Student In Italy - Best Access for Funds?
 

SO's son leaves for a student program in Rome on February 1. Plans to go to Citibank tomorrow to sign up for some special student international account they offer whereby they waive the usual 3% transaction costs. Parents would then deposit money in Citibank, which he would access (presumably by Citibank ATM card) in Italy. I'm thinking it would make more sense for son to open an Italian checking account, get an Italian debit card, and have the parents send him over with an international draft in euros that they purchase here in advance. I'm just so leery of big banks here.

Anyone know the process that would be easiest and cost the least amount of money? I'm thinking every time the parents deposit money into Citibank here, it's going to charge ridiculous fees to do the exchange. Parents can probably, BTW, afford to put a good chunk of change into whatever the initial transaction is - maybe enough to tide him over for the full 4 months he will be there. The son is frugal and unlikely to waste money, but of course one never knows.

All suggestions appreciated.

Hello StCirq, from what I know due to having a son-in-law from Rome the banks in Italy charge a large monthly fee for their checking accounts and even charge a fee when the account is closed. So that would be good to check out of course so a cost comparison could be made. Best wishes to your SO's son,

StCirq,

It is my understanding that Europeans pay for their accounts and withdrawals. It's only that the bank from which one withdraws the money may not charge for that service, but the home bank can.

A BofA regular checking account will work in Italy because it does have a partner bank there (BNL) which has become a subsidiary of BNP (France). I really do not see the advantage of having a local account, where you would have to pay to transfer the money from the States, when an ATM transaction does not care where the money is located.

Make sure you understand the fraud protections offered (or not) by Citibank on the pre-paid credit card you're considering.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-ch..._b_814607.html

No need to use an Italian bank. Our son just returned from a semester (4 months) in Florence. He took Euros in cash (leftover from previous trips), a debit card (linked to our bank, Chase) and a British Airways Chase Visa, which has no foreign transaction fee (and also offered a 100,000+ mile bonus per card when we signed up for it).

He ended up being surprisingly frugal, thanks in part to the constant stream of visiting parents who took him out to dinner. His biggest expense was weekend travel to other places in Europe, but he kept that under control with EasyJet flights/hostels/staying with friends. It took him a few weeks to figure out how to eat reasonably by preparing some meals, dining on pizza and paninis, and staying from pricey trattorias.

As far as I know, none of our son's friends hassled with Italian banks. Happy to answer questions about phones, which was way more complicated than money.

Off topic: St. Cirq, everyone on the Asia board is eager for you to finish the extremely provocative and well-written trip report about India that you started several years ago. The thread has been resurrected several times in the last few days.

Hi StC,

>I'm thinking every time the parents deposit money into Citibank here, it's going to charge ridiculous fees to do the exchange. <

Has anyone asked the bank what the fee would be?

((I))

crosscheck, does one have to be a citizen of GB to get the BA Chase VISA? Sorry if that's a stupid question.

Hi StCirq-
Like Crosscheck, we had to explore all options for our daughter who just spent four months in France. We actually tried to get a French bank account once she got there, but it was almost impossible. It would have been expensive and it wasn't even an option: they wouldn't open one. Lucky for us, our back-up system was in place, and it cost much less:

<b>Capital One Credit Card</b>: We already had one, and we put her on the account. You can also upload your own photo onto the card, so we put a family photo on the card with her front and center. No foreign currency fees. None. Nada. Obviously, she just used this for purchases, never to withdraw money because she had...

<b>Capital One Bank Accounts (two types):
One was ATM; one was Debit (High Yield Money Market; Interest Online Checking)</b> I got the ATM one first because I did not want her to have a debit card in case it got stolen, but Christina here posted online that the Interest Online Checking Account debit card would refund any withdrawal fees up to $45 a month, so what the heck, we opened one of those too. French ATMs don't charge withdrawal fees anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but if Italian banks charge, then that CapOne debit card would be a good option.
I was a joint owner on both accounts.

