Before my N26 Maestro card the last time I owned such a card was way back with First-e - the Internet Bank.
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Debit cards used to have a flat fee and credit took a percentage.
With the interchange cap, itās less of an issue but debit/cash was king in Germany.
Still is to an extent. You can at least pay with a card in Lidl or Rewe now. Thereās a lot of distrust of cards in Germany - I know a trader whose kit will accept overseas credit cards, but he refuses to allow them, as he is convinced he will be defrauded. It wouldnāt surprise me if there were more like him. Itās only very recently DB Automaten (ticket machines) have started to take anything other than EC Karte and cash.
That gives people like me who are basically cashless these days, zero incentive to even bother myself to visit Germany, which is a shame because I have visited Germany a few times albeit several years ago now, but I doubt Iād ever bother going back if they canāt move along with the times.
Thanks both for your insight; so in summary the situation is improving but slowly and this is still true:
Thatās basically what Iād gathered and not a huge surprise given how cultural attitudes rarely change overnight.
It will be interesting to see how the Maestro withdrawal plays out in the medium term. I suspect it will lead to wider Mastercard and Visa card acceptance, but it may backfire and not increase card acceptance at all as merchants stick with cash.
Much will depend on how high domestic card usage is by 2023 - if cash is still king for Germans, there wonāt be a huge incentive to accept cards at all (other than maybe Girocard) which wonāt be very friendly to visitors.
ā¦ talking about this. Is there a German FinTech (or bank) where someone not living in Germany can easily get a Girocard for free?
I have a Germany-based N26 account on which I have a Maestro card issued. However, only ever had to use that in Austria (which incurred extra fees), never used it in Germany as all the places I frequented accepted MasterCard. Which is preferable as MasterCard sits in 
Pay wallet while the Maestro card cannot.
Given N26 provide Germany-based customers the option to have both MasterCard and Maestro debit cards it will be interesting to see what they do. They may bide their time and hope all German retailers accept MasterCard in lieu of Maestroās slow death. Else they may look at Girocard as an alternative, or even V Pay - but would suggest thatās unlikely as itās issued by Visa.
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As I am based in the Netherlands I am not in the need of a (free) Maestro card 
and in the Netherlands I am using Maestro a lot since many stores here still donāt accept MasterCard or Visa.
I agree that it will be interesting to see what N26 will do (I also have their Maestro card).
Not that Iām aware of, no.
You might be able to open a basic bank account with a ānormalā German Bank (I think DKB was always the easiest) to get one, but there will probably be cost involved and some proficiency in German needed. I think there was also a fairly complicated process of getting documents notarised at the Post Office.
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I think this is most likely.
Visa seem to be lagging on their announcements but Iād be amazed if they donāt mirror Mastercardās plans for Maestro by discontinuing V Pay and also the magnetic strip on cards.
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Me too. Particularly the severe restrictions that exist for V-Pay (I had one of those at a Volksbank) denote it very rudimentary these days.
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Iāve never had one, but arenāt they similarly difficult to use online?
Ever since the advent of online (meaning live) transaction processing on ānormalā debit cards, these specialist brands have been redundant as there is no use case for them that canāt be covered by a ānormalā card instead.
On my search for a free Girocard I stumbled upon this.
https://www.ing.de/girokonto/paydirekt/
Used to be called paydirekt, but the name will change to giropay.
Looks like the Germany equivalent of the Dutch iDeal (used to be on websites) but with the difference that it seems to have customer protection.
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Interesting, although I doubt the consumer protection will be as good as Visa or Mastercardās.
It looks like the only valid āchargebackā reason is non-receipt of goods (with the onus on you, presumably, to prove that you didnāt get them).
Thatās pretty awful!
The principle advantage is āitās all German, no dodgy other countries can access your dataā almost as though Visa and Mastercard are a security risk. German attitudes are pretty unusual here, I must say. I have no concerns that a major multinational corporation is going to be interested in pulling a scam on me!
