5 ms·

Well, I don't know if it's the difference between “resident” and “citizen”, but i was told “no” or “maybe in a few weeks” many times when trying to open a bank

by ferzul 7y ago

Well, I don't know if it's the difference between “resident” and “citizen”, but i was told “no” or “maybe in a few weeks” many times when trying to open a bank account in October/November last year in Germany. “Maybe in a few weeks” is as good as a refusal.

hocuspocus 7y ago
I've lived two years in Germany and hung out with lots of foreigners. Not only tech employees with high and steady incomes, but also freelancers or people on working holiday visas, working part-time at bars and restaurants. Between big commercial banks and savings banks, online banks (comdirect, ING, DKB, ...) and challengers like N26, I've never met anyone who had trouble opening a bank account. Americans didn't have access to some non-essential investment products thanks to FATCA, but that's it.
- tixocloud 7y ago
  How are the KYC requirements handled in Germany? What sort of documentation do you need to open a bank account?
  - hocuspocus 7y ago
    You should not need more than an ID and the certificate of registration from your municipality. Some online banks outsource this process to the Post: https://www.deutschepost.de/en/p/postident.html https://www.deutschepost.de/en/p/postident.html I'm not sure how N26 does it these days, at the time it was over videochat. I believe it's just a picture of your ID and a selfie now?
    - pitkali 7y ago
      I opened an account this week and it was a videochat (they call it IDNow). However, while you need a German address, no registration is necessary (which I'm only having done on Monday). I didn't even have any German phone number yet at that point.
- telesilla 7y ago
  >challengers like N26 Don't you need a bank account to transfer money into N26? As far as I know there is no way to deposit cash into any of these disrupter service providers.
  - scrollaway 7y ago
    In Germany, N26 is partnered with a service that lets you deposit up to 100 EUR / month into your account, in cash, for free at supermarkets (and more for a fee). https://n26.com/en-de/cash26 https://n26.com/en-de/cash26 AFAIK it's the only challenger bank to support doing something like this for free, even in a limited amount. Even Bunq, which I pay for, doesn't support it (https://together.bunq.com/d/2933-how-do-i-deposit-money-or-transfer-funds-to-my-account https://together.bunq.com/d/2933-how-do-i-deposit-money-or-t...).
    - leadingthenet 7y ago
      Monzo does the same, in the UK.
  - hocuspocus 7y ago
    I can live with that. The last time I had to deposit cash at a bank was 20 years ago after a summer job.
Cu3PO42 7y ago
If you should get into this situation again refer them to §§30 et seq. ZKG [0]. §31 specifically states that anyone with legal residence in the EU must be allowed to open a "basic" account. Occasionally banks will list this as a separate offering from their normal account, but they really should have told you about that. Sorry to hear they didn't. [0] https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/zkg/__30.html https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/zkg/__30.html

by ferzul 7y ago

hocuspocus 7y ago

I've lived two years in Germany and hung out with lots of foreigners. Not only tech employees with high and steady incomes, but also freelancers or people on working holiday visas, working part-time at bars and restaurants. Between big commercial banks and savings banks, online banks (comdirect, ING, DKB, ...) and challengers like N26, I've never met anyone who had trouble opening a bank account. Americans didn't have access to some non-essential investment products thanks to FATCA, but that's it.

tixocloud 7y ago
How are the KYC requirements handled in Germany? What sort of documentation do you need to open a bank account?
- hocuspocus 7y ago
  You should not need more than an ID and the certificate of registration from your municipality. Some online banks outsource this process to the Post: https://www.deutschepost.de/en/p/postident.html https://www.deutschepost.de/en/p/postident.html I'm not sure how N26 does it these days, at the time it was over videochat. I believe it's just a picture of your ID and a selfie now?
  - pitkali 7y ago
    I opened an account this week and it was a videochat (they call it IDNow). However, while you need a German address, no registration is necessary (which I'm only having done on Monday). I didn't even have any German phone number yet at that point.
telesilla 7y ago
>challengers like N26 Don't you need a bank account to transfer money into N26? As far as I know there is no way to deposit cash into any of these disrupter service providers.
- scrollaway 7y ago
  In Germany, N26 is partnered with a service that lets you deposit up to 100 EUR / month into your account, in cash, for free at supermarkets (and more for a fee). https://n26.com/en-de/cash26 https://n26.com/en-de/cash26 AFAIK it's the only challenger bank to support doing something like this for free, even in a limited amount. Even Bunq, which I pay for, doesn't support it (https://together.bunq.com/d/2933-how-do-i-deposit-money-or-transfer-funds-to-my-account https://together.bunq.com/d/2933-how-do-i-deposit-money-or-t...).
  - leadingthenet 7y ago
    Monzo does the same, in the UK.
- hocuspocus 7y ago
  I can live with that. The last time I had to deposit cash at a bank was 20 years ago after a summer job.

Cu3PO42 7y ago

If you should get into this situation again refer them to §§30 et seq. ZKG [0]. §31 specifically states that anyone with legal residence in the EU must be allowed to open a "basic" account. Occasionally banks will list this as a separate offering from their normal account, but they really should have told you about that. Sorry to hear they didn't. [0] https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/zkg/__30.html https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/zkg/__30.html