Canadians Travelling USA How Handle Banking?

[SoonToBeFT]

Whether regularly extended travellers or snowbirds from Canada travelling in the USA, would you care to share what you do for handling finances when in the USA?

Whilst we have a BOA account with a visa/debit card with some funds in from a prior USA house sale, eventually these will deplete and we are wondering what other Canadians do for paying in the USA during their travels and why they chose the options they do. Thanks in advance for sharing.

Do you have a USA account through a Canadian Institution and if so which one and why that option you chose?

Do you have a USA Institution Bank Account and/or credit card and if so which ones and why you chose whom/what you did and that option?

Do you just use your regular Canadian bank account debit card at ATM's when in the USA and also your everyday Canadian Credit Card and if so why?

Basically we are wondering what is the best, most cost effective yet convenient way for handling payments as Canadians travelling in the USA. Is there a specific credit card folks use because it offers better benefits than others?

Thanks again in anticipation.

STBFT

[chunker]

I would say just the reverse of a US traveler in Canada. We converted some funds to Canadian currency but used our charge card for purchases we made in Canada. No need to figure conversion rates etc. If you were a long stay type and had a US bank then periodic automatic transfers from the Canadian bank to the US.

[netjam]

As a Canadian fulltiming for 12 years, this is what we do. It is by no means the best way to go but it works for us. We have a US $ account at a Canadian bank and a US $ Visa at the same bank which gets paid automaticly every month. We take a small amount of US currency with us from Canada and charge everything. The problem with using a Canadian $ credit card in the US is that you get hosed on the exchange. As we charge everything ( or write a check for places that don’t take credit) we really don’t need cash. Good idea to have 2 US $ cards in case one gets compromised. Once a year we transfer enough money to our US $ bank account to cover our anticipated credit card purchases for the next year.

[buzz57]

We take some US cash with us from home. We have a Scotiabank Mastercard that does not charge a dollar exchange fee, straight exchange rate of that day. All of the regular bills, we have set up as direct debit. We also have a visa as back up. For cash needs, regular atms meet those needs.