In this note I'll tell you about what methods of payment exist abroad and how to bring money from Russia to Czech Republic. Everything will be very subjective and based only on my personal experience.
At least in Czech Republic, there are four main methods of payment: cash, payment card, money transfer via Western Union and other similar systems, as well as PayPal. Other methods are unlikely to interest us.
I'll immediately note that I am not very familiar with PayPal, I only know that for some reason all my attempts to use this method ended in failure, so I'll only say that it's a fairly popular way to pay abroad. More about this method can be read on Wikipedia.
So, I'll move on to the most interesting, in my opinion.
Cash
The most obvious way to store money. You can take it with you, which is always a plus for some reason for many.
Pluses
β doesn't depend on anyone: you have money, you can pay, everything is simple
β solves most payment questions on the spot: few places won't take your money
β universality: having cash from one state with you, you can exchange it for currency of another state, you lose a little, but it works
β untraceable spending: nobody can see what you spend money on. For fans of hiding their needs from friends and relatives
β everywhere in the world accepts this payment method
Minuses
β losing money: if you lose money, consider it gone, no one will bring it back to you. Naturally, in the case of a card, no one will return money to you, but there you can at least block spending.
β risk of robbery: personally haven't encountered it, but I fear, I fear that they'll take my money.
β risk of counterfeit money: there are a lot of fakes, always possible to catch a fake bill
β currency exchange: you can exchange at the airport, but the rate there is terrible. You can also exchange on the street at exchange offices, but there's risk of being deceived (and a big risk), and the rate is also not the best. For example, on the first day of my stay in Czech Republic, at the Prague airport I exchanged 100 euros. At home I found out that a good commission was taken from me, I got about 200 crowns less than I should have. This is a significant amount in the Czech budget. My advice - for the first time, exchange 10-20 euros literally for public transportation, then buy a card. And ideally - the card should already be before arrival in Czech Republic.
For some reason after all these calculations I'm always left with small change that can't be gotten rid of: the cashier will laugh at me if I pay with a 10,000 crown bill for bread
β large sums are inconvenient to carry
Payment card
This method has recently gained great popularity. I'll say right away - I recommend Visa or MasterCard. The rest I'm not very familiar with, but I never had problems using Visa and MasterCard plastic in Czech Republic, so I recommend them. No one paid me for advertising.
Payment cards are:
Debit - this is when there's a certain sum of money on your account, which you can only spend and nothing more. One of the most convenient and frequently used types of cards. I won't separately describe them, everything is clear from the definition and generally fits into what I write further.
Credit - these are cards issued by the bank to you with certain debt obligations. That is, the bank issues you money, and you must give it back with interest. I personally don't like these, but many, on the contrary, like credit cards. I have no experience with credit cards (moreover, a negative attitude), so I recommend reading on Wikipedia about them.
How does the whole thing work?
Very simply, you either at a bank or online order a card. Getting it in your hands is already a much more complicated process, if it was ordered online, but it's much easier in the bank.
Next, you replenish the card balance. This is done either through the terminal, or online, or at the bank again, in general, in many ways. Read more about this in your bank. It's easy and fast.
Having put a certain sum of money on the card, you can already go to the store and start spending money. Literally - inserted the card in the ATM or in the payment terminal, entered the pin code (those same numbers on the back of the card), it took money from your account - and you can pick up the purchase. Usually the process takes less than a minute, moreover, very often instead of a pin code you can sign somewhere with a special pen right at the terminal.
You can, of course, use a bank card to get cash. Money is taken out from you for this. Usually this is some percentage of the sum you withdraw. My card has a 1% commission - and this is a pretty good rate.
Pluses
β widespread: the card is accepted almost everywhere where there is a terminal, which now is everywhere, starting from grocery stores and ending with the metro, taxis and vending machines
β safety: losing the card, you can always call the bank and block it. By the way, it can be done even online. It's interesting that we've learned to handle ATMs so well, but we can't master online banking.
β cash withdrawal: you can always get money in the local currency from your card. Yes, the commission is not small, but always having cash on hand is a plus.
β convenience: the card is no bigger than a business card, easy to carry. Compared to constantly taking out wallets with money, significantly easier.
β you can pay for purchases in online stores: that same legendary Internet shopping is done with the card. For many, this is important, so consider this an important plus. It's very convenient to buy tickets anywhere in the world, sign up for subscription to music or video services, and so on. Naturally, there are alternative payment methods, but the card is the most convenient, universal, and fast
β relatively high security: unlike ordinary money and Western Union, no one will take your money from you in a dark alley. Usually.
