Here’s my TD US Dollar Visa Credit Card review. You know how you go to the US for vacation and then you charge everything to your card while you are there, having a great time, because those $50 USD Cole Haan boots seem like such a steal of a deal on Black Friday.
And then when you go home and get your credit card statement and it’s like almost $75 CAD and you go “WTF just happened? I thought I was getting a good deal on those shoes”.
TD US Dollar Visa Credit Card Review
Well, that’s what happens when you don’t realize that the credit card companies charge you a terrible foreign currency exchange rate AND on top of that charge you a 2.5% foreign currency exchange fee.
That’s actually pretty standard for credit card companies.
That’s why it’s a good idea to have a US Dollar credit card if you plan to be heading to our southern neighbours often. Don’t worry, those Cole Haan boots really were just $50 USD when I got my statement because I used the US Dollar card.
It’s well known to my friends and family that I don’t like to pay an annual fee for credit cards. Sure, I will do a first year free card for the perks in order to travel hack, but I will make sure that I cancel it before I have to pay the annual fee.
I have always wanted a USD Visa Card ever since I cancelled my Chase Marriott Visa before the first year was up (it eliminates the foreign currency fee that credit card companies usually add) I was wanting something else that would help me avoid the dreaded foreign currency fee. The Chase Marriott Visa doesn’t exist anymore in Canada anyways.
Trust me, I researched many USD cards and none of them are ‘free’ technically, all have an annual fee if you just sign up online.
Having a USD credit card has been so great for buying items on Amazon.com. It also very useful when we went down to Hawaii for traveling because you don’t have to worry about being gauged for foreign currency conversion fees when paying with your Canadian credit card, or having to time the poor Canadian to USD exchange rate– which is still really poor right now.
When the day comes that the CAD and USD will be at parity (which was over 10 years ago from what I remember), believe me I’ll be buying up a storm of US Dollars.
Because my husband has a US Dollar account, we opened another US Dollar joint account and we managed to get the TD US Dollar Visa card for free, and I’m surprised to learn that it’s actually not that difficult to!
how to get the td us dollar visa credit card for free
My husband and I have a joint USD account and we have US dollars in it (obviously). It’s called the Borderless Plan and if you keep a minimum of $3000 USD in your Borderless Plan account, you get the $4.95 per month fee waived.
On top of that, you also get the $39 annual fee for the TD US Dollar Visa Credit Card waived or rebated too! This might have to be done through a customer service representative to confirm though! It has been okay for us so far.
To pay your US Dollar credit card bill, it’s as easy as transferring money from your US Dollar Borderless Plan account to the credit card account online with TD Easyweb.
There are a plethora of benefits to this unassuming looking US Dollar card, including trip cancellation and car rental insurance, which of course are very important benefits when you are traveling! These benefits will work for you provided that you charge the car rental or flight to your credit card.
Related: Transunion vs Equifax, why the 100 Point Difference?
the pros Of the TD US Dollar Visa
- You don’t have to pay an annual fee if you have the TD Borderless Plan
- You don’t have to pay an annual fee if you have private banking
- Up to $5,000 of trip interruption coverage, to a maximum of $25,000 for all people insured on the same trip
- Up to $1000 for delayed (if delayed for greater than 6 hours) and lost baggage insurance
- Collision/Loss Damage coverage for rental cars with a commercial car rental company (note, this wouldn’t work for Turo rental cars, I asked!).
- Purchase Security and Extended Warranty Protection– this is for items you’ve purchased with your card, should they be stolen or damaged within 90 days of purchase
- Free supplemental cards (up to three). My husband and I both have this card together.
- Chip and pay wave convenience
the cons OF the TD US Dollar Visa
- It’s $39 annual fee per year if you don’t get it for free with the Borderless Plan
- The interest rate is 19.99% (standard) but hopefully you won’t be carrying a balance on this
- You don’t get points with the purchases on this card
- It’s not so pretty of a credit card, kind of a silly ‘con’ but just pointing it out. It’s just kind of plain looking.
All in all, it’s a great card for us when we have US dollar purchases because we don’t have to pay an annual fee for it, and it is much easier to pay for things in US dollars without having to deal with the crazy conversion rates.
Now that the US and Canadian borders have opened up since the COVID 19 pandemic started, having a US dollar credit card becomes even more relevant, since we have the ability to travel south again.
You may also be interested in:
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- The best US dollar accounts in Canada
- RBC Visa Signature Black review
Readers, do you have a US Dollar Credit Card?
If so, which one do you carry?
GYM is a 30 something millennial interested in achieving financial freedom through disciplined saving, dividend and ETF investing, and living a minimalist lifestyle. Before you go, check out my recommendations page of financial tools I use to save and invest money. Don’t forget to subscribe for blog updates, a free dividend yield spreadsheet, and the free Young Money Bootcamp eCourse.
