Opening a bank account in Germany

You need a German bank account for salary, rent, Nebenkosten, direct debits, and every recurring payment in your life here. Choose correctly once and you save hours of friction every month.

Which account to open first vs second

The right strategy is two accounts: one fast, one solid.

Day 1 — open N26 before you have an Anmeldung. N26* only requires your passport and a smartphone. The video identification takes 10 minutes. You get a German IBAN (DE...) immediately. Use this as your bridge account: receive your first salary, pay for groceries, set up your phone SIM. It works before you have any German address registered.

After Anmeldung — open DKB or ING as your main account. Once you have your Anmeldung certificate, open a DKB or ING account. Move your salary deposit there. Use it for rent, direct debits, and anything that asks for a German bank account. Landlords, older Hausverwaltungen, and German bureaucracy are far more comfortable with DKB or ING IBANs than with N26. Some property managers will outright refuse an N26 IBAN for rent collection — this is unfortunately common.

Keep N26 as your backup and travel card. N26 has no foreign transaction fees and good exchange rates. It is useful for travel within Europe and for payments where your main card does not work.

After 3 to 6 months — apply for a credit card. Once you have a German banking history, apply for the DKB Visa credit card or the Amazon Visa. Both are obtainable within 6 months of arrival with a clean Schufa.

Online-first banks (fast, English)

N26*: Berlin-based. Fully online sign-up in 10 minutes with just your passport. Works before Anmeldung. German IBAN (starts with DE). English app and web. Good for new arrivals who need something working in their first week.

• Free tier: covers basic needs
• Paid tiers (€4.90 to €16.90/month) add travel insurance, metal card, better ATM withdrawals
• Weak on cash deposits (possible but limited and sometimes fees)

Revolut: UK-based, offers German IBAN for German customers. Fast sign-up, multi-currency accounts, great for travel. Treated as a full bank account now, salary direct deposits work fine.

bunq: Dutch challenger bank. Similar to N26, has travel features.

ING: German direct bank, longer history than N26. Free Girokonto (checking account) with free Visa debit card. Web interface in German and English. Often accepted by landlords when N26 is not.

DKB: German direct bank. Free Girokonto with conditions (€700/month salary deposit for full free tier), excellent Visa debit card with free worldwide ATM withdrawals. Branch-less but reliable. German-only interface; basic English support.

Traditional banks (branch access)

Sparkasse: the local municipal savings bank. There is a Sparkasse in almost every German town. Personal service, debit card, German banker you can visit in person. Landlords and older institutions sometimes prefer Sparkasse IBANs. Expect a €5 to €10 monthly fee. German-only service; some branches have one English-speaker.

Volksbank / Raiffeisenbank: cooperative banks, similar to Sparkasse. Strong regional presence, especially outside Berlin/Munich.

Commerzbank: national bank, moderate fees, English-speaking branches in major cities.

Deutsche Bank: premium pricing, global presence, useful if you need to move money between India and Germany frequently.

What you need to open an account

Online banks (N26, Revolut, ING, DKB):

• Passport with valid visa
• German address (some will let you open with an Indian address and update later)
• Smartphone with camera for video identification (PostIdent or VideoIdent)

Traditional banks (Sparkasse, Volksbank, Commerzbank):

• Passport with valid visa
• Anmeldung (required)
• Residence permit or visa
• Sometimes employment contract or proof of income

The debit-first trap

Germany is a debit card country, not a credit card country. Most purchases are paid via Girocard (formerly EC-Karte) or Visa Debit linked to your checking account.

• Many restaurants, bakeries, and small shops still only accept cash or Girocard. Not Visa credit, not Mastercard, not Amex.
• Credit cards are seen as a borrowing product. Getting one usually requires an established banking relationship (6+ months) or a minimum balance.

Implication: carry some cash (€20 to €50 in your wallet at all times) and make sure your primary card is a debit or Girocard.

Getting a credit card

Easy path: N26 offers a Mastercard debit immediately; a real credit card later if you hit their criteria.

DKB Visa: Visa credit card with fee-free worldwide spending and ATM withdrawals. One of the best for travel.

Amazon Visa, Payback Visa, Miles & More (Lufthansa): co-branded cards that are easier to qualify for than big-bank credit cards.

TF Bank: genuinely easy to get, limited credit line initially.

