# Opening an account in Germany



## chewchew (28 Nov 2010)

You're welcome godfather, hope it's some help. 

I found a list of places in Ireland that can notarise your documents for you, the charge for this seems to be €50+. 

[broken link removed]

The department of foreign affairs will 'apostille' your documents for a charge of €20. I'm not sure if that is the same thing or completely different but i'll try to find out from them in the morning.

http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=268


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## smash (1 Aug 2011)

georged3rd said:


> I was somewhat put off by the results of the recent European Bank stress tests which gave Deutsche Bank a poorer ranking than other big German & continental banks (due to their exposure to PIIGs debt) however they've slashed this exposure considerably of late.
> 
> I also emailed Deutsche Bank but received a reply from a member in their Frankfurt branch requesting a €100,000 minimum deposit. My understanding from this thread is that their Berlin branch do not impose this minimum deposit condition. I would like to contact the Berlin branch directly to arrange an appointment. Does anyone have contact details for the Deutsche Bank Berlin branch?


 Opened an account at 13-15 unter den linden berlin no problem walked in off the street made an appointment for next day only needed passport .
Staff were very helpful spent an hour with us recieved my pin about 10 days later.Have transferred funds both ways no problems


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## PVT (5 Aug 2011)

*silversurfer*

I had no problem opening a savings account in euro with Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt this month.

I rang the Dublin office of DB, said what I wanted to do and the receptionist gave me the phone number of the bank assistant at the Frankfurt branch who deals with non-resident applicants for personal accounts. They emailed me the application form and related forms the next day. I got my signature witnessed and passport copied at DB Dublin, and 10 days later the account was opened.

It was as straightforward as dealing with a local bank. No need to travel or to speak German!!

The account I'm opening is a term deposit for 1 year a 2%. Max deposit is €100,000, don't know if there is a minimum, but if so it may be low.


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## dec1892 (27 Aug 2011)

just back from an in and out operation to berlin to set up an account with deutsche bank (branch Q110)
Arrived in early this morning, had an appointment with a very helpful staff member with perfect english.....set up with a 1 year fixed savings a/c with 2% interest. Have on line banking etc. Need to set up a current account at some stage if and when I want to transfer the money back on line (free if made from the current a/c - however current a/c has a 5 euro monthly fee) Other option is to send in a signed letter to request money to be transferred back to ireland (this is free of charge). There is no minimum balance as was suspected at one stage on here.
All done & dusted hassle free in 40 mins. 

Had the rest of the afternoon and evening to do some of the touristy stuff. back home to the emerald isle now ;-)


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## daheff (16 Sep 2011)

Hi all

i found an ad for the below website (on the back of the Irish Times) this week

//germanbankaccount[dot]com

from what i can see they will open your account for you, for a fee of 200EUR (100 of which is for notarising documents). the bank they are using is HypoVereinsBank (HVB)


have to stress that in no way am i advocating using these people! just that after following this thread (and planning to open an account next time i'm in Germany), I stumbled across their advert. thought i'd share with people


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## JohnC (9 Nov 2011)

Hi

The German and French banks share prices have been taking a hammering lately. DBK.DE fell 4.36% today.

Does anyone know about other triple A rated German banks eg *KfW* or 
*Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank?*  Can deposit accounts be opened for these?

Also can a business account be opened with these or would you need to go to a German Commercial bank?

I have a Rabodirect account - which works very well - but I am concerned about talks of a two speed Euro-zone.

comments appreciated


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## Jiblet-run (10 Nov 2011)

I flew in and out of Amsterdam.
Then got the train to Rotterdam.

Rabobank is very safe bank in my opinion and I am very happy with my money there.
However see my post on Rabobank Rotterdam no longer accepting non-resident applications. Other branches in Holland may differ on this but I only have contact details for Rotterdam.

What I am trying to prepare for is the end of the Euro. In my belief - a new Deustchmark will be stronger than a new Guilder. Still it is way better than an punt nua! That's my thinking and others may not agree with this.
If I could opening a German bank account I would. But having to speak German has put me off.
I am considering to opening one with Deutsche Bank. 
Anyone with success with DB - please post your results....


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## oberon (10 Nov 2011)

I flew mid Oct Aer Lingus Dublin Berlin-Schonfeld 07.30 returned next eve Via Ryanair 19.05,  train 300m from airport €3 ea way into Friedrichstrausse station. I had a DKB account opened online in Sept, went to Deutsche Bank opened 12 month 2% account with a flexi acc linked for online use. Also opened with Berliner Sparkasse beside station, current acc €2 month but they deposited  €24 into it(yr free) when I was deposting 50k with them into 1.5% savings acc. When there I also got Postident done for VW(2.5%) and 1822Direkt (2.25%) I completed online, brought the forms with me. City bus tour recommended. PS I dont speak 10 words of German but managed quite easily in the Post Office and 2 banks.