Very true, I loved how when I went to France I could get around with just my phone/watch (just as I do in the U.K.)
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The notarising at the Post Office was in Germany. Here, as I recall you had to go to a notary to have (IIRC) your passport and birth certificate notarised.
it seemed like a lot of hassle for a German account that wasnāt even that good in the first place. Itās the only account I know thatās open to (non-minted) non-residents.
I should have been clearer - I was talking about the process if you actually went to Germany to do it, given that @PoelieV is Dutch and might be more likely to actually go there.
I didnāt even know that there was a way to do it here in the UK!
I do agree with you that it all seems like a lot of hassle for an account that wasnāt ever that good. Plus, Iām not proficient enough in German to manage the account properly.
I decided long ago, when I first looked into all this, that I would base my EU account with KBC in the ROI which gave me everything I felt I needed other than the Maestro card. Now itās potentially being closed, but I have Euro accounts with Starling, Fineco and Monese so Iām probably still covered.
I would also like to have a Barclays Euro account as they let you pay in and withdraw cash euros (which might be handy) but you canāt apply for the account online so itās too much hassle.
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I believe Bunq offer(ed) a Maestro Card if you are a resident of Germany, the Netherlands or Belgium, and someone on the forerunning forum to this found a way you could obtain one here in the UK, which was basically change your address in the app to one in Germany, the Netherlands or Belgium, order the card, then change your address back before completing - this apparently worked. It did seem like a lot of hassle for a Maestro card that would have limited usage. And Bunq are dead to most now insisting you pay ā¬2.99 a month just for the privilege of having an account and not taking on any more UK customers.
I have āeuroā and āSwiss Frankā accounts variously with Revolut (ā¬/CHF), Monese (ā¬), Starling (ā¬), CaxtonFX (ā¬/CHF), and FairFX (ā¬/CHF), Paysend (ā¬/CHF), MoneyCorp (ā¬/CHF), and Ziglu (ā¬), but I donāt think these are actually euro/CHF accounts, anymore than my Bitcoin balance with Revolut, Paypal and Ziglu are actually Bitcoin. I suspect itās a sterling balance in reality.
Whereas my accounts Fineco and Bunq are ārealā Euro accounts, and I assume my Wise account is a segregated part of a (real) Euro account held in Belgium. But my Swiss Franc balance at Fineco and Wise I guess are also a āvirtualā balance
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I think that was with Revolut.
Bunq let anyone order a Maestro card, as far as I recall, but as you say itās not much good now.
I think so, but I also believe that Starlingās Euro account is a ārealā Euro balance.
If you just want somewhere to park the Euros without it being an e-money account then there are U.K. high street banks that will do that for you too (but with no card attached to the account). You may find using prepaid cards linked to e-money accounts for spending and U.K. traditional bank accounts to store the money for safekeeping is the best way to do it. HSBC and Barclays offer Euro accounts which do free SEPA transfers. They are FSCS protected too, but in the event the banks did fail the FSCS would pay out the money in GBP equivalent and not Euros.
[quote=āriceuten, post:44, topic:1019ā]
I believe Bunq offer(ed) a Maestro Card if you are a resident of Germany, the Netherlands or Belgium, and someone on the forerunning forum to this found a way you could obtain one here in the UK
I think that was with Revolut.[/quote]
I think youāre right now I come to think of it
Bunq may have let any people order a Maestro card, but never on the free tier.
If Starlings is a ārealā Euro account, why would it have exactly the same IBAN as the sterling account? I am aware a few high street banks offer Euro denominated accounts, usually attracting a hefty fee, and not worth it without a card. Santander and Nationwide actually also do āfreeā SEPA transfers (I was surprised to find this) but at a rate thatās about 2 cents below the wholesale rate, and only on their website, not their app. I suspect that itās actually manually done in both cases, given the time taken to receive the money.