Updated 6 August 2026

US Dollar Accounts in Canada: What They Save, What They Cost, and What They Cannot Do

A foreign currency account solves one problem, forced conversion, and none of the others. It does not improve your exchange rate, and at some banks it cannot even send an e-Transfer. Here are the actual numbers, read from the banks' own pages today.

Plain English guide for Canada. Every figure below was read on 6 August 2026 from the institution's own website or from the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation. Where a page would not load, we say so instead of estimating.

Canadians end up holding another currency for ordinary reasons. You invoice a client in the United States. You own a place in Florida. You get paid by a platform that settles in US dollars. You hold US listed shares and keep getting dividends in a currency you did not ask for. The usual advice is to open a US dollar account, and that advice is right, but it is right for a narrower reason than most articles suggest.

The short answer

A foreign currency account stops conversion. It does not improve conversion. When you do move money between currencies, you pay the institution's retail exchange rate either way. The account earns its keep when US dollars come in and US dollars go out, so the conversion never happens at all.

Your foreign currency deposits are insured. The Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation lists deposits in Canadian or foreign currency as eligible, with each insured category protected separately up to $100,000 including principal and interest at each member institution.

They come with real functional limits. RBC's disclosures state that Interac e-Transfer is not available with US dollar accounts, and its US Personal Account lists cross border debits and PLUS System ATM access as not available. Simplii's USD Savings Account has no ATM access, no point of sale capability and no cash deposits or withdrawals.

The number that matters is the conversion markup, and it is disclosed

Banks rarely advertise a foreign exchange fee, because the cost is built into the rate rather than charged as a line item. It is, however, written down. Here is one example, quoted from RBC's own account disclosures as they read on 6 August 2026:

When you use RBC Virtual Visa Debit for a transaction in a currency other than Canadian dollars, the bank converts the transaction amount into Canadian dollars at an exchange rate that is 2.5 per cent over a benchmark rate Royal Bank of Canada pays on the date of the conversion. The same disclosure notes that if a merchant later issues a refund in a foreign currency, the debit and the credit will not exactly balance, because the two conversions happen on different days at different rates.

Two things follow from that. First, a 2.5 per cent markup on a $4,000 purchase is $100, which is far more than any monthly account fee in this article. Second, the refund asymmetry is real: currency conversion is not reversible, and returning a foreign purchase can cost you money even when the merchant refunds every cent.

Some institutions publish the opposite position. Wealthsimple's chequing page listed foreign exchange fees at $0 when we read it on 6 August 2026, alongside no monthly account fees, with a US dollar spend and receive feature described as coming soon. KOHO's plan comparison lists no foreign transaction fees as a feature of its two paid plans, shown as unavailable on its free plan.

2.5%
Markup over the benchmark rate disclosed by RBC for Virtual Visa Debit transactions in another currency, read 6 August 2026
$100,000
CDIC protection per insured category per member institution, and foreign currency deposits are eligible
$3 USD
Listed monthly fee on the RBC US Personal Account, with six debits included

Is money in a foreign currency actually insured

Yes, and this is worth knowing because it was not always true. The Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation's own coverage page, read on 6 August 2026, lists eligible deposits as deposits in Canadian or foreign currency, including money arriving by payroll, Interac e-Transfer or cheque, along with guaranteed investment certificates and other term deposits. It states that each category is insured separately up to $100,000 including principal and interest, that a depositor holding deposits in more than one category can have more than $100,000 of total coverage, and that each member institution carries its own distinct coverage.

What is not eligible, in any currency: mutual funds, stocks and bonds, exchange traded funds and cryptocurrencies. Holding US dollars inside a brokerage account is therefore a different protection question from holding them in a bank account, and the answer there involves the investor protection fund covering that dealer rather than CDIC.

RBC's US Personal Account page states directly that the account is CDIC insured for up to $100,000. If you are considering an institution you do not recognise, check it against CDIC's published member list before funding it, in any currency.

What a Canadian foreign currency account cannot do

This is the part that surprises people after they open one.

