USD: Why rates are low, and only few banks offer USD accounts ? | Page 2 | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

Please consider registering
guest

sp_LogInOut Log In sp_Registration Register

Register | Lost password?
Advanced Search

— Forum Scope —




— Match —





— Forum Options —





Minimum search word length is 3 characters - maximum search word length is 84 characters

No permission to create posts
sp_Feed Topic RSS sp_TopicIcon
USD: Why rates are low, and only few banks offer USD accounts ?
July 14, 2022
2:52 pm
lhsaid
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 166
Member Since:
May 22, 2015
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

EQ Bank increased USD Saving Interest rate to %1.40

July 18, 2022
5:34 am
lhsaid
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 166
Member Since:
May 22, 2015
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

HermanH said
Called RBC and asked them to match the 3.05% offer from BMO and they did it within minutes, as well as giving me a rate-hold until Thursday.  

I tried to squeeze RBC to match Tangerine's 1 year 3.50% but they only offered me 3.15%. No other choices, I took it.
Also discovered that RBC has four entities all CIDIC members, you can get a total coverage of 400K.

July 18, 2022
7:36 am
Norman1
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 6679
Member Since:
April 6, 2013
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

3.15% for one-year US$ is not bad.

Just checked BMO InvestorLine. Bank of Montreal one-year US$ GIC is currently 3.10% there. The cashable one-year US$ GIC is 1.35%. Cashable after the first 30 days of purchase and before the last 30 calendar days prior to maturity with accrued interest.

Tangerine Bank has increase its rate: It is now 3.65% for its one-year US$ GIC.

July 18, 2022
5:56 pm
lhsaid
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 166
Member Since:
May 22, 2015
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Norman1 said
3.15% for one-year US$ is not bad.

Just checked BMO InvestorLine. Bank of Montreal one-year US$ GIC is currently 3.10% there. The cashable one-year US$ GIC is 1.35%. Cashable after the first 30 days of purchase and before the last 30 calendar days prior to maturity with accrued interest.

Tangerine Bank has increase its rate: It is now 3.65% for its one-year US$ GIC.  

Interesting ! we missed this Tangerine increase by one week ! a week ago we bought 100K USD at 3.50% for 1 year. With that we're already over CIDIC limit.
InvestorLine looks good rate too but we already have some investments with them.

July 18, 2022
6:00 pm
HermanH
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 1141
Member Since:
April 14, 2021
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Got my 3.5% on Jul 1. Missed by two weeks. sf-cry

July 19, 2022
3:47 am
lhsaid
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 166
Member Since:
May 22, 2015
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Norman1 said
3.15% for one-year US$ is not bad.

Just checked BMO InvestorLine. Bank of Montreal one-year US$ GIC is currently 3.10% there. The cashable one-year US$ GIC is 1.35%. Cashable after the first 30 days of purchase and before the last 30 calendar days prior to maturity with accrued interest.

Tangerine Bank has increase its rate: It is now 3.65% for its one-year US$ GIC.  

Norman1, do you know if InverstorLine's GICs are covered by CIDIC ?

July 19, 2022
4:43 am
savemoresaveoften
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 2748
Member Since:
March 30, 2017
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

There simply is not enough demand to justify cad banks offering usd bank accounts for daily use within Canada.
If anything it’s already quite an improvement that a few are now regularly offering decent US GICs.

For example at CIBC even paying your US credit card balance with your US checking account, it’s considered a charged fee transaction of $0.75. The only way to avoid that is if the US checking account is opened under the US arm, but then different restriction applies. It is lame.

July 19, 2022
6:05 am
Norman1
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 6679
Member Since:
April 6, 2013
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

lhsaid said

Norman1, do you know if InverstorLine's GICs are covered by CIDIC ?

Yes. The mentioned US$ GIC's are issued by CDIC member Bank of Montreal. They are not bonds, deposit notes, or banker's acceptances.

September 26, 2022
4:10 pm
lhsaid
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 166
Member Since:
May 22, 2015
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I need to put some USD cash in a GIC, does anyone have any rate update ?
Tangerine is the best I can see at the moment, but I'm already above CIDIC with them.
RBC seems to drop their rate to 2% or so.
Any good rate out there ?

September 26, 2022
4:58 pm
Jowett
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 30
Member Since:
September 19, 2018
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I purchased four USD GIC's a couple of weeks ago through Scotia itrade at around 4 per cent, however I note that they now seem to have discontinued them altogether.
They also had small print informing that they were not included in CDIC coverage.
I called them and after a looong conversation with an agent he in fact did say they WERE covered. I had him double check with a supervisor/back office and he again confirmed that they were covered.
It is interesting to note, though, that they have not removed the small print notice saying that these USD GIC's are not covered.

