Banking Questions

[EpiJunky]

Hey all. I have searched for these questions and have found some opinions, but I wanted to see if there are others, and possibly some up-to-date ones since a couple of the threads I read were nearly a year old. Thanks in advance:

1. Some ppl posting believe its better to open an account on gnd some ppl believe its better to just have an account in the US with an ATM card. For those individuals that just have a US account, what bank are you using that charges the lowest international ATM fee, exchange conversion fee, and other fees? So far I have found this website International or Foreign Conversion Fee Debit Card Comparison (http://www.travelfinances.com/Services/debitcard-conversion-fee-comparison.htm) which shows a decent table of the conversion fees. For those who got a gnd account, whats the downside other than not being to access your account when youre back in the states and the longer wait lines? Lastly, if I open a gnd account, should I have my loan check deposited there or sent home - which will be better if I do open a gnd account?

2. Should I purchase travelers checks and bring those down and cash as necessary, should I bring a decent amount of USD cash and convert as necessary, or a combo of both?

3. Can I use american express in gnd? If not, which is more accepted, discover, visa or mastercard? If people are using credit cards instead of an ATM card to get points/miles/etc which one are they using that has the lowest fees? Individual Credit Card Transaction Fee Comparison (http://www.travelfinances.com/Services/ind-credit-card-transaction-fee-comparison.htm)

Thanks again for any advice!

[sgu09student]

1) depending on what bank you have in your area. i know commerce and compass banks have free international ATM use. and GND banks dont charge for their ATM usage. Bank of America had really high fees for foriegn ATM use.

i found this to be the easiest, and never opened an account in GND.

2) My mastercard was accepted everywhere. But i mostly used cash down there.

3) Not sure about travelers check, i just brought down cash. it might be a hassle to convert travellers checks. cash would be the easiest.

[jaywalk81]

not many places accpt AMEX, better off w/master or visa
with traveler checks, the banks are very picky and anal on the duplication of your signature. if it doesnt look exactly alike they will make you resign over and over again or just wont take it

[RussianJoo]

I opened an account here, besides the initial wait to open an account there were no downside to banking in GND. I use the banks ATM every time i need to withdraw money and that takes like 1min max. there are no fees or anything so i think it's the way to go.
Also brought down a few thousand in cash and deposited the money as soon as i got to the island. And I know a lot of people that use their visa's to do their grocery shopping or pay at a bar, I don't know what type of fees they pay but you can find out by calling your credit card company. I use cash for everything, liquid is the way to go!

[EpiJunky]

Thanks...I think im going to open an account in gnd as there really doesn't seem to be much of a downside. Ill also keep a HSBC account as they seem to have the lowest fees, at least in my area.

When I go back to the us during breaks, whats the best way to get your money converted to us dollars with the least loss of bc of conversion fees/exchange rates? Is it just simply withdrawing money from your gnd account?

[jrosenberg]

hat is that credit card with the vikings again? I am blanking out. Bank one?? Anyway if you have any idea what I am talking about they have no fee in foreign countries. We brought down like $500 US to have but I did not want more money than that lying around. Also did not want the hassle of going to the bank and opening up an account. You also have to go deal with the poperwork to close it before you leave as well. I used an ATM card from Citibank-fee was minimal but I just took out money like twice a month and I used my mastercard everywhere. very few places took Amex. I don't like walking around with a lot of cash on me so using my credit card was perfect. Travelers checks was just a major hassle. Brought some down first semester and never used them.

[jaywalk81]

the one with the vikings is capital one. their commercial is annoying.

[EpiJunky]

thanks all. Already have a capital one which is great...

[RussianJoo]

hat is that credit card with the vikings again? I am blanking out. Bank one?? Anyway if you have any idea what I am talking about they have no fee in foreign countries. We brought down like $500 US to have but I did not want more money than that lying around. Also did not want the hassle of going to the bank and opening up an account. You also have to go deal with the poperwork to close it before you leave as well. I used an ATM card from Citibank-fee was minimal but I just took out money like twice a month and I used my mastercard everywhere. very few places took Amex. I don't like walking around with a lot of cash on me so using my credit card was perfect. Travelers checks was just a major hassle. Brought some down first semester and never used them.

What paper work for closing the account? you just bring back your atm card and withdraw all your money and that's it. or i even know people that just withdrew their money and through out the atm card.. you guys make it sound like going to the bank is as painful as going to the dentist... You don't even have to open an account with the bank on campus. other banks have much smaller lines and are open a lot later than the bank on campus.

EPIJUNKY you should just bring enough to last you the time you're in gnd that way you won't have to convert anything to bring home during breaks. keep whatever bank account u have in the states now and just bring down a couple of thousand or deposit your loan check to use for food and whatever else u want to do on the island. If you live on campus you won't need that much money cause you won't have to pay for rent.

You guys make such a big deal about all this.

[EpiJunky]

my only concern with that is bringing such a great deal of money and not truly having somewhere secure (shy of bringing a minisafe with me) to place it except for the bank....how did you secure it?

[tralfaz]

One of the main reasons I never opened up a gnd account was that I did not feel comfortable dumping all of my loan money there. Even with atm costs, it still was reassuring to me that the money was in a us bank, and that I could access it anytime I wanted via atm or debit card. As a result, I rarely had to carry money with me. As far as arriving on the island for the first time, do bring some us cash (I think I had a few $100's). That will last you enough to get assimilated. In a week or so, your loan check will be sent home and can easily be deposited by a family member.

In retrospect, shopping around for the lowest international atm fees is a good idea...but it's too late for me:).

[jrosenberg]

my only concern with that is bringing such a great deal of money and not truly having somewhere secure (shy of bringing a minisafe with me) to place it except for the bank....how did you secure it?

