Accessing a German bank account from the UK

I was wondering whether they was an easy way to access a German bank account in the UK.

This would be stripping out of any spill over funds which are paid into the account whilst I'm not in Germany (so I'd want to be able to transfer a lump sum out of the German bank account whilst in the UK).

Is it possible, for example, to go into a UK bank and hand over the details of your German account and ask them to initiate removal of funds from the German account for you?

Would some form of internet banking allow for you to transfer funds more easily?

You can transfer funds from a German to a UK bank but there's usually a fee of about £12. I've only ever been into a German bank to enquire about doing this and they need all the international sort codes etc from your UK bank to do it.

I also tried to empty and close my German bank account on the same day- a transaction which is also not allowed... Ended up withdrawing all the cash from my German account, pinning it in my bra to take it home (don't ask!) and then writing to close the account a week later.

Do you have a Cirrus/Maestro card you could just use in the UK to withdraw cash from your German account?

Hi!
Can you organise an online account? Then it would be easy. I always use online banking for both my accounts, and with the IBAN number and Swift code it doesn't cost a cent.
As far as I know though there are two types of online banking in Germany (correct me if I'm wrong / could just be my bank), For one you need a card, a card reader and 1 pin number and the other, you get different pin numbers (so as not to use the same everytime) which you have to keep track of. I have the first option at home now, and is much easier, but the readers aren't that cheap and you can only access your account from one computer. For the second option, you need to keep the paper with the different codes on you. It would definitely be worth asking in the bank about it.
Another option may be, that if you know how much you want, you could ask the bank to transfer a specific amount on a particular day... that should also be possible.

With which UK bank? The German banks tend not to charge anything if you use IBAN, as you say, but all the British banks I have used charge an arm and a leg to receive the money. It's a very grey area of European law.

I bank with HSBC in the UK and they charge NOTHING to receive payments from my German account that I initiate in Euros and pay NOTHING for.
They convert at what I assume is the bank to bak rate and it goes onto my GBP current account.

From what I can see, HSBC are the least worst UK major bank.

I'm with Barclays, and I transfer money every month to pay off my student loan, and don't pay any transfer charges either here or there.

Thanks both. I'm stuck with NatWest, who charge £7.50 a pop, apart from the one time when I wrote and said I was sure they must have made a mistake. They 'let me off' that time.

Guy, at £7.50 a go NatWest are gouging you for what is very little work for them.
Depending on how often you transfer money to the UK and good a customer you are with them I'd consider doing something about it.

Yeah, I know, but luckily I don't have to do it that often, and I'm certainly not a good customer for them - my account's just sitting there with only enough money to cover us when we go over to visit my folks at Xmas or so.

Also, I think I'd probably have a hard time opening a new bank account, what with not having been resident there for 10 years. Last time I checked, Abbey National (where I have an extremely dormant account) were pretty crap at doing anything beyond the borders of the UK, including changing my address.

So it's more the principle of being charged that pisses me off.

For clarity I'm after means of transferring money from a German account to the UK whilst in the UK (so no interaction with the German bank would be possible). Essentially I'll be returning back to live in the UK indefinitely and it seems likely that there may be some money that will be deposited in my German account when I leave so need a means to retrieve it.

The bank account in Germany is a HypoVereinsbank one which has a Maestro EC card with it. Would it be possible to use this card in UK cash machines (would it be possible to do things like check the balance through these cash machines as well).

Internet banking does seem a possibility (or at least HypoVereinsbank appear to offer it for their accounts). Does anyone have any experience with HypoVereinsbank online banking? It's likely that it will just be a single transfer so it doesn't need to be anything too advanced just a page where I can see the balance and initiate a transfer.

Yes you can use the card, but you won't be able to check the balance.


My wife has their internet banking - it's a little clunky compared to what I'm used to, but OK for one off usage. As discussed above, the main thing is to know your IBAN/SWIFT details for the UK account, to avoid charges at the German end. Your UK bank may or may not add a charge for receipt of funds.

At the end of the day, you need to check whether cash machine or transfer is cheapest for you given the parameters you have (banks and amount of money involved). Cash machines don't let you take out much and generally have a % fee, but are convenient, whereas transfer lets you do larger amounts more conveniently and for sums in the region of a couple of thousand Euros will typically be a flat fee, if any.

Horses for courses.

You could pick up a handful of Überweisungsformular and just post a filled out one one to your German bank when needed.

Me too, well not to pay off student loans obviously, but I send money every month and it costs nothing this end and appears to cost nothing at the other, unless they are ripping me off on the exchange rate, which they probably are.

If you set up online banking on your HV account you can login to check your balance and then use the Maestro card to withdraw cash from a hole in the wall in UK or do an IBAN BIC transfer to your UK account.

My advice to anyone would always to keep a UK account of some kind open.
The HSBC tried to get me to close mine a few years ago as it was very dormant at the time and I'm glad i didn't.

My thoughts entirely! Until I read this: Youth funding from unclaimed cash

So make sure you access your UK account every so often (at least, every 15 years!)

Yeah, absolutely. Same for credit cards.


However worthy the cause, it's not Mr. Brown's money to do with as he likes.
(although he would probably view that as a misapprehension on my part).

Hello!
Just 2 points I thought I'd mention... If you take the balance out of the ATM you have to be careful that you use the same exchange rate as you UK bank gives you... either way I guess you'll end up with a few Euros in the account as you can only get notes.
Secondly, Close your German account as soon as you can or else you'll owe them money due to the monthly rates (if you pay them)
I made the mistake of keeping a DB account open as I knew I'd be coming back to Germany, but only had limited funds, about 20 Euro, and after 10 months when I returned I ended up owing them money.

as MonksT says, HSBC doesn't charge for incoming transfers. If the exchange rate is any good I'm not sure, but there is certainly no charge

To the OP - definitely just do it online

and have a German account without monthly fees