Depositing or cashing Canadian cheque / check in USA

Canadian (dual) citizen living in the US here...

I have a large Canadian cheque that I've received from a family estate settlement, and I'd like to know if there's a less costly way to cash it here in the USA than just depositing it into my Bank of America personal checking account. BoA doesn't charge a fee but their exchange rate isn't the best, about a 5-6 cents less on the dollar than the rate published at XE.com. That really adds up when the check is for a large amount.

I also have a seldom-used ScotiaBank savings (Gain) account back in Canada, so I could deposit or cash the check there on my next trip home (which is soon) and then take the actual CDN cash amount and buy US dollars with it wherever I can get the best rate. The question remains though, where would that be? And the other question with that is whether it would trigger some sort of flag at Revenue Canada where they decide to tax or audit me because of the large, unusual transaction at my otherwise sleepy little Canadian bank account.

Thanks for any suggestions.

The rule of thumb is to convert Cdn to US in canada. This ALWAYS gives best exchange, and the fees will be less as well.

Now, to transfer the funds from your Cdn bank to your US, you can either have the bank draw up a US bank draft, or you can use a wire service like customhouse.com (now estern union). The xchange rates are competitive, and you set this up once between your 2 banks and it is there forever.

I too have the same situation. I have a Canadian bank draft issued by a bank in Canada for the amount of the inheritance, but it the bank draft is in "Canadian dollars".

I was thinking of the different alternatives and wondered which one was the best? I could either:

a) Have the bank that issued the draft give me cash, either canadian or u.s. Is this a good idea, and which of the two currencies should I get? I am not familar with how favourable the exchange rates that are typically offered by a Canadian bank versus the "inter-bank rate" which can be easily obtained on-line.

I have found out that U.S. banks give a higher rate for cash (Cdn) dollars versus a draft.

b) The other option is to have the Canadian bank issue a bank draft in U.S. dollars. Again, I wonder what the exchange rate might be. I would use the "inter-bank rate" as the benchmark and means to compare.

Does anybody here have actual experience/expertise with this?

Thanks.

answered in other thread. But the answer I gave above is the correct answer anyways.