That’s very helpful to avoid those foreign exchange fee. I got one card that claims no exchange fee. I got to try it when visiting Canada next time. Banks charge too many fees nowadays, and we have to figure out how to jump through those hoops.
@Helen- Do you visit Canada often? 🙂 You also get a 20-25% discount when you visit Canada too so a 2.5% Foreign exchange fee probably won’t’ hurt as much as it does for us Canadians when visiting the US! Haha.
GYM,
Not that often. The last time I visited Canada was 10 years ago. Many times, it was so tempting to drive to Toronto, as I love the Chinese food there. But I didn’t make the trip.
@Helen- Oh wow, yes the USD to CAD exchange rate is excellent right now! The Chinese food is excellent here in Vancouver too 😉
GYM,
I have a US bank account that’s no charge if you keep a balance of $200. All the credit cards I looked at had an annual fee and I only go down to the US a few times a year so I didn’t think it was worth it. I am not a TD customer but having a US dollar credit card would be handy. Thanks for the review.
@Steve- Yeah I have a US bank account as well with another bank but it doesn’t give a free US dollar card. We use our USD credit card pretty often- shopping on amazon.com or going down to the states.
In the US we have loads of credit cards with zero foreign transaction fee. But, I agree with your assessment. Foreign transaction fee is hidden and one does not realize it immediately. I have a Barclaycard CashForward card. The effective cash back rate on this card is 1.575% and $0 foreign transaction fee. Its not the best in terms of rewards.
@dividendgeek- 1.575% is not bad at all. I am jealous of all the great rewards credit cards available in the US!
I don’t do enough US transactions to worry about it but interesting just the same.
I had a US bank account when stock options were a thing…it is no longe:(
@Caroline- Awe man, sorry to hear your company isn’t offering stock options anymore 🙁 what a nice perk though!
“When the day comes that the CAD and USD will be at parity, believe me I’ll be buying up a storm of US Dollars.”
I feel the exact same. I actually regret not converting most of my Cad to Usd at that time when it was close to par. I only converted a bit only because I wanted to buy US stocks. It never crossed my mind about gaining from the fx conversion D’OH!!!
We don’t have a USD currency cc but it’s actually a pretty good idea to consider one. We usually just use the cash we have when we converted when it was closer to par. And if we go to restaurants, my fiancé uses his Costco card that pays back 3% on all restaurants (I confirmed that restaurants work in US too). I know the currency fee is 2.5% and we’d be shopping based on the current spot rate. Net would be 0.5% cash back after the foreign exchange fee. But that’s all we had — the cash from before and Costco credit card lol!!
Thanks for this review. Very insightful and good to know we have this option!
@fin$avvypanda- Me too! That is a big money regret of mine haha! I keep waiting for the 1:1.05 to come but it’s taking longer than I thought. Cool, didn’t know that the Costco credit card had that perk! I don’t have a Costco credit card nor do I have a membership (I had one before though). I tend to spend TOO MUCH money when I go to Costco so it’s better to stay away for me haha.
Lol every time my fiancé and I go to Costco, we look like the oddballs who buy very few items — one roasted chicken, the big size yogurt, nuts, and some quoina… everyone else has like a shopping cart filled with A LOT of stuff!!!i I can see why it’s so easy to end up buying the entire store lol ?
@fin$avvy panda- Mmm those are good staples, I love roasted chicken! When I had my card, I LOVED the Asiago cheese at Costco. So much cheaper than buying it elsewhere. It would be nice if they had an ‘express lane’ (last time I went I didn’t’ see any) to reward people like you who don’t load up their carts.
Hi, Genymoney, my quandary is that I sell in an online store, presently converting my us$ sales to Cdn Dollars…my production partner in the U.s. gets fees paid off a Cap1 card, as us$ converted to cdn…I think I’m getting hit on both sides of this coin! My idea is a u.s. dollars acct…keep the sales dollars in u.s. and have the production fees charged to a u.s $ credit card…funded by the u.s. dollar account. I make about 60% per item…so I think I could keep more of it…..your thoughts?
@Lori- Thanks for visiting and congrats on the online store. Our US Dollar Visa is attached to our US Dollar account. I think you can get a US dollar account for free (ours is) with a minimum balance of US dollars at TD Bank. RBC also has a free US Dollar account but it’s not a chequing account it is an e-savings account. Hope that helps!
I am trying to use my card at a gas station in the U.S. and it requests your “zip code” since we are Canadian we only have a postal code. How can we use our card does anyone know? Is there a “generic” zip code that can be used?
@Gail- Great question! A nice gas station attendant in the US told me this trick when I tried to pay with my US dollar credit card at the pump. The US has 5 numbers for a zip code right? Use your postal code e.g. if your postal code is V5H 3M8 then you use the numbers in the postal code and add two zeroes- 53800.