german bank account

daviss

hi,

i am wanting to get a german bank account to transfer money to and from. and to make sure i can send money via wire to other people in germany. how easy is it for a uk citizen to set up a german bank account? can it be done and will it require me to visit germany?

many thanks

grumbler

As nobody gave you advice for 24 hours, it looks like it is not so easy. I think it is as difficult as here in UK due to general money-laundering regulations. And international transfers are never free...
My advice is for one-way transfer to one person. Half a loaf is better than no bread.
Just open a Nationwide flex-account with a cashcard. Send the card to the person you need in Germany. He/she will be able to withdraw cash from your account. It is free! Cashcard cannot be used for purchases. As far as I know you cannot withdraw more money than you actually have on the account.
For safety change PIN before sending card, then send the new PIN separately (or by e-mail, phone).
You can open several accounts with several cards - for several persons in Germany. You can also consider joint accoun(s) with two cashcards. Unfortunately, all this is one-way only.

humbug_4

You could try contacting one of the German banks who have a branch in this country (most likely London) and get them to liaise with a German branch - this would help as far as providing id to meet with money laundering regulations without having to go to Germany. You might need to open up some sort of non resident account rather than a domestic German current account.

mateyboy

Hi
Take a look at this link

http://www.britishgermanassociation.org/living_Germany/relocationInformation/money.shtml

sorry about the long link ( must learn how to post short link) slap

judderman62

mateyboy wrote:

( must learn how to post short link) slap

Try here :

https://www.!!!!!!.com

and to the original poster as an alternative to opening an account overseas have you considered using paypal to pay overseas ?

Graham1

Yes, you will have to travel to Germany. German banking regulations require the applicant to open the account in person it cannot be done by post. This was told to me by a bank in Germany when I wanted to do this some time ago.

Citibank in London offer a € denominated account and charge no fee for transfers to Germany IF the recipient's account is also at a branch of Citibank (they have lots of branches in Germany). However you have to maintain an average balance of £2000 or equivalent as the sum of all you accounts with Citibank or they charge you a monthly account maintenance fee.

(Personal plug: Citibank are offering a a £30 amazon.co.uk gift certificate for referals if you are interested).

Graham1

EU regulation 2560/2001/EC requires that banks charge no more for cross border € transfers than they do for domestic transfers provided the amount being transferred is €12,800 or less (going up to €50,000 next year). Also deductions by intermediate banks are disallowed. This came into force on 1 July 2003.

So you can also pay somebody in Germany from an account in Spain/France/Netherlands etc. and pay little or nothing for the transfer. You must use the recipient's IBAN number to get this concession.

But again, to open an account in one of those countries you have to go there in person. Also most of those countries have banks that charge monthly account maintenance service fees.

Some european banks mistakenly believe that 2560/2001/EC does not apply to transfers to the U.K because the U.K. is not in the euro zone. This is not true, the regulation still does apply, so make sure anyone in europe sending you euro funds does not get overcharged for making transfers.

fisherdoug1

I intend sending a sizeable amount of money to my daughter who lives ing Germany and want to know the cheapest, safest and easiest way to do this. EG: A cheque, use E-mail and can I transfer money using a building society. Any help would be welcome. Doug