I’m planning on spending significant time (and therefore significant money) in Germany.
I won’t have an address there, so, as I understand it, it would be difficult to open a German bank account.
Germans are not big on using credit cards, so I can’t count on using one.
I can of course withdraw Euros from an ATM, but there is a percent charge for exchanging money in this way.
What might be other options? Has anyone used Wise or Revolut and been happy with them?
Different banks may have different charges. Perhaps check banks in the US that are affiliated with* a bank in Germany to see if the charges are lower.
*Parent of, subsidiary of, or otherwise affiliated with.
We use Revolut both for international travel and for our kids’ allowances - they use it on their phones with Apple Pay. So far so good.
I use a bank affiliated with Deutsche Bank, which enables me use to Deutsche Bank ATMs in Germany with no fee.
However, even though there is no fee for withdrawal, they still charge a percentage for the exchange. 
I checked into this too (for Italy) - first step was going to my bank - if I recategorized some of my accounts I could qualify for ‘no foreign transaction fees’ abroad (from the American bank side of things).
In terms of the fee on the European side - I think it was about $9 from an ATM per withdrawal (with a few hundred dollars daily limit). It honestly didn’t seem like all that much in the grand scheme of things - but if you are staying for an extended period that might be more than you’d prefer…
The New York Times must be reading my mind – just saw this article.
Looks like these services are more for cases in which you aren’t paying in cash, however.
Many of the reader comments are skeptical.
Schwab’s debit card has no foreign transactions fees and they reimburse you for all ATM fees.
Yes - Wise absolutely will do the trick.
You’ll have a Euro bank account with an “IBAN” (which is the pan-European bank/account information, that is used by many other nations outside Europe).
But, your account will also be “reachable” from/to the U.S. using the local ACH system (ABA routing code and checking account number). So you’ll be able to use your funds to make payments on either continent, as well as deposit/withdraw money in either.
Finally, yes, you can get a EURO debit card from Wise to withdraw cash from ATMs. In Germany, credit cards are fine to use, but cashless purchases are very popular, specially the younger generations.
Been using Wise on a very regular basis for ages, for personal and business use (and also to have access to the GBP realm.)
Remember, you still have that initial conversion rate from your USD account to Wise or Revolut. You won’t get any FDIC type protection from Revolut. Don’t know about Wise.
Correct - currencies float against each other, so there is always a conversion rate to calculate a value in any different currency.
The difference is which rate within the “spread” (between buy/sell) is used, and what other fees are added. For international wire (SWIFT) I’ve had banks on BOTH sides charge me about $15.00 in fees, for depositing foreign currency cheques, I’ve had U.S. banks charge me $30.00 per - and then you still don’t know what specific exchange rate will be applied.
With Wise, these high fees don’t apply, and when you enter an amount, you’ll get a binding quote what it will be in your target currency. So you have full transparency what your net amount will be - and either proceed or don’t.
As far as deposits - Wise doesn’t act like a traditional bank that uses depositors’ money in the lending market, which is the practice that the FDIC (and similar schemes in other countries) force to insure.
According to Wise, their customer balances are kept separate from their operating account in trust accounts, parked in the money market:
Where is my money held?
In keeping with EU regulations, Wise uses two approaches to safeguard your funds. We deposit your funds at banking institutions and invest them in low risk, liquid and safe assets.
At Wise, we believe in transparency. That’s why it’s important for you to know where customer funds are held.
Type Institution Country Cash Deposit AS LHV Pank Estonia Cash Deposit Citibank Europe plc Ireland Cash Deposit J.P. Morgan SE Ireland Money Market Fund BlackRock Ireland Money Market Fund State Street Global Advisors Ireland The information outlined in this table is accurate as of 31 January 2023.
Regardless, I don’t use Wise to keep large balances (any of those, I would be investing anyway). I use Wise to keep a month or two of expenses for use in the target currency, for making ACH style payments from my U.S. accounts to payees in various countries, for receiving “direct deposit” type payments from foreign entities, and for low-cost/low-fee transfer to/from my regular U.S. accounts.
While “cash” and ATM machines are the initial thought of vacationers/travelers, this leaves out a large part of why you would want a foreign currency account if you spend substantial time there:
Specially in Germany, paperless “ACH-style” bank transfers (“Ueberweisung” und “Lastschrift”) are used almost exclusively for all kind of personal and business payments, e.g., tuition, rent, utilities, cable/phone/Internet, car insurance, doctor bills, municipal fees - even online shopping. That’s how you pay any invoices!
Basically anything you would still write/mail a good-old paper-cheque for in the States (haven’t written/received a cheque in Germany in at least 30 years).
And, people will need your IBAN to send you money, whether is salaries, refunds, etc. - or whatever non-cash Euros you might need to receive from third parties.
So the benefit of having a Euro account is, that you can live/pay like the locals, rather than scrambling to figure out if they may or may not accept VISA/MC.
And the benefit of using a Euro debit card is, that you load it up with a balance from your U.S. checking account, at whatever “bulk” exchange rate at a timing you choose, and then you’ll be paying in Euro. Rather than having the U.S. credit card company use whatever daily ad-hoc exchange rate to charge your USD account for every single coffee you order.
FWIW - the large national banks, such as Commerzbank, will let you open a bank account. Of course, there’ll be extra forms to submit your SSN/Tax ID. This is required to combat money laundering and to report the existence of the account to your home country’s revenue service (= IRS).
I can state from experience that they are quite capable of mailing statements to the U.S., but, of course, you would typically use paperless delivery instead.