Working/living Canada temporarily

[BillW]

My 21 year old son is going to be working the Canadian ski season. I think he should be gathering the right mix of credit/debit cards for this.
He has some savings from past employment but is only working casually now. He is a Commbank account holder with a debit card plus a high interest UBank account. What do FFers think of these proposals?

One is to add a Commbank credit card through this promotion: https://www.commbank.com.au/persona...qantas-40000-points-plus.html?ocid=OF2QFF5715. If he gets a QF FF account through this, I propose to gift him an initial 100,000 points to add to it, perhaps more if required.

Another highly recommended product, among others, is a Citibank Plus account and debit card for free international transfers, although by my searching Citi surprisingly is not well represented in Canada.

Should he open a Canadian transaction account as well, if he can, to have his pay credited to?

 

[RooFlyer]

He will be able to open a 'checking' account with a Canadian bank pretty easily - and should, to put pay into. He will need a Canadian address (eg employer, or a friend there). With this account he will be able to get the Canadian bank's DEBIT card, but not a credit card (Residents only). He will get an ATM card linked to his account.

I visit Canada often and when I went to open an account at TD (one of their big 5), I emphasised that the 'residential address' I was giving was that of a friend, and I was NOT a resident. No problem. The only mail that ever arrived was some welcome pack of no consequence.

You can do on-line transfers between CBA for instance and the Canadian account (but it will cost of course). CBA charges a MINT for overseas credit card transactions - close to 10% all up! Avoid using if humanly possible.

No, there are no Citi ATMs in Canada, but still get him to use the Citi Plus card. There are no fees on Citi Plus card when withdrawing through TD ATMs; Royal Bank of Canada - yes. Not sure about others.

I use it in Canada just like an Australian ATM card in Australia - seamless; great FX rates and few, if any, store or other fees. I find PINs don't often work in stores etc - you usually have to give a signature, if they look and realise to ask for one

Note that Canada doesn't do electronic banking nearly as much as we do. Still a lot of physical cheques used to pay bills, even by companies. He may get paid via hard cheque, in which case a Canadian bank account will be essential.

Where is he going? If Banff tell him to check out the Wild Flour Café; great coffee and lots of Aussies, if he needs to meet any! Villies coffee shops have decent coffee as well.

 

[BillW]

Very helpful. Thanks. Looking at Foreign Exchange & Currency Conversion Services | TD Canada Trust.
I think he is lined up to go to SilverStar, but don't know much about it.

 

[RooFlyer]

Ha! I drove past SilverStar 2 weeks ago (but I'm not a skier, so didn't actually realise it was there). Okanagan Valley a really nice part of the world.

I think the TD FX services will only be relevant if he proposes to send money back to Oz from his Canadian account (unlikely? ). Sending money to overseas accounts from CBA (or any Australian bank, really) is a bit tricky. You can do it on-line at NetBank, or at a branch (for an added fee). To deposit into the Canadian account from Australian account you will need the Canadian Bank's SWIFT code (sort of like an international BSB code).

 

[clazman]

I would second the TD bank

 

[defurax]

For transferring money between Australian and Canadian banks I recommend using OzForex. If banking with TD the money will be in the account in less than 24 hours.