What is the best way to open a bank account in Germany?
I have absolutely no idea where to begin with this, if anyone has any information whatsoever on which to choose, when to sort it out, what you need to open an account, how to transfer English pounds into Euros for the new account, that would be very helpful!
This question was asked by Jess Dixon from Aberystwyth University , asked on 10th June 2015 and has been read 2370 times.
Answers (1)
It's super easy, there's no need to worry! Just walk into a bank and say 'ich möchte ein bankkonto eröffnen bitte'. Take a form of ID like a driving license or passport. You sign a form and get a bank card within a few days by post usually. I personally went with sparkasse because their account was free for a year but I had a friend who went with raffeisen and she paid four euros a month or something. Just go with whoever has a branch close to you. A lot of German banks make you pay to have an account with them for some reason. I had absolutely zero problems with sparkasse though, they were great.
With regard to changing euros into pounds, I put pounds on the Thomas Cook cash passport and could withdraw the euros at any cash machine in Europe. I hate to sound like an advert but this was great for the first month or two as if I wanted I could have deposited the euros into my sparkasse account. It was also safer because then I didn't have to carry 1000 euros round with me or leave loads of money in my flat. I hope this helps!
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