Banking and Money

[SunDevil2008]

To US citizens going to school in St. Lucia:

Where do you do your banking on the island?

Are things typically bought with the US dollar, caribbean dollar, or with a visa card?

Any additional comments on this?

Thank you!!!

[iaustudent06]

Exchange your U.S. money for EC at a real bank or the airport. You won't get full amount if converting US to EC at the store, they usually round down to 2.5 instead of the 2.65 (or whatever it is now.) Don't charge if possible, there is an international conversion fee in most cases of 1-3%. Same thing for atm charges, the St. Lucian bank has their own fee, in addition to you bank which might charge an international withdrawal fee, even if they have "no fee" option which is only for domestic transactions. The Lucian banks will also tell you that they will cash/deposit your check in 6 weeks, but I've seen it usually take 3-4 months.

[rspr41]

Personally if you get a Bank of America Account you will not get charged anything because one of the banks right by the school Scotia bank is affilated with BOA. You can get withdrawls and use your check card down on the island as a normal card without any fee's or anything. That is your best bet. Takes about two minutes to set up a BOA account in the states so it is worth your while to do it.

[SunDevil2008]

That is great to know. So you regularly use your BofA debit card down there and you have no charges or anything?

Thank you very much for your information!