Banking for children in Germany

If they were ever to make a second version of the film of Joseph Heller's book Catch 22 I am convinced the subject would be children's banking in Germany: Catch 22 II - The nightmare begins. Now excuse me if I go off on one of those 'Basil Fawlty' moments, but quite frankly I've had enough.

We (Mme Sin and I... you both have to attend the 'opening ceremony' of a child's bank account here in Germany) opened a bank account for our son, Eirik in 2003 shortly after he was born with the Kartoffel Sparda Bank in Großhadern with the express intentions of 1. him earning a little interest, 2. allowing him to do the time-honoured thing of putting coins into a piggy bank (which the bank even supplied one of), filling said piggy bank and then taking said piggy bank (supplied by said bank) to unload its contents into his account and 3. allowing his English grandparents, aunts and uncles to transfer monies across from British bank accounts for Christmases and birthdays.

As soon as we came to point No. 3, our local Sparda Bank said, "Oh! No can do, sorry. We can't handle international transactions to a child's account". Frustrating.

A year later and all (three) Eirik's piggy banks overflowing so you couldn't stuff any more coins into them we took a kilo plus of coins to the bank to deposit into his account to, "Sorry. We can't handle loose small coins." Give me a red Austin 1100 and a small branch at this point and I'll beat that car to within an inch of its life.

So this morning, as planned we arranged to go to the Stadtsparkasse Bank, open a fresh account, and then pop over to Sparda, transfer everything to the new Stadtsparkasse account and close the original. What could be easier? I'll tell you: Stadtsparkasse can handle loose small coins, but he can't have an account where Grandad and Grandma can transfer monies across from their British bank accounts. After a hell of a lot of arguing they offered an alternative account that they could allow international transactions, but there would be zero interest and they couldn't guarantee that transactions from the UK would come through. "Excuse me?" says us. "Well, maybe there might be a flood!" says the teller girl. At this point I asked her if she wasn't just making all this up as she was going along.

So, after 45 wasted minutes of our lives we decided to pop into the Münchener Bank and see if they can handle reality. Yes, he can have an account with interest. No, he can't accept international transactions. No, they can't handle loose small coins.

Are German bankers rejects from the entry to the KVR because they are too anal?

So, does anybody have any suggestions of how to break out of the circle, or am I going to have to have Eirik's bedroom floor strengthened for the umpteen piggy banks and ton of loose change he might have amassed by his twelfth birthday?

Open a Swiss bank account?

That's a hell of a long way for a 4-year old to walk with a 2kg bag of dosh Kay.

@Sin
Don't split hairs now, you did say "any suggestions".

Try www.daimlerchrysler-bank.com they offer a "Tagesgeldkonto" for minors. As it has an IBAN I think it should be possible to transfer money to the account from the UK.

Sorry Kay, yes that was very helpful. I shall carefully file your suggestion under "Bin".

Although I have my differences with them, the Sparkasse are probably the least worst of the co-operative banks for this kind of thing.
The coin counting machines are a major bonus.
Ask to see someone more senior in the branch and explain the situation to them.
You MIGHT find someone more on the ball at their city centre HQ rather than in the Innsbruck suburbs Grosshadern.

If the worst comes to the worst get transfers from grandparents etc done via your current account.

Note. The value of piggy banks can go and up down.
You are at risk of losing your crackling if you do not feed the piggy reguarly.

Stick to the Stadtsparkasse who at least have loose coin counting machines in the foyer at Sparkassenstrasse, open a sub-account at your very own bank labelled "Eirik" and have your affluent relatives transfer there, then transfer to Eirik's SSK account. Roundabout method but a solution.
EDIT: Sorta what MT said.

Thanks MT and sarabyrd. Interesting solution. I'll pass that on to She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed.

The main issue here is that you are opening a "Sparkonto" - a savings account. This is a special account regulated under German law with special conditions (and interest, albeit pretty poor interest!) that is not and never has been geared up for international incoming money. Only recently have (some) Sparkontos been able to accept normal incoming national transfers (Überweisungen). Historically you boogy down the bank with your piggy bank and load it into the account. As you are probably also aware there are also restrictions on taking money out. Larger sums (typically over €3000) need 3 months notice to get the money out. I know a number of bank savings accounts and building society accounts in UK that have similar restrictions, although in general as the UK banking system has relaxed (one might say "more market orientated" - unlike Germany) banks have got more flexible.

My kids both have a Sparkbuch with the local Sparkasse. Twice a year the bank have a Knaxtag and the kids get a small present and a sticker in their book if they make a deposit. There is usually a long queue of kids with piggy banks at the counter on these days as the presents are worth having. The loose coins get thrown in the money counting machine (my son finds this particularly interesting) and any coins which are not € currency get spat out again. Until the kids are 18 they need a parent's signature to take money out of the account. I think this is standard practice.