Minuses
β bank account fee: this is the main minus that most are afraid of. But usually banks have promotions for students and for new clients, so it's not that hard to find an offer on the Internet where the bank will take 0 rubles from you per year for having a card with them. Or, for example, a bank will take 500 rubles per year, which is also not a lot of money
β debit card spending commission: that same unpleasant moment when you paid, for example, for studying, and besides the amount paid to the university, a certain commission also went to the bank. But in rare cases is it more than 2-3%, so it's not always worth paying attention to.
β you need to activate the card for foreign use beforehand: if you don't do this, going to Czech Republic, the card will work for you for a couple of days, after which it will be blocked by the bank's security service. To avoid this, you should call the bank and say where you're going and for how long, it's literally a matter of 5 minutes.
β a certain dependence on the bank: not everywhere they're ready to issue a card to a person under 18, although such offers exist. In general, bureaucracy, all this
β long wait for the card: yes, in a bank you order a card today and in a week go pick it up. Ordering online - several weeks
Western Union and similar systems
Maybe someone still remembers such a thing, when they could send money to anyone somewhere without extra trouble. This is the same system. In reality, I never used it, I only know about it from the words of friends, from the Internet and advertising, so don't trust me very much in this part.
How does it work?
For example, in Russia you come to the Sberbank office and say that you want to send 10,000 rubles through Western Union. You are asked who you want to send to (you give the name of the person to whom you're sending money), where they should receive it (you name the country and possibly city or branch of Western Union in another country).
Next, you need to fill out a form, pay money, after which you will be given some kind of secret code that you need to tell the person to whom you're sending money. I honestly don't know what it's called, although I know how it's called in one known system :)
Having this code, a person comes to Western Union at the place where you asked to send money, says the code, gets money, and voila, you have no money anymore.
I heard, however, that often there can be trouble at customs if you constantly receive money from a Western Union agent. Again, I heard. Maybe it's nonsense.
Pluses
β fast: literally within a few hours money will be at the recipient's disposal anywhere in the world
β widespread: these systems work in almost all countries of the world
β you can send money to a person (recipient needs a passport)
β you can receive money at any branch of Western Union, not necessarily where they sent it
Minuses
β commissions: I heard that commissions are very large. I couldn't find information, but I heard about such a thing as 10% commission. But it's only a rumor, I don't believe it myself.
β transfer limits: there are limits on both minimum and maximum sums
β need to trust the recipient
β need to go to an agent: unlike a card, when you can transfer money in a matter of seconds, for Western Union you need to go somewhere
β reliability: heard about scammers in this area
β fraud, fraud and fraud again
In reality, I recommend using a card. In general, the easiest option.
The card is ordered either on the Internet from the bank: filled in many forms, waited a month, a courier brought the card to your home, or you can go to the nearest bank to your home, fill in the same forms, wait a week and come get the card.
Yes, for those who are going to PodΔbrady or Prague, I recommend Raiffeisenbank. It's my personal recommendation. I want this bank to continue providing students with such good conditions in the future, so I recommend this bank.
The Raiffeisenbank card will be debit, connected to a bank account. Naturally, to the Russian bank account. Moreover, now there's a promotion - to open an account online, you'll need to indicate a certain code in the form, which will be sent to you via email. Within a few weeks, the card will be delivered to you at home by courier. Free for a year (no payment for using the account). Moreover, there will be an SMS package connected - that is, you'll be notified about all operations with the card, which is very convenient.
The only difficulty - it's online, so it will take a long time.
For PodΔbrady and Prague students I can give my promo code.
I also remind that you need to activate the card for use abroad, this is done by phone call to the bank.
The most interesting, in my opinion, in the Raiffeisenbank card is that for us Czechs, the commission for non-cash operations is 0%. Yes, going to a store - you insert the card, don't pay a commission. It's also considered non-cash when you pay for tuition online - also for free (0% commission).
The only thing you'll have to pay for - withdrawing cash (about 1% of the amount, minimum - 100 rubles, maximum - 3,000). You can also withdraw from Raiffeisenbank ATMs - but the commission is the same.
By the way, almost the same conditions as Raiffeisenbank are offered by Tinkoff Bank. Read about it on their website.
In conclusion
Most likely I didn't cover all the nuances and details of each method. So I'll be glad to hear corrections and additions in the comments. I hope this information will be useful to at least someone.