What should I do with a stipend I got from a scholarship? I was thinking of opening a EU bank account because it would most likely be easiest... any advice on how to do this? Thanks!
Posted by
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
353 posts
Can you give us a little more information to help us understand your question? I assume you will be in Finland and Hungary on a scholarship. How long will you be there? Is this essentially spending money or do you need to pay rent and tuition from it? Most importantly, will you be paid in euros/forints in Europe or will you be paid in dollars to a US account? I have personal experience with being paid in dollars and it never made sense to transfer the money to an overseas bank account in my particular case. ATM fees to withdraw cash were less than the fees to wire the money. Your details and circumstances may be very different.
Posted by
OP
San Franciso
3 posts
Thank you for responding! I will be in Finland for one semester and hungary for the second and I will recieve one half of the stipend each semester ( not coming home so around 8 months ). I have the first part right now in my savings. the stipend will pay for my air fare, rent, food, activities other travels. my advisor suggested i contact my coordinator in finland about getting and EU bank account but she has not responded yet so I was trying to get some other advice. I have also looked into HSBC a bank that specializes in international traveler banking, etc. and waiting to hear from them as well.
Posted by
OP
San Franciso
3 posts
The stipend is in USD.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
If you will have bills that need to be paid regularly while in Europe, I would go with the foreign account. The reason- not only are travelers checks near useless in Europe, but so are regular cashier's checks. Most of your creditors (landlord, utilities, etc) will likely require that you pay your bills electronically, and the only way to do this with a US-based account is an international wire. If you've never done one of these before, they are somewhat time consuming to arrange and you need to talk directly with your bank over the phone. Having a European-based account, you can just pay your bills online like you would at home. And because you're getting paid in two lump sums, that would minimize your wire fees. One possible complication, though. Hungary does not use the euro, so I'm not sure how integrated their banking system is with the rest of the EU.