<p>Money and Phone
My son will be studying in England in the spring semester 2012. What is the best form of paying for things other than exchanging dollars for pounds- debit or credit? I'm not sure of the pros and cons of each. Are the charges then converted from pounds to dollars and deducted from his American bank account or, in the case of credit, converted and appear on the credit card statement? Are there extra fees involved with either? Would he use his American card as he does over here? What if he travels to another country? Do they just convert at their exchange rate? Are there special cards for students? I come from the days of travelers checks! Ancient history!</p>
<p>What is the best way to have a phone? Do you use your U.S.cell phone or is there a different phone/plan to look into? Email will be a fine way to communicate, but the phone would be convenient to use for "local" calls or to us here in the States for emergency.</p>
<p>Any help would be appreciated and will at least get me started on the right track. I want to keep the expenses down as much as possible, even though it will be coming out of his pocket for the most part. Thanks!</p>
<p>P.S. I did post in the Study Abroad Forum, but thought I'd try here as well.</p>
<p>D2 studied in London last fall. We found a Capital One card to be the best in terms of fees for currency conversion (none), Orange (in England) the best for buying a phone for international calls (and Skype of course), regular email the best for getting in touch across time zone differences…and biting our tongues the best for dealing with letting go across long distances. :)</p>
<p>My daughter will also be studying abroad in England (Cheltenham) in the spring (Lord willing). I know that she will be learning lots of hints and facts in her meetings at college, but I’d also like to pick some brains of people who have been there/done that.</p>
<p>A debit card is a good way to access cash. You get the bank exchange rate rather than the tourist rate you would get with travelers checks. </p>
<p>Buy a pay as you go mobile phone over there. You can get a basic one very cheaply. Phone warehouse is a good source. Shop around for a sim card over that has the benefits you want. I use a vodaphone one that includes free international minutes every time I top it up (a 20 pound top up gives 200 free international minutes).</p>
<p>Our son’s experience is older than that of stradmpm’s son. So double-check this if it looks promising. Schwab had banking options that worked out well for our son, and he used vodaphone for pay-as-you-go service. </p>
<p>Just make sure your bank’s debit card pin meets the country’s standards. I"ve been lucky so far in European countries, but I’ve heard stories… worth contacting the bank/credit card and letting them know the cardholder will be abroad, (And check that a 4 digit pin will work; some are now 6 digit.)</p>
<p>England is a 4 digit PIN # (at least it was in July).</p>
<p>I’m not sure about bank accounts for students. My friends daughter was there a couple of winters ago for a study abroad semester and found she could not open an account. I can’t remember the exact reason - I think it was the length of time she was going to be there.</p>
<p>There are a lot of newish rules - some of them because of US rules. My UK bank was going to cancel my UK credit card because I didn’t have a residence there any more (and I am a British citizen). I had to have the account address changed to my Mum’s house in order to keep the card. (I rarely use it, but like to have it for convenience - ordering flowers for Mum etc).</p>
<p>ditto on capital one cc, no exchange fees. my son was in London for a year, thru June, we opened a gold citibank account, also no exchange fees for ATM, he brought an unlocked phone and purchased minutes and data at better rate than back home. skype was great, google voice had free calls to the U.S. but that may have ended couple months back.</p>
<p>Son got a Capital One card, it was in my name but his card has his name on it. We were fortunate that our local bank did allow international ATM withdrawals without fees. </p>
<p>Son was in Germany and got a local sim card and put it in his phone. He was pretty stingy with it, so he mostly Skyped with us. </p>
<p>One thing son thought was important was the right plugs to keep his electronics going. His power strip didn’t work, but I can’t remember the reason, but stopping into an electronics store might be one of the first things he wants to do.</p>
<p>Our son spent last fall semester on study abroad in the UK. Based upon his experience ( as well as his twin sister in Italy this past Spring) your son will need a debit card and a credit card if he has one or you can add him to your account. Be sure thevbank that handles his ATM is aware he will be traveling overseas. ( **We split up responsibilities in getting everything ready for both kids’ departures-I know everyone has different feelings on letting or having your child do everything) Our bank made the transitions from Wachovia to Wells Fargo while DS was in UK and it contributed to a major banking lapse for him and other students on the trip. </p>
<p>For local and long distance phone calls, like many students on his trip, he purchased a phone and coverage through Orange. Initially, there were very few problems with Orange, but there were a number of areas in 2010 in Ireland and Wales where he had non or limited coverage. Since he also did some traveling throughout Europe the Orange service was not great. When our daughter traveled in Italy in the Spring of this year, we purchase a phone and minutes from OneSimCard. She had the phone before she left and it had excellent coverage at rates better than Orange. You might want to check into that as an option. </p>
<p>Ditto BerneseMtn on plugs. Small things like that can make a big difference in comfort and efficiency while traveling out of the country.</p>
<p>D did a 4 week study abroad program this past summer. She had her own debit card through BOA; she called them before she left to let them know the dates she’d be out of the country as well as where she’d be. They assured her that her 4 digit pin would be fine (and it was.) For typical purchases, she would take out a set amount of money per week from the local bank that had a reciprocal agreement with BOA (in England it was Barclays) as many of the smaller merchants don’t take debit or credit cards for smaller purchases.</p>
