Best way for a 17 y.o. to pay U.S. retailers when travelling for months?

[kmidasaesthetic]

My 17-year-old son will be staying for a few months in the U.S. We're looking for a way to have him pay retailers in USD without incurring unnecessary fees on every transaction, which is what would happen if he used his Canadian Tangerine debit card.

Tangerine allows him to create a USD account, but it doesn't look like it's connected to their debit card. (I haven't been able to reach a human to ask for sure.)

CIBC has a USD account that works with a debit card, but you need to be 18.

Transferwise has a debit card, but you need to be 18.

Before checking through more bank fine print, I thought I'd ask here.
Any suggestions?

The trip isn't happening for a little while. We have some time to open new accounts or apply for things. We're in B.C.

 

[joandee]

@kmidasaesthetic Gov Can has a brief for this. https://travel.gc.ca/air/travelling-money#Cards

From my experience traveling in the US, always have a backup method or two, because the US systems are still far behind Canada and Europe. Major chains tend to be better but if you’re only buying at major chains you’re missing out on ‘Murica. So bring a credit card, and a debit card, and cash. Let the bank know in advance that you are traveling to the US so that fraud/security blocks are less likely to be triggered. Some US banks require a pin that is more digits than usual for Canadian bank cards… even for non bank customers. There’s a code to enter to bridge that gap, ask your card issuer.

While tap and chip/pin have been available to US retailers there are lots that have never upgraded.

Going to a bank machine in the US can be smooth as silk or an exercise in frustration if that bank has decided not to serve network customers.

You don’t mention how the 17 year old is getting there… you should know that entry to unaccompanied minors can be challenged. Be prepared.

 

[kmidasaesthetic]

@joandee Thank you for the advice. I've encountered some of those problems myself. I ended up avoiding using tap on a recent trip and going straight to insert-with-PIN because it was more reliable.

We've heard about the unaccompanied minor issue. He'll have a consent letter. I appreciate you thinking of that too.

 

[clsst100]

@kmidasaesthetic I believe that the BMO USD accounts should work, I did a dummy signup on their website with a 17 year old birthday and it didn’t give me any error messages

Some alternatives if you can’t find a bank account:

• Open a USD or CAD credit card with no fx fees in your name and add him as an authorized user (can set purchase limits)
• If you have someone in the US who could buy him a visa/MC giftcard

 

[kmidasaesthetic]

@clsst100 I have a Home Trust Preferred Visa that I use for travel because it has no fx fees. It's not clear from their web site if authorized users can be minors, so I've written to see. This is our most promising option so far.

Thanks also for the BMO and gift card tips.

 

[shalalalalala36]

@kmidasaesthetic I would think cash would be his best bet. He could take out some money each week and just use that everywhere he needs to. Then it's only a fee on the withdrawal and not on every transaction.

 

[bendstringz]

@kmidasaesthetic Rogers has a card with USD purchases.