Banks that offer free current/checking accounts

I want to open a new bank account to adminster my budding property empire. All I want is on-line banking, and direct debit. Don't really need an ATM card, and don't need to visit the bank often either.

Rent will (hopefully) be flowing in, and mortgage payments flowing out.

But I want the account to be free.

Postbank is not free unless you have 1250 entering the account every month
Sparda is free, but it must be a salary account
Hypovereinsbank is free if you have a minimum balance of 2000 or so.

Does anybody know of a free girokonto without such annoying restrictions?

I suppose there are other threads on this topic, but DKB fits your requirement. They have only online banking (no branches). Norisbank also offers a free Girokonto.

comdirect. they also give you 4% on a tagesgeldkonto and they pay YOU €1 per month to have the account with them.

Comdirect is an online bank but you can use Commerzbank filiale if you need to and you can withdraw cash from all Cashgroup machines (ie Post-, Hypovereins-, Dresdner, Deutsche and Commerzbank)

There is a monthly charge with comdirect if the amount entering the account is less than 1250 EUR.

yep, you are right, hadn't spotted that.

how about ING-Diba?

https://www.ing-diba.de/main/kk/girokonto/produktinfos/

actually the comdirect tagesgeld account is now at 5% (for 6 months only). I just opened a savings account there the other day.

I can't think of a bank with a totally free Giro account off hand...would have to google for it.

DKB is maybe what you need. You get a VISA card and EC (ATM) card and you can get money worldwide without any commission. The whole package is free, no payments at all.

DKB, Norris, and ING-Diba all seem to fit the bill. Thanks everyone.

ING-Diba has an office 2 mins from my office so they shall be tried.

I'd suggest looking into DIBA as well - I had a positive experience with them.

i think postbank has an account that's free if you keep a minimum of 2K in the account.

Sounds to me you are running a business, and therefore are theoretically obliged to have a business account. Business bank accounts don't come free. If a bank subsequently determines you are running a business on a personal account they'll backdate the charges.

DkB may fit what you need. Comdirect is also interesting but it is free only with minimum 1250 Euro monthly income.
You can also check citibank. It offers free girokonto with a deposit valued over 2k.

Postbank offers a free account if you are either under 26, a full-time student or if your monthly income into the account is over 1250€. That was the deal when I switchen to Postbank about 3 years ago and I think it is the same now.

I also have an account with DKB and am pretty happy with them. Sounds ideal for your if you don't need ATM card etc etc..

Is there a free banking account (no monthly fees or very small like 1 EUR ) with internet access + access to a lot of ATMs for free (no provision for taking out money), in Germany?

i've searched the forums, but people seems to ask about good intrest rates or some specific bank issue.

Topics merged by admin

did you check the wiki? did you use the search function? If you did you'd find pages and pages answering this very question.

Banks that offer free current/checking accounts

postbank is really good for a simple gyrokonto, i believe mine is 5 € every quarter or so...they even let me open it with no money to put in as i did not have my income at the time. Got an EC maestro card the week later. You can also use the ATM free of charge at 5 other banks (Hypo/commerz/ and 3 more but i forget who they are but they are pretty common ones), you get online banking as well and thats free, the only thing that costs is the phone banking. All they asked of me to open the konto was my Pass, aufenthaltstitel (must be at least 1 year valid and i believe thats from the date you open it ) and your anmeldungbescheinigung from einwohnersamt.

Where are you located, juice?

No use people recommending Munich banks if you're in Berlin.

EB - that's like telling people to fill out their profile - you might get your head bitten off.

DKB

Frankfurt am Main

P.S. sorry for not finding this thread myself. i must have used wrong search words.

this is response i got from comdirect:


right.. so one more thing - of all of these banks you mentioned, is there even one that offers english support? at least through mail

well the commerzbank website is offered with english bits. My advisor at my local branch can also speak english, but I am not sure that all branches would offer that.

No regular bank will enter into a contarct of business in English, why would they?
You don't NEED your bank to spakek English day to day anyway.

Why not? I have an account with a Hamburg bank that only has 14 branches in the Hamburg area. Never been to any of the though. Opening the account was by post, banking b internet and questions by phone.

i typed in PLZ 60528 for Frankfurt for sparkasse and it showed 2, but both have strange opening times, like from 9 to 13...

how can i go there durning my work time? it's strange. are there any banks that are open til 20 for example? with free bank accounts

Look out of the window. See any pigs flying by? This is Germany, for Gods' sake...

Banks usually open 1 or 2 days a week until a little bit later, maybe until 7pm. And they open on Saturdays for some hours.

And they have always the machines where you can do almost everything you need.

It is not like actually you need to go to the bank and talk to a real person everyday of the week.

Actually my main bank now is an Internet bank. I do not even remember the last time I went to a bank to talk to a real person.

Hi

I need a bank account but am not working or retired (living on savings) Is it possible that DKB would accept me with a savings statement? If not is there another bank that will? Thanks.

Did you ask DKB f they would accept you? Seems like that's the best way to be sure...

Hi

Thanks. No I have not tried them yet. Will do on my return to Berlin on 30th of this month.

You can't write emails at the moment?

DKB doesn't respond to mails in english. they say to translate them to german and send again.

And?

It's funny that, isn't it. I wrote to my French bank in English and they responded in French, but when I write to my English bank in German they said they could not understand my letter either. If you find a solution, let me know...

OK I have sent them an e-mail in German.

try and find someone you know here or elsewhere that has a DKB account. then list them as having recommended you and the person gets bonus points of some sort as does the new account holder (you) I think.

Thats what I did when I opened my DKB last week. Also I had to provide no proof just take my passport to the post office for ID and thats it.

Thanks for that. I heard from them and they said that i should apply and they will consider it.

Sounds like a standard reply then. I can't imagine any bank that would not consider an application...