Expect a 3 to 6 month wait before any bank offers you a "real" credit card (Kreditkarte mit Verfügungsrahmen) with proper credit line and monthly billing.

Direct debit (SEPA-Lastschrift) — what Indians need to know

Almost every recurring payment in Germany runs on SEPA-Lastschrift. Rent, electricity, gas, phone, internet, Netflix, public health insurance (GKV) — the creditor pulls the money from your account automatically. You do not push payments manually each month.

How to set it up: the creditor (your landlord, your insurance company, Deutsche Telekom, etc.) will ask for your IBAN and BIC. That is all. They handle the mandate. You find your IBAN and BIC in your banking app under account details. Once you have given them those two numbers and signed a mandate form, they will debit your account on the agreed date every month.

The 8-week recall right: if any direct debit hits your account unexpectedly, you can recall it within 8 weeks without providing any reason. Go to your bank's app, find the transaction, and request a chargeback (Rückbuchung). The funds return immediately. This is a legal right under SEPA rules — use it if something looks wrong.

Security note: anyone who knows your IBAN can attempt a SEPA pull. Your IBAN is not secret in the way a card number is secret — you share it openly for rent payments. But do not give it to unknown online sellers or unverified parties. Banks will reverse unauthorised debits, but it takes time and paperwork.

Sending money to India — full comparison

Sending money home is a routine part of life in Germany. Here is what actually works and what it costs.

Wise* (formerly TransferWise): the default choice for amounts under €10,000. Uses the mid-market exchange rate with a fee of roughly 0.4 to 0.7% of the transfer amount. INR is credited to the recipient's Indian bank account within 1 to 2 business days. Set up the recipient once; all future transfers take under 30 seconds. This is what most Indians in Germany use for monthly remittances.

Revolut: comparable to Wise if you hold EUR in your Revolut account. Good for regular monthly transfers. Rates are competitive on weekdays; Revolut charges a small markup on weekends when currency markets are closed.

Remitly: slightly higher fees than Wise but frequently runs promotional rates for first-time transfers. Worth checking for your first large transfer.

SWIFT via your German bank: avoid unless you are sending more than €25,000 at once. Your bank will charge €15 to €30 in outgoing wire fees, correspondent banks along the chain add another €10 to €20, and the exchange rate the bank applies is typically 1 to 2% worse than mid-market. That adds up to €50 to €70 in losses on a €3,000 transfer.

RBI Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS): you are a German tax resident sending post-tax income to India, so Indian LRS rules do not restrict you as a sender. Your Indian recipient can receive unlimited inbound transfers. For context, the LRS limit of $250,000/year applies to Indian residents sending money out of India — not to Indian-origin people living abroad sending money in.

Tax on transfers: sending money from your German bank account to an Indian account is not a taxable event in Germany. You are moving post-tax income. The transfer itself triggers no German income tax or capital gains tax. You do not need to declare individual remittances in your German tax return.

Savings and investment accounts

Once you have a working Girokonto, the next step is making idle cash work.

Tagesgeldkonto (instant-access savings account): separate from your Girokonto, earns interest, and you can move money in and out daily. Online banks currently offer 2 to 3% interest. DKB, ING, and Trade Republic all have competitive rates. Use weltsparen.de or zinspilot.de to find the current best rate across European banks — offers from Italian, Austrian, and French banks on these platforms are covered by EU deposit insurance up to €100,000.

Trade Republic Savings: Trade Republic offers 3.25% (2026 rate, variable) on idle cash held in its app. Easy to open with a passport and German address. Note that Trade Republic is primarily a securities broker — the cash holding works differently from a bank deposit account, though the funds are protected under German investor protection rules.

ETF investing from Germany: you can invest in index ETFs via DKB, Consorsbank, Scalable Capital, or Trade Republic. The most widely held index ETF among Indians in Germany is the iShares Core MSCI World ETF (ISIN: IE00B4L5Y983). For a full walkthrough of ETF investing from Germany, see the separate investing guide on this site.

Note on immigration status: holding a Blue Card or Skilled Worker permit does not restrict you from opening a brokerage account or buying ETFs in Germany. Banks may ask for your tax residency country when you open an investment account — the answer is Germany, which is the simplest case. No complications arise from being an Indian national with German tax residency.

Getting a Schufa score as a new arrival

SCHUFA is Germany's credit bureau. It collects data from banks, phone companies, and lenders, and builds a credit profile for everyone who lives in Germany. A high score (above 95%) means low default risk. A blank profile means no history — which is not the same as bad history.

