i took $1500, but i should have took more-rent takes a big chunk of your wages and the rest just gets frittered away (i didnt like doing overtime on my days off, so i probebly could have made more money than i did-but its not about the money really)
I think i've already posted this in another thread..But i took $800 and comfortably survived..this included quite a few nights out in the first 2 weeks and also a trip to universal..and quite a few others things..like my $120 shopping bill at walmart!! haha.. It just depends how silly you want to go really! I no people that took less and i no people that took more..its just up 2 u at the end of the day..You can survive whatever you take really..within reason!!
i took about $800 last year too and seemed to have taken the most out, out of all the people i knew and i survived okay!
I started off with 500 dollars, but ended up charging a lot tomy mom's credit card throughout the summer. That was mostly because of the whack system in america where they don't have a real debit card system. U get an ATM card which just gets money from the ATM or a Visa Check Card which works kind of like a visa. I did not know this when I go there, so I jsut got the ATM card. I didn't liek to carry cash so I ended up spending tons on my mom's card! So make sure if u dont' bring a credit card, to get a check card from Vista. I will be this year. Credit Cards are a good idea,though, as it's a new place and you may encounter the odd emergency and not have any cash on you. Brynna
can you get online access to the disney banking system? As I'm thinking the easiest thing to do would transfer some money into my account at home and then get a better exchange rate by using my debit card over there (although it confuses the feck out of them... apparently a visa debit card is unheard of out there!). Although then I guess you'd lose money by changing back into pounds first so maybe not such a great idea! Maybe I should just have money in that account that I can use my debit card with... and maybe I should also stop thinking out loud!
Best bet, get a Visa Check card with Vista and have direct deposit for paychecks. Then use that. It's costly to exchange currencys. Far as I know u can bank online with Vista, I just havent' tried. Maybe I should check that out. I still have my account from last year.
sorry, I'm confused- is the check card more like a debit or credit card? Only there is no way I'm trusting myself out there with lots of cheap clothes and Disney merch with a credit card, my bank balance is depressing enough without one!
A check card is a debit card - although, when you use it they always ask 'credit or debit?' even though it's a debit card...i never understood that. I always said debit to be on the safe side If you're an ICP they get you to sign up for a Vista account in the first few days and tell you to tick the savings account option - don't. With a savings account you just get an ATM card which you can only use to get cash out. It is a lot more convenient to has a debit card, trust me It doesn't cost any more money to open a checking account (I.e. a current account - you just need to put $25 in it) but they don't tell you about it at the meeting. It might be less hassle, thinking about it, to just open the savings account first and then go down to the Vista branch at Disney U and ask to open a checking account too - it took me about 5 minutes (and was the one example of good service I ever got from that sodding bank!) Personally if I go back in October I would rather shove red-hot pokers down my fingernails than open a Vista account again, but that's just me. I'll be off to Suntrust. Oh and yes, Vista do do online banking and once you got used to the system it was pretty easy. You can't do much more than transfer money between accounts though.
Yeah think of the cheque card as a credit card, although instead of billing you it pulls the money out of your account, and if you spend more money than is in your account you will get charged fees, so you actually have to be careful with one. Vista does have online banking but I could NEVER get it to work for me when I was down there, and the people at the bank were no help there either.
Banks have changed now... You can use a Canadian (What we call) "Debit Card" in the states. For example (From TD CanadaTrust) Travelling to the U.S.? Take your TD Canada Trust Access Card with you. Using your debit card to make purchases in the U.S. is a convenient and safe alternative to carrying large amounts of cash. Use your Access Card and the same PIN you use in Canada to pay for purchases in the U.S.* The amount of the purchase is debited immediately from your account as a self-serve transaction at the U.S.-Canadian exchange rate in effect that day. You can use your Access Card at over one million U.S. retailers displaying the NYCE logo. For more information on foreign exchange and currencies, contact your local branch. * Your purchase will be debited immediately from your Canadian Dollar account as a self-serve transaction. Included in the currency exchange cost will be a conversion fee which is calculated by adding an additional 250 basis points to the interbank U.S. Dollar exchange rate. For example, on a purchase of $10 US with an exchange rate of 1.3, the transaction amount will be $13.25 CDN ($10 x 1.325). And I know with Scotiabank, if you bank take money out through Bank of America there are no service fees, and the exchange rates are very reasonable... Hope that helps even a little bit, I know the TD one is just a lot of info...
Hey I have a HSBC debit card, do major shops ect, accept debit cards, or can I only use atm machines? And if so do I get charged for using it.
You probably won't be able to use it as a debit card in shops (you can in Walgreens though I think, bizarrely), but you can use it to withdraw money at an ATM. How much you get charged is proportional to how much you withdraw, but it starts at £1.75, so it can get quite expensive.
I used my Nationwide one (to pay for stuff and to take money out) in Canada and that was absolutely fine- no charges or anything. Like I said in another thread, it confused the hell out of their tills (Visa debits don't exist out there apparently, so they had to put it through as a credit card and have me sign, rather than type my pin in, but it worked just the same as it would a debit card thank GOD!) Anyway, I'm assuming (and hoping) it'll be alright in the states as well. It's probably best to talk to someone at HSBC because all the banks seem to have different policies, just to make life nice and complicated!
is yours a maestro? thats what i have and i seem to be having some right problems with it. it wasnt accepted by the embassy to pay for the visa and i couldnt pay my sevis fee with it. so im not very hopefully about being able to use it in the states!
The problem is that a majority of places down there don't even have debit systems. Some do, but most do not. As for Canadian cards, they work just fine in the bank machines (at a 2.00 cost to withdraw funds each time). U'd still be better off getting a chequing account with vista I think. I know I'll be doing so.
I used my barclays connect card in Diesel international and at publix..Not sure about other shops tho..I would have thought HSBC was similair to my barclays one..but you best check up with them..
im goin to work for the yr on the crp in december, but i have a question-i did the summer programme in summer 05, and i oppened an account with vista fvederal credit union-ive still got the card-will that acount still be open, after having not been touched for nearly 2 years? or will i have to open a new account?
I think it depends if u left money in there, cause i think they required something like 3 dollars a month to keep the account going.
If its still open..You will probably be in debt on it..So i would probably avoid the question if i was you.. Apparently if you don't have the money to pay that $3 admin fee every month, they just take it off still and let you go in the minus..Thats what i heard anyway..But most people closed there's when we finished the program..