If grandparents etc want to send money for birthdays they send a cheque or put money into my UK account, I then pass the money on to the kids as €. The cost of transferring money out of Uk is usually so much that I prefer it this way.

[img]http://iconsbuddy.com/smilies/rolleye0011.gif[/img] Bank staff here can be unbelievably dumb. Sometimes wonder if they need any qualifications at all. Recently went to the bank to pay two electricity bills, and the girl entered the wrong amount for the first bill, and then asked if she could just make up the difference by adding the missing amount to the second bill! [img]http://www.iconsbuddy.com/smilies/confused0086.gif[/img] If they were dumb and friendly, it wouldn't be so bad. But I get indifferent and offhand service every time, despite being a customer for several years. At least with my old UK bank, the staff seem to know what they're doing and give the impression that they've actually met you before!

"The UK is not in the European Union"

Original quote from Stadsparkasse München staff.

You only need to press the LADEN button later & you are in deep trouble...

UK banks are not without problems too. I've had an 2 accounts in the UK for more than 20 years with what used to be "Midland Bank", but is now HSBC. There is not an inconsiderable amount of money lounging in the two accounts, managed mainly remotely by internet banking. On a recent, but rare trip to the UK I ran out of cash. I'm not one for remembering PINs, so not being able to use a hole in the wall I walked into my own branch to ask for a £100 cash withdrawal. I was told in no uncertain terms that they did not give out money over the counter and I'd have to use my card. Protestations that I didn't know my PIN number were simply responded that they could easily send me a PIN reminder by mail. As I pointed out, sending that to my German address was not going to help my current problem. The bank lady called over a colleague who said she could issue cash against a cheque. Luckily I had a cheque book with me, but unfortunately one for the Midland Bank, not HSBC as it now is. This was flatly refused with the kind offer to send me a new cheque book in the mail. A lot of foot stamping began with words along the lines of "you have thousands of pounds on my money sitting in your safe. Simply give me £100 of it NOW. There then ensued a long and complicated process of identification. That I had my bank card, credit card and a cheque book were not enough. Nor was my passport alone. Additional "photographic" evidence was required - a German driving license (with photo!) was refused as they could not understand it. They finally relented when I suggested they call the mobile phone they had stored in their customer records and low and behold my very own mobile actually rang! There was then a long process of filling out a "counter cheque", requiring multiple signatures from me and counter-signatures from bank officials, and finally I had 20 crisp fivers in my hand. On my return to Germany there was a letter from my bank manager advising me to "revise my policies" for cash withdrawals. I responded that my policy would to be to wait at least another 10 years to attempt it, in the hope that their customer systems would improve in the meanwhile.

I've worked in a couple of banks in the UK and in neither bank could you transfer money internationally (or even from a different bank) directly into a children's account, nor would we accept loose change unless it was bagged in the correct denominations and amounts. As pointed out above, children's savings accounts are exactly that - savings accounts. An adult savings account couldn't receive incoming international transfers either. I understand your frustration, but this is not exclusive to Germany and it is easily worked around by accepting transfers into your current account. You could even set up a current account in your son's name and transfer incoming funds from there into his savings account. That's how adults do it.

Am I correct in thinking that Dante mentions something about banks on the seventeenth level of Hell?

I always find the SSKM staff to be friendly when stood there at the counter. Phone experience is sometimes different. However, last week I transfered a substantial amount to a company in the UK, and the guy who did it forgot to convert to GBP and he did it in €! Even after I pointed it out to avoid this happening, just in case!

Looks as if we need a new thread to pay tribute to the antics of bank staff!


What qualifications do you need?

Not many. Just an acceptable university qualification and a clean credit check.

YL6,

I bank with HSBC and used to get very irritable trying to manage my account using the telephone banking service, it seemed to be extremely hard for them to cope with me having a German address. Then I registered for online banking and everything is a lot easier.

I agree about the PINs , when they aren't used regularly it's hard to remember them.

University qualifications? That's suprising. I know that some of the staff at my old bank back home went to work there straight after leaving school.

i would think there is a difference between a 'banker' and bank clerk who does the administrative work at the desk.
i am pretty sure that if you want a loan of 20k or more, someone more senior or higher qualified will be your advisor.

I personally think it is impossible to underrate Stadsparkasse staff's intelligence level.

Have you tried Deutche Bank? In my limited experience, they are the only bank that have lifted themselves out of the 1950s.

Yup, don't think you can get round that one - even national transfers seem to be impossible on a classic Sparbuch: it's wheelbarrow of cash only, please. Our kids now seem to have 5 or 6 accounts each - including ones set up by my Schwiegermutti. Technically the latter variation doesn't work either - we had to sign for it anyway.

Try taking a load of coins to them, they expect you to roll them up in little bits of paper! Automatic counting machines, oh no we haven't got one of those sir, here's some nice coloured paper to while away the evening wrapping them up in.