Seeking USD acct with smartphone deposits | Page 2 | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

GICinvestor said
Loonie. Is it possible, in the future, for your source to do a direct deposit? My mother in law has a USA government pension on direct deposit.  

Yes, if it's recurring payment, though I suspect this is a one-time payment—possibly a rebate from a rebate processing company, direct deposit from the U.S. is possible. Typically, in the case of Social Security pensions, the U.S. government deposits the payment through an intermediary bank that has a Canadian branch, a bulk transfer is presumably done between the U.S. and Canadian branches, and the EFT is run from the Canadian branch to the end users. It's a similar process to having your CPP and OAS directly deposited to a foreign bank.

One option I just thought of...TransferWise. Online account opening with an apparently slick digital process. You can hold multiple currencies, and they deal directly with various banks each country. So, essentially, they allow you to deposit your cheque remotely, presumably via the TransferWise app, and they'll clear it through that country's clearing processes. There's usually no fee to transfer to a different currency, but there are nominal withdrawal fees to a bank account in your home country or other country. Nothing's free, though, and if Loonie wants it deposited quickly, that's probably the way to go other than checking out if the night depository slot opens a smidge. EQ Bank used to offer a promotion for new TransferWise sign-ups and a streamlined TransferWise opening process.

Cheers,
Doug