Banking in Germany - Bank of Scotland

tcapewell

Does anyone have any actual experience of Bank of Scotland Germany?

We've been living out in Germany for 10months now and I've had to relinquish the financial duties to my German wife, having looked after everything in the UK, given the language barriers. Unfortunately, she's not so interested either.

Anway, after a quick review, I was astonished about the situation we were in and became sick to the teeth with all the rediculous charges we're incurring. It came to a head last month when we were charged 10€ for an account name change and an additional 10€ for the new card having recently got married.

I also saw we weren't earning any interest so our money is sitting around idly and devaluing, but it seems very few of the main German banks offer interest on current accounts, only Sparkonto's.

All in all, a very different situation to that I was used to in the UK. I appreciate we are very fortunate in the UK with free banking on the whole, but the extent of the charges and lack of interest makes you wonder what are they doing with the money.

After some looking around I've found BOS and ING DiBA offer potential routes of escape. With BOS being particularly attractive as it also offers protection under the UK FSCS (I haven't yet found or understood exactly if such a scheme exists in Germany - whatever they do have seems very bureaucratic and complex).

So, any thoughts (particularly with BOS Germany) or additional advice much appreciated

Thanks

Ps: is there any boards of international money saving on MSE or perhaps scope for such?? Couldn't see any, but think it could be of great use to the ever growing ex-pat community.

apt

I would think about a DKB-Cash account. 1.65% interest, no bank charges if you are in credit, and you can use your VISA card to withdraw money abroad without fees. DKB - Proud to be different to Nationwide. http://www.dkb.de/privatkunden/dkb_cash/index.html

chexum

tcapewell wrote: »

All in all, a very different situation to that I was used to in the UK.

Sorry, I can't help you on the German banking market, but sadly, the UK situation these days not completely unlike you mentioned. In-credit interest is very rare, and small (0.1%), or even limited to 12 months, even if fulfilling other requirements for monthly deposit. And mergers (meaning conversion to Santander), has left just as many people unhappy with the service...

apt

The Germans have their own deposit protection scheme, which, as you can imagine, is very solid. The BoS offers 2.1% plus a 30 euros bonus if you open an account by 23 August. However it does not have the flexibility of the DKB account. GE offers 2.25% if you are chasing the highest interest rate.

preable

I think DKB account maybe your best option or GE for high intrest

tcapewell

Thanks all for the comments and recommendation of DKB - i'l look into that

tcapewell

chexum wrote: »

Sorry, I can't help you on the German banking market, but sadly, the UK situation these days not completely unlike you mentioned. In-credit interest is very rare, and small (0.1%), or even limited to 12 months, even if fulfilling other requirements for monthly deposit. And mergers (meaning conversion to Santander), has left just as many people unhappy with the service...

in general you have a point, but if you look hard enough there are better opportunities to work your money eg Lloyds Vantage 3-4%. With the big banks in Germany there seems to be nothing but charges from new to existing accounts

M_Thomson

From looking at their website, it seems BOS Germany don't offer current accounts. Only Savings accounts.