I'm sorry to post yet another question about Credit card use but here's the quandary. My 19 year old daughter will be spending her semester abroad at the Univ. of Ireland in Cork mid- August. Presently she does not have a credit card. What she has used in college is a B of A debit/check approval card. That has been easy of us to make deposits as needed for her from home. I thought I read somewhere (can't find it now that you cannot use the B of A visa debit in Europe). Is this true? I believe others have written that it is archaic to use traveller's checks these days. I have two credit cards which I only use when I travel to Italy which are USAA and Capitol One. I can easily give them a call and ask for an extra card in my daughter's name but I was wondering if she can use her B of A debit card to withdraw money as she needs it from her acct. Just wondering if you all could suggest the best direction for this kind of situation. If I have missed threads which repeat all of this please direct me as I know this subject has probably been covered before. Thanks so much for your help. Barb Cabot

Hi Barb,

In terms of using the card for ATM withdrawals, I think the problem with Bank of America is that they charge $5 per withdrawal unless it's at one of their partner banks. These include Barclays in the U.K. but I'm not sure if it includes Ireland. There's more about the charges from different banks on this page. Maybe $5 plus 1% isn't that bad compared to someone else's 3% on a large enough withdrawal, and the card should work.

It's been reported that you shouldn't plan on using a debit card for purchases outside your home country.

I have been unable to use my US debit card for purchases in the Italy. About a year ago on one of the boards here, a Canadian Slow Travler mentioned that she could not get her debit card issued on a Canadian bank to work for purchases in the US. Others may have other experiences. I haven't tried recently (within the last year).

You may or might not want to add your daughter to your credit card. I added my older daughter to a credit card that I didn't use much anymore. I can track money use online and distinguish from my use. I am going to open a new joint credit card for my younger daughter when she starts college in the fall. Keeping this stuff separate makes it easiers to track use. maybe I am too picky about this stuff. My spouse and I don't share any credit cards either, except for one checking account and it's associated debit card.

Letting a college student in a distant place have a credit card, allows her to cope with emergencies better; like in my case car repairs or emergency room visits. I cannot easily get to bank on short notice to transfer funds. Some banks require 3 days after the trasfer, before you can withdrawn. Having it separate allows you to monitor their account and prove trustworthiness.

You might consider a small regional bank or credit union around your hometown. Most of them now tie their debit and credit card accounts together so that you can use it either as a credit purchase or an ATM withdrawal.
They sometimes have more flexibility in making exceptions for their members-especially if you have a banking history with them.
My credit union, which only has offices here in St. Louis, does not charge any withdrawal or conversion fees for foreign AMT transactions.
It may be worth your while to make a few phone calls.
Open a special account just for your daughter and deposit as needed to fund her withdrawals.

Hi Barb,

Just a thought, Mom to Mom, I would not want to send my child off to college, other than locally, without a credit card. I would be much more comfortable knowing he/she would have something more than a debit card available for emergencies. Just my own peace of mind, I guess.

Denise

Barb,

I posted here about a checking account through Fidelity that offers a good deal -- no currency transaction fees, and interest-paying. Plus all ATM withdrawals both in the US and overseas are free (you can use pretty much any bank).

I do have other accounts with Fidelity so I'm not sure whether you need a pre-existing relationship with them to set up this type of account.

Others have mentioned the Capital One money market account, which also has no transaction fees for ATM use overseas. It doesn't work as well as the Fidelity account as a primary checking account though.

- Roz

Hi Andrew, DragonPat,Deborah, DLSC and Roz, Thank you for all the help. I definitely have some direction now and will make necessary phone calls tomorrow. I think I'll request a card for her from Capitol One but I will also investigate the other suggestions. Now to figure out cell phone options...ai yi yi...here I go again. Slowtrav friends you are great!Barb Cabot

For the cell phone, let her get one when she arrives in Cork--all her fellow students will have them and she can follow their recommendations.
The cheapest way may be a prepaid cell phone for local use, plus a long distance calling card (purchasd in Ireland) to use from a landline for lengthy transatlantic calls. Or some variation on this combo.

For a 4 month stint, you might want to consider a global SIM from Telestial like the one that I got to use in Italy.
http://www.telestial.com/view_product.php?PRODUCT_ID=MSIM-PP01
It costs $39 and comes with $10 of talk time. Outgoing calls from ireland are $0.49/min and text messages are free. Incoming calls are free for the receiver, but this SIM is a UK phone number so if you call her phone from the US you have to pay expensive long distance rates. When you get your SIM in the mail, they give you a number to call to connect to the SIM from the US that charges the SIM for the call and that way if you call her from the US, you get the $0.49/minute rate.

If you use the SIM every 6 months you minutes and number does not expire. You can place a brief call at $1.48/min at the US rate to keep the number active.

You can view online what calls have been made. YOu buy time for the SIM online. You can either do it manually to limit the number of calls made or on my case,I have autorefill. When the minutes drop below 5 minutes, Telestial automatically buys me more minutes and charges my credit card. When it charges my credit card, it send an email to me tell me that more minutes have been bought (to keep you aware and prevent I guess unauthorized buying of minutes).

A lot depends on how much your daughter uses the phone and how much she would use it in Ireland. Irish businesses that might call her would have to dial a long distance number. If her use is moderate (unlike my own daughter's use of her US-based cell), the upside is that this global SIM would be available to other family members when they might travel to Europe. If she is going to talk on the phone a lot, it would be better to get her a local SIM for lower per minute usuage.

Is she going to have a laptop? I highly recommend using skype and webcams to communicate. It is free and really wonderful to be able to see each other and do a little show and tell from a distance.

I think it is a big reason why we have not dealt with any homesickness in our almost 2 years of travel. Even my 80 year old mother is an expert on skype now and she had never used a computer before we left. It is that easy to use.

Hi Barb! I agree with Deborah about the credit unions. If you go that route, you might check to see if there is one affiliated with her college that she can join.

Hi Jill! So nice of you to help me out here. I'm checking all possibilities associated with your suggestion. Is the surf up where you are? The daughter in Sardinia has two friends that have just bought boards for 100 euro each and the guy said at the end of 3 months when they leave (they are from UCSB) he will buy them back for the same price! Not a bad deal and she says weather is great at the beach in Poetta and surfs up! Oh to be there today. It's overcast and cold in Long Beach. I'm waiting for the sun! Take care Jill. Barb Cabot

Barb, how exciting for your family to have children taking the opportunity to study abroad. I would have been anxiety-filled... I was when I was sending my daughter to Santa Barbara... and that was just down Highway 101... and even more anxiety when my three children (2 boys and daughter) decided on a month long trip all over Europe. Good luck on your bank and cell phone search.