Money
Bank accounts, insurance etc..
A blog for current and previous exchange students from PDE in Glasgow to IPD, NTNU, Trondheim to share info in a kind of knowledge base stylee thing. To post to this blog login to Blogger.com using username 'norweegies' and ditto for the password.
2 Comments:
If you don't mind paying a fee you could withdraw cash from a British credit card or bank account from ATMs in Norway. Its much more convenient however to open an account there. This could take some time as there is a certain amount of bureaucracy to get through, so bring some ready cash with you or be prepared to use a credit card for the first month or so.
IMPORTANT: You will need 3000 NOK up front deposit to pay on the day you move into your student flat!
Setting up a bank account itself is easy but to get a debit card for it you need to have an ID number which takes some weeks to get. Once I set up my Norwegian account I got my dad to transfer about £4000 to it from the UK, and paid him back online. This turned out to be enough to last the whole year so i just paid a one off fee (maybe £7) for that transfer.
Note that once you get a norwegian debit card it is criminally easy to buy stuff because almost every shop allows you to simply swipe your card and type a pin and they debit your account, whatever the amount...
Travellers cheques were almost pointless as it cost over £5 to redeem them.
Bank accounts and ID numbers and that:
In the first week of arriving you go to the police station and apply for a residence permit. You need two passport photos for this. Some weeks later this comes in the post. You then go to the 'folkeregister' and show them the permit and they record where you are living. They then send you a fodselsnummer (birth number) which is very useful indeed. Its basically a Norwegian ID number used for any kind of beurocratic stuff and thus is needed to get a bank card. I was well chuffed when I got mine.
Insurance:
I got a nice insurance package from Endsleigh that is tailor made for exchange students and thus covers your travel and possessions for the whole year. Bargain. Well, it cost over 100quid i think but still..
June 18, 2004 at 3:45 PM
I think the erasmus grant was through in September or October. There is sometimes a second allocation of money in the late spring too, but I still haven't seen it!
July 17, 2004 at 5:15 PM
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