1. Overview: Which Bank Accounts can customers choose from?

• • • Free current account for individuals (Girokonto)
    • Free current account for partners (Gemeinschaftskonto), includes free bank cards for both account holders
    • Free current account for minors from 7-18 years (JuniorKonto)
    • Premium account (Girokonto Plus) with credit card, extra cash service and insurance package

2. Features: What does comdirect offer?

All accounts have a German account number (IBAN). The free comdirect bank account comes without monthly fees during the first 6 months after account opening, and remains free

• • • for everybody younger than 28 as well as for pupils, apprentices students and interns or
    • with a minimum monthly income of €700 or
    • 3 monthly payments by Visa Card (incl. Apple/ Google Pay) or
    • 1 monthly trade (incl. savings plan) on an investment account

In all other cases a monthly fee of €4.90 is applicable. The free comdirect account include the following perks:

• • • Free Girocard with contactless option (VPay)
    • Free Visa Debit card with contactless option
    • Mobile Payment (Apple Pay / Google Pay)
    • Free card payments worldwide by Girocard (in accepted countries) and Visa card; non-Euro transactions are subject to a transaction fee of 1.75%
    • Unlimited free cash withdrawals in Germany at Cash Group ATMs (Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Postbank, HypoVereinsbank) and associated retailers in Germany (e.g. Shell, REWE, Penny, Ald Süd)
    • 3 free cash withdrawals worldwide per month by Visa Card incl. Germany (additional foreign currency transaction fee of 1.75% outside Eurozone)
    • 3 free cash deposits per calendar year at Commerzbank branches (at counter and self-service machines); €4.90 for any additional deposit
    • Use of Commerzbank self-service machines (e.g, deposits, card pin change)

The Girokonto Plus includes the following premium services for a monthly fee of €14.90 (individual booking is also possible for the price shown in brackets:

• • • Visa Credit card (fully suitable for i.e. store payments, online shopping, hotel or rental car bookings) with 0% foreign currency transaction fees outside Eurozone (individually €1.90/ month)
    • Cash plus option (Bargeld Plus) with unlimited cash withdrawals worldwide by Visa Debit and unlimited  cash deposits by Girocard at Commerzbank (individually €6.90/ month)
    • Travel insurance package (Reise-Sorglos-Paket) with insurances for abroad travel cancellation, health, luggage, rental car and emergency service (individually €7,90/ month)

3. Requirements: Who can open a Bank Account with comdirect?

Job requirements

All comdirect accounts are exclusively available for private purposes. Hence, the use for activities related to freelancing and self-employment is not allowed. For this case comdirect’s parent company Commerzbank offers a variety of paid business accounts (promotional link). In case you look for a free alternative have a look at our comparison table to find the best free business accounts in Germany.

Residence

comdirect is the only German bank that allows opening a bank account with every passport from around the world. Therefore, potential customers follow the online application process. Afterwards, for required personal identification various methods are available depending on the nationality and country of residence (read more on possibilities for identification below). In any case, you can keep your account and continue using comdirect’s services when moving abroad later.

Creditworthiness

comdirect performs credit checks when opening a bank account (SCHUFA, income checks). This is why people with lower creditworthiness – oftentimes new arrivals with few credit history in Germany – receive a debit instead of a credit card. As an alternative, you may then chose another account from list of banks in Germany and reapply at a later point in time.

4. Customer services: Which languages are supported and how is the online/ mobile banking?

Language support

There is no English or foreign language support for the customer service (24/7 landline phone number) and the entire interface (web and mobile). The good news is that basic German skills are sufficient to understand the user-friendly and self-explanatory interfaces.

If you require some initial support, we recommend using Google Translate (promotional link to comdirect site) for automatic website translation.

Online banking and mobile app

As an online bank, accounts can be fully managed through the website. Furthermore, comdirect recently released a new mobile banking app with the following features:

• • • Bank Transfers (including photo and voice transfer options)
    • Stock trading
    • Review of balances and limits

Further services (savings, investments, credits)

Comdirect clients have easy access to all other services of Commerzbank’s full-service portfolio. Furthermore, comdirect offers the following additional services to their customers:

• • • Investment accounts (the “Depot” is free without conditions during the first 3 years, afterwards it stays free for customers with a free current account, a regular savings plan or 2 trades/ quarter) and cominvest robo advisor
    • Various offers for credits and mortgages