You should organize your finances and plan ahead.\u00a0 For your initial expenses, experience suggests that you should have immediate access to approximately 1,500\u20ac (make sure that your bank account allows you to withdraw enough cash while in Spain). This should cover your stay in a hostel or hotel upon arrival, your first month\u2019s rent, book purchases, personal expenditures, as well as allow for unanticipated expenses. We also advise you to change $200 into Euros before arrival or at the Madrid airport.<\/p>\n
It is a good idea to get a credit card for use in Spain.\u00a0 Visa and MasterCard are the most widely accepted cards in Spain and Europe. American Express is valid in most of the larger establishments in Madrid, but in smaller cities it is less likely to be accepted.<\/p>\n
Throughout Spain and Europe it is possible to use credit and debit cards to get cash from a bank during business hours or from ATMs.\u00a0 Students should make sure their cards are valid for international cash use.\u00a0 Ask your bank if you will need a valid international PIN and if possible, get a chip-based card prior to departure. Check what the daily (and in some cases weekly) limit is for withdrawing funds, as well as the bank fee charged per withdrawal.\u00a0 Also notify your bank before you leave for Spain so it will know you will be using your ATM and credit cards overseas and will not cancel or block them after the first use.<\/p>\n
You may open a checking account in Euros (cuenta <\/em>estudiante<\/em>). If you open a bank account in Spain, you can have money transferred to it from the U.S., but consult your U.S. bank and compare fees with institutions that may offer less expensive, international transfers, such as\u00a0Wise or Xoom (see links below).\u00a0 If your U.S. bank has a set amount per ATM withdrawal rather than a percentage of the amount withdrawn, another option to consider is to ask your bank to increase the amount you can withdraw so you can then deposit a larger sum into your Spanish bank account from which you can withdraw smaller amounts with little or no fee by using that bank\u2019s ATM. Students may ask staff in Spain about how to open an account in Euros. This option is especially advantageous for students who plan to live with host families or plan to stay in Spain for the whole academic year.<\/p>\n Before you leave, you should discuss and plan with your family how to get more money in an emergency. Check Western Union details and service fees, credit card services, and ATM availability.<\/p>\n Residencias require a money transfer to reserve a room (deposit). Once in Spain, students may take out cash to pay their rent or continue to pay by wire transfer. You should organize your finances and plan ahead.\u00a0 For your initial expenses, experience suggests that you should have immediate access to approximately 1,500\u20ac (make sure that your bank account allows you to withdraw enough cash while in Spain). This should cover your stay in a hostel or hotel upon arrival, your first month\u2019s rent, book purchases, personal expenditures, as well<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":94,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullwidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-99","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolsabroadhandbooks.middcreate.net\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/99","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolsabroadhandbooks.middcreate.net\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolsabroadhandbooks.middcreate.net\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolsabroadhandbooks.middcreate.net\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolsabroadhandbooks.middcreate.net\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/schoolsabroadhandbooks.middcreate.net\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/99\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":772,"href":"https:\/\/schoolsabroadhandbooks.middcreate.net\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/99\/revisions\/772"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolsabroadhandbooks.middcreate.net\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/94"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolsabroadhandbooks.middcreate.net\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Emergency Cash<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Wire Transfer<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nWise<\/a>
\nWestern Union<\/a>
\nXoom<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"