Year abroad : financing

musty

My daughter is about to start her one year abroad starting from 1st October. She will spend oct to jan(07) in germany and then jan (07) to June in France
What is the best banking solution ( I understand that it is quite difficult to open bank accounts in France and germany). She currently banks with HSBC

Any advice?

Peter2006

Hi,

I did my study abroad 2 years ago in Venice, and my banking solution was just as it is in this country - a Barclays student account (and a Barclays current account but that's just down to preference). However I wouldn't recommend this as I of course got charged (as your daughter will if she uses her HSBC account) for withdrawing money.

I actually wrote to Barclays over this, as when I was extending my overdraft they queried why I made many large withdrawals, so I told them it was to avoid so many bank charges & additionally despite in their student guide it advises against carrying large amounts of money around, they're abroad charges encourage you to do so!

Anyway back to your question, I'd look into getting a Nationwide account, as I believe that you can withdraw money abroad without being charged :T I think this is the most sensible method, as setting up a foreign bank account can be a pain, and in fact none of the many people I know who did study abroad did so.

Hope this helps, and tell you're daughter to enjoy it, it's a fantastic experience!

Zziggi

musty wrote:

My daughter is about to start her one year abroad starting from 1st October. She will spend oct to jan(07) in germany and then jan (07) to June in France
What is the best banking solution ( I understand that it is quite difficult to open bank accounts in France and germany). She currently banks with HSBC

Any advice?

First of all I'd advise your daughter get someone to run her HSBC account for her while she is in germany/france. You just pick up a form from the HSBC bank to allow someone to deal with her account while she is abroad. I did this and just got my mum to be able to sign on my account and deal with it.

Unless things have changed in very recent years, it is in fact very easy to open a bank account in Germany once you are there. You just need a passport and your residency papers*. It's straight forward. Once she has an account over there then it is easy to transfer funds from her HSBC account in the UK to her german account if needed.

Once your daughter gets there she will have to register with the Auslaendermelderamt (i think). This basically involves taking in her british passport in to the office with a photo and getting the photo stuck on some identity papers to say she is entitled to live in germany. As an EU citizen it is absolutely straight forward and almost not needed but she will need to register and show this document or else she may have problems with other areas of officialdom while she is there. Welcome to the world of German beaurocracy. They stamp everything with an offical stamp! You need the correct documents for everything! Mind you, having said that, once you do have the correct documents everything usually runs with super-german efficiency!!!

Just out of pure curiosity - where abouts in germany is she going???

musty

Thanks that's great help
In fact if she can open accoun that easily then I''ll simply transfer money from my account to her account in Germany (and yes daddy still has to pay for her!!!)

She's going to Heidelberg... isn't she lucky!!!
:T