BMW Bank 3% instant demand deposit

M

murphaph1

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It may be of interest to some to know that BMW Bank are paying 3% on instant demand deposit for all business on deposits up to 50k with German bank guarantee protection. They will open accounts for non-residents with a caveat....you can only use a German current account as your reference account for making withdrawals. You will need to already have a German current account or set one up first. As I live here I already had a German current account but maybe N26 accounts opened from Ireland will work too as they are Berlin based? Idk about that though.

They are paying 3.5% on 12 month demand deposit accounts also. AFAIK this is the best rate (excluding introductory discounts) in Germany right now, by a fair margin. I opened an account a few weeks back and can't complain. Best place for my rainy day money I feel.

https://www.bmwbank.de/zinsuebersicht (in German but sure Google will easily translate)

In the FAQ there's a pdf you can download for opening an account from abroad. The form is bilingual German/English.
 
Thanks for posting this. 3% instant access and without any middleman is very appealing. As their site currently under maintenance, I wonder if you have a copy of the PDF?
 

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

I would rather an Irish resident confirms that this works with an N26 IBAN (or any German current account that can be opened by Irish residents) before I add this to the best buys. Hopefully someone can confirm.
 
Has anyone given this a try? i.e. tried to open a BMW Bank account using a N26 IBAN?

I don't have an N26 account and there is a queue to get an N26 account so I can't try it myself.
 
I filled in the online application form with N26 details and it was accepted.
It then sets up a video identity app. I tried to access this but did not get a reply. Probably because it was 2am. I checked out the frequently asked questions later and the interest is subject to German withholding tax of about 26%. There is an online form to apply for an exemption of this tax but it requires a German tax i.d. number. At that stage I decided it wasn't worth the effort to set it up.

I have access to Elster (the German equivalent to ROS) in order to apply for a refund of German dividend withholding tax. If I am supplied with a German tax i.d. number during this process I might then open the BMW Bank account.

You could try using your Raisin IBAN to try and set up the BMW account. If it worked you might be able to use BMW as your Raisin reference account.
 
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Great that it works with an N26 account.

@murphaph1 - As you are Irish resident, how did you manage the tax aspect? i.e. what document did you send to BMW Bank to prove you are non-resident?
 
Had a similar experience, the video verification didn't work. While I could get through to the call centre, trying separately using both using a PC and the App, the operator terminated the call both times without completing the verification.

Interested to hear how you get on with the German Tax ID.
 
Did you get to talk to the operator ?
It says that there are only German servers for the identification process.
Did they speak to you in English ?
 
Are people sure that this isn’t a scam?

I’ve no reason to think that it is, but there have been plenty of fake Goldman Sachs, Barclays, and Morgan Stanley ones doing the rounds recently.
 
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S class said:
Did you get to talk to the operator ?
It says that there are only German servers for the identification process.
Did they speak to you in English ?
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Could see the person and tried to speak with them, but to no avail. Audio issues on both occasions.
 
Do you know if you can call into the BMW Bank in person in Berlin to open the account?
 
Lightning said:
Great that it works with an N26 account.

@murphaph1 - As you are Irish resident, how did you manage the tax aspect? i.e. what document did you send to BMW Bank to prove you are non-resident?
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I am German resident. In Germany it works like this for "DIRT":
You have a tax free allowance per individual of 1k per year, 2k for couples. You simply tell each institution where you have deposits, shares etc. how much of this pie they should reserve. I have ETFs with Trade Republic, deposits with BMW and a few other small bits like my current account that don't earn anything so are excluded here. I tell BMW to reserve say a €500 share of this 2k (as I am married and jointly assessed with my wife), then Trade Republic are instructed to reserve €1500. If I earn less than €1500 a year in interest with BMW Bank, the "DIRT" will not be deducted and forwarded to the Finanzamt at all. The bank usually wants a German tax ID as these figures are reported back to a central office that makes sure you aren't "recycling" the pie so to speak. I have no idea if a German tax office (they are all regional, there is no national "Revenue") will issue a tac ID for this purpose but there must be a way for non-residents to either not pay this tax (Abgeltungssteuer it's called) or to claim it back, I would have thought.
 
Pmc365 said:
Do you know if you can call into the BMW Bank in person in Berlin to open the account?
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I would be amazed if that was possible. Even "proper" online banks offering current accounts, like DKB, IngDiba are all online and don't have counters. BMW Bank is not a full service bank.
 
murphaph1 said:
I would be amazed if that was possible. Even "proper" online banks offering current accounts, like DKB, IngDiba are all online and don't have counters. BMW Bank is not a full service bank.
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Is BMW Bank an actual bank. I do have an N26 account so I suppose I could open an online account. Obtaining a German tax number is a different story to get an exemption from Deposit Retention Tax. I just hope there are no downsides with this. I'm usually very cautious and sceptical in my financial affairs.
 

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

On their website it says you can post (rather than use the online form) BMW Bank evidence of authorisation not to deduct taxes. Maybe a certificate of residence from the Revenue might work.
 
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I suspect they will only accept a statement of exemption from a German tax office, which in turn would require one having a tax ID number (but once you have that you can skip the form and just instruct the bank to assign the full 1k tax free allowance which I think most people are not going to exceed-if you had the full 50k on deposit you would exceed it).

I have posed the question about obtaining a tax ID on a forum for ex-pats (I hate that expression by the way) in Germany and will report back if I get some useful information. I am thinking that obtaining a tax ID from abroad must be common enough, think absentee landlords with income tax liabilities in Germany. The tax ID number is issued by a central office. Before the introduction of this ID, there was no way of identifying a person from one tax office to another within Germany, even with states. Even today I have this tax ID as a "national" identifier but when I moved house I got a new income tax number as I was then subject to a different tax office. It's German federalism on steroids.
 
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