None of this makes the accounts bad. It makes them what they are: a place to park and receive a currency, not a replacement chequing account.

The accounts we could verify today

Every figure below was read on the provider's own site on 6 August 2026. Fees and rates change without notice, so treat the date as part of the fact.

AccountCostVerified details, read 6 August 2026Best for
RBC US Personal Account $3 a month USD Six debits included per month, $1.25 each thereafter. CDIC insured for up to $100,000. Bank drafts in available currencies $9.95 each plus the applicable debit transaction fee. Overdraft protection up to $5,000 at $5 US a month plus interest, subject to credit approval. eStatements free, paper statements $3.00 a month without cheque image and $3.50 with. Cross border debits not available, PLUS System ATM use not available, Interac e-Transfer not available with US dollar accounts. People who need US dollars on hand at a branch based bank, and who value a bank draft facility.
TD U.S. Daily Interest Chequing Account $0 Listed on TD's US dollar accounts page as a no monthly fee US dollar chequing account that earns interest on every US dollar, with a Canadian to US dollar exchange available online. A no fee US dollar account at a branch based bank, if you already bank at TD.
TD Borderless Plan $4.95 US a month Described as a premium account for frequent US travellers, with unlimited transactions and a fee rebate at a minimum monthly balance of $3,000 US. Heavy US dollar transaction volume, and only worth it if the $3,000 balance is realistic for you.
Simplii Financial USD Savings Account $0 Annual rate listed at 2.80 per cent, calculated on the daily closing balance and paid monthly. No minimum balance required and no monthly service fees. You can transfer between Simplii Canadian dollar accounts and the USD account, deposit US dollar and non US dollar cheques by mail, and send US dollars through Global Money Transfer. No cash deposits or withdrawals, no ATM access and no point of sale capability at this time. Holding a US dollar balance that earns interest while you wait for a rate you like.
Wealthsimple chequing $0 No monthly account fees and no minimum. Foreign exchange fees listed at $0. A separate place to spend and receive in US dollars is described on the page as coming soon, so today this is a no foreign exchange fee Canadian dollar account rather than a US dollar account. Spending abroad from Canadian dollars without a conversion markup.
EQ Bank US Dollar Account Not verified The account appears in EQ Bank's own product navigation, but the product page is rendered by a script and returned no readable rate or fee detail to an automated request today, so we are publishing no figure for it. Worth checking directly on their site if you want a no fee digital option.

Who actually needs one

You are paid in US dollars and you spend some of it in US dollars

This is the clearest case. A freelancer with American clients, or a contractor paid by a US platform, who also buys software, ads or supplies priced in US dollars, converts twice for no reason without an account. Receive in US dollars, pay US dollar bills from the same balance, convert only the surplus, and only when you choose to.

You own property or spend seasons in the United States

Rental income, property taxes, utilities and maintenance in the same currency. The draft facility matters here, which is one of the few genuine advantages the branch based accounts have over the digital ones.

You hold US listed investments

Dividends arrive in US dollars. If your account converts them automatically, you pay a spread on the way in and again when you buy your next US holding. Most brokerages let you hold US dollars in the account instead. Note that this is a brokerage question rather than a banking one, and that CDIC does not insure stocks, bonds or exchange traded funds in any currency.

You are simply travelling

You probably do not need an account at all. A card that does not add a foreign exchange markup solves the same problem with less setup, which is why the no foreign exchange fee feature is worth more to a traveller than a US dollar balance is.

If the goal is spending abroad, not holding a balance

The no foreign exchange fee route

If your money is in Canadian dollars and the problem is the markup you pay when you spend abroad, an account is not the fix, a card without a foreign transaction fee is. KOHO's plan table lists no foreign transaction fees on its two paid plans, and shows the feature as unavailable on its free plan, so this only helps if you are on a paid plan. It is a prepaid Mastercard account rather than a chartered bank account, and it does not hold a US dollar balance. Read the plan terms on their own page before you decide.

