Invisible Privacy | Online Privacy

As I say in my book How To Be Invisible, "Hundreds of thousands of American citizens, as well as a similar number of illegal aliens, manage to live without any bank account at all, and not all are financially disadvantaged."

This is one way to ensure that you do not accidentally reveal your home address by writing a check for the rent, taxes, home repair, or whatever.

Any normal purchases can be made in cash, including gas, car repairs, appliances, and even expensive electronics. If a few bills must be paid by mail, money orders can be used.

For convenience, of course, a bank account is important. Some use an account in Canada and withdrawn funds at ATMs. Others keep an account in a small faraway bank, as described in Invisible Money. And a few intrepid souls use the ultimate in privacy, a nominee account.

Labels: Canadian bank accounts, invisible money, money orders, no bank account

(If you have not already done so, first read the January 4, 2010 entry.)

The woman who questioned me at the U.S. border was actually pleasant. What a big surprise that was! No questions whatsoever about laptops, storage devices, or if I had been near any small children. Instead, just the usual questions about where had I been and what was I bringing back with me. Then:

OFFICER: “How much money are you carrying?

ME: “Between four and five thousand dollars.”

OFFICER: “Why so much?”

ME: “ I was going to make a deposit in Port Alberni but I missed seeing the bank when I came thorough. It wasn’t all that urgent anyway and I was in a hurry to catch the noon ferry at Duke Point so I didn’t turn back.”

OFFICER: “Why do you have a bank account in Canada?”

ME: “I opened it years back, when I was having some printing done with Friesens in Manitoba. And by the way,” I said with a smile, while drawing my hand across my throat, “there’s no money to be made in self-publishing!”

The kind lady smiled and waved me on through.

Three comments about carrying cash into Canada:

1. It appears to be permissible to carry a substantial amount of cash, as long as the value is under $10,000 Canadian.

2. Tell the truth about which bank you will be visiting—specific details will give the officer confidence that what you say is true.

3. Decide beforehand how to explain why you have such an account. This may be because you often vacation in Canada, or because you think Obama is on such a wild spending spree that you expect the American dollar to fall below par with the Canadian dollar within the next year or two.

But meanwhile, what about the fact that the Canadians went through my laptops? Did they keep copies of my files? If I ever return to Canada, will they know I’ve been there before? If I use the same pickup, will that show up as having been in Canada before?

I posed those questions, and more, to a good friend who works with US Customs and Immigration at a border crossing in Minnesota. If you ever wondered what happens when you pull up at the border and hand over your passport, be sure to read next Monday’s blog:

Canadian borders crossings (Part III). Your questions answered!

Labels: Canadian bank accounts, Canadian border crossings, Canadian border questions, carrying cash into Canada