Choosing which bank account to open

I don't speak any German (yet), only English, and I need to open a bank account, and I've read the TT Banking section here on this site, as well as a couple other threads, including this one with a couple bank recommendations, but none I recognize from the village I'm staying in. (no, I don't have a car, and no, I don't want to walk 15 minutes to get to the S-Bahn and then ride the train just to go to my bank). Other than that, I’ll be putting in a paycheck monthly and hoping to have the lowest fees, and maybe some interest bearing savings that I can transfer into and out of checking easily?

Any help I can get here will be greatly appreciated!

Only three banks that are actually in the village, according to OrtsNetzGauting:
Hypovereinsbank Gauting
Hubert-Deschler-Str. 1
82131 Gauting
Tel: (089)893663-0
Bank - Blz. 700 202 70

Sparkasse Gauting
Bahnhofstr. 13
82131 Gauting
Tel: (089)89327-0
Bank - Blz. 702 501 50

VR Bank Gauting
Bahnhofsplatz 5
82131 Gauting
Tel: (089)8932310
Bank - Blz. 700 932 00

Now, it doesn't mention "Post Bank" but I think there is one of those also...

The site "How To Germany" says in it's banking section "ATMs are interconnected and you can get cash from just about any one you find in Germany and its neighboring countries. And the use of them can be free if you go to a bank of the same type as your own. There are four different types of banks in Germany: public sector commercial banks (Private Geschäftsbanken), savings banks (Sparkassen), credit cooperatives (Kreditgenossenschaften) and the Postbank." I've figured out that "Sparkasse Gauting" is the Savings Bank. I think "Hypovereinsbank Gauting" is a commercial bank, is that right? But what type of bank would "VR Bank Gauting" be?

Just so I'm clear, if I go with a local credit coop, I could go to another towns credit coop and not have ATM fees? Same with the Sparkasse banks, if I have an account at Sparkasse Gauting, there woudl be no fee at Sparkasse Tutzing but there would be at a non-Sparkasse bank?

The site "The German Way" has historical info and very general info on German banks, but nothing really useful. The site "Just Landed" mentions two online only banks, and in the US the online only banks usually offer interest payments on the balance in your checking account with no minimums and refund any charges for ATM use to be competitive (because they don't have branches or ATMs). Would that happen to be the same here in Germany?

Also I heard you might need to make an appointment to open an account at most banks? Is that true? What info will I need to bring with me?

Thanks in advance for helping me figure this out…

The VR Bank is "Volksbank Raiffeisenbank", quite a large company. There is also a Postbank - all transactions take place at the Post Office. I wouldn't worry too much about the different categories of bank; they nowadays all offer both banking and savings accounts. Regarding ATM fees, withdrawals are usually free from all branches of the same bank plus a couple of other banks; which banks you can withdraw from for free depends on who you have your account with. It is worth bearing in mind that there are LOTS of branches of Sparkasse in Bavaria, so lots of cash machines to choose from. However, there are fewer ATMs around than in America, since the Germans are used to carrying large amounts of cash around with them.

I think all banks now offer online banking, but I don't have any experience with internet-based banks. Finally, it's probably best to make an appointment to open an account, just to make things easier. Take with you your passport, proof of your address in Germany (your registration documents will do just fine) and a few euros to put into the account.

I was just checking out a map, and this one seems cloesest to me:
Kreissparkasse München-Starnberg
August-Hörmann-Platz 3
82131 Gauting

So, is a "Kreissparkasse" and "Sparkasse" the same thing?

I've walked past this a dozen times, I just thought it was a hole in the wall ATM location. It didn't look big enough to be a whole bank branch. ?

It's part of the Sparkasse group. Looks bloody enormous though.

To be honest, I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about which bank to use; none of them are wonderful and they all charge about the same.

That is who I have my account with. They are not the same thing but if you have an account with the KSK you can get money for free from most Sparkassen as well. Munich definitely.

A "Sparkasse" is a savings institute. A "Kreissparkasse" is a country institute, a Stadtsparkasse is a city institute. They are all belong to common banking community and co-operate throughout the country (so you can use their shared ATM service). In general they might be more friendly as they are individually often smaller that the major blobs like Dresdner, Deutsch and Commerzbank. You MIGHT find that Commerzbank is best for English (e.g. online) services if this is important to you. I can't see that being able to able to conveniently travel to a bank is a valid criteria for selection. Apart form opening an account, closing an account and maybe taking out a larger loan for a house purchase, I can't think of many reasons to have to visit one, especially on a day to day basis.

It's worth mentioning that the Sparkasse are publicly owned and don't view their customers as cows to milk as much as the larger banks.

