Hi
Im considering selling some items in Germany and would like to explore the possibilities of opening a bank account in Germany?

What are the logistics of opening a bank account there? What some of ID do you need and is it possible anyway (I've a Swiss pass)?

Thanks for your help.
L

You can set up an appointment with the Dresdner Bank at the Hauptbahnhof branch in Munich. You just need to bring along your passport and proof of address as far as I remember. You will need to go there in person but Munich is a beautiful city for a visit.

Dresdner Bank Filiale Am Hauptbahnhof
Bahnhofplatz 1, 80335 München
+ 49-(0)89-515553(6)

Opened my Munich account with deutsche bank with just my UK passport.
Cant remember about proof of address, I was staying in a hotel until I found an appartment and they were happy with hotel address.

And they recently posted me statements to me here in Bern.

I don't think it's necessary to travel all the way to Munich. A few years ago, I opened an account with an online bank in Germany. I was able to do everything online, except that I had to visit a post office in Germany, fill in a Postident form and show my ID.

From Zurich it is only a 30 minute drive to the German border towns of Jestetten or Hohentengen. Swiss pass should be sufficient.

Thanks for the replies, was a big help!

Now I just need to look into which bank to open the account. Anyone have tips on which bank or names of banks so I can check out their website, preferably with online application?

Am looking for a standard account with low account keeping fees.

One possibility: http://www.sparkasse-hochrhein.de/

Hi! I've lived in Germany for 6 years and went through 4 different banks. The best and cheapest option is definetely Netbank (no fees, 5 euro/year from the second year on for Maestro card if no salary comes into the account): www.netbank.de
Mail me if you want to open one and you're in for a bonus: http://www.netbank.de/nb/kundenprogramm.jsp (and so am I )
PS. I'm not trying to lure innocent englishforum members I actually came to this forum myself to find the cheapest account in Switzerland where I'll be moving soon

I've banked with Dresdner and Deutsche over the past 8 years and prefer Dresdner for its customer service, Deutsche for its English online ability.

Dresdner's website is only in German. Like its correspondence. Also, be aware it is currently merging with Commerzbank so expect 'change'.

The question is, why open a DE bank at all? With SEPA in place, you can have a Euro account with almost any country in Europe (not the UK of course, but yes to CH) and pay any other country, currently, if you are paying less that 50,000 EUR the fee is normally 1 EURO. From November, I believe, it drops to 0.00 And that includes, forgive my language, for krauts paying you or you paying krauts.

And as advised above, proof of ID and any address will suffice. Don't expect much beyond a reletively useless maestro card though.

What's the problem with opening a € account at your Swiss bank. I have a € acc' with UBS, I get full on line facilities a reasonable interest rate, and as it's lumped in with my other accounts its free. No ID, no travelling just one signature on a form and that's it, I got the account number straight away and the account was accessable on line the following day. I use this regularily for € transactions, and other than when I once got a cheque from France and they paid it into the wrong account I've never had a problem.

Does a EUR account in DE yield higher interest than a EUR account in CH?

I wanted to sell items in Germany on Ebay, and wanted a German bank account so buyer would not have to pay an overseas bank transfer fees.

Postbank.de doesnt charge monthly fees if account has balance over EUR1,250, but havent read all their charges yet. Need to do more research into this.

As for Netbank.de, they dont charge a monthly fee but charges for example EUR 0.50 everytime you sue online banking, doesnt sound a lot, but times that by 365 days .

Usually; which is why so many Swiss have DE bank accounts

Quick internet search for Euro interest rates
Swiss Post 1.875%
Deutsche bank up to 3% depending on certain conditions

Not true! Where did you find that? Online banking with Netbank is free. The only 50 ct charge I can imagine you mean is their MONTHLY charge for sending you TAN-codes on your mobile (which you anyway cannot use if you don't own a german mobile - you then get your TAN codes for making online transactions by mail). All German big banks like Dresdner, Deutsche, Commerz etc. charge you monthly fees if not enough money comes into your account (e.g. under 1250/month like you found at Postbank). Plus none of them will give you interest on your current account. Netbank is the only bank giving you at least 0.5% Basis-zins on your current account if no salary payments are coming in (in which case you would get 2.5%).

1250 euro needs to come in EVERY month...

Yes, like not being able to touch your money for 3 years. Definetely NOT on current accounts.

Anyway, my favourite is Netbank as it gives me max possible interest on a current account in Germany (2.5%). Theoretically even better if no regular salary payments come into your account is DKB www.dkb.de that gives you 0.5% interest, plus free Maestro & VISA cards (with which you can cash money from machines worldwide for free), although I'm not sure if you get both of these if you live outside Germany...

BTW does Switzerland have any of these direct online-only banks? I cannot seem to find any by just googling