Year Abroad Money

chicafeliz

Hello! I'm studying Spanish, about to go on my year abroad. Can anyone tell me what the best way is to manage my money in Spain?
I currently have a student account with HSBC, a flexaccount with Nationwide (I know they're great abroad, but the interest is rubbish) and an ISA, again with Nationwide.
I thought I'd let the HSBC account sit for the year, maybe take out the overdraft and stick it in the ISA, maybe put some in the Nationwide account for emergencies. But what about conversion rates? I'm being paid about 600 euros a month, where do I put this? Open a Spanish bank account? So conffused, so any help would be much appreciated!
Amy

Voyager2002

The Nationwide flexaccount can easily be linked to an on-line savings account, which pays reasonable interest. You can transfer money between these accounts instantly over the web (I did this when living in India: I would do the transfer at a cyber-cafe, walk out to the cashpoint machine and the money would be available to withdraw from my flexaccount).

Don't forget to register any savings account so that you receive interest without tax deducted.

kittycatface

Hol chicafeliz!Be warned Spanish banks don't do overdrafts - found out to my cost on year abroad! I managed my barclays account online while i was away in france because there were branches there, but it might be worth seeing which spanish banks are part of a larger european-wide consortium (like barclays and amro which is dutch are amalgamated, so you could see if nationwide or HSBC have the same deal with some spanish banks then transfers might be cheaper, or free!? Its also worth leaving details of your UK accounts with a trusted family member and a signed letter saying you authorise them to deal, my uni tried to take money out for my fees while i was still away, poor dad was left to deal with the fallout when I went over my overdraft! Hope Spain is wicked

StudentSaver_2

kittycatface wrote: »

it might be worth seeing which spanish banks are part of a larger european-wide consortium (like barclays and amro which is dutch are amalgamated, so you could see if nationwide or HSBC have the same deal with some spanish banks then transfers might be cheaper, or free!?

Abbey is owned by a Spanish group called the Santander group. I think they have loads of branches in Spain.