Yesterday, I had a discussion with Hemingway's wife. She is Finnish and was talking to me about how difficult Germany is in so many ways. Finland has walk-in closets and apartments come with kitchens and fitted bathrooms. So, when you hear me talk about differences, the differences could be with the US, with the rest of Europe, and even with some other Germany states areas. I'm not experienced enough or well-traveled enough (yet) to be specific, so please understand this is only my perspective on moving to Kassel (Hessen state), Germany.
Banking
When you are ready to open a bank account, you must make an appointment. Walk-ins are not welcome. As a foreigner, by the time we showed up at our appointment our banker knew our employer, salary, and many other details. Much like our apartment and new landlord, he chose us. We did not chose them. It is an interesting outlook and quite different from the one in the US. We set 9900$ in cash on the table like many immigrants have in the past everywhere. It has become quite difficult to make international transfers anymore and if we had known that German declarations and customs didn't exist we would have transported much, much more. As of last week, our credit union (like many others including BofA) stopped international transfers because of too much liability and paperwork. Awesome for the millions criminals who launder money. Shitty for normal people like us who just need the money (we legally earned and paid taxes on) in accounts here.
He opened our account and was incredibly polite and helpful. Justin and I drank espresso and Colt played with toys in a completely different room. :)
So, we now have EC cards. Debit cards with computer chips like sim cards installed. I can use it for groceries, shopping, etc. with a pin number. They look at me comparing my face to their screen or sometimes they look at my signature and compare it to the screen. Interesting. Everyone is very careful. We were offered credit card option based on our salary and we said no thank you. No need. After a simple international transfer, we have a debit. Right? Wrong. The EC card cannot be used online at all, not for shopping, train tickets, airfare. Nothing. Hmmm, that won't do.
The Chase card that had no foreign transaction fees was a lie. It's only for traveling. If we live here, transaction fees out the ass. Whatever, we don't need United miles any more anyway. Cancel. So, Justin makes an appointment and goes back to the bank. They were very nice to accept and deposit all of our US checks (escrow acct, etc). Justin decides to get a needed credit card. Afterall, we are going to have to rent a car just to go to Ikea.
Details (remember I hate credit):
Credit limit: 5000 euros based on a salary, non-negotiable
Annual fee: free for the first two years, then 40 euros a year
APR: nothing, whatever you spend that month comes straight out of your account automatically at the end of the month....Big "Nicole" Grin
Hardly anyone takes credit at all here, but it is helpful for trains, airfare, car rentals and hotels. When I say hardly anyone takes credit, I mean a friend at work just bought a car in cash. Literally, he went to the bank and pulled out 27.000 euros and put it under his mattress. The next day he went to the dealership with the money. Our banker, also, told us to use it for major appliances because we would get an extra two years warranty on top of the manf warranty, IF, of course, we could find someone willing to accept a credit card. The idea is if you don't have the cash, you aren't getting it. Regardless of whether you think you need it or not. I'm not sure if you can finance homes. I think I read somewhere that foreigners cannot buy so we never looked into it. I can say that the family who moved out of the apartment we are about to live in saved for a LONG time to be moving into their first house they have ever owned. I estimate they are early 40's with three children.
This is how I was raised to believe credit should be, so I just may be the only American NOT shocked or appalled. Well, almost, I can think of a couple more and you know who you are :)
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