How to Open a Free US Dollar Account in Canada using Tangerine Bank!

Are you looking to change banks or just exploring options because your bank charges monthly account fees, wants you to maintain a minimum balance and just doesn’t give you a large enough interest on your savings?

If you answered yes to any one of the questions above, then look no further as Tangerine (formerly known as ING Direct) offers a solution to all of this and it is absolutely free.

Tangerine is an online bank with no branches and everything is done using the online app on any portable device or over the phone which includes anything from depositing cheques to ordering bank drafts.

Tangerine offers a variety of different chequing and savings accounts. Keep reading further to know which account is best suited for your needs and would help you manage your money in the most profitable way possible.

Accounts Offered

Tangerine US Dollar Savings Account

Tangerine offers a US$ Savings account that earns interest of about 0.15%. Not only is it free, it also gives you the ability to move your money from your Canadian account to your U.S Savings account within minutes. Because Tangerine is an online bank, it’s open 24/7 and you can access their services any time be it the day or late in the night.

Tangerine US Dollar Business Account

Tangerine also offers a free US dollar account for businesses that need US funds as part of their operations.  The benefit of this account is that it is completely free, there are no daily banking fees or service charges and no minimum balances.  The account also provides a relatively high-interest rate of 0.10%.  An important feature of this account is their automatic savings program; which allows you to specify how much money you want to save on a regular basis and funds are automatically transferred to you based on how much you want to save.

Tangerine Chequing Account

The Tangerine Chequing Account is an account that you can use for your everyday banking with no daily limit on debit purchases, bill payments or email transfers. There are also no transaction fees nor any monthly fees for keeping the account active. Additionally, it gives you access to 3,500 Scotiabank ABM’s all over Canada and even pays interest of up to 0.15% on every dollar deposited into the account. However, there is a charge of $25 for bank drafts which includes delivery to your home as well as a $1.00 charge on each Interac e-Transfer.

One of the most convenient and user-friendly service that Tangerine offers is their Cheque-In service, where you can just take a picture of the cheque with their mobile app and the money will be deposited in your account instantly. Not only this but their Switch Assistant service integrates your pre-authorized payments to Tangerine from your accounts in other banks in less than fifteen minutes saving you the inconvenience of adding your bill payments to the Tangerine account again.

Tangerine Savings Account

With this account, you not only get a great interest rate of 0.80% but it’s completely free of any service charges, monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. One of the features of this savings account that differentiates Tangerine from all other banks is its Automatic Savings Program (ASP), where the funds can be moved from your other bank accounts into Tangerine with the help of ASP, depending on the amount you choose to save monthly.

Tangerine Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA)

Tangerine Tax-Free savings account offers you the perfect opportunity to grow your savings by giving you a higher interest rate than most banks and being a TFSA there’s not tax charged on the interest earned. As with all tangerine accounts, there is no fee, minimum balance requirements or service charges and you can benefit from the ASP service offered to all savings account.

Tangerine RSP Savings Account

The RSP savings account like any other retirement savings account offers you an interest of 0.80% on every dollar deposited into the account. The advantage of opening this account lies within the fact that it is free of charge and gives you the benefit of moving your money at any time to different RSP investments nor does it require you to a minimum balance in the account at any given time.

New Clients

It’s extremely simple to open an account with Tangerine. You can go online, enter some basic information such as your Name, address, occupation and Sin Number.

There is one additional step that you need to do before your account is activated. You can either go to one of the Tangerine Café locations with your Photo ID and they can immediately open your account and hand over your debit card or you can go to one of the Canada Post locations where they will verify your ID and the account can be opened within one business day and you will receive your debit card in mail within 2 weeks.

Unlike Corporate, Tangerine offers a few bonuses for signing up with them. If you are a new customer, using the Orange Key-Orange 25 to receive $25 cash deposited into your account if your first deposit is $100 or more. If you know someone who already has an account with Tangerine and if you use their Orange Key to sign up, you both receive $50 each in your account deposited within 30 days.

These are some of the accounts offered by Tangerine, choose the one that best suits your needs and start taking advantage of up to $200 cost savings by avoiding bank fees and service charges.

Other banks also offer cross-border banking plans that require a fee, however, these accounts might have some more features that might be better catered to your situation.  To see an overview of these different plans, please take a look at our article on comparing cross-border banking solutions for Canadians.

Leave us a comment below on your experience with cross-border banking with the Canadian banks and we will incorporate your feedback into our comparison.