German Bank Account

airbusA346

Hi

I'm after opening a German Bank Account with a debit card, from looking on here and Google, there isn't a lot of choice, because I'm not a German resident.

Comdirect is an option, but they want my identity verified by a notary, however I do that... I don't know. Their debit card is also a V-Pay card. Do they work for Internet purchases??

Another option is GLS Bank, who as far as I can tell want my identity verifying by a bank in the UK. Their debit card is an EC card, whatever one of them is.

Shame I can't get a German credit history to get access to a Visa card.

eDicky

What's your purpose, are you going to live/work in Germany?

airbusA346

eDicky wrote: »

What's your purpose, are you going to live/work in Germany?

I'm not moving to Germany. It to make Euro purchases on the Internet and for when I would be travelling in the EU.

I'm also going to be making a purchase from a German company, who will be refunding me the 19% VAT.

eDicky

So you're looking for something unnecessary, as well as difficult to obtain.

Just use a card that converts at the ideal exchange rates without fees; various 'travel' credit cards, plus Starling Bank, Monzo, Loot.io

Or if you need to receive refund in euros to a personal IBAN (as well as spending), use Revolut:

https://revolut.com/

There's the Dutch prepaid euro card Bunq, and there's an Irish one also, sorry I forget the name right now.

mjdh1957

You can open a Euro bank account online in Ireland with KBC https://www.kbc.ie, and they accept scans of ID documents. I was moving to Ireland so needed an account there but they accepted my UK address with no problems.

Flugelhorn

DS needed a bank account when studying in germany, couldn't be opened until he was resident there and registered with the local authority / police at that address.

colsten

Transferwise Borderless any good? https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/

EDIT: I just opened one of these, it was a complete doddle. I had used Transferwise for one-off transfers before and they had already verified my ID, so it took literally a minute to open the borderless account for GBP and Euros.
Debit card (Mastercard) is on its way, I have a UK sort code and account number, and a Euro IBAN and BIC. Neither are actually bank accounts so you can't do things like standing orders or direct debits but money can be paid into either 'account', and transferring from one currency to another is done in seconds, and at really low cost.

colsten

This is the currently applicable legislation: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/financial-products-and-services/bank-accounts-eu/index_en.htm

System

V Pay is for point of sale purchases (their domestic EC card is usually co-branded with either V Pay or Maestro).

Having a dedicated Euro account would be dictated how often you'll need it.

bhjm

if you still need a local bank - I have good expierence with DKB - you can open the account without beeing resident und you`re able to obtain a credit card with 0EUR fee as well.

but as the other suggested, just for refund purposes, just accounts like transferwise or currency fair !

let me know if you need any assistance for germany

gingercordial

airbusA346 wrote: »

Hi

Comdirect is an option, but they want my identity verified by a notary, however I do that... I don't know.

You go to a notary. Call one, make an appointment, go in and show them your passport and they give you back a notarised copy.

I had to do this with my passport for Norwegian purposes. It is like going to a solicitor to get a certified copy except much more formal and the copy they give you back has their seal on it as proof it is a true copy. I have no affiliation but if you happen to be in London I used Cheeswrights; there's also a function to find a notary on the Notaries Society website https://www.thenotariessociety.org.uk/

Bear in mind they are not cheap - I would not expect a notary to charge less than £70 as a rock bottom starting point. Mine cost £180 for two passport copies (luckily I was not footing the bill). As I said it is a much more formal process, and they are held to much higher standards, than when you just get a solicitor to sign a copy. You would therefore need to think this was very worthwhile to even bother, given the alternatives others have suggested.