| In USA, how to handle mixed Canadian & US funds? |
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Kathy
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| In USA, how to handle mixed Canadian & US funds? |
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This isn't exactly a personal finance question, but I didn't see a category that fit better.
I'm organizing a conference for a group of about 100 people, about 60 Canadians & about 40 from the US. I am in the Detroit area, the conference will be held in Windsor Ontario.
My question is about collecting the money for the conference. I expect the members of our group to mail checks & money orders to me here in the US. Most will be in Canadian funds. Will we lose money if I deposit their checks to my US bank and thereby convert to US funds only to go and pay the conference facility in Canada in US dollars?
Should we open a bank account in Windsor to deposit the Canadian checks into?
I'm getting myself confused thinking about this.
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Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:21 pm |
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rockhound
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| common denominator |
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I would suggest using Canadian dollars as the common denominator, because you will have to pay for the rental of the facility in Canadian funds. When you send out your fliers, or collect money, just tell people the situation, and that the fee is USD $100 or CD $130 (or whatever the exchange rate is, which you can find easily enough). You might also want to include some sort of handling charge to insure that you don't marginally lose money on some minor daily fluctuation in exchange rate between the day you collect and the day you pay the rental fee. It's the same thing that you see on the prices of magazines. They always list the price in US Dollars and in parentheses the price in Canadian Dollars.
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Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:03 pm |
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Kathy
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No, we don't have a merchant account, our group is really small, & we only do this every couple of years.
If we collect over here in the US, & my treasurer deposits the Canadian checks to a Detroit bank, & then we write a check in US funds to the Canadian conference center, you say we will lose money?
Then should we open a Canadian account in Windsor to deposit the Canadian funds in a Canadian bank?
quote:
Originally posted by coaster
If you let the bank convert the funds for you you're going to get ripped. Banks offer very unsatisfactory exchange rates. Do you have a merchant account for credit cards? Purchases made in foreign funds charged to a credit card are converted at the exchange rate in effect on the purchase date. If you can do that, you don't need to worry about the exchange rate. It'll be automatically done for you.
Otherwise, just use the dual listing rockhound suggests. Price in US $ (Price in CA $) or visa versa, using the exchange rate plus a generous pad for daily changes. Today's exchange rate is $1.00 US = $1.15 CA.
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Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:51 pm |
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zZigzZag
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| Watch out for collection fees |
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In addition to exchange-rate issues you need to be aware of any fees your bank may charge for handling foreign items. I frequently receive checks written on Canadian banks in US dollars, but my bank in the US charges a US$5.00 per check fee for processing them. It costs even more if the check is written in CAD.
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Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:00 pm |
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JBendar
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| Payment for Conference in Canada |
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Kathy:
There is an excellent web site that gives you current exchange rates in all currencies. The address is www.fxstreet.com. It is geared for currency traders, but the information is valid even if you don't trade. As far as fees go, I don't think there is a way to avoid it, unless you deal with a major bank which might require that you have minimum balances in their institution. Check around. Try American Express, see what they have to say.
Good luck!
JBendar 
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Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:56 pm |
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