Did anyone of you open an account with one the biggest german banks?

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dec1892 said:
Redisland - what is the rate of interest on the spar savings account you opened?
I did a google search but couldnt find any info on the spar account - do you have a link I can look at?
Thanks
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You probably need to search for Sparkonto, the German world.

Jim (Switzerland)
 
I have emailed Rabobank in Rotterdam and tried to open an account with them explaining the same approach as detailed here.

However only people living in Holland with a Dutch social security number and with their salary being paid into the account are allowed to do so. So hitting a brick wall with Rabobank here

@Shakespeare I would appreciate if you could please PM me your contact in Rabobank? Cheers.
 
I was all set to make an appointment with Deutsche Bank and book my flights over to Berlin and open an account but just thought I'd check out how they did in the European Banking Authority Stress Tests.

It seems they didn't do too well, they ranked 8 of the 12 German banks tested.

Should I be chosing one of the 7 that came ahead of it in this test? I had been thinking that even if Deutsche Bank did get into trouble at some stage that Germany would never let it fail but now I am beginning to wonder.

What should I do folks?
 
@Shakespeare can you please post the contact details in this thread? If not, can please PM the details to me.
 

Obviously that stress test didn't include the event of a possible soverign default (afaik).

This seems to be good information on the exposure of various banks (unfortunately not DKB or DB as far as I can see) and countries to the situation in Greece: ht tp://ww w.guar dian.c o.u k/news/datablog/2011/jun/17/greece-debt-crisis-bank-exposed. Would be very interested to see similiar data on exposure to Spanish debt.
 
Hi all, just to specify please: when I was referring to 0.5% interest on C/A and 1.65% interest on positive balances on credit card with DKB, the account-solution I was referring to was the DKB-Cash... Just to make sure please...
 
Godfather as a matter of interest, how long did you wait before you heard back from DKB? I posted everything a week and a half ago, and heard nothing yet. So much for German efficiency!
 

I tried to open a DKB account in person. There is only one branch in Berlin that I could find from the website. I had basic German, leaving cert from 10 years back. They told me they had to open purely through German not through English at all and that my German was not good enough for that and that they could not translate the questions for me during the application process. They then told me to open by post but they assumed I needed a German address to do that.
 

Thanks TomOC. I had the same experience when attempting to open an account with DKB via post, even with a German friend translating for me during the subsequent conversation with DKB over the phone.
 
horusd said:
Godfather as a matter of interest, how long did you wait before you heard back from DKB? I posted everything a week and a half ago, and heard nothing yet. So much for German efficiency!
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I waited around 2 weeks. Anyway turnaround must be higher these days. You can also give them a shout with a few prepared sentences checking if they see your name on their DB showing the incoming applications...


georged3rd said:
Thanks TomOC. I had the same experience when attempting to open an account with DKB via post, even with a German friend translating for me during the subsequent conversation with DKB over the phone.
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Sorry to read about such bad experiences... Yes I agree my german is helping me a lot... Also because I love speaking in German and each time I speak with those banks they appreciate my efforts as far as my experience is concerned... Also because they love the fact that I hate Berlusconi and his harem...
 
I posted earlier in this thread about my problem with opening a DKB account.

So instead I decided to try my luck with Dutch banks during a recent trip to The Netherlands. First branch of ABN-AMRO I visited said no after much discussion among themselves (I just think they could not get their head around the idea). I then tried ING and Rabobank, with no luck. All insisted I needed a Dutch address and a social security number or else an existing Dutch current account.
Finally I went to a different branch of ABN, and this time was able to open the account. I told them I had seen their website and its mention of international customers, and I wanted to sign-up. We then went through an interview process where they asked why I wanted a Dutch account and what I intended to do with it.
Now have a current account and a savings account (2.5% interest). I could probably open accounts at the other banks now since I have a dutch current account.

I had no appointments and just walked in off the street. Everyone in The Netherlands speaks English so no communication issues, however all the documentation is in Dutch.
 
Is there a list of German banks that are allowing accounts to be opened by post from Ireland? I know DKB appears to be one (communication is in German though), what are the other options?
For DKB I could use Google Translate and get it opened easily enough but not being able to call them up or understand communications from them is a potential stumbling block.
Getting the money to these banks is one thing, whats the position with withdrawing it?
 
This thread has a wealth of information, has been very useful to me. I am planning on travelling to Berlin next month to open an account with Deutsche Bank. I have emailed them to confirm I will be able to open a non-res account and they got back to me with confirmation within 2 days. However from reading about other people's experiences, there seems to be issues with
1. Transferring money back to a ROI account via online banking? Has anyone successfully done this?
2. Several people complaining about wrong account numbers? Whats that all about? Surely a big bank like that would not consistenly give out wrong account numbers to transfer money into.

Unfortunately DKB is not really an option for me as I do not know anyone who speaks German, and frankly do not want to deal with having my money in a bank who I cannot communicate with myself.
 

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?
 

Check before you travel - The address you have given is for their private banking arm, and that usually has a high minimum deposit.

Jim.
 
Jim2007 said:
Check before you travel - The address you have given is for their private banking arm, and that usually has a high minimum deposit.

Jim.
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I'll double check, but both Redisland and Perplexed who posted earlier in this thread both opened a savings a/c at this branch (no mention of 100k min deposit)
 
Jim2007 said:
Personally I would not be will to but a single €1 on deposit with DB....
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Thanks. I was considering Rabobank in the Netherlands as an alternative to DB. It ranked better in the bank stress tests than DB IIRC. I haven't heard much (negative or otherwise) about the state of the Dutch economy of late. What are people's opinions of the Netherlands as regards prospects for recovery given a potential two tier Euro, say in comparison to Germany? I realise this is speculation but...thoughts welcome.
 

So they didn't impose the 100k minimum balance either??
 
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