cash

[beige_alert]

Some things in Germany are quite familiar, like the ubiquitous Geldautomat (ATM). Just like over here, the first question is what language you'd like to use, and though the list of languages was longer than the usual English/Spanish you find here, English is still on the list. I received my bank statement yesterday, which includes the withdrawals I made in Germany, and the other familiar thing is, of course, some fees for the transactions. The good news? Tiny fees. I think I've been charged bigger fees in Milwaukee.

Comments

[madfilkentist]

Yes, I've found ATM's to be the cheapest way to get money in Germany.

[rinioth.livejournal.com]

You get charged a fee in the USA? *Boggles*

Any bank ATM in the UK is free to any debit card holder of any bank and most savings societies too.

[madfilkentist]

If you use you're own bank's ATM, it's always (or almost always) free. But using another bank's ATM in the US often involves a fee. There are also networks of ATM's with mutual fee-waiving agreements, of which the best-known around my area is SUM. Keeping track of which machines are free is a useful art.

The area where I work (Harvard Square) is reputed to have the highest density of ATM's in the world, though, so it's less of a problem here. :)

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

American banking statutes are drafted in "The Bank Always Wins" form. As a result, they are permitted to charge fees on just about anything. Some are even charging for using a teller to conduct business these days.

[beige-alert.livejournal.com]

The bank does not always win, actually. For example, from the start, ATM-related fraud was, in the US, fraud against the bank, whereas, in the UK, at least in the past, the customer was the one who got robbed. This lead to major differences in how secure the ATM systems were against various sorts of fraud.

But, yes, they can charge any fees and interest they feel like.

[madfilkentist]

Why shouldn't they be? It's your choice to deal with the bank. Pick another if you don't like their terms.

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

You understand the concept of "contract of adhesion"?