Opening an Account with DKB in Germany?

MaccyDs

I am in the process of opening an account with DKB in Germany so I can take advantage of the Miles and More Credit Card (got declined in the UK for some reason) however the address part is throwing me as it is done in a weird way, it asks for it as:
Street, House Name
Post Code, City

Which I can do however I have no idea where to put my Village name... I'd phone them but my spoken German is not very good

Also I know I have to get my identity verified however I have no idea how I do this now as the German Embassy no longer does identity verifications for bank openings, where can I get it done?

Thank you

NFH

MaccyDs wrote: »

however the address part is throwing me as it is done in a weird way, it asks for it as:
Street, House Name
Post Code, City

Which I can do however I have no idea where to put my Village name...

This is the address format in post of Europe. In City, put the village name, followed by a comma, followed by the post town.

MaccyDs wrote: »

Also I know I have to get my identity verified however I have no idea how I do this now as the German Embassy no longer does identity verifications for bank openings, where can I get it done?

If you happen to be going to Germany, go to a post office. You might be able to persuade your UK bank to do it, even free of charge. Failing that, go to a solicitor, for which DKB will reimburse you up to €20. DKB's instructions for this part are given in English in order to facilitate this.

MaccyDs

NFH wrote: »

This is the address format in post of Europe. In City, put the village name, followed by a comma, followed by the post town.

If you happen to be going to Germany, go to a post office. You might be able to persuade your UK bank to do it, even free of charge. Failing that, go to a solicitor, for which DKB will reimburse you up to €20. DKB's instructions for this part are given in English in order to facilitate this.

Ah okay I see

I'm not going to Germany for some time, I was meant to be but plans changed so I can ask my UK bank? I'll give it a shot when the papers arrive (I didn't have a printer so I had to have the papers sent to me to sign).

Cheers

shown73

Had this problem with postbank. For postcode, just enter 4 zeros, but include your real postcode in another line of the address somewhere. It works.

freebeer

For info I just opened an account with DKB and the process was:

• Fill online form, print PDF at the end.
• Sign printed documents.
• One of the documents is for a bank or solicitor to certify your passport copy. My local Barclays branch certified the copy for free (make sure they sign in the right place on the form, I had to go back to do it again after DKB emailed me about it!). I don't think you need to be a Barclays customer: I have an account with them but they didn't check. For info, I tried Halifax first but they said they don't do it.
• Send all this to DKB (address is on the form)
• Wait a few days (about 3 days for me) and someone will call you in German (!) to ask you why you want to open the account. I think they want to make sure you understand a bit of German before opening the account since it is operated only in German. GCSE-level German should be enough to cope with that as there was no trick questions and the woman on the phone was very polite and spoke slowly and clearly. I said I wanted a euro account to use on holiday.
• Wait a few weeks (4 weeks in my case) and you should get the account details in the post, followed by more letters with VISA card, passwords, etc.

-- freebeer

putout

freebeer wrote: »

For info I just opened an account with DKB and the process was:

• Fill online form, print PDF at the end.
• Sign printed documents.
• One of the documents is for a bank or solicitor to certify your passport copy. My local Barclays branch certified the copy for free (make sure they sign in the right place on the form, I had to go back to do it again after DKB emailed me about it!). I don't think you need to be a Barclays customer: I have an account with them but they didn't check. For info, I tried Halifax first but they said they don't do it.
• Send all this to DKB (address is on the form)
• Wait a few days (about 3 days for me) and someone will call you in German (!) to ask you why you want to open the account. I think they want to make sure you understand a bit of German before opening the account since it is operated only in German. GCSE-level German should be enough to cope with that as there was no trick questions and the woman on the phone was very polite and spoke slowly and clearly. I said I wanted a euro account to use on holiday.
• Wait a few weeks (4 weeks in my case) and you should get the account details in the post, followed by more letters with VISA card, passwords, etc.

-- freebeer

4 weeks?! Yikes.

I opened an account recently speaking no German. I looked around before I applied and saw that they like to test their new clients' German ability. Knowing this, I supplied a spare mobile number which I don't use often, and predictably they phoned it and didn't get through. They proceeded to email asking for a better number but I just told them (through Google Translate) that I'm unavailable on that number for a few days so if they want to ask questions just email. Then the interrogation followed albeit I could handle it at my own leisure through writing.

callum9999

Just out of curiosity, what's the benefit in having a DKB account for holidays - or is that just an excuse you gave them?

It seems like far less hassle to just get a GBP account with Metrobank or N&P and use that in the Eurozone with no fees. Especially as you'd presumably be paying rather hefty fees on transferring money into it from the UK anyway. The only real use I can see is if you are being paid by someone in Euros.

putout

callum9999 wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, what's the benefit in having a DKB account for holidays - or is that just an excuse you gave them?

It seems like far less hassle to just get a GBP account with Metrobank or N&P and use that in the Eurozone with no fees. Especially as you'd presumably be paying rather hefty fees on transferring money into it from the UK anyway. The only real use I can see is if you are being paid by someone in Euros.

You can buy euros at a time when the rate is favorable and store it for a later holiday. Key advantage of this over a prepaid euro card is that you can use an online currency specialist. I normally use CurrencyFair and they only charge a flat fee of 3EUR with the rate usually around 1c below the interbank rate. Leftover euros can be kept on the account where it will accrue interest, currently 1.55%.

But yes, it is only beneficial if you are nutty about getting the best rates or you spend a large anount of euros.

dr_adidas01

callum9999 wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, what's the benefit in having a DKB account for holidays - or is that just an excuse you gave them?

It seems like far less hassle to just get a GBP account with Metrobank or N&P and use that in the Eurozone with no fees. Especially as you'd presumably be paying rather hefty fees on transferring money into it from the UK anyway. The only real use I can see is if you are being paid by someone in Euros.

The advantage of having a DKB account is that you can withdraw money free from cash machines no matter where you are in the world, using your visa card (dont use your EC card, as that charges you 10 euros to withdraw cash).

Also for me as I have family in Germany its easier for them to put money into it, if they want to send me money for birthdays and Christmas. This means they then avoid being charged any fees they would incur transferring it to my UK bank account. I can withdraw the money here in the UK and not be charged anything for that including currency conversion fees.

You are right you do get charged a fee for transferring money to it from a UK bank account, though its the same when you buy euros to you get charged a fee for that too!!!

freebeer

callum9999 wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, what's the benefit in having a DKB account for holidays - or is that just an excuse you gave them?

I often go to France to visit family as well as other eurozone countries for holiday so a free Euro VISA card is a big plus for me and a euro account makes it easier to transfer money with my family. The interest paid on the current account also makes it less painful to leave a bit of cash available there. Basically it beats any euro accounts you could open in the UK with HSBC or other international banks.

As other said, you can use a currency broker to minimize the exchange rate difference when transferring from and to the account.

However I agree it wouldn't be worth opening such an account just for a casual holiday in the eurozone.

callum9999

freebeer wrote: »

I often go to France to visit family as well as other eurozone countries for holiday so a free Euro VISA card is a big plus for me and a euro account makes it easier to transfer money with my family. The interest paid on the current account also makes it less painful to leave a bit of cash available there. Basically it beats any euro accounts you could open in the UK with HSBC or other international banks.

As other said, you can use a currency broker to minimize the exchange rate difference when transferring from and to the account.

However I agree it wouldn't be worth opening such an account just for a casual holiday in the eurozone.

I see - so your family give you more Euros than you ever spend while you're over there? Otherwise a fee-free GBP account from the UK is better value - these are only worthwhile if you receive more Euros than you can personally spend.