Paying during a travel in Canada

Life Hacking
1

Hey Mustachians, I only have a Yuh debit card and UBS package: Visa, Mastercard and Maestro debit card. Seems UBS card is the most expensive option so let’s only talk about Yuh and IBKR.

I will travel to Canada soon and don’t have any CAD,

I thought about 3 scenarios, which one is betterr? or you have another advice?

  1. Use directly my Yuh card to pay(there is only CHF in it)
  2. Use the convert function in Yuh app to convert CHF to CAD before paying CAD
  3. Use my Interactive Brokers account to convert CHF to CAD and transfer back the CAD to Yuh so that I can use Yuh card…

Thanks a lot

EDIT on April 2nd:
I just find this on Revolut’s website: Revolut is not yet in Canada, does that mean that I can’t use Revolut to pay in Canada and I have to apply for a Wise account? or use my option 3 with IBKR?

image
image1372×602 38 KB

2

For big amount of exchange, use IBKR.
For small amount of exchange(and debit card), use Revolut.

4 Likes
3

thanks for your reply. I don’t have Revolut account yet. How about the 3 options I mentioned? and how much would you qualify as “big amount”? :slight_smile:

4

In case of using Revolut, the exchange rate is already very good and no fee with conditions:

  1. within monthly exchange limit of your plan
  2. weekday (additional fee in the weekend)
    therefore, only when exchange at least more than 20K CAD, maybe worth to bother transfer to/back from IBKR(it’s maybe taking time depend on how do you transfer the money to/back IBKR).

While the exchange fee at Yuh is 0.95%, in case of exchange 20K CAD, the fee is 1900 CAD.

In theory options 3 likely work, but i don’t have any experiences on Yuh.

2 Likes
5

20k × 0.95% = 190
It’s not that bad

6

If you travel abroad just few times per year, or buy stuff from European online shops, or or or,
Revolut is totally worth it.

3 Likes
7

You can also register to Wise and get a second travel card to increase your free withdrawal amount to 2x200 usd.

1 Like
8
  1. Definitely not, it will be expensive at the end of your trip.
  2. For simplicity, I would probably use this option.
  3. This is the optimize option, although, make sure to have enough time to do it as your money should be block at IB for 3 business days (if I’m not wrong).

Option 4: get a neon or a revolut account for more simplicity and pay directly in CHF (with neon) or convert your CHF in CAD with Revolut.

1 Like
9

Just open one, it’s a matter of a few minutes. Then top up with your Yuh card in CHF, convert to CAD in advance (during a weekday!) and use your phone to pay (using Apple Pay / Google Pay), no need to wait for a physical card. (not sure about the coverage/availability of NFC payment terminals in Canada tho)

8 Likes
10

Does Yuh use a different exchange rate (markup) for direct card payment and the convert function in the app? Or why do you recommend option 2 over 1? Based on their pricing page I’d expect the relatively high markup of 0.95% to apply in both cases.

1 Like
11

It’s seems, from my understanding, that you have to convert your CHF in CAD inside the app before purchasing anything. I don’t know if you can pay directly with your CHF in CAD before the conversion.

Although, in any case, the exchange rate is 0.95%.

12

When you make any purchase in one of the currencies supported by your account, you will not incur any additional fees. If you already have funds in that currency on your account, the transaction amount will simply be debited from those. Otherwise, the amount will be debited from your most-funded currency by applying the day’s advantageous Yuh exchange rate.

13

With Yuh, you don’t pay any transaction fees on 13 currencies pre-installed in your account, and our currency exchange rate is only 0.95% … so you can relax and fully concentrate on making the most of your time while abroad. See, we told you there was good news.

So everytime you are purchasing something, the currency exchange rate of 0.95% will apply… So, it will be cheaper to convert a big amount before, no ?

14

No, as the fee seems to be a fixed percentage without a minimum, it doesn’t matter whether you convert many small amounts or a single big amount, as long as the total amount is the same.

However, I would recommend against exchanging a big amount in advance to avoid paying the fee twice in case you use less CAD than expected (and to reduce the exchange rate risk).

I.e. I’d go for option 1 or even better, Revolut or neon.

1 Like
15

Thanks Mustachians.

Actually I still don’t understand in my situation why it’s better to have a Revolut account instead of my option 3, use IBKR to convert CHF to CAD and transfer this to Yuh.

17

What amount we are talking about?

  1. Conversion fees at IB.
  2. Waiting time of 2-3 days before you would be able to withdraw money from IB.
  3. Fees for transferring CAD from IB to a Swiss bank account (?).

Yes, you may save 10 CHF fee for a physical Revolut card, but at which price and with what kind of time delay?

1 Like
18

It all depends on what “soon” in the title means for you. :slight_smile:

1 Like
19

I guess between several hundreds to several thousands of CAD, just consumption during my holiday, but air-ticket and accomodation were already paid.

in a week.

I thought there is no fee for these 2 items? IB converstion we just see the exchange rate, of course there is probably a bid/ask spread for FX exhcnage. Yuh doesn’t charge anything to receive FX among the supported 13 currencies, I already tried.

I am confused why you talk about Revolut card, :sweat_smile: I am even not sure I should open a Revolut account as I tend to shop in 2 supermarkets instead of buy differnt products from 6-7 shops. Since I alreday have Yuh, I will avoid Revolut unless there is a significant advantage any thoughts? :upside_down_face:

20

Probably at least ~2 USD fee to convert the amount.

3 Likes
21

Then you better think again. A bank transfer in USD from/to a swiss account costs around 20 USD, for CAD I have no idea. And I don’t care because if I would ever have to pay in CAD, I would use Revolut.

2 Likes