Year Abroad Finances

This post may be a little bit case-specific to be useful for most, but hopefully it is useful to some people. I wish I had more advice on finances before I started my Year Abroad, as at times I have been tripped up by banks or my university.

Banking in Spain

When I arrived in Spain opening a Spanish bank account was high up on my list of things to do, as I thought that I would really need one for life in Spain to be easy. However it turned out that opening an account in Spain ended up doing exactly the opposite, namely just causing me problems. We had seen ESN advertising Santander accounts and thus, decided that we would open a Santander account to transfer a large amount of money from an English account into the new Spanish account. That way I would only incur the charge for transferring money internationally once, and then could use the Spanish account to transfer my rent money once a month and in shops and at cash points.

So we headed down to the Santander branch that is located in the Facultad de ciencias economicas y empresariales, on La Caleta. Once we arrived we spoke to one of the two men who were working there and explained that we wanted to open an account. We had taken our passports as they are needed to open an account, and it didn’t take long, although the representative had tried to sell us lots of extra things along the way, all of which we had turned down. We left with a few pieces of paper and assurances that our cards would be arriving in the post soon and that we would just have to ring up and activate them.

So we waited and as the cards showed up at the house and Alice was the first to ring up to activate hers, but the people on the other end of the phone were very rude and laughed at her whenever she got flustered. I was a little put off by this, and even more so when we went into Santander to ask about setting up a standing order for our rent only to find out that we would be charged €3 extra each time as our landlady used a different bank.

By this time it was the due day for rent, so I asked my landlady how I could pay it without a Spanish bank account and she said that I could take the cash into a branch of her bank and give them her bank details and hand over the money. This was surprisingly easy and there was no extra cost incurred, so I resolved to abandon my Spanish Santander account as it was proving to be more trouble than it was worth and instead to pay be cash in future. I was able to withdraw cash for free from Santander cash points using my Santander card linked to my UK Santander account.

So although it was a bit of a pain only being able to use a Santander cash point, especially when my nearest one often decides not to work, it turned out cheaper for me just to use that card.

Source

In December some of the other girls who had opened Santander accounts received phone calls telling them that they had to pay a fee for being foreign and opening an account. I didn’t get this call so assumed that because I had not activated my account that I didn’t have to pay it. I resolved to close the account before I went home for Christmas, but in the end completely forgot about it.

When I returned to Cádiz there was a letter from the bank, saying that I had incurred a €40 fine for not paying the €6 fee for opening an account. I was rather shocked to say the least so headed to the bank to argue it out. I had to go to the branch near to Plaza de Flores, as the one in the Facultad de ciencias economicas y empresariales wasn’t able to take money from me. In the end after explaining that I had been at home for Christmas and knew nothing about this fee they allowed me just to pay the €6 for opening the account. I then asked if I could now close the account, but the woman behind the desk told me that they weren’t able to do it there, so I will now be heading back to the Facultad de ciencias economicas y empresariales to close my account and I hope that will be the end of it.

However, there are some situations in which you will need a Spanish bank account, for example if your landlord will not set up the internet under their name, one person in the flat will need a Spanish account to pay for the internet contract. I am not entirely sure what account I opened with Santander, but there must be a good one somewhere because ESN were advertising a Santander account that was apparently very good. And clearly this was not the one that we were sold by Santander, so be cautious and careful when dealing with Spanish banks!

Alternatives to a Spanish Bank Account

If you don’t want to go through the hassle and expense of opening a Spanish account then there are good alternatives.

Using a UK card – Make sure that you check to see if you will be charged for withdrawals from cash machines, or paying by card in shops. It may be that you are able to withdraw cash free of charge like I can (even if only from certain cash machines).

CantonFX card – I would recommend getting one of these; you can top it up with money from your existing accounts online and then use the chip and pin card in shops and at cash points all over the world. This is very useful especially if you want to do a little bit of travelling to other countries whilst on your Year Abroad.

Erasmus Grant

The first thing that I can say about Erasmus grants is: please do not rely on it! Be prepared to have to live without it. You will probably receive it in October once you have returned forms to your home university. However, you could be unfortunate like people from Birmingham University who received theirs in December, and for the most part received less than they had been expecting.

We are now wasting a lot of time debating the amounts with our university and in some cases people have been told that they will have some of their grant taken away from them. So please don’t rely on it for rent or anything else, as you may be unlucky. The amounts you will receive varies depending on which band your year abroad country is in, and how much time you spend there. But generally you should receive 70% of your total grant in the first semester then the other 30% towards the end of the second semester.

Source

Tuition Fees and Loans

For your Erasmus year tuition fees are dropped and you will (generally) be eligible to receive a higher loan. But remember that you have to update the forms online to tell student finance that you are going on Year Abroad. I forgot to do this and so my first loan installment was late.

Initial set-up costs

I would recommend having an amount saved for the first few weeks of your Year Abroad to help pay the initial costs of living. There will be lots that you will have to cover, first month of rent and a deposit, initial food shop, where you will need all the staples that are usually taken for granted and some flats do not come with bed linen or towels so these may need to be purchased too.

Add to this the cost of lots of socializing and getting to know your new home and you can easily end up spending up to €1, 000 in your first month in Spain. So having some money set aside for this will help, especially if your loan or Erasmus grant are late.

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