Discussions

So on the Internet exchange rates I saw last week that our dollar was worth 75 cents against the US dollar. I knew that the banks charged a fee to exchange it but didn’t realize it was so much. My $100 became $63 after the bank took their share. . Ouch! Don’t know how parents send their kids to US schools with figures like that. Must be tough to swallow. Is there a better way to take less of a hit on larger sums of money?

Where did you change your money?  
As of Friday the Westoba rate to buy US funds is 1.3608-and I know from experience that means that if I went in with $100 CAD I would come away with $73 USD. I change currency frequently, pretty much always at Westoba.  
 
If I took that $73 USD and traded it back for Canadian funds, I would be given $95.67 CAD since to sell US fundsnthe rate is $1.3106

I changed it at Westoba. $100 at 1.37. That’s 37 dollars off of $100 leaving me with $63.  
 
Edited by Home Slice, 2023-02-11 14:24:57

That isn't how they calculate-you should have got $73 more or less (it varies day by day).  
 
If I wanted to buy $73 US, at 1.37 I would pay a few pennies over $100 CAD. As I said, I have done it frequently-I buy a lot of stuff from the US.

https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=100&From=CAD&To=USD  
 
100 Canadian equal to 74.86 US.  
These are mid market rates, you will get less from the bank.  
I would go back to Westoba and query your transaction, looks like they made a mistake or added charges, perhaps as a non account holder.

You take your CAD $100 and divide it by the bank USD selling rate. In your case 1.37. So $100 divided by 1.37 = $72.99. If you only received $63 they either short changed you or there were other charges. $63 USD would mean a 1.587 exchange rate on $100 CAD.

If that is what you actually received back, I would take my receipt and return for an explanation. I would have inquired at the time of the transaction.

I am looking for my receipt. Ok found it. Took out 2 hundred and was charged 1.3743. Withdrawal on my receipt says 77.66. Wish I knew how to paste the pic of my receipt on here.  
 
Edited by Home Slice, 2023-02-11 16:36:12

Took a pic of the receipt hope it shows up.

You got $200 USD which you paid $274.86 CAD for. That would be the correct exchange. They did not take $100 CAD to give you $63 US

So I’m looking what came out of my account which was 74.86. That’s what it cost me to get the $200. I’d there another way to look at it?

When you received your US funds. They withdrew $200 cdn and another $74.86 exchange rate fee from your account. Your total cost for $200 US was $274.86 CDN.

On my BMO Investorline acct I just checked to buy a $100 the rate is 1.3525.

So for $100.08 Canadian I get $74 U.S

Well that’s what I thought I would get but I didn’t. Go to your bank and buy $100 US and tell us what you end up with.

You did not get $200 US like the receipt shows?  
 
I can say absolutely for sure that if I go in and ask for $100 US I will hand over $136.08 CAD and get my $100 US. With the current exchange rate, that is fact. After 9 am tomorrow the rate will change of course.

jessie jay is right. home slice needs to go back to grade school math.  
 
Edited by chrisanddave, 2023-02-13 08:23:23

You asked for $200 US correct? That would be 200 x the exchange rate of 1.37 so that is correct to pay $274 CANADIAN to receive $200 US  
 
If you asked to exchange $200 CANADIAN into US funds then you would only have received approximately $146 US funds.

So Chris and Dave you felt that it was necessary to give a sarcastic comment towards me. That’s really big of you. Hope you get the same treatment.

Never tried it myself but it is apparently the best way to convert currency at the lowest possible conversion rate:  
 
See below for Forbes article:  
 
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/ca/investing/what-is-norberts-gambit/#:~:text=Norbert's%20Gambit%20is%20a%20methodthat%20trade%20in%20both%20currencies.

The rate you see on TV or internet is international rate. It costs to have it shipped local. For local rate, phone around . It may differ a little from bank to bank but will always be less than international.