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?

[mroebot]

I think you've got a good solution (as long you have access to an American who will help you out) @DBelley  

After speaking to a PayPal representative on the phone she confirmed that despite having a Canadian USD (currency) bank account a conversion take place as the funds will transfer in to the USD account in CAD then be converted to USD: so 2x the conversion!

The long and short of it is - if you're a Canadian, your Paypal account is Canadian and therefore ANY funds transferred out of it will be in CAD, never USD. No tricks, no ways around it.

There is a lot of misleading, misinformation out there about this.

[Temp20230525GH]

I spoke with my bank in efforts to add my usd account the routing number isnt 9digits it is also letters not numbers. Can we add our usd visa to have the funds deposited onto it instead??

[salsberg]

I dont want to sound rude but your answer is incorrect.  The is no way to transfer your US dollars to a Canadian based US account.  Paypal prohibits you from doing so. I should know as I tried doing that numerous times and I called to confirm.  Its quite sad to see as it means we need to convert it back to Canadian dollars at an unfair rate of exchange.  

[Matthew514]

PayPal policy is clear and consistent. They will only send Canadian dollar funds to Canadian based bank account. If you have USD or EUR or any other currency and want to send it direct to a Canadian account PayPal will do the foreign exchange and show you the Canadian dollar equivalent that will be transferred. The bank will receive the Canadian dollars and apply their foreign exchange to buy whatever non-Canadian dollar currency that account is in.

The only way around foreign exchange with USD in PayPal is to transfer to a bank account in the United States or pay USD bills from your PayPal account balance.

[laserfocus]

no it no longer transfers in USD. used to and i have been successfully doing it for years, but since last week it auto converts to Canadian with no way to change it.

[agamat]

This is your solution: https://www.rbcroyalbank.com/usbanking/ it worked for me perfectly in December 2023.

[Matthew514]

This is marked as the solution however another option is to open an bank account in the U.S. and have your withdrawals forwarded to that account.

If you have U.S. based suppliers, they might also accept the funds to their accounts for payment (if that scenario works for you).

In Canada it is PayPal's policy to only send funds in CAD. So if you send to a bank in Canada (USD, CAD or some other currency) PayPal will convert to CAD before transferring the funds, I have been dealing with PayPal for several years and this is clearly their policy, I was told it is because of the type of banking they offer and that they do not qualify to move other funds (I'm not sure if i believe this). It is likely that they don't want to be involved in further foreign currency issues at the final bank step or that they are playing an extremely safe game with interpreting the rules. We all know that PayPal (like other transaction companies) makes a bit off the currency exchange as well.

So transfer to a supplier as payment (you need their banking info).

Open a US based bank account (at an actual bank in the United States), some allow this by phone.

Transfer into a Canadian account and pay the PayPal exchange rate.

[me_212]

I have a US bank account (as well as a US-denominated account in Canada).  Paypal Canada will not allow me to link my US bank, therefore I can't withdraw USD from my Paypal Canada account. I'm also not interested in paying PP's exchange rate because I don't think I should have to pay for my own $.  I already pay them a fee for incoming payments. 

[virgonomic]

Fake news! It's possible provided your bank has a US routing number (and they should if they offer US accounts). I am in the process of doing this.

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[agamat]

This is not a solution!

This is: https://www.rbcroyalbank.com/usbanking/