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www.snowbirds.org
CSA TRAVEL INFORMATION GUIDE
If you need cash (banknotes), it is advisable to change your currency with your financial institution in
Canada before you leave. As local branches only keep a small supply of foreign banknotes on-hand, it
is advisable to visit or telephone the local branch of your financial institution up to a week in advance
of travelling to pre-order your foreign currency for your trip.
$10,000 or more
It is important to remember that, under the anti-terrorism and money-laundering laws of most
countries, including Canada and the United States, you cannot take $10,000.00 CAD or more (in the
case of Canada) or $10,000 USD or more (in the case of the United States) casually into or out of a
country without reporting this to both customs services. Failure to report, even if you are taking the
money for a legitimate reason, could result in it being seized. A simply declaration form should be
completed with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) when departing Canada, and a similar
simple declaration form needs to be completed with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as
you are arriving.
Bank Cards and Automatic Teller Machines (ATM)
If you are planning to access your Canadian bank account via a local automatic teller machine (ATM)
in the country you are visiting, it is important, before leaving Canada, to check with your financial
institution to verify that your Canadian-issued bank card will work in ATMs where you are visiting.
While most major Canadian financial institutions have partnership agreements with one or two
“global” networks, some countries have moved ahead of Canada by converting all of their ATMs to
“smart” bank cards that have an embedded microchip to reduce the incidents of bank card fraud.
If the ATM machines in the country or even local area where you are visiting, have already been
converted to only accept “smart” bank cards, your existing Canadian bank card may not work, even
though your financial institution is a member of the same global ATM network as the host local
bank. The same situation may also apply in a local hotel, restaurant or shop where the point-of-sale
terminal only accepts a chip credit card and can no longer “swipe” the magnetic strip.
Canadian Credit Cards at Automatic Gasoline Pumps
With the increasing incidents of credit card theft, many gasoline retailers have started to convert the
remote-pay functions on their gasoline pumps to require the postal code or ZIP code for the address
of the credit card holder as a form of personal identification number (PIN) when paying at the pump.
This can of course be a problem for snowbirds using Canadian-issued credit cards that do not have a
ZIP code.
As this cross-referencing function is based on a limited regional database of addresses, Canadians
wishing to pay with a Canadian-issued major credit card in the United States should not expect that
the database attached to the gasoline pump will contain Canadian (foreign) card numbers and postal
codes. Similarly, Americans will not find their ZIP codes preloaded into a self-pay gasoline pump
located in Canada.
In these circumstances, if the pump will not accept your Canadian-issued major credit card without a
ZIP code “PIN” number, you may still pay in-person with the station attendant. Many members have
reported success in using their Canadian-issued credit cards by entering a sequence of digits when
asked for a ZIP code at an automated pump; the sequence most often reported as successful is to
enter the digits from the Canadian postal code of the billing address of the card followed by 2 zeroes.
For example, if the Canadian postal code of the billing address of your credit card is M3B 2T5, then
enter “32500”