When you arrive in Germany, you have no Schufa entry. This is normal and expected. It does not block you from opening a bank account or signing a phone contract.

How your score builds: every account you open, every phone contract you sign, every credit card you get — these all create SCHUFA entries. Paying on time builds positive history. After 6 months of a German bank account with no negative marks, your score starts to be meaningful.

A short but clean Schufa is enough for most purposes: phone contracts, some credit cards, and small purchases on credit. Apartment applications are where a thin Schufa can be an issue, but landlords mainly care that there are no negative marks — not that you have years of history.

Free annual check: every person in Germany has a legal right to one free copy of their Schufa data per year. Go to meineschufa.de and request your "Datenkopie nach Art. 15 DSGVO." It is free and arrives by post within a week or two. The paid "Bonitätsauskunft" on the same site is a different product and is not required for the annual check.

Moving money between India and Germany

Wise* (formerly TransferWise): fastest, cheapest for amounts under €10,000. Transparent fees. Supports INR and EUR.

Revolut: integrated into the app if you use Revolut as your account.

Remitly, Western Union: higher fees but established options.

SWIFT via your bank: slowest and most expensive. Avoid unless you need to send >€25,000 at once.

For sending money to India, Wise or Revolut are almost always cheaper than any Indian bank's remittance service.

Girokonto, Tagesgeldkonto, Festgeldkonto

• Girokonto: checking/current account. Salary in, rent out. No or very low interest.
• Tagesgeldkonto: instant-access savings. Interest rates currently 2 to 3% at online banks.
• Festgeldkonto: fixed-term deposit. Higher interest but locked in. Useful if you have a lump sum and no short-term need.

Check weltsparen.de and zinspilot.de to find Tagesgeldkonto offers from across European banks at better rates than your main bank will offer.

Setting up recurring payments

SEPA-Lastschrift (direct debit) is how rent, electricity, phone, internet, and insurance get paid. You give the creditor a mandate once, they debit automatically. If an unexpected debit appears, you can recall it within 8 weeks without reason.

Überweisung (bank transfer) is the primary way to pay individuals: landlords, friends, freelancers. SEPA transfers within Germany are free and usually instant now.

Common issues for Indians

Landlord rejecting your N26 IBAN: some landlords and property management companies (Hausverwaltungen) will not accept rent payments from N26, Revolut, or other online-only banks. This is not illegal but it is common, especially with older management companies. The solution is to have a DKB, ING, or Sparkasse account for rent, and use N26 for everything else. Open the second account as soon as you have your Anmeldung.

Monthly fees at Sparkasse: most Sparkasse accounts charge €5 to €10 per month as a base fee. Many Sparkasse branches waive the fee entirely if you have your salary (Gehaltseingang) credited to that account each month. Ask at account opening — it is usually a simple flag to enable.

Video identification for DKB: DKB uses a video call process (WebID) for account opening. You need to be in Germany, have your passport ready, and connect on a smartphone or laptop with a camera. The call takes about 10 minutes. Do it the day after you arrive if DKB is your target main bank. You cannot complete WebID from outside Germany.

Joint accounts (Gemeinschaftskonto): if you are married or moving with a partner, a joint account is easy to set up once both people have Anmeldung. Most banks allow you to add a second account holder online or in-branch. A Gemeinschaftskonto is useful for shared household expenses: rent, groceries, utilities all come from one account with both names visible to the landlord or property manager.

English support: DKB and Sparkasse are German-language by default. ING has an English interface. N26 and Revolut are fully English. If your German is limited in the first few months, start with ING or N26 as your primary and move to DKB once you are more comfortable navigating German-language banking.

What to do in your first week

1. Open an N26 account the day you arrive. Takes 10 minutes.
2. After Anmeldung, open a DKB, ING, or Sparkasse account as your main/backup.
3. Move your salary deposit to DKB/ING/Sparkasse once the account is set up.
4. Keep N26 as your travel and everyday card.
5. After 3 to 6 months, apply for a proper credit card at DKB or via Amazon Visa.

Compare German bank accounts side by side: Check current Girokonto offers on Check24 →*

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Related guides on this site

• Anmeldung: registering your address in Germany
• First 30 days in Germany: the Indian arrival checklist
• Steuererklärung: tax return for Indians in Germany
• Apartment hunting in Germany