Schwab ATM card usage

You need a Schwab checking account.

I only have the investor checking account with them and that works fine, so I can't really answer your question on the savings. Are you in a time crunch? If you have 2 weeks, I think you could open a checking account online and fund it from your savings account. They would send a new Debit card that definitely does work in Europe (Africa, Asia, etc).

I used my Andrews Federal Credit Union ATM card to get money from my savings account out of European ATMs for years. It was just an ATM card, not a debit card, and I don't have a checking account. I last used it in May in Portugal.

However, Andrews has just discontinued these ATM-only cards, I guess because at some point soon, ATMs will require a chip, and these ATM cards don't have chips. So I'll need to open a checking account with them and get a debit card.

If your Schwab debit card has a chip, I'd guess you would have no trouble using it in Europe to get money out of your savings account like I have. The problem would be if you have more than one account with Schwab. Unlike an American ATM, you won't be able to choose which account to take money out of - the ATM in Europe will access only the "default" account. If your savings account is your only Schwab account, I'd guess it would be fine. You could call Schwab and ask them if there's a "default" account set for ATMs by them.

We too have the Schwab checking account packaged with the investor account. And I recommend this: Schwab has great customer serivice by phone, ask them, rather than us! I would wager you would have had your answer in the time it took to register here and ask this. And that answer is particularly important because savings accounts now often have monthly limits on withdrawals.

Our recent experience is that you need to both have a "checking account" linked to the ATM debit card AND funds in the checking account to cover your withdrawal. That may require your transfering funds from your non-checing account to your checking account. As with any ATM/Debit card, you can only withdraw funds available in your account.

Do a test withdraw from a domestic ATM to confirm that your account and your PIN work.

I have no problem getting money from my credit union "share draft" account in Europe, but I do not have a checking account there. I think the issue is that the ATM's don't have a feature to choose which account you are withdrawing from. So if there is only one account linked to the ATM card, that is where the money will come from. If you have both checking and savings accounts, checking is probably the default account.

Schwab is not a credit union so "share draft" does not apply.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/share-draft.asp