What you need to know …

… before you open a DKB-account!

12.8.2020

There are two use options:

main account
sideline account (secondary account, housekeeping account, vacation account, reserve account, etc.)

You won’t find such a division in the price-service-listing. The division is made with the use. This is most obvious at the limits.

Use the secondary account with the functionality of a main account?
You can find tips at the end of this article!

Applies to all new and current customers: free account management ► www.dkb.de ✅

Standard: This is how the account is “delivered” to you after the account opening:

This is how the DKB looks like directly after the opening – without further changes.

2 to 3 weeks after the account opening (the rush to the bank is still huge), you receive several letters in which you will find two cards as well as an IBAN on top of the access data and PINs.

The IBAN belongs to the current account. See illustration above.

You do not get the IBAN for the credit card account. Therefore, many new customers transfer an initial amount to the current account. When you then pay with the Girocard, everything works fine, as expected.

However, the DKB Visa Card has considerably more advantages, such as e.g. the worldwide free withdrawing of cash on the part of the DKB!

That means: The DKB Visa Card goes into the red

You now start to use the DKB Visa Card for payments and withdrawing cash, so it goes into the red. This is alright, because no loan interest applies. I have posted this illustration for our readers as a tip 7 years ago:

From the perspective of the client, it is clever to mainly pay with the Visa Card. By the way: cash withdrawals are also interest-free up to the monthly settlement. This is like a free loan!

The problem: Many people do no know about the division of these two accounts!

You transfer e.g. Euros 2,500 to the IBAN of the current account and withdraw money to test the procedure and make yourself familiar with the account and card.

Roland, a new customer of the DKB, withdrew Euros 200 from the ATM of the Sparkasse. Free of charge! He was happy. Also some days later, another withdrawal of Euros 200 worked flawlessly.

The next withdrawal at an ATM of Edeka got rejected. He was upset. Especially because the failure note “Ihr Konto ist für diese Transaktion nicht zugelassen” (your account is not authorized for this transaction) was displayed. He went to the Raiffeisenbank. Another failure note and no money came out of the ATM. Neither at the Deutsche Bank and the Sparda Bank.

The Commerzbank did not work either and showed the note “Ihr Tageslimit ist überschritten” (your daily limit has been reached). Then Roland tried to withdraw Euros 100 and surprisingly for him, the money came out.

What had happened in the background?

Roland had withdrawn his credit line of Euros 500 little by little with the Visa Card. He had reached the limit and he wondered, how would he be able to pay a vacation home or other big expenditures with such an “unreliability”?

Solution: Internal transfer

If you need more than the monthly overdraft facility of Euros 500 in your (sideline) account, you simply make an internal transfer. For example, you transfer Euros 1,000 from your current account to the credit card account and so you currently have an overdraft facility of Euros 1,500.

If Euros 500 for the use of a secondary account is enough for you, you do not need to do anything, because the negative balance is automatically settled on the 20th of every month with the current account.

Automatic solution: Standing order

If you regularly want to pay more with the DKB Visa Card, you can set up a standing order from the DKB current account to the DKB credit card account.

The step-by-step solution is ready for you here.

Alternative: Increase the limit!

Alternatively, you can apply at the DKB for an increase of the limits (overdraft facility on the current account as well as credit line on the credit card account).

Requirement for this is a real incoming salary transfer. With this, we reach the use as your main account (if you do not set up a standing order in the same amount to another current account).

In any case – if the other credit worthiness factors approve it – you will be rewarded with 3-times the amount of the incoming salary transfer for the overdraft facility limit and the credit card limit.

Example

In the following example, someone arranges to get the real incoming salary transfer in the amount of Euros 3,000 to the account and then applies for the increase under Service and Limits.

With an incoming salary transfer, the illustration above looks immediately different, doesn’t it?

A maximum of Euros 15,000 as the limit on both accounts is possible. Is that too much for you? No problem. You do not have to take the highest limit. It is up to you for which limit you apply for.

The incoming salary transfer is decisive for the increase of the limit, not for the free account management. The account is always free of charge!

You can apply for another Visa Card with the incoming salary transfer and distribute the limit. For example, like this:

The distribution of the limit between credit cards is your decision – not the bank’s decision.

Do you need cards for the life partner/spouse?

Then your account at the DKB could look like this:

The authorized person does not necessarily have to be your life partner. You decide, who gets a card to your account. For example, it can also be your domestic help.

Do you want to further “drill” the DKB-account?

Do you currently need so many cards and accounts at the DKB? Probably not. But if this should change, you can apply for them. This is the big difference between the many small and big banking newcomers, such as N26 or Tomorrow.

Tip: Limits are permanent

Once set up limits are permanent. If you change your job and earn more or get a salary increase, it is up to you to apply for a higher limit. There is no automatical adjustment!

This is of advantage the other way arround: If you become unemployed or you simply want to use a different account as your salary account, the approved limit will remain the same.

Keep that in mind or save our community for questions about the DKB and smart bank customers. You are welcome to recommend this article to others. Thank you!

Questions?

You will receive great answers the quickliest, if you submit your question through the comments feature at the end of this page. A hearty thanks to the many smart bank customers that support each other here. Unanswered questions and updates are heard in the Sunday Mail.