Help me close my Deutsche Bank account.

July 13, 2011 2:46 AM

What is the best way to close-out a Deutsche Bank account to dollars (US citizen)? I have a Bank of America account so that I could withdraw the cash from a BoA ATM in installments and then close the account but I am currently in Germany: would I lose anything by just dealing with the account while I am here? Bonus: Can I suspend the account at 0 balance so that it would be easier to re-open it?
posted by ennui.bz to work & money (6 answers total)

Don't. It is harder and harder for non-residents to open bank accounts in Europe. If you ever need it again, you'll regret getting rid of it. Leave a few hundred Euro in it in case there is any minimum amount needed to avoid charges.
posted by three blind mice at 2:51 AM on July 13, 2011

The account has a monthly fee.
posted by ennui.bz at 2:54 AM on July 13, 2011

Are you able to downgrade the account to a non-fee account? Not sure how it works in the rest of Europe but in the UK you have "basic" current accounts which have no benefits and no overdraft but zero fees, or "premier" current accounts which give you free stuff (car breakdown cover, travel insurance, etc) but have various fees attached. It's fairly simple to upgrade or downgrade at will, assuming you meet any criteria.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:20 AM on July 13, 2011

I also mainly need the money.
posted by ennui.bz at 3:32 AM on July 13, 2011

But you don't have to empty out the entire account. I'm in the same situation and had finally decided to leave an euro account active.

A good point made on checking out cheaper accounts which I'll do early next week.
posted by infini at 7:31 AM on July 13, 2011

I ended up closing the DB account. the answer to my question is that DB did not charge an extra fee to convert currency in my account to dollars (though the exchange rate was no doubt below market) and there is no option to 'suspend' the account.
posted by ennui.bz at 5:58 AM on July 20, 2011