Games & Entertainment

Pre Paid
Do american pre-paid credit cards or normal debit or credit cards work in Canada?

I am going to canada for the first time in less than a month. I will be on a bus so I will need both american and canadian currency. What is the best thing to do? I considered a credit card but I dont have the time to wait. So pre-paid I thought would be easier. But do they work?

Any credit card will work in Canada as well as it does in the US. There are two major differences compared to shopping in the US, though:
– 1 – In addition to the actual price listed on the object, you’ll also be paying Canadian sales tax (which can be up to 17 percent). You DO have to pay it when you buy … as a non-resident, You Can submit infomation back to Canada after you return to reclaim the taxes you’ve paid.
– 2 – You’ll be charged in Canadian currency – which today means you’re paying about 3 cents more per dollar ($1.00 CAD = $1.025 US), PLUS a currency conversion fee of that is typically around 3 pecent of the transaction (after all taxes are paid).

Your debit card works the same way … but there are additional fees involved. There’s the one you get hit with for taking money out (the “it’s not my bank, so I’ll pay you for checking that I have money elsewhere” fee) and the one from Your Own bank (the “why didn’t you use OUR inconveniently-located ATMs” fee). You’ll also get the currency conversion fee charged by your bank … usually at the same rate as the credit card fees of 3 percent.

Although there are several ATMs in most areas, I’d strongly suggest using one associated with a Canadian bank (Royal Bank, Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal, and Toronto Dominion are good examples), rather than the unregulated “Joe Who” ATMs found in bars, etc. This is mainly because the fees charged for using the ATM itself will be lower, as will the currency conversion fee, which will save you money in the long run.