Canadians how to save FTF/ATM when shopping in the USA...

So you might notice when we buy and support our American brothers, our CDN credit cards charge a 2.5% FTF fee on top of the conversion. Thought I'd share 3 ways to avoid them:

1. STACK self-loading Mastercard, my wife and I have these to take advantage of promos that occurred in the past. A free year of Netflix, and a free year of Amazon Prime, watch for promos. Anyway, no FTF fee when you buy stuff online, and best of all, no FTF or ATM fees when withdrawing money in the US. https://www.getstack.ca/rewards

2. VISA HOME TRUST. No FTF fee if you choose the 19.99% interest rate option, just make sure you pay the balance within 21d. https://visa.hometrust.ca/apply/preferred/en

3. ROGERS WORLD ELITE MC. FTF fee 2.5%, but you get 4% cashback, netting +1.5% https://www.rogersbank.com/en/roger...787.908788930.1549815447-605294112.1549815447



Lastly, if you live near the border, use a postal service. We all know UPS, DHL etc like to kill us with brokerage fees when it crosses the border. I live near Niagara Falls and use https://www.cbiusa.com/ They just opened a really nice warehouse in a new location.

It's how I got my 2019 TRD PRO grille from https://toyotaparts.bochtoyotasouth.com/
CDN Toyota dealers couldn't get them. BTS only charged $20 to ship it to CBI, the part and shipping was less than CoolSprings, and customs just waived me through! That last part is ymmv, Canada Customs usually makes us pay HST.

 

I would use trained meese (plural for mooses) to cross the border and fetch my parcels.