One thing to add is not all Sparkassen are part of this free ATM share thing. I have to pay a fee to use the ATM at Sparkasse Heidelberg to withdraw money from my KSK account. But the Sparkasse HD is just generally a shitty bank.

I also have an account with Deutsche Bank, and am pretty content with them. If you have an account with them, you can use your ATM card to withdraw money without any fees from the Bank of America (including the Community Bank on base in Germany that is operated by BoA).

K, see, now THAT was useful information. Thanks.

Good point with the day to day banking thing... Makes me wonder about Deutsche Bank, massive might be good for lot's of international partners, branches, ATMs, etc... But bigger can also mean more fees and lower interest on savings, right?

Sarcasm is clearly not one of your stronger skills

Uhm, it wasn't sarcastic, it was sincere thanks, I understand now... it was a good explanation and directly to the point of the question.

Now, if you want sarcasm, we'll have to wait till there's need again.. I'm sure it will come up

As in fact are most of my answers, if you ask the question correctly in the first place, or actually understand the answer in the second.

dont know if it is same for all banks but i have a hypo credit card and pay commission on it whenever i use it in USA.

Hmm, good to know, as I will be visiting the US frequently, and would like to avoid fees... Hypo is Hypovereinsbank, right? Which is a bigger bank, and I'd have thought not had fees like that? I was JUST now thinking Deutsche Bank might keep my fees down when traveling since it's a big bank, maybe not... I was also wondering, since Deutsche Bank is so huge, and they have some sections of the website in English, maybe they have an English interface to the online banking?

I guess the biggest issue might be lowest fees, and interest earned on savings (hope to put a fair percent of monthly pay aside as savings). I'm looking at sites right now, but I haven't figured out how to find those numbers yet...

i think Deutsche bank has an english online section, hypo does not have it, but not really difficult to use even u cant speak german

right Hypo is Hypovereinsbank. it belongs to Unicredit, an italian group

Citibank is also free at the ATMs of Citibank in the US as far as I know.

also check which atms to use, i paid fee as well for using hypo in an atm in munich airport. there are fairly large options but some does not fit and apparently that was one of it. i was suprised as normally i can use my french one in any atm here wihout paying any fee.

I've been digging through these bank websites for hours now, and I haven't seen any references to what kind of interest they pay on savings, and what the minimums are, or anything like that...

I'm checking out Kreissparkasse München Starnberg, Deutsche Bank. So far it sounds like Hypovereinsbank has a lot of fees so I didn't dig into that site yet, but if I did Deutsche Bank, I think I can use the local Hypovereinsbank ATM because they are cash partners or something?

Do German banks just not show rates, fees, and such? I don't see it anywhere. I know it's not relevant, but I can go to Bank of Scotland's website and it's like I can't click anywhere without finding out how much it will cost, what they will offer me, what rates are, etc... Same with US bank sites... Maybe it's just hard for me to find because of the language issue, but I can't find any rates on the German bank websites to compare to each other.

If someone does dig up the minimum monthly deposit for a no-fee checking (bill payment) account for one of those, a list of fees for different things that might happen or that a person would do, and/or maybe what they pay on a savings account and what the minimums are, let me know (w/ link if you can). I'm just having no luck finding it (and I'm looking).

if you choose one of the banks that formed the "cashgroup" (deutsche, dresdner, commerz, hypo, post-bank, see www.cashgroup.de), you have free access to pretty much the largest ATM network in Germany.

With an account at one of these banks you can get cash without paying any fees.

if you cross over to the sparkasse group, they will charge you an arm and a leg if you go to one of their atms - and vice versa.

deutsche and commerz are my favorites, commerz now even has a free checking account.

u can use deutsche bank atms with a hypo card and vice versa. only fee i pay is quarterly account management fee, i believe around 4 euros, plus an annual fee of 4-5 euros for credit card. if u go for a direct deposit account u will get very limited interest rate, however there are mixed investment options where they put your money in different baskets like stock exchange, treasury bills, gov. bonds etc. it all depends on how much risk u can take. but i believe u can get 7% -10% interest rate with a balanced option. u need to talk to an account manager, and they will tell u all.

Presumably accounts are only sold to customers without a capitalisation key and who have not yet learned the correct word for the second person?

Well, as once my English teacher said: Ignorance is bliss.

I have just checked and there is an option for "English version" on the Deutsche Bank internet site.

If you decide to open an account with them, make sure you mention that you will only ever require "peanuts" from them!

My English teacher said that trying to decipher other people's poor English skills is a pain in the arse, and I agree with him as much now as I did then.

Actually, thinking about it, he may not have used those exact words.