That was our problem. Also, I had more than one friend that had money wired to the bank in GND and there was trouble with the transfer and they could not locate the money blah blah. Also, god forbid this happens again but the hurricane created a huge problem. People had their money and loan money in the bank in GND and then were evacuated out of the Island and were in the States with no way to access their money. It was just a huge headache. The only benefit I can see of opening a bank account in GND is no ATM fee. But how often do you go the ATM that a nominal fee is really such a big deal. I agree with Trafalz and I would rather have all my money in a US bank and be done with it. Between taking ot money once a month and using your mastercard it is fine.

Jaywalk-really? I think they are kinda cute :)

[EpiJunky]

most places I looked, that link above is pretty helpful, has a good 2-3% fee for out-of-network atms along with at least a 1% fee for exchanging currency...doesnt that add up after a while?

other than rbtt, anyone have any input on Nova Scotia or National?

Thanks.

[jaywalk81]

rbtt is most convenient as they have a branch and atm on campus, the other 2 you have to go off campus to do everything. wont recommend it.

[RussianJoo]

my only concern with that is bringing such a great deal of money and not truly having somewhere secure (shy of bringing a minisafe with me) to place it except for the bank....how did you secure it?

I brought a few thousand with me just by putting it in my pocket. and I have done this twice already. money isn't made of metal so there's no point in taking it out during security checks, and last i checked no one has x-ray vision to tell if i have a few thousand USD in my pocket.

As for the fees, I go to the bank about once a week to take out a few hundred EC. If I were to use my home bank card they would charge me $2 per transaction so I saved maybe about $100-$150US it might not seem like a lot but if someone paid me $100 to wait in line for 2 hours to open a bank account I would gladly do it, so to me saving $100 is worth it. Also I bring enough to just last 1 or two terms at most. So if a hurricane or anything else happens I will not lose that much money. I never had to wire money or deal with anything else. You just have to know how much you'll probably spend a week or a month and plan accordingly.

[tralfaz]

I brought a few thousand with me just by putting it in my pocket. and I have done this twice already. money isn't made of metal so there's no point in taking it out during security checks, and last i checked no one has x-ray vision to tell if i have a few thousand USD in my pocket.

As for the fees, I go to the bank about once a week to take out a few hundred EC. If I were to use my home bank card they would charge me $2 per transaction so I saved maybe about $100-$150US it might not seem like a lot but if someone paid me $100 to wait in line for 2 hours to open a bank account I would gladly do it, so to me saving $100 is worth it. Also I bring enough to just last 1 or two terms at most. So if a hurricane or anything else happens I will not lose that much money. I never had to wire money or deal with anything else. You just have to know how much you'll probably spend a week or a month and plan accordingly.

Out of curiosity, how much do you stand to lose if you were to withdraw all of the money in your account in us currency? Or can they store it in us dollars?

[mlcal06]

Bank of America had really high fees for foriegn ATM use.


I was wondering if anyone with BofA has experienced this on the island.. they do have a partnership with Scotia bank, and I read other posts saying there were no fees if you withdrew using a Scotia ATM.

However when I just talked to someone from customer service with BofA, and he told me that there are no fees only if you bank with a partnered bank in the country of origin.. so no fees if you use Scotia in Canada..

[oachaudh]

I was reading through the packet that the university sent us
just wondering, in there it says we have to have a savings account for six months before we can open a checking account? any validity or is this outdated and if its true did it pose a problem for anyone?

[djhc]

One of the main reasons I never opened up a gnd account was that I did not feel comfortable dumping all of my loan money there. Even with atm costs, it still was reassuring to me that the money was in a us bank, and that I could access it anytime I wanted via atm or debit card. As a result, I rarely had to carry money with me. As far as arriving on the island for the first time, do bring some us cash (I think I had a few $100's). That will last you enough to get assimilated. In a week or so, your loan check will be sent home and can easily be deposited by a family member.

In retrospect, shopping around for the lowest international atm fees is a good idea...but it's too late for me:).

the check comes to U.S. address? I thought you get it in Grenada :confused:

[RussianJoo]

I was reading through the packet that the university sent us
just wondering, in there it says we have to have a savings account for six months before we can open a checking account? any validity or is this outdated and if its true did it pose a problem for anyone?

If you live on campus you don't need a checking account but maybe off campus you do? but i think people just pay cash. your bills are payed by the land lord i think. u just pay him/her.

[RussianJoo]

Out of curiosity, how much do you stand to lose if you were to withdraw all of the money in your account in us currency? Or can they store it in us dollars?

scotia bank i heard lets you have two accounts an EC one and a US one. but the exchange rate is 1US to 2.67EC, but if you want to buy US$ it will cost your 2.72EC maybe even more? so you would lose 5cents EC which is like 2cents US. but why would you want to withdraw US dollars? everyone is a lot more comfortable using EC than US, i mean every country in the world will take US as currency but it's a lot easier to just use the countries currency.

[RussianJoo]

I was wondering if anyone with BofA has experienced this on the island.. they do have a partnership with Scotia bank, and I read other posts saying there were no fees if you withdrew using a Scotia ATM.

However when I just talked to someone from customer service with BofA, and he told me that there are no fees only if you bank with a partnered bank in the country of origin.. so no fees if you use Scotia in Canada..

I heard the same thing, free use of scotia atms. I have friends who did that in vinnies.

[RussianJoo]

the check comes to U.S. address? I thought you get it in Grenada :confused:


you can chose where to send your check, you can send it home or pick it up when you register or in the financial aid office. And then you can either deposit it or cash it at the RBTT bank on campus. the check is in US$ and i think the bank can cash it in either currency.