (rise of their far right, removing their nuclear power for coal, etc). I also think that if the U.S. attempts to seize or freeze women’s assets that Canada would not comply since that’s a basic human rights violation.
- I called and explained what I wanted to do. I explicitly said I wanted a Canadian savings account so that it wouldn’t be FDIC backed, it would be Canadian insurance backed. They said that was fine and I didn’t need a Canadian SIN (SSN) or a Canadian address to open one. If you go to their main site that is offered if you’re in the U.S. and just search for it, or you sign up at one of their branches in the U.S., AFAIK it is an American account that is a subsidiary and is backed by the FDIC. It is not the same thing.
- I opened it over the phone. I could have made an appt, but they are booked out through the end of March in the areas nearest to me. Over the phone means I can go in person on my own time to verify my identity. For phone account creation they need passport identification and another government id (I used my driver’s license.)
- There are no minimums required; they only allow 1 free transfer per month from their savings account unless you have a chequing acct with them, in which case all transfers between the two are free.
Once again a great roundup! Thanks
If you don’t live close to Canada, how do you do the verification part?
You have to find a way to get to Canada. You can take a train or keep an eye out for a flight deal on places like https://www.theflightdeal.com/. I opted to drive. I know someone that is driving 14+ hours to get there.
Thank you for clarifying! Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to do this. 😞 I’ll have to open an account with Mattress Bank. 😂
I feel bad for laughing but that is hilariously put
Laughing is good! 😊
More information on my experience:
- After opening the Canadian account over the phone, I then drove up in person to the closest branch to me and verified my identity with my passport and my drivers license. They finalized opening the account and gave me a temporary card that I used when I got back home to set up the online banking and begin the next step of opening the RBC US bank account, which I probably could have just done while I was there in hindsight.
- I then opened an RBC US Bank account in Premium Checking. This gives me unlimited transfers cross-border at no cost that are instant vs paying $100+ in transfer fees for international wires or funding transfer apps like Wise/Revolut.
- It took 2 business days to verify my identity for the US account; it took 1 business day for micro-deposit verification for my external US accounts to transfer money to the RBC US account. There is a cap of $9000 per day to transfer from your external US accounts to your RBC US account. There is a $25K limit per day to transfer from RBC US to RBC Canada unless you call them and they will do it for you up to $250K (man I wish I had that issue). I was informed that if time is of the essence, transferring domestic wire is fastest, though you’ll be charged $15 on their end to receive and whatever on your sending bank’s side to actually send, and that will take around 5 business days, at which point you can instantly transfer with them over the phone in full. Doing international wires costs more money and can 7-14 business days. I was advised against writing myself a check since doing so with newer accounts could have it put on hold and would take more time.
Do you live near the border? I can’t drive to Canada, so unless there’s another way to verify credentials, I wouldn’t be able to open a savings account in a Canadian bank. It doesn’t sound that the U.S. branches are the same thing.
I had to drive a decent chunk to get there but I got it done. I’ve also heard that other Canadian banks, like ScotiaBank, can verify you in Mexico if that’s closer.
No, Canada is actually closer, but still not a realistic option for me to drive or fly there. Thank you for the details, though! I didn’t really know how these things worked.
