Bank Accounts and Credit Cards

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bigcityblue
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:41 pm

Bank Accounts and Credit Cards

Post by bigcityblue »

If I move back to Canada with my American wife, can I/she keep our bank accounts and CDs and stocks and credit cards? Generally speaking, what sort of accounts do we have to close?

And once we are in Canada, can we still buy American CDs, etc.?

Thanks.
nelsona
Posts: 18311
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Post by nelsona »

You can keep most accounts, however you likely will not be able to keep your non-retirement investmant accounts active, due to securities laws.

You should either transfer these to a Cdn stockbroker, or sell them, soon after leaving US.

But all other types of investments should be fine. You usually cannot buy US savings bonds, but you can keep the ones you might have.

I would keep one US credit card active, but only use it for US purchase due to the high exchange fees built in to the cards for non-US transactions.
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
Beauzeaux
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2006 8:57 pm

Post by Beauzeaux »

We kept a bank account and several credit cards. Unless you have a US dollar account with a Canadian bank, you need the US account to pay the bills on those US credit cards.

I just opened a US dollar account in conjunction with other accounts I have at the local credit union. Up until now, I've had payments for my work deposited in the US bank account then transferred via Xetrade to our Canadian account. I haven't used it yet but I'm hopeful that the new account will save both time and money.
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