1

You could look into opening an account with Coast Capital Savings Credit Union or President's Choice Banking. Transfer your money in large amounts into those accounts and then withdraw as necessary using their ATM networks and affiliates. Find out how long they will hold your transfers first. Citibank does have a private banking branch in Vancouver, but I'm not sure what you can do with that

2

Here's an idea.

Scotiabank which is one Canada's "Big Five" is a member of the Global ATM Alliance. So is Bank of America - and numerous European and one Australian bank. They waive the usual 3 Canadian dollar (in North America, 5 bucks elsewhere) fee if you withdraw from any member bank using a debit/bank card from said bank. If you are travelling anywhere else if may be worth your while to open an account with B of A.

A quick look at Scotiabank's ABM/ATM locator at http://locator.scotiabank.com/ScotiaExt/Search_name.asp show the location of about 20 bank machines in the Vancouver area.

3

Citibank
1488 - 1333 Broadway West
Vancouver, BC V6H 4C1
604-639-1230

Citibank
1228 - 550 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 2B5
604-739-6222

Wells Fargo
5712 Tyne Street
Vancouver, BC V5R 4L6
604-438-7111

Cheers,
Terry

4

#1 and #2 - thanks for those suggestions.

#3 - Thanks for that. The Citibank website "find locations" function lists downtown Toronto as their only Canadian branch. A google search for Citibank Vancouver yielded the same results you posted. Thanks a bunch!

Happy New Year everyone!

5

By the way, I believe that Wells Fargo on Tyne St is Wells Fargo Financial -- I'm pretty sure they only deal with loans and mortgages and such, and don't handle personal banking. Thanks though!

6

I'm a Canadian and I was thinking of getting an account at HSBC to save on the fees when I travel. They also have locations throughout the world.

I checked the Canadian website and there are a bunch of locations in Vancouver (it comes up in a pop-up window so no link for that) and there seem to be a fair number of locations scattered through the US: HSBC American Locations

Edited by: fuzzypuppy1234

7

Fuzzypuppy, don't bother with the HSBC account if your intention is to save money. They may not charge you a transaction fee when using their ATMs internationally but look at their EXCHANGE rates which is where the bulk of the money banks charge is to be found.

A bank that charges $5 per withdrawal and 1% exchange fee is preferable to one that charges no transaction fee and 4% on the exchange rate.

8

Grrrr.... They told me no fees but conveniently "forgot" to mention the exchange rate part.

So I guess I'm in the same boat as acidic now...what's a good international bank to use? It's for Canada, US, Europe and Middle East? lol

9

The best is Nationwide Building Society but you have to be resident in the UK to get it.

Check the RTW branch there is an FAQ there on the subject. Bottom line, you have to do the research yourself to find which is best in your country this year.

What to look for: 1. Transaction fees (how much per use of the ATM machine)
2. Exchange rate relative to the Interbank Rate (finding someone who can tell you that is not always the easiest thing to do. Most bank clerks, etc. have no idea when it comes to what exchange rates their bank charges vs. the Interbank rate.

What to look OUT for: 1. Banks that say they charge no fees. Invariably they mean no ATM fee only.
2. Banks that say they will refund ATM fees from overseas banks. As per the VISA agreements, banks can't charge fees on overseas cards so there is no fee to refund! (Only exception is small local banks in the USA and banking between USA and Canada)

When you see these claims, they're attempting to pull the wool over your eyes. The most important thing is the % they take on the exchange. This can vary from as low as 1% (VISA's charge for use of their system) which means your bank is actually charging no exchange fee, to as high as 4.5% in some cases. HSBC in the UK being one of the latter.

10

I'll hop on over to the RTW branch then.

Thanks for your advice!