hey guys,
I'm really confused abt the banking system! I heard tht they charge u ~1% even to take out money from the bank and ATM charges are even higher. So how do we manage? i.e. is it ok to keep a fair amount of cash on u? or not safe?
and do most stores accept credit cards? visa/mastercards? i.e. we can use credit cards to buy from grocery stores etc...?
let me know
thanks

i read somewhere that many stores take credit card, so just do that and pay it online to avoid fees. Use ATM for semi-large withdrawals and try to get money in the NA currency b/c some ppl might try to rip off the exchange rate.

thats what I plan on doing, use credit card for as many things as I can and ATM as second resort

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Saba University

Fall 07'

In my experience (others feel free to correct me) I've only been charged a fee by my own bank when using either of the two ATMs on Saba. My bank calls it "other ATM network fee" and it recently went up from $2 to $5. Yikes! We're switching to my husband's debit card from now on. I always take out the daily maximum so that I minimize the number of trips to the ATM and the cost per withdrawal. I think the ATM in The Bottom gives out a maximum of $300 per transaction, regardless of your own bank's daily maximum, so it makes more sense to use the ATM in Windwardside.

Unless you have an account with them, the banks here charge you a percentage of your withdrawal. That can get pretty expensive and I wouldn't recommend it.

Personally, I wouldn't rely on credit cards alone. This is Saba and electricity does occasionally go off. God forbid, there might even be a hurricane and you might find yourself in need of cash and with no way to get it. Check with your credit card provider because some of them (not all) charge a foreign transaction fee.

There's a 10% discount at the grocery stores on Wednesdays and Saturdays when you pay cash and food's not cheap here so the discount is nothing to scoff at. Keep in mind that your landlord may only take cash so plan accordingly. I wouldn't say that the stores cheat you out of money simply because you're not using the local currency. With one exception, which was a quickly corrected mistake on the part of the cashier, I never paid more in USD than I would've in guilders. The only place you should pay close attention to what you're being charged is the gas station. Get guilders for that. It makes things easier.

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Cristina, wife of Saba med student. May 2007
Three semesters down, two more to go.

can you use the ATMs to withdraw USD from a canadian chequing account?

Thank u for ur feedback!
But how much do the banks charge u? i.e. I was thinking of opening an account there cuz I thot it wouldn't be safe to keep too much cash on me! so if I do open an account and later on, I need to take money out, how much would I be charged, let's say on a $500?

Which bank in Saba do most students use and find convenient to open an account with?

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An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
-Mohandas Gandhi

RBTT

i used to have an account, but i closed it and dont see the reason for having one. they charge $10 per month if you have the bank card.

you can always use your interac card in bottom...

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Saba University...

Yes. We simply withdrew right from our chequing, savings or line of credit. You are charged a withdrawal fee from your own bank. Your bank also gives you the US exchange rate on that day (which is often better than the Saba banks would charge). It is really no problem at all. We could make two $500 US withdrawals each day (to reach our daily withdrawal limit of $1000 as established by our bank at home.) We had no trouble with this at all.

I find opening an account on Saba unnecessary. I know people like the reassurance of having an account there but really, most never use them.

R/

hey guys, I need to know if the ATM machines have the STAR or CIRRUS logo cuz my card can only do ATM transfers with those types of machines, not PLUS. Can someone who's done banking confirm. Also can you use visa debit cards to make purchases?

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Saba University

Fall 07'

Which card were u using before tht increased its fee from $2->$5? I hope that's not Scotiabank cuz htat's the one I'd be using!