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

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Godfather
I read that you successfully opened bank account at DKB and I was just wondering how long did it take, to get all cards and necessary papers to be able to fully use your account?
 
If you got the DKB account you also might want to sign up for the [broken link removed]which gives you points for using your account.

You get for example 200 points per 1000€ average balance in a quarter on your cash account or 150 points per 1000€ average balance in a quarter on your Visa card and spending 1000€ in a quarter with the visa card gives you 150 points.

There is only limited redemption for people outside germany, but they have a partnership with Lufthansa so you can convert points into Miles & More.
 
Godfather said:
Originally Posted by DublinTexas
But again, I don't think DKB will be too hapy if you use the card as savings account as they only make money when you use the card.
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Oh dear, 1.65% was the reason why I am opening this... Let's see if they'll reject my account in time because I'm using it only as savings account. :(
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My plan is to use the DKB visa card instead of my regular Irish one for all credit card transactions, to give the DKB card some activity. I'll run it in parallel with my Irish visa for a while, but if there are no problems I see no reason not to then cancel my Irish one, saving the stamp duty.
 
damson said:
My plan is to use the DKB visa card instead of my regular Irish one for all credit card transactions, to give the DKB card some activity. I'll run it in parallel with my Irish visa for a while, but if there are no problems I see no reason not to then cancel my Irish one, saving the stamp duty.
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That's a greeeeaaat point!!! DublinTexas, sorry: isn't there any stamp duty or tax on german credit cards at the moment? Thank you!
 
Godfather said:
That's a greeeeaaat point!!! DublinTexas, sorry: isn't there any stamp duty or tax on german credit cards at the moment? Thank you!
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You are joking, right? A tax on a credit card? Unheared off. What would be the purpose of such a tax?

But seriously, no there is no tax or stamp duty on credit/debit cards in Germany.
 
Opening an aacount with Keytrade in Switzerland

Hi,

I have followed this thread through - I want to ask why people are favouring a German account over Keytrade in Switzerand - they seem to only required stamped ID.

Also the CHF seems to have increased in value against the Euro? - if the worst was to happen would Swiss francs not be a safer bet than german based deposits.

Thanks,

DB
 
Switzerland is outside the EU and therefore interest earned would have to be declared here as income, and would be subject to income tax. :(
 
interest would have to be declared, but the deposit would be surely safer in Switzerland than here in Ireland?

DB - which Swiss Bank are you using? Do you have the web link for it?
 
Hi,

I was going to use Keytrade [broken link removed]

I haven't actually gone beyond printing the forms yet.

Cheers,

DB
 
dublintexas said:
you are joking, right? A tax on a credit card? Unheared off. What would be the purpose of such a tax?

but seriously, no there is no tax or stamp duty on credit/debit cards in germany.
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wow!!! :)

davebrien said:
Also the CHF seems to have increased in value against the Euro? - if the worst was to happen would Swiss francs not be a safer bet than german based deposits.
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I am thinking of Italy as place to retire and the Italian Lira lost 7% overnight against the DM in the 90s... I don't want to lose that train again if that happens... Maybe the swiss franc would earn more against the lira, but that DM-chapter is still there in my mind...It's all a matter of perceptions in my opinion... :)
 
SpaceOne said:
Well, my story with DKB ended. They decline to open Cash account with them, because of their business policy.
I actually sent request from Deutche post, thinking that would make any difference.

Is there any other bank that offers VISA (preferably debet card) for free including bank account and internet bank and accepts international users?
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Very sorry to hear that, maybe they got overwelmed with the amount of non germans for this account.

You can try [broken link removed] which however means you need to make a trip to a German Post office to get your id verified, there is no other way than traveling to a German Post office to get this account started.
 
Swiss franc

The Swiss franc was at 1.60 chf to the euro in 2008 its now at 1.29 is it likely to reach parity with the euro. any opinions there about converting money in CHF?
 
SpaceOne said:
Well, my story with DKB ended. They decline to open Cash account with them, because of their business policy.
I actually sent request from Deutche post, thinking that would make any difference.

