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Original poster

American summer camp wages

18 replies

WestendVBroadway · 18/05/2022 22:29

My DD will be working at an American summer camp for 3 months. She has been told that they will get paid in cash .Apparently it is not easy to deposit money into a UK bank account while in US. She had previously opened a Monzo account as she thought this would be helpful, but it would seem not. Does anyone know a way around this? It is ludicrous to carry around such large sums of cash, but we can't see an alternative.
NB I posted earlier with a different thread title however this garnered little response.

OP posts:
TheSeldomSeenKid · 18/05/2022 22:30

The wages aren’t that good anyway, as they’re paying food and accommodation.
I got about 100 dollars a week! The cash was no problem and no one was paid into a bank account.
it’s fairly standard. She’ll have the time of her life, my best summer on this earth was at camp!

Perfectlystill · 18/05/2022 22:32

How do you get to work at these camps? Interested for DD next summer.

SewingSwimmer · 18/05/2022 22:36

Try BUNAC if based in uk they organise visa. @Perfectlystill

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Jxtina86 · 18/05/2022 22:37

I did Camp America years ago - we got a cheque to cash every two weeks I think. We could only take it to one banking company to get the physical cash. The wages are low as food and accommodation is covered so I mostly spent it on crap from Target and Walmart so I definitely wasn't carrying around lots of cash. The camp office had a safe and we left any large quantities in there (I took traveller's cheques with me to cash in when i needed anything extra). I might be wrong but banks in the US may only operate in one state and you can't easily do money transfers from bank to bank like you can in the UK which is why they rely a lot on PayPal or similar to do non-cash transfers.

Kite22 · 18/05/2022 22:37

Perfectlystill · 18/05/2022 22:32

How do you get to work at these camps? Interested for DD next summer.

Just put America Summer Camp into Google. You'll get loads.
Camp America is one of the better known, but loads of companies do them.

They also tend to have recruitment fairs over here in the UK.

SewingSwimmer · 18/05/2022 22:39

bunac.org/destinations/north-america/usa They have been around for over 30yrs as I got a visa though them then 🫣

Purpleavocado · 18/05/2022 22:39

I did it a very long time ago. The money was pretty low, just spending money really, so cash was fine.

SewingSwimmer · 18/05/2022 22:42

Yes very little money but I used to get cheques and cash them at Walmart which I used to think was bizarre but everyone did it as banks charged you but the shop didn’t if you were buying stuff.

Ragwort · 18/05/2022 22:42

There is usually a very good support system which deals with Qs and As before you go ... my DS had a place last summer (sadly couldn't go because of Covid) but there was lots of very detailed info issued from Camp America and he had a local contact in this country who dealt with enquiries.

InkySquid · 18/05/2022 22:46

I don't know if it's harder to do 20 years on but I just opened a bank account over there. I still have the picnic blanket I got as a gift for opening an account.

hedgehogger1 · 19/05/2022 07:13

I did it through Bunac a long time ago. It was the one at the time that left you with the most money, it was all cash payments then, but it was before internet banking etc had got going properly.

ApolloandDaphne · 19/05/2022 07:21

Both my DDs did work America through BUNAC. They both opened US bank accounts when they arrived but they didn't get paid cash so really had to have a bank account. It was easy to open but transferring the money once you want to close it seemed a bit more laborious.

MrsFionaCharming · 19/05/2022 07:57

When I did it 10 years ago, I opened an account with Bank of America. The wages are so low the first summer that having cash won’t matter, if she goes back subsequent years the amount Camp Leaders or whoever takes is much smaller so would be more important.

Original poster
WestendVBroadway · 19/05/2022 11:09

Thank you for all of your helpful responses. We were aware that there would not be vast amounts of money involved. I believe that it would be about £140 per week in what they call pocket money, but not much opportunity to spend it , as based out in sticks. For those asking about working in USA, my DD will be working for CCUSA.
www.ccusa.com/

OP posts:
harridan50 · 19/05/2022 11:15

My daughter did a canadian camp in 2019
On arrival they were all assisted to set up a bank account and had debit cards
At the end of camp their wages were transfered into the bank accounts set up, she went travelling for 3 weeks. Then took out any remaining cash before flying home.

Jxtina86 · 19/05/2022 15:02

WestendVBroadway · 19/05/2022 11:09

Thank you for all of your helpful responses. We were aware that there would not be vast amounts of money involved. I believe that it would be about £140 per week in what they call pocket money, but not much opportunity to spend it , as based out in sticks. For those asking about working in USA, my DD will be working for CCUSA.
www.ccusa.com/

Things may have changed and obviously depends on staff and the camp set up, but we would get one session off a day and if it was the evening, the staff with cars would take any one who wanted to go off-site and all go for dinner or Walmart etc even if it was 1hr each way - we were up in the Rocky Mountains and would go offsite at least once a week. Depending on the rota you got from Friday eve-Sunday lunch time off and again most went off-site and those who lived 'local' (sometimes 2-3 hrs away) would host out-of-state or international staff. Essentially I don't think I came back with much cash at the end of my stint!

Perfectlystill · 20/05/2022 21:07

SewingSwimmer · 18/05/2022 22:36

Try BUNAC if based in uk they organise visa. @Perfectlystill

Thank you - sorry, I only just saw this

H1Drangea · 20/05/2022 21:14

DD worked at Camp America a couple of years ago ( and had a whale of a time ! ) they had to open American bank accounts , a clerk came to the camp and did all the paperwork there
Then , when she came back , it was transferred to he U.K. bank account minus a transaction fee
she stayed on until November , as the camp did school trips through the week , and weddings at the weekends

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