Best Bank in Germany

I am pretty happy with DKB. They have no branches at all - but who needs them in the age of the Internet (and branches are anyway always closed when you need them).
Consors, where I also have an account, is less good - the French just don't understand customer service!

DKB stands for?

tulug wrote:

DKB stands for?

DKB = Deutsche Kreditbank

Hello Tulug,
I am happy with Deutsche Bank, but it's up to you !

Thanks Rocha, I will take that into account.

When I arrived to Germany, and tried to pay with a credit card, the shop keeper used to look at me as if I were insane !
You can buy your car cash in Germany, and when I arrived, having to pay cash for the whole lot of furniture for the flat was quite a surprise !
now, this is just a German habit !

Worth noting as well! Thanks for the input Rocha...

Judging which bank is best will depend on your criteria, what is most important; lots of branches near you or cost or what. Here are a couple of results I get at google of articles rating German banks (all in German). The second of these is limited to Giro accounts that are free. Rather than a savings account, the most used kind of account in Germany is called a Giro account. It usually pays little to no interest but is used for making payments and transfers, something not done by a savings account. One can pay up to 200 Euros a year for such an account but many  banks provide them without cost under certain conditions; the main one being that a certain amount each month must come into the account, usually around 1000  to 1200 Euros. For many people with a salaried job this is not a problem since their paycheck gets put onto their account. I myself am self-employed and might have much more in some months and other months with no income. Thus I do not qualify for such a free account.

https://www.focus.de/finanzen/banken/ci … 03518.htmlhttps://www.kostenloser-girokonto-vergl … fuer-mich/https://girokonto.focus.de/

Thanks for the useful info Tom, I appreciate it.

TominStuttgart, can you advise me as to the best way to route my pension to the bank of my choice? I have recently established an account with a bank in Germany & am trying to arrange the deposit of my pension into this account. However; my bank (as well as my credit union) in the US says it is not possible to directly deposit my pension into my new account. What have I missed in setting this up for my future in Germany? Thank you. Judi

Just tell them some guy named Tom in Germany said for them to do it… Just kidding as your question seems laughable. How should I be able to help how your US based bank and/or Credit Union do things?! Talk to them. If they can't offer a strategy for this to happen then you need to contact other banks in the US to see if they can. I am not informed if any US banks or credit unions actually do this.

Otherwise, I think a worst case scenario is that you give someone stateside that you trust signature authority and access to your account and have them send you the money. If not possible through a direct bank transfer, which is the normal method in Europe, then there are services like Moneygram, Western Union and other cheaper ones like TransferWise, WorldRemit and Currencytransfer that have popped up in recent years. I've never used such services so I can't say much about them.  I Googled the subject and find no specific information about direct bank transfers abroad from US financial institutions – but lots of content provide by such broker services like Western Union. I am providing a link to a site that makes a comparison of costs for various companies. In the end the final cost depends on the exchange rate, fees, amount sent and urgency. Some companies have no minimum but then charge brokerage fees; others have a higher minimum but no fee. Some take 1 – 2 days others 3 – 5 days.

https://www.finder.com/international-mo … to-germany

I have sent wire transfers from USA to my German bank account in the past, without myself being in the USA. It did not seem to be a problem at all, just required a signed form sent by post. I suppose nowadays it can be done via the Internet.

Geez Tom, great idea! There is such a thing as sub custodianship that some banks abroad and in US have that allow them to transfer money. I just found this much out. Sarcasm aside thought, I'm exceedingly sorry to trouble you with what you feel is a laughable question. I didn't assume you could fix or help how any bank exchanged money. I just wanted to know if you saw something I missed. I thought, like you, “oh how simple! Open an acccount, provide my current bank with the new number and Ta Da!” Problem solved. Maybe next time you and Beppi could just say something along the lines of “I don't know.” I thought this “expert” forum was to help each other not berate people for asking a legitimate question. Thanks to you both and good day.

Judi Clark wrote:

Geez Tom, great idea! There is such a thing as sub custodianship that some banks abroad and in US have that allow them to transfer money. I just found this much out. Sarcasm aside thought, I'm exceedingly sorry to trouble you with what you feel is a laughable question. I didn't assume you could fix or help how any bank exchanged money. I just wanted to know if you saw something I missed. I thought, like you, “oh how simple! Open an acccount, provide my current bank with the new number and Ta Da!” Problem solved. Maybe next time you and Beppi could just say something along the lines of “I don't know.” I thought this “expert” forum was to help each other not berate people for asking a legitimate question. Thanks to you both and good day.

Maybe you have false expectations that a stranger can possibly know what your bank does or could do. Nobody knows your own situation better than yourself. But no, we should "ta da", perform magic and solve problems that don't need expert advice but rather can be found out by spending 3 seconds googling it - but people are too lazy or incompetent to bother. In such sitaution a bit of sarcasm is to be expected.

Judi: I gave serious and well-meant advice above. What was wrong with it?
If you cannot accept others having a different view of things than your, maybe you should not move abroad.