Study Abroad - best way to take money

kateo

My son will be going to Canada in Jan 2013 for a semester in Calgary Uni.

I'm just wondering if anyone here has experience of this, & the best way to get his money out there eg Travellers' Cheques, Money Transfer when he has opened a bank account, banker's draft?

His uni here doesn't seem to have given him much advice.

Thank you

Person_one

I studied abroad in the US for a bit.

I took a small amount of cash for the first few days and a pre-loaded American Express card for the first few weeks, food shopping, bedding, getting about etc.

Then I opened a basic bank account once I was over there, made big transfers from my British bank account with each student loan payment and used the American one for day to day stuff to avoid debit card and ATM charges.

If he has an account over there make sure he knows the rules for closing it, mine had to have a zero balance for 7 days before it could be closed, so I had to work around that for the last week or so or it'd still be open!

How long is a semester though?

kateo

Cheers for imput.

The semester is about 4 mths - til May.

I have just spoken to Coop bank - & it seems they will do cash & Travellers Cheques commision free - that he can then deposit in a local Canadian bank.

Thanks for the heads up about zero balance to close to close an account - will remind him to read the small print!

V_Chic_Chick

When I worked in Australia temporarily (for these purposes, it was a lot like studying abroad . . . but without the studying) I took travellers cheques and deposited them in a local bank account. I then transferred money from my UK bank account to my Australian bank account at appropriate points (e.g. when a rather hefty tax rebate came in). I needed an Australian bank account both for being paid by my employers, and so that I could avoid ATM and transaction fees.

I never bothered closing my bank accounts (I had two) - I didn't see the point, so they're still there if I ever go back out to Australia.

NXV839

I studied in Canada and I found the best thing to do was use my HSBC student account. Often in the US/Canada there are basic charges for opening a bank account, using it, taking money out, moving funds from a UK account to a Canadian one etc. It's a nightmare of hidden charges. HSBC charges hardly anything for using it abroad (as it likes to pride itself on being "the worlds local bank" and all that jazz). If I used a cash machine I'd just take out a lot at once and pay $3 or something like that. Using in shops etc I paid about 1% fee on whatever I bought. Definitely worked out cheaper than opening a bank account and getting use to all of the new terms and conditions.

kevin14433

Hi,
Actually I do have a little knowledge about your problem. Actually my girlfriend was their in Canada at Grant McEwan university near to Calgary. She had opened her account in university and her father use the "Money Gram" to transfer money to Canada. Your son need a ID proof and a passport photograph their to get money in his bank account.

Thanks