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Posted date : Nov 4, 2017

Dear Bird Talk, Re: Form 8840 Is this form mandatory or a nice-to-do thing? F. Helmink Terrace Bay, ON Response: Ed: This is the second most-asked question. The IRA in the United States (that’s the tax department) wants to tax you on your worldwide income! If you spend three months a year in the U.S., […]

Posted date : Nov 4, 2017

Dear Bird Talk, Like many other people, I had the problem of not being able to use my credit card at the gas pumps in Florida because I did not have a U.S. zip code to punch into the pump. My solution was to phone MasterCard and temporarily change my billing address to my U.S. […]

Posted date : Nov 4, 2017

Dear Bird Talk, I have run into banking fees regarding U.S.$ deposits from Canadian banks. Does anyone know of a bank in the Rio Grande Valley which does not have these fees? Richard in ON Response: Ed: This is an ongoing problem for many snowbirds. U.S. banks often charge deposit fees, they may hold up […]

Posted date : Nov 4, 2017

Dear Bird Talk, I would like to warn CSA members about using ATMs in the USA, based on my personal experience. In early March, I attempted to withdraw US$300.00 from my CIBC Canadian account at a Chase Bank ATM located in a Walgreens Drugs outlet in Mesa, Arizona. Although I received a receipt stating that […]

Posted date : Nov 4, 2017

Dear Bird Talk, We travel to Arizona in the winter and also like to use credit cards at the gas pumps. It took some time for us to be told of a solution, but there is one that works. We use a credit card – an American $ Visa this year, to avoid paying exchange […]

Posted date : Nov 4, 2017

Dear Bird Talk, I read the letter from R.D. Burrows in the spring issue of CSA News. We spend the winter in southern Texas and have experienced the same frustrations when attempting to use a card reader at certain gas stations. There is no U.S. zip code attached to our Canadian credit cards and, as […]

Posted date : Nov 4, 2017

Dear Bird Talk, Here is another suggestion. We obtained a Discover credit card in Florida using our winter address, which was completely acceptable. Discover is good in the U.S. only, as far as we know. If you have a U.S. winter address, then you have a zip code and we use it when buying gas. […]

Posted date : Nov 4, 2017

Dear Bird Talk, I just read in the spring magazine about the problems experienced in Nevada, Arizona and California when using a credit card at service station pumps. We, too, ran into similar problems this past winter season all along the I-75 and throughout Florida. Upon investigation, we found out that virtually all service stations […]

Posted date : Nov 4, 2017

Dear Bird Talk, Recently, I decided to remove the money I had remaining in my U.S. Royal Bank chequing account because I was returning to Canada within two weeks and I thought I would take the cash and just spend whatever money I had. I went to the bank machine and removed all that was […]

Posted date : Nov 4, 2017

Dear Bird Talk, Just a word of caution to those of us who travel to Nevada, Arizona and California and use Shell, Chevron, Valero or Diamond Shamrock service stations. If you use a Visa or MasterCard, these cards are not accepted at their gas pumps without a U.S. zip code. These pumps are programmed to […]