Checking Accounts but no Checks

Get a bank account soon after you arrive in Germany.

You'll need one if you take a job, and government agencies, utilities and a host of others will want to do direct withdrawls and direct deposits.

The two main things you need to know about banking in Germany are:

1) Checks have gone from rare to practically extinct in this country.
Every once in a while, some company will send you a check called Verrechnungsscheck, which must me deposited into a bank account.

There are exactly zero check cashing stores in Germany.

2) Free checking accounts exist but you need to look for them.
Free accounts have actually gained in popularity around here. This is no big surprise with less regulation and less money in people's pockets.
But do look around. Some accounts are truly free, others require a minimum balance, others a minimum monthly deposit.

Overall, you will relish the absence of paper checks and the nicely pre-printed transfer forms.

Personally, I find some of the payment cards to be overkill, but there is less card fraud than in the U.S.

Online banking procedures vary between banks, some require you to purchase a small security device, others use SMS messages to send you a PIN vaild for a single transaction.

Again others are more U.S. like in requiring nothing more than username and passphrase for most transactions.

Some shops have been running paperless and cardless payment trials, using fingerprint scanners.

Transferring funds from the U.S. is not difficult, but you need to watch the fees. For smallish amounts, XOOM has worked well for us.

For the "only no government is good government" crowd, services like UKASH or fully digital "bitcoins" are okay for small amounts.