Send Money from the USA to Canada

Xoom and Revolut advertise no transfer fee on this corridor. That is not the same as cheapest: a provider with no fee recovers it through the exchange-rate margin, which is usually the larger of the two costs. Compare the final amount that arrives in Canadian dollars across two or three services before you send, because the cheapest option changes with the amount and the payout method you choose.

Delivery ranges from minutes to a few business days depending on the provider and payout method. WorldRemit and MoneyGram can deliver within minutes when you pay by debit card. Bank-funded and economy transfers typically take one to three business days but usually cost less. Transfers sent outside banking hours or over a weekend may not settle until the next working day.

Across the providers we compare, the available payout methods are Interac e-Transfer, bank deposit and cash pickup. The most widely used options in Canada are bank deposit and Interac e-Transfer. Interac e-Transfer needs the recipient's email or phone number rather than a bank account number, but carries its own per-transaction cap (roughly C$3,000 at most banks) separate from any provider limit. Not every provider supports every method, so check the table above before you commit.

No. Western Union, Ria Money Transfer and MoneyGram offer cash pickup in Canada, so your recipient can collect the funds with valid photo ID and the transfer reference number. That said, bank deposit and Interac e-Transfer generally cost less than cash collection.

Providers rarely give you the mid-market rate — the reference rate you see on Google or Reuters. Instead they add a margin, typically between 0.4% and 4%, and keep the difference. That margin is often larger than the visible transfer fee, which is why a "no fee" service can still be more expensive overall. For USD to CAD, compare the quoted rate against the mid-market rate to see the real spread you are paying.

Yes, provided you use a licensed provider. Every service listed on this page is regulated in the USA under FinCEN and state money-transmitter licences, which requires safeguarding of customer funds and identity verification. Send only to people you know personally, keep your transfer reference private, and be sceptical of anyone pressuring you to send money urgently to someone you have not met.

Yes. Each provider sets its own transfer limits, which vary by how much identity verification you have completed and how you pay. Larger transfers may require additional documentation such as proof of source of funds. For transfers above roughly $10,000, a specialist foreign-exchange broker will often beat an app on rate.

Canada is only a Sendwave sending market, not a destination; its confirmed destinations are concentrated in Africa, South Asia, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Lebanon and the Philippines. Canada is a Taptap Send sending market; its roughly 70 destinations concentrate in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and do not include Canada. LemFi's published destination list does not include Canada. If you already use those services, you will need an alternative from the comparison table above for this corridor.

Interac e-Transfer carries a network-wide cap of roughly C$3,000 per transaction at most banks, separate from any provider-side limit, so larger sends fall back to standard bank deposit. Interac e-Transfer needs the recipient's registered email address or phone number, not a bank account or transit number — a different intake flow than standard bank deposit. Not every provider marketing "Interac" pays out over it from a US-initiated send — WorldRemit has dropped Interac support as a funding rail, and Western Union's Interac integration found in research applies to transfers sent from Canada rather than confirmed as a receive rail into Canada.