<b>Schwab: Debit Card</b>
My husband had already set up funds in a Schwab investment account for her years ago. When people on this site indicated that Schwab's debit card limit could be set to $.01 charges, it took minutes to get this put into the works.
She was the sole owner of the account.

<b>Backups</b>
Her "home" ATM card and her AmericanExpress (Delta SkyMiles) Card. As you are aware, if you want to rent a Vehib in Paris, only the AmEx card currently works.

On another topic, for wire transfers, which we needed to pay rent in France, <b>Schwab</b> was the cheapest and the most reliable method.

I will go further: I deal with AmEx, BoFA, Barclay regularly. I have found all Cap One and Schwab people to be patient, knowledgeable, and competent on the phone.

<b>Phones</b>
I spent a lot of time looking at everything again. We own a couple of GSM phones we take everywhere and just buy SIM cards for, so we've been through this process a lot.

Nevertheless, my biggest consideration was that my daughter would be traveling to a lot of different countries during her stay. I went with Call in Europe so that should she ever get into ANY type of difficulty during her travels, she would be able to call us without having to "top off". I found the cost to be comparable (all incoming free) and the peace of mind to be priceless.

She still had the option of switching out the Call in Europe SIM should she be in a place where the costs were not comparable.

Late in her stay, her phone was stolen. She then knew her way around and was very fluent, and she picked up another really cheap GSM with a lot of credited time right in France. She emailed and called the Call in Europe people right away to cancel her SIM. No problems.

On another note, she and many of her friends had internet already included in their rents, and so we assumed she would Skype us. Not so. Phone calls to US landlines were free with that cable package. It was a delightful unexpected perk.

>>>I'm thinking it would make more sense for son to open an Italian checking account, get an Italian debit card, and have the parents send him over with an international draft in euros that they purchase here in advance. <<<

As a student, I would be surprised if he could easily open a bank account in Italy.

When my daughter was living in Spain, she had two different ATM cards from two different credit unions (college credit union and my local credit union). She also had a credit card from my credit union. They don't charge the fees on foreign transactions that banks do. We had a joint account for my credit union so I could access it if necessary or deposit money. We both use this account/cards when traveling out of the country.

I saw a young adult from Australia attempt to use a prepaid VISA card in Italy. It didn't work and she was very upset (it had worked earlier in her trip). She said she was charged for every attempt even if she didn't get money.

Thanks, all. It just occurred to me that SO has an account with the World Bank Credit Union> Probably our best bet is to get the son on that account and get him an ATM card.

We never even considered prepaid cards. I know they're a rip-off.

I have an Italian cell phone I'm giving the son. That shouldn't be a big issue. He'll just have to to to TIM and get more time put on the card, or maybe get a new SIM card altogether.

I'm surprised to hear about the difficulty of opening an account in France/Italy. I opened one with absolutely no problem in France years ago, and SO's son is 22, so why not? But in any event, doesn't sound as though having a local account would be an advantage. It's true that European banks charge for deposits - I'd forgotten that. We'll stick with the credit union and some sort of backup.

Thanks again.

TDudette, We're from the U.S. and had no issues getting the BA card. I believe that now you *only* get 50,000 miles for signing up now, but combined with the no foreign transaction fee, it still seems worth it.
https://creditcards.chase.com/credit...edit-card.aspx

I just found this list by googling - other cards with no foreign fees:
http://www.cardhub.com/credit-cards/...ansaction-fee/

Alessandra, We got the BA card primarily because of the miles...This is more research than we did before our own son went to Italy!

>>>I opened one with absolutely no problem in France years ago, and SO's son is 22, so why not?<<<

Years ago things were different. Here's some info on opening an account, but if you've ever tried to deal with an Italian bank it can take hours of your time.

http://ukinitaly.fco.gov.uk/en/help-...g-bank-account

I'm not familiar with World Bank Credit Union, but most credit unions let relatives join. If not, there is a website that you can search for credit unions to join. I'm surprised he wasn't in his college credit union as they always have incentives for students to join. Are you sure he doesn't have a college account? My daughter has accounts at both her undergrad and grad colleges.
http://www.findacreditunion.com/

Crosscheck--Yep, Chase has done a good job of placing themselves head to head with Cap One.

