colincostello

So I will soon be retiring. Hurray!! There are lots of questions to consider. One of the most important is this. What do I need to do to continue to get Heath Insurance? Do I just carry on with my current Provider or must I consider something else.? Thanks

So I logged on to my bank this morning to pay the rent for May. To my suprise, my bank no longer accepts my iTan numbers. I am sure that they are not out of date. Nor have I used them all. My bank advised my to download some app but I do not have a smartfone and I never will. So now I have to order a Lesegerät. This will take a few days.  I must order this by phone Also, they may need my Access data and this may be another problem as I alwasy forget my Passwords and telepins numbers. I will have to pay my landlord by cash this month and try to sort this mess out by next month. But why does my bank suddenly not accept my itans?

  I did and I am waiting for their reply. While I am waiting, I thought I might tap into TTs vast experience in these matters.

Mr Lecheese, could you see if your Card Reader works for Comdirect? If it does then I will very quickly acquire one.  

About 10-15 euros seem ok. I might go for that.  

And These Card readres cannot really cost 35 euros, can they.? I am looking at my UK Card Readers and they do not look so expensive.  

My Pub to the Rescue. So I went down to my local and raised the matter there. There were several People there who had unwanted smart phones and were willing to donate them free to me. This seems to be the way to go. Or buy them cheap on e bay.  

But at the Moment I only use a UK flip type fone. Would this be ok? If not, I would be willing to invest in a German pay as ou go phone.  

thanks for the advice About comdirect. I will contact them to confrim this.  

Comdirect want to charge me 35 euros for a Card Reader. No way, Jose. Time to look for a new bank? But aren't  they all going this way?

Thanks. I will do that. But just to round off a few stressful days…… A Young Woman offered me her seat on the tram. This is far worse than all this tan Business.

Thanks for all the informative Posts. I am not paying anything for a Card Reader. Bloody cheek of these banks. I have used a Card Reader for some time for my UK bank accounts and this is my preferred option, not least because I have a UK dumb phone and I am pretty sure that German Banks will not accept this. But one question. In the UK. These Card Readers are specfic to Banks, but not to people . All my Family use just the one Card Reader as we all have the same bank. Will this be the same in Germany? If so,could one be shared?

I may have had such a warning. When I log on there is almost always some message waiting for me. Experience has shown me that most of these are not important and are mainly reports or promotional stuff, so I disregard them . That may have been a mistake in this case.  

Using the SB maschines is free?

Except my bank is an online bank with no branches. Comdirect.    

Thanks for that. I should have thought of a Standing order before.   

Many thanks for all the advice

Any advice? I can go online of course, but I am old fashioned. I want to have a choice right in front of me. Thanks Colin

So as I flush the toilet a small amount of water leaks from the cistern onto the floor. I took the lid off and flushed the toilet to see what was happening. As the water flows powerfully into the cistern it hits the back wall of the cistern and some of the stream goes up the wall and over the edge, down the outside of the cistern and onto the floor and makes a small puddle. How to solve this without getting an expensive plumber in? I am looking at making a good seal between the lid and the wall of the cistern, thus directing all the water flow into the cistern. Any other ideas would be helpful. Thanks Colin

There is some sort of  turnable wheel which looks like it controls the water pressure. I will give it a go.