Ok, not really any of the subjects I’d speak about, but hey!
I live in Germany usually, but with the family in Tyrol in Austria. And I don’t ski… so I’m the ‘designated’ driver sorta situation.
I have a bank account with Sparkasse in Germany. I can go into a store or any place that takes an EC card (it’s a debit card for the bank account) and use it without charge. And that’s in Germany and Austria.
But if I go to a cash machine in Austria and try to get money out, I get charged! And I get charged from a Sparkasse cash machine (well the Austrian flavour).
What gives eh? We are all using the Euro, the bank account is from the same bank. UNLESS the Sparkasse branches are owned by different companies (either forced to, or by choice so they can charge).
I got around it by splashing out on using my Transferwise (they recently moved to Wise) account. I don’t get charged for 2 withdrawals from an Austrian cash machine.
I would put a link for you all to get an account too, but you could simply go here (https://www.wise.com). I don’t make money out of this site 😁.
