Moving to Florence for 1 yr and need advice!
 

Hey all. I was hoping someone who has lived in Italy for more than a few months could tell me what the best bet is for banking. it costs money to extract cash from ATM's which can def. add up over a year but I'm not sure whether to close the account here and have the money wired to me there. how long? how inconvenient? my bank is playing dumb on this one.....
Oh, and any other good tips for those abroad for a year would be awesome!
cheers
brooke

Hi wine,

If you are thinking of having money wired to you monthly, this can be about $15 per transfer and you would have to accept whatever exchange rate the bank decides upon.

If you open an Italian account and put all of your money into it, you will be holding euro.

If you think that the euro will rise against the dollar, this is a good thing to do.

My bank charges only 75 cnts per withdrawl at European ATMS.

((I))

Hello winesaavy7, having a checking account in Italy will incure charges. Before you decide to open a checking account in Italy talk to the bank in Italy that you are thinking of opening an account with and find out exactly what fees, charges etc. you will be charged. You will no doubt find that your bank in the US really does not know about banking in Italy. At least that has always been my experience.

I wouldn't make any changes with banks or accounts until after you arrive in Italy and have the time to find out all the particulars. Best wishes.

Depending on how much it costs to withdrawel money from an ATM and if it's a fixed amount per withdrawel or it depends on how much you take, I'd just withdrawel large sums at a time from your American account at an ATM and then put them on an Italian account in person right away. This is at least how I did it when I lived in Spain for a year, but my original account was Belgian, not American, so rates will probably be quite different.

We maintain our US bank account at Citibank. We chose them b/c they are very savvy and they do not charge us for ATM withdrawals. We try to not transfer money around b/c that is how they make their money. Also, if you are eligible, USAA has a great plan for those of us abroad. They do not charge a change fee and again, are very used to overseas customers.