# Paying bills in Italy



## khudspet

Hi All
I will be taking a job in Italy soon and will open an Italian bank account. However, I still have American bills I will have to pay. What is the best way to pay these bills using an Italian bank account?
THanks
K


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## Bevdeforges

You may want to consider leaving a US bank account open and accessible by Internet to pay off those final bills. (Actually, keeping a US bank account is a good idea even after those bills have been paid off.)

It may not be possible to pay US bills from an Italian account (or if it is, it's very expensive - between bank transfer fees and exchange commissions). Best bet is normally to transfer funds from your Italian account (if you have no remaining US sources of funds) to your US account - then use the US bank's bill paying facility to pay the bills. But minimum charges for bank transfers makes it necessary to only transfer a few thousand dollars at a time - so plan ahead.

The other approach is to put your remaining US bills on your Italian credit card - and pay them through the credit card system. This involves exchange fees, "foreign transaction" fees and you may have no option to make "easy monthly payments." (Most credit cards on this side of the pond simply take the money directly from your bank account each month.)
Cheers,
Bev


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