See how the plans compare

What we could not verify today, and did not publish

An earlier version of this page listed US dollar products at every large Canadian bank with a fee range and a typical conversion spread. Those figures were not sourced, so they are gone. Here is exactly what happened when we went looking on 6 August 2026. BMO returned no response at all to an automated request, on either of the two account paths we tried. Scotiabank's and CIBC's personal bank account hub pages loaded but carried no link we could find to a US dollar personal account, and the specific product URLs we tried at both returned a not found error. EQ Bank lists a US Dollar Account in its own navigation, but the page is built by a script and returned no readable rate or fee. Rather than repeat numbers we cannot stand behind, this page publishes only what we could read and names what we could not. If you bank at one of those institutions, its current fee schedule on its own site is the authority, not us.

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Frequently asked questions

Are US dollar deposits at a Canadian bank covered by CDIC?

Yes. CDIC lists deposits in Canadian or foreign currency as eligible deposits, along with guaranteed investment certificates and other term deposits, and protects each insured category separately up to $100,000 including principal and interest at each member institution. Mutual funds, stocks and bonds, exchange traded funds and cryptocurrencies are not eligible in any currency. RBC states on its own US Personal Account page that the account is CDIC insured for up to $100,000.

Does holding a US dollar account get me a better exchange rate?

No. The account removes the need to convert. It does not change the rate you get when you do convert, which is set by the institution's retail exchange desk. If every US dollar you receive has to be spent in Canada, a foreign currency account adds a step without saving anything.

Can I send an Interac e-Transfer from a US dollar account?

Not at RBC, whose disclosures state that the Interac e-Transfer service is not available with US dollar accounts, in contrast to the unlimited free transfers on its Canadian dollar personal accounts. Check the disclosure for your own institution. Foreign currency accounts generally move money by internal transfer, draft, wire or an international money transfer service.

What is Norbert's Gambit, and do I need it?

It is a brokerage technique for converting a large amount between Canadian and US dollars at close to the market rate, by buying a security that trades on exchanges in both currencies, having the broker journal it across, then selling it on the other side. It is genuinely cheaper than a retail exchange desk on large amounts, and genuinely fiddly, with settlement delays and the risk of price movement while you wait. It is not a banking product and it is not something to try with money you need this week. If you convert a few hundred dollars at a time, the saving will not repay the complexity.

Should I keep my emergency fund in US dollars?

Generally not, unless your expenses are in US dollars. Your emergency costs, rent, groceries, a car repair, are priced in Canadian dollars, so holding the reserve in another currency introduces exchange rate risk to the one pot of money that should have none. Currency matching beats currency guessing.

Related guides from Bremo

Disclosure: some links on this page are referral links and Bremo may earn a commission if you open an account, at no cost to you. It does not change what is written above, and no provider paid for a place in the table. Sources, all read on 6 August 2026: the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation coverage pages at cdic.ca for eligible and ineligible deposits, the treatment of foreign currency deposits, and the $100,000 per category per member institution limit; rbcroyalbank.com for the US Personal Account monthly fee, included debits and excess debit fee, overdraft protection, bank draft fee, statement fees, the not available status of cross border debits and PLUS System ATM access, the CDIC statement, the disclosure that Interac e-Transfer is not available with US dollar accounts, and the disclosed 2.5 per cent conversion markup over its benchmark rate for Virtual Visa Debit transactions in another currency; td.com for the U.S. Daily Interest Chequing Account monthly fee and interest description and the Borderless Plan monthly fee, balance rebate threshold and transaction terms; simplii.com for the USD Savings Account rate, fee and functional limitations; wealthsimple.com for the stated $0 foreign exchange fees, no monthly fees and the coming soon US dollar feature; koho.ca for the plan comparison showing no foreign transaction fees on paid plans only. BMO returned no response, the US dollar product URLs tried at Scotiabank and CIBC returned a not found error with no US dollar link locatable on their account hubs, and the EQ Bank US Dollar Account page returned no readable detail, all on the same date, so no figures are published for those four. This is educational general information, not tax, legal or financial advice. Verify any figure on the provider's own page before you act on it.

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