Student Handbook - School of Business and Economics - Maastricht ...

Student Handbook • Practical Guide
2.3.1 Day-to-day finances
To manage your day-to-day finances, you will need a current account. You can open this
account either at a commercial bank, where it is called a privé rekening or at the postoffice
(to be found at all large post offices), where it is called a girorekening.
An account at a commercial bank is functional the same day that you open it, but if the
bank knows you will be staying for only a short time, for example if you are an exchange
student, it might refuse you. The commercial banks are generally not eager to have
temporary residents as customers because they often leave the country without closing
their accounts. Current accounts pay no interest, but you are charged interest if you have
an overdraft.
2.3.2 Banks in Maastricht
There are several banks in Maastricht: ABN-AMRO, Rabobank, VSB Bank, SNS Bank and
ING. Most banks will ask for a residence permit or a burgerservicenumber (BSN), which
you obviously will not have (at least not straight away). Actually, they are no longer supposed
to ask for a BSN, but not all banks know this.
Opening an account if you are a foreign student can be a daunting process, and we
strongly advise you to check with the International Relations Office prior to arrival, to find
out what the most recent process entails.
If you open a bank account, you will be provided with a bank card plus PIN code. This card
can be used at any time to withdraw cash from any ATM in the Netherlands. Check with
the bank whether you can also use it for ATMs abroad.
2.3.3 Bank opening hours
Opening hours of the banks differ from regular opening hours of shops and supermarkets.
Most banks are closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Once you have opened an account
please check with your personal bank branch for its opening hours.
2.4 Paying for things
2.4.1 Cash and bank cards
There are basically six ways to pay for things: 1) in cash, 2) with a bank card, 3) with a credit
card, 4) by cheque, 5) by having your bank make a transfer, 6) the Chipper and the Chipknip.
Paying in cash is common, although the use of bank cards (the Dutch words used in
connection with bank cards are pin, pinpas, pinnen or chippen) is increasingly replacing
cash payments. Shops have a link to the bank system, and the amount due is withdrawn
immediately from your account. You or the clerk passes your card through a reader that
looks like an oversized calculator; you type in your own secret four-digit personal identification
number (PIN, or pin-code); the bank reports whether or not your balance will cover
the amount; you confirm the amount by pressing ja (yes), and the transaction is complete.
2.4.2 Cash dispenser (or Automated Teller Machines, ATMs)
You will find a geldautomaat or cash dispenser at every bank and post office, in railway
stations and other public places where people are spending money (at the post office the
sign reads giromaat). There is also one nearby the Lecture Hall in the School of Business
Practical Guide • Student Handbook
and Economics. Dispensers will accept almost every kind of card nowadays. You must find
a match among the symbols on the dispenser and on your card. If you have a bankcard
from a Dutch bank, you can withdraw money from any ATM in the Netherlands (so not
only from the dispensers of your bank). Please note that you are allowed to pin at a cash
dispenser from a different bank than your own only once per day.
2.4.3 Credit cards and cheques
Paying by credit card is less common in shops, especially smaller shops and supermarkets,
mainly because the shops have to pay a percentage of each sale to the credit card company.
However, restaurants, hotels and department stores generally accept all major cards.
There will usually be a notice board near the entrance that shows which credit cards are
accepted. Personal cheques will not be accepted. If you bring Travellers Cheques with you
it is advised to cash them in at a bank first, as paying with Travellers Cheques is not common.
The banks encourage people to use the pin system instead.
Travellers Cheques are useful when you travel in Europe because you can write them out
in any currency and cash them at any bank. Traveller’s cheques are insured, although with
a certain amount of personal risk.
2.4.4 Bank transfers
Bills are generally paid by bank transfer. When bills are sent, they usually have a so-called
acceptgirokaart attached to them: a yellow slip containing the amount payable, the name
and bank details of the beneficiary, and other data. You fill out your own account number,
sign your name, and send it to your own bank, which deducts the money from your account.
Your bank will also provide you with forms if you need to pay bills that do not have
an acceptgirokaart attached. If it is a regular bank, these are called overschrijvings-
formulieren. On the form you fill in the amount payable, the account number, the name
and place of residence of the beneficiary, you indicate what the payment is for (where the
form says betreft, betalingskenmerk, or mededelingen) and you place your signature where
it says handtekening.
2.4.5 Chipper & Chipknip
In order to overcome shop owners objections against paying amounts smaller than € 10
with your bank card, the Chipper (issued by the Postbank) or Chipknip (issued by the other
banks) was introduced in the Netherlands. This is either a separate card or your regular
bankcard with a chip added to it, and can be loaded (laden) with money. After being
loaded the Chipknip is effectively turned into an electronic wallet, holding an amount in
electronic money that you can then spend at stores, on the bus, at the train station, in
vending machines and at an ever increasing number of places. The Chipknip can be loaded
at the bank (there is usually a machine next to the ATM that says Chipknip). Any amount
between € 5 and € 500 can be loaded onto the card. This, however, also depends on the
amount of money that is in your bank account. A disadvantage of this system is that it
does not require a PIN code, a result of which is that anybody who finds your (lost)
Chipper/Chipknip can make payments with it.
2.4.6 UM Card
On top of being an identity card, your UM card should also be used to pay for printing
and copying services at the UM Libraries and faculties, and to gain access to these UM
Libraries. Although it is recommended to pay with your UM card at the University’s food
facilities (DE Coffee corner and Mensa Restaurant), another possibility is to pay with cash.
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