straight from an English-as-a-first-language American currently living in Cologne (Köln); "I would DEF go with an online option, such as ING"

"Or COMDIREKT (an online version of Germanys' s successful Commerzbank. )"

"I would only recommend a brick and mortar bank if the stay is to be long term, then it would help."

so I told my sister that I copied and pasted her responses verbatim

so here I go again

"No prob, but i would have checked for typos first. A local bank is convenient when it comes to a payee (say, the landlord) who exclusively accepts payments in the form a bank transfer utilizing an IBAN and BIC, (international bank account number and bank identifier code). It's the 'swift' system, which dominates in Germany, but hasn't really caught on in the States. It's pretty hard to get around if one decides to stay long term in Germany, in that case, ING or DiBa come to mind, they seem to be the most international friendly within Germany. Visa, Matercard, EMV Chip cards, and even PayPal is also widely accepted. Unless you're in it for the long haul, I'd avoid a German bank, considering the language barrier and German's noted deficits regarding customer service."

"Doesn't sound like he'll be going to Berlin long term, but if so, he should re - think the 'not speaking German' part. He's gonna need all the help he can get."