Fun with Banking

So you're going to do an internship in the US. How do you access your money once you're there? Bear in mind, the US is not Canada. While the two countries might be similar in many respects, our banking systems are not inter-connected.

So what do you do?

Well, if you don't care about getting nailed on the conversion rates (not to mention bank fees for the whole 0.000000435 seconds it takes their computers to make the conversion happen), then you've got not too much to worry about: just make sure that your bank card has an Interac or PLUS sign on the back and away you go.

However, if you want to save yourself some money, you'll need to open an account with a US bank. Not as easy as it sounds ...

One way is to wait until you're in the US and try to open an account in person. Simple, yes. The problem is that you're going over without anything pre-established, so you won't be able to use it right away. Also, banks are incorporated differently than in Canada. The moral of the story is you're giving away personal information to a financial institution you don't know or have a banking history with, which might be all right, if you don't care.

I, however, have to always be 10 steps ahead. As such, I decided to try and pre-arrange an account before going down to the US. The moral of all of this is to BE CAREFUL. Not all banks actually have US fund accounts that you can access in the US (go figure.) Make sure that you allow yourself a couple of weeks to sort out the banking nightmares before you head down so that money is organized beforehand. For certain classes of visitors to the US, you require proof that you can financially support yourself before crossing the border, so keep that in mind, too.

Happy banking!