The online state savings account is far easier to use, totally paper free, once it is setup, after your 1st manual purchase.
No filling out and posting forms to redeem them, or queing up in post offices to buy them, no cheques or bank drafts, no having to lodge cheques once they have matured, or you want to cashin early.
With the state savings online account, when you want to cash in, you select it online, it takes about 5 to 8 working days to be credited to your bank account, but there are unfortunately debit card limits, in using it.
You can make up to 20k card debits per month. from an N26, on the standard & free N26 account, i have made a few of these from N26 to state savings online, but each was around 15k, but bear in mind the 20k is the total monthly card debit limit on the free N26 account, it resets after a month, and your other card debits, impact the monthly limit.
So to manage this, i tend to make the state savings online payments on the 1st of the month, so i can track other N26 card payments going out, just in case, the limit is exceeded, if for example, one was
making a large household purchase on the N26 card. Then once 1st of next month comes, one has a fresh monthly 20k limit on the N26 standard account card for that month.
I have stayed away from joint state savings investments.
For “offline” joint purchases, when you cash in, there are forms to be filled in and posted back, and the redemption cheque, can only be lodged to a bank account in joint names.
I find it better, to split the overall purchase into half each, in a sole account each, enabling you both, to do everything online, buy more (subject to debit card limits) and redeem etc. all paperless.
It would also be faster, if one needed the funds quickly, than posting back a form, waiting for a cheque to arrive, and then lodging the cheque.
My understanding is you cannot either buy or redeem, in joint names- 100 % paperless, via a state savings online account, as manual forms are required, making it less flexible, allthough, you can see the details of the joint holding, on the online state savings account.