September 26, 2022
6:59 pm
Romnea
Member
Banned
Forum Posts: 11
Member Since:
September 22, 2022
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

State Bank of India CAD or USD 4.5% for 15 months they are solid India's largest bank. India movin' up the charts.

https://ca.statebank/

https://ca.statebank/gic

US Gov't 1 or 2 year treasury bonds 4.25%

https://www.cnbc.com/bonds/

September 27, 2022
6:34 am
lhsaid
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 166
Member Since:
May 22, 2015
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

State Bank seem to offer those GICs only at the branch. Also, saving accounts are available on CAD only ! They don't have a branch in my city and I'm relying on online only transactions.
I have n experience with bonds, do you have to go through a broker ?

September 27, 2022
8:34 am
Romnea
Member
Banned
Forum Posts: 11
Member Since:
September 22, 2022
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Bonds through your online bank direct brokerage when you sign-in or you may have to open account. Then search fixed income inventory.

September 27, 2022
9:32 am
seh
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 32
Member Since:
November 23, 2017
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

lhsaid said
State Bank seem to offer those GICs only at the branch. Also, saving accounts are available on CAD only ! They don't have a branch in my city and I'm relying on online only transactions.
I have n experience with bonds, do you have to go through a broker ?  

Not true (unless something has changed). I have a USD savings account at SBI. Unfortunately, I'm also sitting on USD GIC with them at 1.4% till next March.

September 27, 2022
12:13 pm
lhsaid
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 166
Member Since:
May 22, 2015
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

seh said

Not true (unless something has changed). I have a USD savings account at SBI. Unfortunately, I'm also sitting on USD GIC with them at 1.4% till next March.  

Capture.PNG

Maybe that they don't offer it anymore ? I tried to call them I was forwarded to a full voice mail ! They seem very hard to reach. I'm wondering what kind of customer service that have.

September 28, 2022
3:43 pm
Norman1
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 6679
Member Since:
April 6, 2013
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Jowett said
I purchased four USD GIC's a couple of weeks ago through Scotia itrade at around 4 per cent, however I note that they now seem to have discontinued them altogether.

Scotia iTRADE is still offering Bank of Nova Scotia US$ GIC's:

1 year 3.60%
2 year 4.10%
3 year 4.20%
4 year 4.35%
5 year 4.50%

The rates match what Bank of Nova Scotia is offering through its Advisor Deposit Services advisor/broker channel.

September 28, 2022
4:38 pm
Jowett
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 30
Member Since:
September 19, 2018
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Norman1 said

Jowett said
I purchased four USD GIC's a couple of weeks ago through Scotia itrade at around 4 per cent, however I note that they now seem to have discontinued them altogether.

Scotia iTRADE is still offering Bank of Nova Scotia US$ GIC's:

1 year 3.60%
2 year 4.10%
3 year 4.20%
4 year 4.35%
5 year 4.50%

The rates match what Bank of Nova Scotia is offering through its Advisor Deposit Services advisor/broker channel.  

Norman 1 that is very strange. I had attempted to purchase more at Scotia itrade via the following
Fixed income/Gic's....Gic's...US$ pay.
The site now offers me nothing.
Also when I purchased them my rates were a lot lower than the rates quoted in your link even taking into account the recent historical rates.

September 28, 2022
5:10 pm
AltaRed
BC Interior
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 2786
Member Since:
October 27, 2013
sp_UserOnlineSmall Online

I see the range of terms and rates Norman1 has quoted under the US$Pay tab on the GIC section of Scotia iTrade. The US$Pay tab is the last one (7th tab). They list only one issuer (BNS) as one might expect.

September 28, 2022
5:46 pm
Norman1
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 6679
Member Since:
April 6, 2013
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

That is strange. I just checked Scotia iTRADE again. The US$ GIC rates are still under the US$Pay tab, as AltaRed described.

A web browser issue or browser caching issue? I used Microsoft Edge.

September 28, 2022
5:55 pm
Norman1
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 6679
Member Since:
April 6, 2013
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Looks like there's two paths to the US$ GIC's and one is broken.

I think Jowett took this path:

Quotes & Research → Fixed Income/GICs → GICs → US$ Pay

I think AltaRed and I took this one:

Trade → Order Entry → GICs → US$ Pay

No permission to create posts

Please write your comments in the forum.