Move USD from PayPal to USD account in Canada

[ocgltd]

I have a large USD balance in my PayPal account, and I want to transfer it to my USD bank account, in Canada.  I don't want to move the money from USD -> CAD -> USD as I will incur significant exchange fees.

I've tried several times to add my Canadian USD account to PayPal but it refuses (says Canadian accounts must contain CAD).  I tried to add this as a US bank account but that didn't work either.

Help - how do I get my money out without all the exchange fees?

[strikernr]

A paypal rep just told me that I can't link a US bank account in my Canadian paypal account. Even thou I see the option of linking a US bank account based in U.S. using routing number and account number, she said it won't work. The system will remove the account later. I'm getting conflicting answers.

I'm about to open a US bank account in BMO Harris, a subsidiary of BMO in the US. I need to know for sure if this will work?

[ocgltd]

There seem to be lots of people posting advice, who have no idea what actually works.  Please update the forum with the result of your attempt!  I was about to open a TD account (at the US bank, not just a USD account) to do the same.

I'll wait to hear back from you if it actually worked.  Thanks

[laurenc6]

I'm also about to open a US based TD account to try to solve this issue, so would greatly appreciate someone from PayPal to confirm wether this will work. Thank you!

[bobbmob]

I just had a transaction cancelled. I was trying to send USD from my linked TD Canada Based USD account. Now the account is not linked anymore and my PayPal balance is now in negative. So that evidently didn’t work. The funds never left my bank account.

[ocgltd]

Is it a Canadian TD account in US funds?  Or a TD US Account in US funds?

The discussion so far is about opening an account with the US affiliated TD (so a real US account in USD).

[DBelley]

It is definitely not the best solution, but I've managed to find people in the US, friends of friend.

I send them US money on Paypal, they withdraw it in their US bank account and they send me a check by mail.  I have to pay small fees for transfer and mail, but its still a way to keep the money in US avoiding exchange rate.

[Matthew514]

I’m following and have had this issue for several years now. In order to keep the cash in US funds and avoid the horrible fx rates my only solution was to use TD cross border banking (this opens a US TD Bank account with my Canadian credentials). I then transfer from TD Bank (in the U.S.) to my USD TD CANADA account (no fees for this and you can do up to 5k online or 100k with no questions). It’s a bit annoying and not as clean as a straight transfer but it keeps our cash in the right currency and gives us complete control over when to sell the US funds.

[Val001]

So this actually worked for you. I did this as well a few years ago. It did not work even with the routing number. Maybe I will try again.I also pay all my fees for my business in USD to US companies that do not take paypal.

[modascal]

Did this actually work? I see lots of conflicting comments that opening a TD USD account (in the US) will not work...

[Matthew514]

Yes this works perfectly for me and i have been doing this for many years.

PayPal customer service responses about what is possible or allowed has differed from agent to agent so I wouldn't go by that.

My experience on this is that if you are sending money to your bank in Canada PayPal will transfer it in Canadian dollars even if your account is in USD.

If you have access to a US based bank account transferring funds to that account will be in US dollars. I've also had it setup where one of my suppliers provided me with banking information and we were able to pay them as a transfer out from PayPal to their bank. This might require a special relationship though...