<p>She was advised to also have a credit card. Since she doesn’t work, she would have had to apply, be rejected for lack of income then reapply with us as co-signers. Since the turnaround time was tight, DH just called our credit card company & had them send another card with her name on it. She isn’t building her credit history that way, but we needed her to have it. If your son doesn’t have a credit card yet, there’s enough time for him to get one totally in his own name, if that’s what you/he want. </p>
<p>Re: plug converters. D & DH spent time going to various stores & finally found the “right” converter plus in Radio Shack. Except when she got to the U.K. it was the wrong one. She was able to buy one quickly & close to campus for 4 pounds. She also waited to buy all her toiletries there as well. </p>
<p>Phone: we had a friend who had just been working in the U.K. and he gave her his “pay as you go” phone before she left. It was preloaded with 20 pounds which she blew through when she called from the airport to say she’d landed. We made her load the phone again so while traveling around the U.K. she could contact her professors & classmates, but I’m not sure if she really used it. Skype & facebook chat was how she communicated with friends & family stateside.</p>
<p>Passport: make copies of his picture page of his passport. D’s group was told to put a copy in each of their pieces of luggage & I kept a copy at home as well. One kid in her group did need to make the trip to the U.S. Embassy in London due to a lost passport, so better safe than sorry.</p>
<p>D in London now. I took an old ATT phone I had and unlocked it (ATT actually gave me instructions). She used orange when she got there because that’s what her friends did but Three is much better rates. Many of her friends brought their blackberrys with them and used them- not sure how that worked.
D has BOA credit card and debit card. She gets cash from Barclays since its the only thing without fee. I had to break her habit of using debit card for everything. If he is going to London, get ready for it to be very expensive!!!</p>
<p>My daughter hopes to go abroad to UK next year for a year. She was told debit cards were best and Capital One came up more than once. Citi also was on a study abroad site as another card without international fees.
She didn’t get names of phones yet, they told her to wait and that information, sometimes changing, she can research when it’s closer. I know some parents, as stated already, have found cheaper rates here, some not.
I know coverage is a big deal if traveling, one dad I work with was distraught for 2 days with no communication from his daughter, but she told him later, her phone just didn’t work. That’s important, not just to parents, but to reach anyone there.</p>
<p>One thing I remember from another student, was buying tickets for trips, events ahead of time and her school has a session on not getting ripped off by “tourist” traps with things like that. I’m sure if students talk to past abroad students and directors, they will have a wealth of information.</p>
<p>For those of you posting – can you please clarify recommendations for these three cards?</p>
<p>Credit Card Go with Capital One because there is no fee for converting the charge in pounds to the bill in dollars.</p>
<p>ATM Card Bank of America is good because your student can withdraw pounds from a Barclay’s Bank ATM with no ATM fee. Is there a fee to exchange from account in dollars to the pounds withdrawal?</p>
<p>Debit Card I don’t have a debit card so I am least informed on this. Presumably the Bank of America ATM card could be used as a Debit card (albeit with the new $5/month BoA fee). Does Bank of America charge a conversion fee each time the debit card is used? Are debit cards widely accepted in England?</p>
<p>If your card doesn’t have chip and PIN, then the main place that this causes problems is at train/tube stations for buying tickets. Only chip and PIN cards can be used in the ticket machines as the PIN has to be entered for the card to be processed. You will have to queue up at a ticket booth for your card to be swiped. Might seem a small thing but can get annoying at busy times when there are long lines…</p>
<p>Oh and debit cards are very widely used here… </p>
<p>Many budget airlines charge for using credit cards whereas debit cards are free or incur a much lower charge. Some other businesses also operate this policy. I recommend a joint debit/ATM card if possible</p>
<p>As much as I hate B of A…when my son studied abroad in London, it was nice to be able to access his accounts through Barclays there…and as I recall, there was no ATM fee to do so.</p>
<p>Have your student get an Orange mobile phone when he gets to London. They are not expensive and operate on a pay as you go basis…you can get “minutes” at just about every little store in London.</p>
<p>Make sure she and you have Skype on your computers (and smart phones if you have them). My daughter is in third world Africa and if we can communicate with her there, then it should be a breeze to do so with a student in London.</p>
<p>Re: travel…actually isn’t there some student travel thing that kids get? I forget the name of it, (international student ID card…maybe??)…My kid did NOT book trips abroad from London in advance of leaving the U.S. He and his friends did this from London throught some place that a lot of students used. It was a LOT cheaper for him to book these little excursions there than it would have been from here. PLUS he really didn’t have his trip plans in his head before he left here…or the exact dates of his breaks from school or the end of the term.</p>
<p>London is a great city and there are a lot of students who study abroad there.</p>
<p>S is presently in UK and has a BofA debit card. We didn’t look into this before he left but there are charges for using this card for purchases. We just learned that our local bank does not charge for transactions abroad so we are working on getting a debit card to him from there. We’re hoping that works!</p>