Best UK bank account for daughter studying abroad from Sept?

captaingrimes

Long title, sorry! My daughter is due to go to Paris in September for 4 months, then will be studying in Madrid, as the 3rd year of her 4 year language course. I'm looking for suggestions for the best way for her to bank while she's abroad – anyone got any ideas?
Currently she banks with Halifax, but we're looking for the easiest way for her to access cash, pay bills etc while away, and ideally an account where we can pay money in for her in this country, all without incurring complicated transactions and/or charges.
Thanks in advance

jennifernil

She could try for the Halifax Clarity Credit Card. This has no fees to use abroad, and no fees for cash withdrawal. There is interest on cash withdrawals, but this can be minimised by paying it off as soon as possible.

This can be a little complicated as you need to watch how the payments are used. Ideally she needs 2 cards, one for spending, one for cash only. Could you also get a card and make her a second cardholder?

Otherwise there are some accounts that have free debit card use abroad, Metro Bank, Norwich and Peterborough BS.

Check out previous threads on here and also on the "holiday money" board.

atypical

Take a look at the Citi Euro account:
http://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/banking/international/eurocurrent.htm?merchant=citi

Fees free, competitive exchange rate.

SuperHan

Look at the FairFX prepaid master cards. Not a bank account as such, but while I lived in France I had my English bank account and a French bank account (I'd recommend her opening accounts abroad, makes life a lot easier and means she will be eligible for CAF while she's in France at least), and the FairFX card means you can make transactions abroad with no fee. It can be topped up in pounds either by your daughter or by you, and means that if she flies Ryanair she doesn't need to pay the admin charges!

Other than that, since Nationwide changed their accounts, there is no english account that is really any good for being abroad. I used to withdraw money from my Nationwide account at a French ATM and then pay the cash in to my French account. It seemed that Nationwide charged the least for this benefit.