Bank statements - 6 weeks to dispute the balance

I thought I knew German till I got this bank statement and I realise I don't know jack.

Falls der Kontostand von XX(my account balance...) zum 31.12.2004 mit Ihren Unterlagen nicht uebereinstimmt, bitten wir Sie, dies unserer Innenrevision schriftlich mitzuteilen.

Unbeschadet der Verpflichtung, Einwendungen gegen Rechnungsabschluesse unverzueglich zu erheben (Nr. 20 Absatz...), gelten diese als genehmigt, wenn ihnen nicht innerhalb von sechs Wochen nach Zugang des Rechnungabschlusses widersprochen wird.

Zur Wahrung der Frist genuegt die rechtzeitige Absendung.

Gruesse...

Anyone know what that means? Has something bounced?

Cheers.

If you think your account balance as of 31.12.2004 is not correct your should inform you bank in writing of the discrepancy.

If you don't raise any objections within 6 weeks then you have accepted the account statement.

It's a standard paragraph.

Of course if you have too much cash in the account give it to me

It says your officially bankrupt and they are gonna come round and repossess your wife, children and vehicles.

(actually I think it just says if you don't agree with anything on the statement you have to let them know within 6 weeks etc - but my German is also toss)

Yeti's translation is quite correct.

Yep the bank is just covering its arse as the law requires. It just puts a time limit on how long you have to complain if the statement doesn't tie in with your own records.

should the balance of your account not match your own records, please inform our internal audit in writing by 31.12.2004 (oops deadline missed!)

(second paragraph is a bit tricky, so i will take that under advisement) but the gist is you have 6 weeks after receiving the statement to advise of any incorrect bookings, aside from your duty to inform them immediately of any objections.

As long as the date of posting is within the deadline this is enough to ensure that you have met said deadline. (again oops too late)

ach so!

The amount seemed correct, which is a shame because it was quite piddly.

thanks for that advice, was worried my rent debit had bounced for a minute!

Nah he hasn't missed the deadline. It's his balance as of 31.12.2004 so the deadline is 11.02.2004.

But I still strongly advise transferring any surplus to my account.

= the balance on 31/12
The six weeks start from then.

I always get confused when the "zum" words get used.

As in all those pub names

zum kneipe...?

Sorry... a lot of pub names in Germany start with "Zum" or "Zur" (meaning something like "at the sign of")

oh no this just adds to my confusion!!!

Jeeves is right, plus a lot of german pubs when you come out of them thats all that you can say zummmm zurrrrr zummmmm.

I had to transfer money to an Austrian account from my German one today, it costs 13€. have i been rinsed a bit here, i heard it should only cost 6€ but there was no point arguing with him other he wouldn't have done the transfer.

I regularly do a normal überweisung between my bank here (Deutsche Bank) and my bank in England (Barclays), transferring usually anything upto 2000 € and it costs me 5 € for every transfer, no more, no less !

really!?

From HBOS to SS I pay £14 every time!!!

Hmm... nope its definately only 5 €'s everytime. No matter if I transfer 500 € or 2000 €. Although there is a ceiling somewhere, when this suddenly becomes a percent of the amout you are transfering ! Cannot remember what that is though, something like 10,000 €.

from my UK bank they said it costs £14 for up to about £4000, or certainly more than i transfer each time. my bank is however going down the shitter so i might move.

should be free with an EU transfer. Same for UK really although they seem to keep screwing people, maybe using the GBP/EUR exchange excuse

Ahh... I never transfer money from England to here, only the otherway around ! Maybe this is the charge from the UK ? Any others ?

@ Boomtown_rat - Are you sure ? I have a 5 € charge, what they call an Administration Charge, which is for making the transfer.

it says on top of the form:

"Auslandszahlungauftrag-EU-Standardueberweisung"

then a bit down:

"13=EU-Standardueberweisung"

So looks like I have the right transfer just been charged more than you would think? I actually went into the bank, might it be cheaper online?

Ahh... yes, I do all my transfers on-line ! But I think this depends on the bank, not whether this is on-line or not !

