How to open a bank account in Germany quickly? Step-by-step instruction!

Instructions for filling out an application to open a bank account with Postbank

To open a bank account with Postbank, go to their website: Postbank Giro direkt and click on the button "Online abschließen" (German: conclude online) to go to the application form for a personal account.

Go down a little bit to skip the advertising banner of Postbank and go to the first part of the application: 

1. In this part, you enter your personal information: gender (Frau - female, Herr - male), first name (Vorname), if you have additional first names, you also enter them (Weitere Vornamen), last name (Nachname), marital status (under "Zur Bonitätsprüfung", e.g. ledig - single, verheiratet - married).

2. In the next section, you provide your date of birth, place of birth (Geburtsort) and nationality (Staatsangehörigkeit).

Next, you must answer whether you were born in the US or have US citizenship (1).

Then you have to indicate if you are only taxable in Germany (2). If you work most of the year in Germany, live here permanently or just settle your taxes here, you should tick JA (yes). If you have ticked JA, then in section "Die Steuer-Identifikationsnummer ist" tick "nicht bekannt" if you do not know your Steuer-Identifikationsnummer or do not have it at hand.

At the end of this part of the application you have to indicate your address: country and address (see field "Geben Sie hier Ihre Adresse ein") and whether you have lived here for more than 3 years (Wohnen Sie hier seit über drei Jahren?).

Please enter your cell phone number (1). This must be from a German mobile phone provider. You will receive your TAN codes for Online-Banking on this number.

Then please enter your contact information (2).

Finally, indicate that you have read all legal information (at each point "IAM") and click on the "Weiter" button to proceed to the summary:

In the summary you can check all the data you entered. If everything is correct, you can scroll to the bottom of the page and return the application by clicking on "Kostenpflichtig bestellen" (sometimes Postbank changes the name of this button, for example "Jetzt online abschließen").

After submitting your application, you must confirm your identity:

1. In person (persönlich) or by video (Videolegitimation). In our case, we chose to confirm our identity via video.
2. Therefore, you have to choose whether you want to identify yourself now or later (you will receive an e-mail notification). In order to identify yourself by video, you will need a computer with a camera and microphone, as well as proof of identity and a phone with the phone number you provided in the application. If in doubt, ask in the comments.

When it comes to verification in person, more information can be found above under the item "Activation of an account in Postbank".

Instructions on how to apply for a Norisbank account

To open a bank account with Norisbank, go to their website: www.norisbank.de and click on the button "Jetzt eröffnen" to go to the application for opening a personal account.

First, indicate whether you are already a Norisbank customer:

If not, select "Nein, noch nicht" and click on the "Weiter" button to display further options.

In the next section you have to answer the question whether you want to open an individual account (Einzelkonto) or a joint account (Gemeinschaftskonto):

If you open an account exclusively for yourself, you select "Einzelkonto" and click on the "Weiter" button. Next, Norisbank wants to know if you are self-employed - "Arbeiten Sie als Selbständiger?". 

After selecting from one of the options, you will see another page where you need to decide on additional options (see step 2).

First, you need to decide if you want an overdraft (the bank gives you a given amount by which you can overdraw your account) - if so, check "I" next to "Dispositionskredit" and choose the amount:

At point two, you must decide if you are ordering a credit card. There are two types of credit cards to choose from:

• Maestro Card direkt (creditworthiness required), which is free in the first year and costs 24 euros per year in subsequent years. Its advantage is that you can withdraw money free of charge 12 times a year all over the world. In addition, unlimited cash withdrawals in ATMs of partner banks, e.g. Barclays, Bank of America and others. Additionally, money can be withdrawn free of charge within Germany at ATMs of banks belonging to the so-called "Cash Group", which include Postbank and Deutsche Bank. Money can also be withdrawn at partner supermarkets in Germany such as ALDI SÜD, Lidl, Netto-Markendiscount, PENNY, REWE, toom Baumarkt and others. The card is also available without regular income.
• Maestro Card which is completely free of charge, but regular deposits are required. As with Maestro Direct, withdrawals are free of charge within Germany at ATMs belonging to the "Cash Group" as well as at partner supermarkets.

In point 3 you have to decide if you want to open a savings account (Tagesgeldkonto), which will be listed as a sub-account.

Further on the same page you can select additional options:

In point 4, we mark if the account will be used as a company account (if so, we mark it). In section 4 we mark if we want to enable additional function of monitoring our expenses (if yes, we mark it, if no, we leave it blank). At the end we have to mark if we agree to receive information about current bank's promotions (if yes, we have to mark how - by phone or e-mail). 

Click the "Weiter" button to go further.

