Best GERMAN card for foreign exchange?
 

I get depressed when I see how poorly my hard-earned dollars perform against many currencies, so I have decided to rely less heavily on my US cards, and to tap into some of my Euro accounts instead. I would appreciate advice on which bank's credit/debit cards are most suitable for this purpose. I currently have an ec/Maestro card for ATM transactions, and a Eurocard (from Comdirect and HVB). The fees are pretty outrageous -- can I do better?

I have an account with "Deutsche Bank" (for free as I'm a student). Their ec-card allows to withdraw money from ATMs of several partners, like BoA in the US, Barclays in GB, BNP Paribas in France, Scotiabank in Canada, Mexico, Chile and some caribbean islands and Westpac in Australia and NZ.
There are no fees for these withdrawls but I don't know how good or bad the exchange rates are.

Recently I heard that "Deutsche Kreditbank" offers a free account (no minimum balance or transactions) with a VISA card that allows you to withdraw money from any ATM worldwide without any fees.

I used to have a Deutsche Bank account for the purpose of free withdrawal, but I have closed that account and now rely exclusively on DKB (www.dkb.de).

I am very pleased with the account - it is a full online giro account which comes with a Maestro-Card and a Visa-Card. You can withdraw money from the Visa-Card without fees and at very attractive exchange rates - any bank, anywhere. You can also use the Visa card for purchases, where there will be a foreign transaction fee charged (2%; I think) for purchases outside the Euro-Zone. However, this fee is recredited to your account at the end of your statement cycle, so even your payments with the credit card are free (not just the withdrawals).

The only drawback is that the giro account and the credit card are seperate. You are given a set spending limit on the Visa card, and purchases or withdrawal you make are deducted from the giro account at the end of your monthly billing cycle. If you have reached your limit for a particular month, you first need to transfer funds into the credit card account to get it working again, even if there is more than enough money in the giro account.

The Maestro-card should not be used for withdrawals, as this will incur a fee, regardless of whether you are using an ATM in the Euro-Zone or outside it. Payments via the Maestro-Card are free within the Euro-Zone, and are charged a 1% currency conversion fee for payments not in Euros.

Still, it's a great service, and I do not know of any other card in Germany that offers these conditions.

Thanks for the recommendation, Alex! The DKB Visa Card is just what I've been looking for. For future reference, this is their fee schedule (in German).

Do you collect their DKB Plus-Points? If so, let's take advantage of their "Kunden werben Kunden" offer.

I thought that might be it. Now that you mention it, I do have a DKB-Plus points account (back when I applied, it was automatically opened for you when you signed up, you couldn't opt out like you can now). Sure, I'd gladly take advantage of that promotion. I'll send you a PM with the referral data they'll ask for on your application.

Thanks!

Four years on, I'm in a similar situation as the OP.

It looks like DKB does charge an exchange fee for purchases now, but still not for cash withdrawals.

The only card I have found with no currency fee for purchases is this one:

http://gebuhrenfrei.com/

The page design does not inspire confidence, to say the least. Does anyone have practical experience of using this card? Online reviews focus mainly on the fact that one has to remember to pay the bill each month, which I guess just means that it works the way most credit cards outside of Germany work. :)

Never heard of that card, but the fact that they cannot even spell "gebührenfrei/gebuehrenfrei" correctly in their web address makes me doubt their trustworthiness.

The "DKB Cash" account will also earn you 5000 award miles on M&M if you are so inclined to collect them (and another 5000 for someone referring you).

However, if you plan to use the account only for use in germany, I'd recommend you open an account with a german savings bank (Sparkasse resp. BW Bank in Baden-Württemberg) as there are no fees associated with buying something using the Maestro card and cash withdrawals are free at most Sparkasse ATMs throughout germany (and almost every little village has its own Sparkasse). However, I'm not sure whether they'll let you open an account unless you have an address in germany. The downside: They'll charge a fee when you transfer money from a foreign account (when customers from switzerland pay my bills, this always draws a 5 EUR charge for a SEPA transaction).

Living abroad I do have both, the DKB card/account as well as the gebuhrenfrei Mastercard. Both have advantages and disadvantages but seem to be the two best offers in Germany.

The DKB card allows you, as been said, to withdraw money from any ATM anywhere without a fee. If the machine itself adds a fee (as ATMs in the US do) you can hand in the receipt to DKB and will be reimbursed. However if you pay with the DKB card in other currencies than EUR you will be charged a 1,75% fee on top of your purchase. Note that DKB not only has their own VISA but also hosts the Germanwings Mastercard, the HHonors card as well as the German LH M&M cards. Conditions vary from card to card, be careful which one fits your needs best.

The gebuhrenfrei card does not have a fee for paying in non-EUR currencies, however it is not to be recommended for cash withdrawals (they charge interest from the moment you take the money out of the ATM). Furthermore you have to actively settle the bill by transferring money to Advanzia bank (the company behind the gebuhrenfrei card) - if you forget to transfer at least the minimum amount it will result in a hefty 10 EUR charge. Simple solution: Don't forget to pay your bills.

For obvious reasons I have both cards: One for cash withdrawals and one for payments. I have good experiences with both banks and their customer services and can recommend both.

If anyone is interested in opening a DKB account I'd be happy to refer someone through the "Kunden werben Kunden" program. Also if someone wants to get a LH M&M credit card I would be a happy sponsor (getting me 10000 award miles and the sponsoree whatever miles applicable for their card) and would in exchange offer this person to be my sponsor for my new LH SEN credit card (getting this person 10000 award miles), to make sure we both benefit from that deal.

The card is issued by Advanzia Bank which is from Luxembourg. The main issue with the card is that you have a seven day limit to pay your credit card bill or they charge you ridiculous fees and interest rates. While it is common in Germany to pay off your credit card bill every month it is normally done by automatic deduction from your bank account. With this card you have to make manually a deposit. So you have to very careful not to miss the deadline every month.

I also use DKB, especially to withdraw money for free. That's how I get money from my German bank account to my US bank account for free. It works great.

Well (as I said) that's how most credit cards in the world work. And seriously 10€ plus one month's interest (~1,5% of the amount due) is not that horrible should you forget once (knock on wood).

But then, I come from Sweden where you get a nice 60€ fine if you forget to pay the Stockholm congestion charge just one month...

Thanks everyone for the advice and for confirming that the card is legit. I will give it a try and report back!

Anyone knows if I can get a bank account in Germany without living there? We go to Germany at least once a month to shop and order tons of things online from Germany. A lot of online shops in Germany only allow bank transfer as payment and therefore we can't use it.

I opened an account with DKB when I was still living in Sweden. Reasonably simple, just needed to send them a recent credit report and drop by the embassy to get a certified copy of my id card. If you're visiting Germany you can do the latter at any post office. You have to communicate with them in German, though. They don't do English as a matter of policy.

I wish it was that easy to get a Dankort when not living in Denmark... :)

A credit report? You are the first to mention this.

Well, in germany they banks usually collect the credit report themselves (when signing up for an account, you usually also have to agree to something called the "Schufa-Klausel" which basically means that you agree that they will collect a credit report), but as most credit scoring systems are limited to a single country, this would be useless for a foreign applicant.