FAQ

Q: Did you manage to open an account and cash your checks?

A: I did manage to get a bank account set up last year (2010 summer). First Security Bank on Main Street allow you to open up accounts which do not require a certain length of custom. I think the problem with the Sub was that they wanted you to have like 4 months at least before you can close the account. First Security let me close the account at the end of the summer- though I believe they have lots of branches in Montana and the West Coast so if people are travelling after the REU that might be an option as well. Plus the staff are really nice haha. - Graham Kerr



Q.  I'm looking at getting an American express travellers cheque card to act as a cash card while I'm there. Is the stipend paid  directly  into my bank account here, or will i need to set one up for example once i  arrive? If so then there's not much point in the first card.

A. <From former REU student Antonia Wilmot-Smith, from St. Andrews University in Scotland>:  When MSU gave me a cheque (aka. check) I went to the bank that is in  their student union building. Amazingly you can just hand them the cheque  and 2 forms of ID (passport, driving photocard) and they will then hand  over the cash for the amount on the cheque in exchange for a thumbprint.  It does mean you have quite a lot of cash in your room but I'm sure the  physics dept. would be happy to store some if you are worried about that.

 I think you can open a bank account if you want, although I found the  American banking system so bewidering that I didn't bother. (They have  lots of different types of current account which don't necessarily have  couterparts here, you get charged to have [at least some of] them and  basically don't earn any interest on the money.) If you do get an account,  watch out for which bank you choose, some of them will be local to the  town or state - some students from other states had to open whole new bank  accounts to pay in their money.

 The REU allowance is very generous and everything is really cheap over  there such that it you wont spend it all on normal living. You can get a  meal out for $5-6 dollars and it is enough food for days. So I lived from  the cash of the first cheque or so and took the remaining ones home with  me. You can pay them into your bank account here - and you have to with  the last cheque which they post to you after the REU is over. Then the  trouble is that the stipend is basically worth nothing over here  because of the exchange rate.

 There is a good strategy of buying anything  you need/want (like a laptop, clothes, climbing gear etc etc) over there.  It seems like getting things for free (things tend to cost the same  number of dollars as they would pounds and the number of dollars you get is ... well, a lot). And make the most of anything like white-water  rafting that costs money. Or go on holiday afterward in the US with the  money, or live like a king for the summer or something - for example car  rental is really cheap too (about $35 for a day, and petrol is almost  free) so you can just go on a random drive around the state.

 I guess that's a really long way of saying that I wouldn't bother  with an american express card. 

This response is quite specific to Britain I suppose and the current  exchange rates, sorry I can't be more general.

 Best Wishes,

 Antonia