HELP- Moving to Italy for an Erasmus course, what bank account/card?

kw1_2

I'm trying to work out how I'm going to manage my finances when I move to Italy next month to complete a year at university there as part of my degree...

The Erasmus grant (for living costs) can only be paid into a UK bank account so I've entered the details for my Lloyds TSB student account there, but don't really want to have to fork out the £1.50 charge every time I get money out on that card as I will already be on a very tight budget.

SO any ideas on what the best solution is? Is there an Italian bank that has a good rate for transferring from the UK? Or a UK card that doesn't have such high charges for taking money out whilst in Europe?

Any help would be much appreciated!

MrTomato

Poste Italiane, Barclays Italia and Unicredit would probably all offer an account that you could use cheaply there as I'm sure would most big banks (Banco Popolare, Banco Popolare di Milano, and the one from Siena with the long name that I can't remember). You could try opening a Euro account with Barclays here then use it with Barclays Italia once you're in Italy. I think most Barclays Italia are in the North though.

Or you could get a prepaid Mastercard from FairFX, use internet banking to put your grant onto it and withdraw it from a bancomat. Then there's Halifax Clarity and Santander Zero if you want a credit card and you can get accepted.

By the way, can you tell me how much the Erasmus grant is at the minute. I'm going to Italy with Erasmus in a few years but there doesn't seem to be an actual figure online.

kw1_2

Thanks very much for this, you've obviously been much more organised with this than me! I think the Barclays idea sounds good, I will be in the north so that shouldn't be a problem.
We have been told that our erasmus grant is approx £3000 for a full year of study abroad but I think this changes year to year so don't quote me on that!