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And that conversion is expensive. If I could have back the currency conversion margins PayPal has charged my businesses throughout my life, I'd easily be able t
by reitzensteinm 11y ago
And that conversion is expensive. If I could have back the currency conversion margins PayPal has charged my businesses throughout my life, I'd easily be able to live for a year on that money.
Well, 50 weeks, if it were sent to my PayPal account in US dollars :)
- cperciva 11y agoYou can open a US bank account (I use Harris Bank, since they're owned by BMO) and withdraw USD from paypal to there. I then write a cheque to move USD across the border, and use VBCE to convert USD to CAD at market - 35 basis points (aka. about 2% better than what Paypal offers).
- thesimon 11y ago> I then write a cheque to move USD across the border, and use VBCE to convert USD to CAD at market - 35 basis points (aka. about 2% better than what Paypal offers). Transferwise might be cheaper/easier
- cperciva 11y agoNot even close. Transferwise charges a fee of 0.7%. VBCE is half of that.
- papercrane 11y agoI would think using Norbert's gambit with a discount broker would be the cheapest way to convert large amounts of currency (e.g. buy DLR-U.TO, sell DLR.TO.)
- cperciva 11y agoNorbert's gambit is good, but not free - you still lose about 20 bp to market spreads using DLR.TO. If I was moving more money I would use that (possibly with a more heavily traded stock) but the marginal advantage wouldn't be worthwhile for my volume.