As far as I know, the EU transfer, as long as you fulfill a few rules, should cost the same as a domestic transfer. So if domestic UK transfers are free at your UK bank (and German bank) then it ought to be free. Having said that, I've had no problems transferring from Germany to Sweden (no charges) - but every time (3 times) I transferred to HSBC in UK, the German bank have charged me nothing but HSBC have taken 6 pounds. Every time. I have complained but they still haven't rectified things as far as I know. It was over a year since my last D->UK transfer though.

** The conditions are
1. You must state BIC and IBAN numbers
2. Amount should not be more than 12,500 euros
3. I think you have to state the amount in the currency of the country you are transferring from (in other words, if you transfer from Germany then you should say XXX euros and not XXX GBP).

Having said that, if they take away the fee they will probably screw you on the exchange rate!

€13 for Germany to Austria deffo sounds too much, even if you did it in person at the branch

this always happens to me!!!

regarding the 3 points you mention boomtown, i did them all. I gave the BLZ, SWIFT and IBAN. I'm paying for a hotel with this, this wouldn't add anything to the cost though would it? Surely there would be no reason to cost more because you aren't sending it to another account in your own name?

I don't pay a monthly fee for this account like I know some people with other banks do so maybe they make the money from this.

OK when I do mine on-line with Deutsche Bank, I do not use the IBAN and BIC numbers, just specific the bank address and my other bank details, I get the option to say whether the receive or sender gets the charges. As it's me everytime, it just does not matter, so I leave this as sender (me again).

Deutsche Bank then charge the 5 € admin charge. As for the exchange rate, I get a list everyday with the current exchange rates, and Deutsche Bank are actually pretty fair, normally get a very good exchange.

one of the conditions may also be that you have to say 'Sender pays his/her fees, recipient pays his/her fees'. As you say, in practical terms it makes no difference when transferring to yourself, but I have a vague recollection of that being one of the conditions

Wouldn't have thought so

I don't pay a monthly fee although I did pay to be a 'member of the bank'! (Sparda)

here's a similar thread

actually after all this I think i may be reading it wrong... going to quietly go and hide till i know for sure...

yep 13=blah blah probably just means it is option nr. 13

This has been discussed ad nauseum. If your transfer fulfills the requirements it will be free or cost only a few pennies. If your bank takes out additional fees then complain and threaten to sue them and you will get it back. If a British bank demands fees then quit yer bitching because that's part of the superior customer service.

Yes *ahem* apologies for being incredibly stupid with this whole thread, i was totally wrong with the SS charge.

However I do still get charged £14 transferring money from UK to here which is a joke innit. (trying to move the subject quickly of my sheer stupidity here...)

Its certainly pretty pricey

@yomama

"If a British bank demands fees then quit yer bitching because that's part of the superior customer service. "

You are joking yes? (I'm not sure...)

My bank at home is nothing short of a disgrace.

sorry, didn't know where else to post this...

i just saw that my rent for next month was deducted from my account today, the 28th of November! november's rent was deducted really late, so around the 7th. as a result, i am now in big, fat minus and we still have 2.5 days 'til the end of the month (and those weekend EC charges are still pending).

unfortunately, i usually don't get my paycheck til the 3rd (if I'm lucky). is there anything i can do about this besides complain to the hausverwaltung? i'm not disputing anthing, just p-oed cause they booked the rent too early.

not that it helps much this time around, but can't you do a dauerüberweisung for your rent, so that it gets taken after you get paid?

no, i had to do a lastschriftverfahren as a condition of the contract, otherwise i would have done it that way.

What is the due date for your rent stipulated in the contract? 3rd working day of the month is standard, but if yours says 1st of the month the bank takes it out 2-3 days before hand. If it is 3rd working day, talk to your bank manager (don't bother with the dim-wits at the counter - my apologies to anyone who might work/have worked in that function - most of the ones I have dealt with here don't know merde from Shinola).

This has little to do with the bank as it's a Lastschrift - so the Landlord/Hausverwaltung is submitting a request to their bank to suck over the money from the tenants. The rental contract is key - it should stipulate when they will pull the money. If they've done it on the wrong day, then they should refund and/or pay any charges arising...

YL6

YL6, these things are automated same as standing orders, as I am sure you know. The debit date should be the day before the rent is due (I just checked up on my account). Seriously, check your lease to see when the rent is due and make sure the landlord/admin isn't jumping the gun.