FYI--We also got sign-up bonus miles/points benefits with CapOne sign-up. Those miles/points can be applied to any airline because the rewards points are actually more or less of a cash value, and since we travel abroad so darn much, we tend to accrue a lot. We use this card for all overseas expenditures such as European carriers (Easy-Jet, etc), hotel, restaurants, apt rent.

Note: As I mentioned above, the CapOne people have been a pleasure to work with, too. How unlike my recent BoFA experiences!

HOWEVER, domestically, I have a different and rather different cc combination going that works just dandy for us because I can really pump up my miles status with not only the carrier and but also its alliance.
Different strokes for different folks. Lots of lovely options out there :)

Alessandra, thanks - I might start another thread about this - I'm curious whether CapOne miles/points as challenging to transfer as Amex points.

St.Cirq - Re: Phones
- The trend for American kids in Italy is to take an old unlocked blackberry (you have to call your provider several times to get a "nice" representative who will help you unlock), then get an Italian SIM once in Italy (but NOT the data plan). That way all the kids scattered abroad everywhere can BBM each other for free, without having to find out everyone's new European numbers and deal with country codes, etc. If you or your SO has an old blackberry lying around, you might want to send it along with the Italian cell.
- My son procured an Italian SIM for the blackberry, but was not so adept at topping off, especially when traveling elsewhere in Europe. It's not a bad idea to collect a few roommates' and friends' cell numbers, just in case.
- Skype is fantastic...Because of the time difference (morning here, pre-dinner there), we were in better touch than when my son is at his college in the U.S.
- Everyone who went with an iPhone ended up having it stolen.

The Flyertalk credit/atm card wiki has a chart of cards and their fees. While Chase was mentioned above, it carries hefty fees compared to Cap One.
http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index...reign_Exchange

For comparing points/miles, Flyertalk is also the place you want to look in the Miles & Points forum. Under Miles Buzz, there is a sticky about the latest card offers.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz-370/

Crosscheck--
There are a lot of threads on this topic, but again, there are also new cards now and it's probably worth revisiting. We probably should place the topic on one of the other forums (Travel Tips and Ideas, Air Travel, what have you) but link to it here.

But while we are on this topic...
I was a latecomer to Cap One, even though a lot of the pros I venerated on this board swore by it for years. Again, we have and had a very sweet system with my miles points cards, I had used ATMs abroad with ease for eons, etc, so I just did not feel the need to reinvent the wheel.

Then I paid my down payment on a New Zealand apt rental. When I saw the foreign transaction fee, I about died. Got the Cap One a week later and it was the only card we used in NZ for three weeks. We are now converts.

As to ease of points redemption, a lot of the Flyertalk, Milespoints and other posters have said that it's very easy and that they really like their CapOne for purchases other than flights. They use their rewards for hotel nights and so on because again, it's essentially cash.

However, the downfall is that it cannot increase the preferred status on an airline or airline alliance. And again, we personally have used and will continue to use a combination of airline-related cards to make that preferred status work better for us.

Thanks, X✓

Lots of interesting info on this thread. And, if Google site was correct:

BBMS = (Bus Based Message Service)?

which I didn't know either!

So much good info here. Thanks!

crosscheck, I do have an old Blackberry. That's a great idea. I'll send that along with the Italian cell. And maybe one day I'll have time to finish that India Trip Report.

And we got him signed up at the World Bank Credit Union and he'll have a card in a couple of days. May look into getting a CapOne too, but want to keep it simple and he won't need a ton of money.

Thanks, everyone.

Chase doeesn't really compete well with CapONe as the only cards they have with no foreign transaction fee have a large yearly fee just to have the card. YOu can get a Cap One credit cards without any fee, if you want, and all of their cards have no foreign transaction fee, whether it is a fancy expensive FF card or not (their Venture card is an expensive one, but I think even it is less than Chase). I just get free cash with my CapOne MC card, I don't fool around with miles. I don't pay any annual fee for it.