In the following section of the form, you must provide personal information:

Then fill in the information about your address of residence (Meldeadresse) and give your telephone number and e-mail address to which the documents will be sent. Under "Bezug zu den USA" you must indicate whether you were born in the USA (option 1) and whether you have American citizenship (option 2):

Finally, under the heading steuerliche Ansässigkeit you have to indicate whether you are liable to tax in Germany (option 1), in Germany and another country (option 2) or not in Germany and another country (option 3). You also agree to the verification of our reliability by SCHUFA and click on the button "Weiter" to proceed:

The next step is a collection of various pieces of information that you need to read and confirm that you have read them (the "I" buttons next to each information section:

One of the final steps is a summary:

You will need to select a PIN and click on the "Jetzt verbindlich beantragen" button (see above) to send an application for a bank account with Norisbank. 

To open a bank account with Commerzbank, go to their website: www.commerzbank.de and click on the button "Kostenloses Girokonto eröffnen" (German: open a free account) to proceed to the application form for a personal account. Below you will find a step-by-step guide with all the necessary pictures to open a free account with Commerzbank.

In the next step we fill in our personal data:

1. Frau / Herr (Mrs / Mr)
2. Title (optional)         
3. First name (Vorname)                
4. Surname (Nachname)

5. surname of birth (Geburtsname) - optional

6. date of birth (Geburtsdatum)

7. place of birth (Geburtsort)

8. country of birth (Geburtsland) is selected in the menu

9. in the menu choose the nationality (go down to ''Polen'')

Continue by clicking on "Weiter".

In the next part we fill in our registration data: postal code (1), city (2), street (3), house number (4) and since when we live at this address (5).

We can enter the tax identification number (6) of the Steuer-ID (this is not necessary) or tick option 7 (I am tax resident in other countries). Continue by clicking on Weiter (8).

In the next section, select the appropriate employment relationship (1) and then proceed (2).

In the next step we provide how best to contact us. We can give a phone number (1) or an e-mail address (2) which should be repeated (3).

After completing the selected field, we move on (4)

In step five you enter a user name (1) and password (2) which you repeat (3). The user name must be 8 to 50 characters long and contain a minimum of one number or one special character (?_@!...). The password must also be at least 8 characters long.

This will be our login data which is best saved somewhere safe.

We can go to the next step (4).

In this step, we provide our account turnover:

1. Monthly income
2. Monthly transactions (cash withdrawals, transfers)
3. Select this option if you regularly make transfers abroad or receive transfers from abroad.
4. After selecting the appropriate amounts go on.

In this step we can opt for an additional debit card. The current cost of this option is 3.50 Euro per month. If you want to take advantage of this offer, check the box (red arrow). Continue (Weiter)

We can also open a DirektDepot. This is an offer for clients who want to trade securities. Regardless of our decision (if we want to open a DirektDepot, we check box 1) we can proceed further (2).

Terms and conditions and declaration of consent (Vertragsbedingungen und Einwilligungserklärungen): In this step, we can download detailed terms and information for our account as a PDF file (Bedingungen und Informationen für das Girokonto (PDF)) as well as the cancellation policy (Widerrufsbelehrung).

We can also choose to send the above mentioned documents together with our application to the e-mail address (1).

Points 2, 3 and 4 are mandatory if we want to proceed further. In these points we confirm the legal conditions for opening an account:

2: I act in my own business interest and not in the interest of third parties;

3: I have taken note of the depositor information sheet which contains information about the amount and scope of statutory deposit guarantees.

4: I have read the depositor information sheet containing information on the scope of deposit insurance and I agree with the deposit insurance agreement.

In the next point, you can select whether you want to receive information about current offers and financial topics. We can choose between a telephone number (5) or e-mail address (6).

We can agree to the use of our data to advise on financial services (7). Like the previous option, this one is also optional.

The last option (red arrow) is that we agree to give our data to Commerzbank's partners (also for financial consulting purposes).

In this step we review and check all the data we have entered. You can change them. We also have the option to download all documents directly as PDF-files (Unterlagen herunterladen) or to send them by e-mail (Unterlagen per E-Mail senden).

It remained for us to confirm our identity.

We download our application directly as a PDF file or use the email option.

We can confirm our data quite conveniently, without leaving home, using a smartphone or tablet. To do so, we use the sms that was automatically sent to our number. Download the Commerzbank videoIDENT application (link in the sms) and use the operation number (also in the sms) by entering it in the application.

We also have the choice to identify ourselves at a branch of the German Post (Deutsche Post) or at one of the branches of Commerzbank.

After a few days, you will receive a photoTAN activation letter. You will also receive your bank card and PIN by mail (for security reasons in two separate letters). Our electronic mailbox will be activated automatically.

Online Banking is available 1 - 2 days after confirmation of your identity.

Using the card is possible after about a week.