A bank account in Germany for a regular Joe.

IRL-Tony

Folks,



Can anyone confirm having successfully opened a bank account (current or deposit) in Germany while satisfying these 4 criteria:

1. You were not required to speak German.
2. You have no address in Germany.
3. You are not a German citizen.
4. A sum less than 50k was involved.



Can you:
1. Identify the bank/financial institution?
2. Advise how you got the ball rolling? eg. e-mail enquiry or got help from a 3rd party?
3. What was that e-mail address?
4. What sort of fees/charges did you encounter?



You can probably tell that I'm not having success with this matter ....... a huge amount of posts/threads are full of non-factual comments ... eg. 'I'm going to Berlin next week with my passport & lucky teddy bear ... wish me luck'.

I think cold hard facts are required & it seems hundreds of people need the facts ...


Help much appreciated.


T

galah

just did a quick google out of curosity, and the only German bank offering German bank accounts without having to have a German address seems to be the DKB (Deutsche Kreditbank AG).

Their website is here: http://www.dkb.de/ (ironically, their slogan is 'the bank that speaks your language' - but the website is in German only...:rolleyes:), and their mail address is info@dkb.de

As I said, this is just based on a quick google, no personal experience with this (I have a German bank account, but I am a German citizen and still have an address over there - my bank would not have let me keep my account without an address over there...).

Good luck ;-)

Hal Emmerich

worth a read

Jim2007

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

worth a read

I can't comment on the rest, but their information on Swiss banks is dated and misleading...

For instance they fail to make it clear that Swiss banks do not have the same type of deposit guarantee as the EU, they do have a type of guarantee, but it is not absolute and banks do fail

These days if you do not have a residence permit or are intending to lodge several million with them, most Swiss banks will turn you a way.

Furthermore if you are a US citizen or hold or have held a Green Card, then you will not be accepted no matter how much you want to deposit.

Jim.

Hal Emmerich

Jim2007 wrote: »

Furthermore if you are a US citizen or hold or have held a Green Card, then you will not be accepted no matter how much you want to deposit.

Jim.

Really? Why is that?

I would have thought Americans would have been one of their larger customer bases?

bailes

http://www.pni.ie/GermanBankAccount1.htm

mate of mine owns this business and can organise it all for a small fee

take everything

Anyone know how/if Hypovereinsbank (above post) is linked to Hypo Real Estate (the crowd who had to be bailed out by Germany a couple of years ago after they acquired Depfa).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypo_Real_Estate
1st line of the 2nd paragraph is interesting.

IRL-Tony

Folks,


I had success ... I've opened a bank account with CommerzBank [2012-09] ...


My procedure in brief:
- Made written contact via their web-page.
- A human e-mailed back to me ... asked a few questions and told me the stuff that they would need.
- I clarified no german language skills; they suggested a branch where they had an english speaker.
- I arrived in Germany [Frankfurt-Hahn airport on a cheap Ryanair flight) with: Passport + Proof of my Irish address; they photocopied stuff and we spoke for about 20 mins.
- I opened the deposit account with zero euro.
- I obtained the IBAN/SWIFT details and I have (german language) internet banking.
- I've transferred funds from IRL to DE ... no problem.


Conclusion ... easy, recommended & no middle-men fees.


Regards,
T

Nonoperational

Why did you do this?

digzy

gpf101 wrote: »

Why did you do this?

i'd imagine for peace of mind. if the sh1t hits the fan i'd like to have my cash in europes strongest economy. if there's a euro break up you can be sure the 'german' euro would be a damn stronger than the monopoly stuff here and in the other pig states!

RUCKING FETARD

digzy wrote: »

i'd imagine for peace of mind. if the sh1t hits the fan i'd like to have my cash in europes strongest economy. if there's a euro break up you can be sure the 'german' euro would be a damn stronger than the monopoly stuff here and in the other pig states!

Thought it was pointless without an address over there...thought all this crap had passed...

digzy

RUCKING FETARD wrote: »

Thought it was pointless without an address over there...thought all this crap had passed...

you must be joking! just because the media are caught up with the referendum, american election/storm, jimmy saville, doesn't mean this crisis is over. i'm just an 'average joe' reading the likes of mcwilliams, constantin gourdiev,paul somerville and eddie hobbs.I'm no expert just considering the opinions of fellas who seem fairly clued in. there's more to run methinks

IRL-Tony

@ Nonoperational ...



- If either:

-- Germany leaves the euro.
-- Ireland leaves the euro.
-- The euro dissolves.

- then:
-- whatever currency Germany ends up with will be stronger than the currency that Ireland will be using.

- therefore:
-- doesn't it make sense to hold the stronger currency ... I cannot see a reason to not to do what I have done.


Regards,
T