Is there any other bank that offers VISA (preferably debet card) for free including bank account and internet bank and accepts international users?
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Wirecard.de

Not completely free (they charge €25 for a physical Visa/Mastercard debit card - virtual one is free) but you can open an account online. They will accept a copy of your ID (passport etc.) if stamped by your local Garda station.

The internet banking facilities are very basic - you can accept payment from any source (e.g. salary payments), but they will only allow you to transfer money to another account registered to your name (German money laundering rules, apparently). You can use the card to make any payments, of course.
 
DublinTexas said:
I am not working for DKB and any opinion I have is based on my own experience and the T&C of DKB.

The card carrier should have noted a "Verfügungsrahmen" which is your credit limit (if you got one).

In addition to your credit limit you can also do transactions that take your "Guthaben" (or credit balance) into account.

According to the T&C you are liable for 50€ damage for transactions that are made on the card before you notify the bank of the theft / compromise of the card. Once you notify them you are not liable anymore.

This is if you were doing everything right with your card, if you however did things like note the PIN on the Card, participated in the theft and other careless actions than your are fully liable.

If you have a credit on the card and your cancel the card DKB will transfer your credit over to your new card.

Now if there is a fraudulent charge on your card the bank will revert it and there is no difference if the card was in credit or debit. As long you have taken care of your duty of care with the card the bank will simply revert the transaction. There are time frames in which you must notify the bank of unauthorised charges.

But note you must inform your bank asap if there is something wrong and if your card is stolen/compromised you must inform the local police. They need a police report for stolen cards.

German bank T&C does not make a difference between a card in credit or debit, both are protected the same.

But again, I don't think DKB will be too hapy if you use the card as savings account as they only make money when you use the card.
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Guys thanks for this great information. I am currently in Germany (on way home from holidays). Following reading on internet the past few days I plan to visit DKB to open an account. I have leaving cert German from 9 years back which is about ok, hopefully this will be sufficient. Ideally I would hope to use the visa account as my main visa account (instead of my current TSB A/c- later close this a/c) and probably keep my BOI current account open unless they start charging me fees.
I have two main queries though. Firstly I have searched the dkb website but cannot find the terms and conditions mentioned above Dublin Texas. Could you give a link if on the website?
I have many questions to ask when I visit the branch today, particularly for guarantee in relation to money on credit on visa account if card lost/ stolen as detailed above. Am I correct that in Ireland credit card accounts have a lower guarantee for money on credit on your visa account than for negative balances? Also I will be querying in relation to guarantees for non resident accounts. Thanks
 
Would purchasing German Govt bonds be a good alternative?

What is the cheapest way to purchase these for somebody who has no German?
 
TomOC said:
Guys thanks for this great information. I am currently in Germany (on way home from holidays). Following reading on internet the past few days I plan to visit DKB to open an account. I have leaving cert German from 9 years back which is about ok, hopefully this will be sufficient. Ideally I would hope to use the visa account as my main visa account (instead of my current TSB A/c- later close this a/c) and probably keep my BOI current account open unless they start charging me fees.
I have two main queries though. Firstly I have searched the dkb website but cannot find the terms and conditions mentioned above Dublin Texas. Could you give a link if on the website?
I have many questions to ask when I visit the branch today, particularly for guarantee in relation to money on credit on visa account if card lost/ stolen as detailed above. Am I correct that in Ireland credit card accounts have a lower guarantee for money on credit on your visa account than for negative balances? Also I will be querying in relation to guarantees for non resident accounts. Thanks
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When i tried it was not possible to open this account (DKB) at the branch in Berlin. I was told opening had to be completed in German and given I hadn't fluent German I could not open it. They were very surprised at the branch that it was possible to open this account by post as a non resident. I may try it it by post later.
 
I tried to open an account with 1822direkt, but they turned me down. They gave no reason, just a standard rejection letter. But I suspect it was because I hadn't been a German resident in the previous three years.

I did manage to open an account with DKB. They rang me to ask me why I wanted to open the account. I am able to speak German and they were satisfied with my explanation. But I got the impression that if you asked them to speak English, they may well turn down your application.
 
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