Banking - Erasmus year in Perugia

etcomehome

Hi, My son is taking an Erasmus Year in Perugia, Italy and we are trying to find the best option for him to access money whilst living there. A company called Eduservices offer an "Italina Bank Account

There is altogether a one off charge of €30 for activation and a €1 monthly fee. Thereafter there are no charges for using the cash machines to withdraw money. You also have to sign a form giving Eduservice authorisation to represent you with the bank.

Does anyone know of any potential pitfalls with this? It otherwise seems a reasonable way to arrange short term banking for a student studying abroad.

I would appreciate any comments or views on this.

fraserbooks

I don't know about Eduservices but when my son was studying in Spain he was able to use a normal Santandar account without problems. My daughter has recently returned from working near Monza and she used her normal bank account and cash card.

Voyager2002

The simple and affordable solution is to open an account with Metrobank or (depending on where you live) Cumberland Building Society, or simply get a Halifax clarity credit card.

DCFC79

A Monzo card maybe or even a Revolut card, get a couple set up so he has a spare in case 1 doesn't work.

etcomehome

Thanks. My son does have a Santander Account but we wanted to avoid charges for currency exchanges as he will be there for 9 months and withdrawing cash on a regular basis.