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## oberon (10 Nov 2011)

No appointment, just got off train at Zoolischer Garten and crossed over the road opposite the station, its beside Mc Donalds on the corner, atms on ground floor and up the stairs to the branch, Annemarie Mahn is the english speaking girl I dealt with.


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## scallywag (10 Nov 2011)

I opened an account with Deutsche Bank a few weeks ago. I was in Berlin and called into their Unter den Linden office. Managed without an appointment but it's probably better to make one - I was at an Alexanderplatz branch earlier and they had nobody available.

I speak fluent German but it didn't seem necessary, they offered to speak English.

I opened a standard account with no notice period. It costs €5 per month, plus postage costs for any documentation they send out. Little or no interest. It's expensive I know, but for me it's really a contingency plan.

Opening the account was easy enough, he went through all the options with me and it took about 45 minutes. I needed a passport and some proof of address (my drivers license did the trick).


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## vf949 (11 Nov 2011)

Does anyone know what bank guarantees a non-resident would be covered under with a German bank such as Deutsche Bank?


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## oberon (11 Nov 2011)

Flew into Berlin Oct 18th this year. Only fee is for Berliner Sparkasse current account, 2 euro a month but they deposited 24 year to cover first year fees, only needed this acc so as to be able to transfer money out of savings account if needed. All other accounts fee free as they are savings.


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## Gringo (14 Nov 2011)

Troy McClure said:


> Not all German banks seem safe and some more safe than others. Who are the least exposed German banks??



I'm trying to deteremine this too.

The link below isn't very comprehensive, but interesting all the same. I'll be steering clear of Commerzbank


economicsintelligence.com/2011/07/17/piigs-exposure-of-individual-german-banks/

sorry - can't post full URL as I've too few posts.  Jut add http colon slash slash


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## oberon (16 Nov 2011)

Yes you can open a current account while in Germany, most charge a small monthly fee though but they come with internet banking for doing transfers back to Ireland or to other accounts in Germany.


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## Troy McClure (20 Nov 2011)

For what it's worth I called up a number DB Frankfurt and was put through to a branch. Told them what I was looking to do and they gave me an appointment. There was no mention of minimum amounts. The guy spoke good english. I didn't encounter any of the problems others above mentioned.


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## jennyben (21 Nov 2011)

*Refusal*

I rang the frankfurt office this morning and discussed my issue with them and they reiterated the point that a minimum amount of 100,000 was required to open a bank account as a non resident. I am going to ring again this afternoon and hopefully get through to someone else. See if they say the same.


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## 149oaks (21 Nov 2011)

Jennyben
DB Private will tell you €100k is minimum. But if you call a retail branch it's a lot lower - I was quoted €50k by a branch and when I offered €40k they said it was fine.
Anybody any views on what I posted a few days ago;

Thanks Guys for the replies, but I don't understand the code. So I guess what I'm asking is:
I don't want to take on FX risk but want to protect my Euros. I have an a/c with Keytrade in Belgium but I feel thats not much better than an Irish bank a/c if a breakup came. So I want to go to the strongest country - Germany. Now that I've zoned in on that bit what is the best option there?
I know I can open a DB a/c in 1 day but how strong/solid is it?
Are there stronger Bank Deposit options? I'm not too concerned about interest rate it's security I'm after.
Also how would I go about buying German Bunds as an alternative? Is it possible from here? Or could I do it in a day trip to Germany?


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## littletiger (21 Nov 2011)

*DB Singen*

I am booked into BD's Singen branch next monday morning to open a current account.
No min balance and no account charges.
Once I open 1 account there in person I can open additional ones via written instruction. 

Spent 20mins on the phone today talking to a very nice guy who is dealing with these accounts everyday. He is particularly busy with people from Greece.


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## seesaw (21 Nov 2011)

word on the street is that in the event of a euro breakup accounts throughout the eurozone in euro belonging to a person with an Irish address would very likely be converted to punt nua. You can't escape this by staying in euros.


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## Brendan Burgess (24 Nov 2011)

I have extracted the main posts from the very long thread into this thread.

If someone would like to do a Key Post e.g. "How to open an account with DKB" that would be very useful.


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