banking solution whilst abroad Forums

skratt

here's a couple of tips I've discovered for managing money while fulltiming abroad.
1st thing is get a Nationwide B.S. account.
Then IF....you have a nokia phone with WAP (check on nationwides website for phone compatability) you can set it up to do any banking transaction you wish, eg. check balances, transfers etc.
By the way....the nationwide credit card is the ONLY uk card that does'nt charge commission abroad. Also there is no commision for cash withdrawals abroad if using thier debit card.

If you want cheap calls from abroad, get a vodaphone PAYGo phone (make sure its unlocked) and then just buy a cheap sim card from the country you are in. Meaning you pay local rates to call back to UK.

ALSO...if the above phone has GPRS facility ( most of the new ones do, but check ) you can also use it to link with your laptop to get emails.
The best way to connect the laptop to the phone is with bluetooth. If your phone and laptop both have it then ok, if not then adaptors are available but by the time you,ve got these you might as well have got a new phone and a decent laptop.
note. with gprs you only pay for the amount of data you download so getting emails is cheap (providing you arn't dowloading loads of attachments and you are filtering junk) but web pages will be expensive.

summary (after my waffle) ......

Mobile phone with WAP, BLUETOOTH, GPRS, VODAPHONE PAYG, VODAPHONE PREPAID GPRS CARD (or equivelent cards from phone shop abroad)
Laptop with BLUETOOTH,
Nationwide accounts, FLEXACCOUNT, E-SAVINGS, CREDIT CARD

Hope this is usefull, Have sent this from a beach near Sagres Portugal and works great. Wink

theboadacea

[quote:a6eb381da5="skratt"]Mobile phone with WAP, BLUETOOTH, GPRS, VODAPHONE PAYG, VODAPHONE PREPAID GPRS CARD (or equivelent cards from phone shop abroad)
Laptop with BLUETOOTH,
Nationwide accounts, FLEXACCOUNT, E-SAVINGS, CREDIT CARD

Hope this is usefull, Have sent this from a beach near Sagres Portugal and works great. Wink

[/quote:a6eb381da5]

Flippin eck skratt you are up early! Is the sun beaming down there in Sagres yet? Love the area, when i was there last year, i bought a local made wool jumper (could fit 3 people in it) and spent the rest of the holiday smelling like an old sheep! I loved it, everyone else just gave me a wide berth Very Happy

Thanks for the advice re Nationwide, I was going to look into bank accounts in the next week or so, but you have now done this for me - perfect time saving trick Razz

Are you actually travelling around Europe full time at present? Or just on holiday?

Leigh Very Happy

Anonymous

[quote:3d924fef01="skratt"]
By the way....the nationwide credit card is the ONLY uk card that does'nt charge commission abroad.

[/quote:3d924fef01]

The Caravan Club Credit Card (from Frizzell) does not charge commission for purchases in Europe. As well as this you get a free site night voucher for every £2000 spent, (currently there is a promotion on where you get 2 site night vouchers for every £2000 until Sept I think).

wav

BarryandSue

Excellent post, thanks, Skratt. Just the sort of information a lot of us will need, if not now, at least in the coming months. Very Happy

Barry

Anonymous

[quote:341e000a37="skratt"]By the way....the nationwide credit card is the ONLY uk card that does'nt charge commission abroad.[/quote:341e000a37]

I have used a NationWide Flex card for many years & also have a Nationwide credit card. I also know that Liverpool Victoria credit card also doesn't charge commission in Europe & I think the Saga card has favourable terms for use abroad some other cards can give you free travel insurance. I think it is always wise to check for the best deals as they are constantly changing.
Interested to get some information on where to get sim cards abroad & what are the best deals Rolling Eyes

Also how does the cost of these work out Question

we usually rely on text messaging & use a pay phone if we want to talk. Why do you suggest Vodaphone surely any unlocked phone would work Question

Hope the weather you are having there is better than here getting fed up of our typical British summer this year Sad