Useful, but less known:

Deposit machine ► Deposit cash free of charge to the account!

24.10.2017

Withdrawing and depositing cash free of charge is often the reason to not cancel a generally expensive current account at a branch bank.

Some people, who switched to the free current account of the DKB have made different experiences now. They can dispose free of charge of currently of 16 deposit machines and around the clock, to deposit cash – also higher amounts, as shown in the second video of this article –.

For customers of a direct bank, it is outstanding that they can deposit cash free of charge to their current account. Otherwise, it is usually: “Go to a branch office of a third-party bank and deposit paying a fee”. The fees are between Euros 7.50 and 25 depending on the bank.

DKB-customers can be really glad (or people, who perhaps want to become one due to this article – see last paragraph), if they live or work close to a DKB-owned deposit machine.

Address list compiled for our people!

At the amount of 16, it is quite obvious that they are not everywhere. You can find the address list with route directions and photos to every single machine as an attachment to this article.

How the cash deposit at the DKB works

You need:

• Your DKB-Girocard

You do not need:

• PIN
• ID-card
• note opening hours

I have recorded how the deposit takes place step-by-step already two years ago (still up-to-date):

How much cash can you deposit?

Deposit machine and upper cash limit

There is currently no upper cash limit – see publishing date of the article – in Germany. In more than half of the EU-countries, an upper cash limit became reality in the past years. A uniform implementation is politically discussed. The lowest upper limit is in Portugal with Euros 1,000.

Upper cash limit means that one cannot pay bills using cash beyond the limit. This would be illegal and is punished with a fine.

Instead of an upper cash limit, due diligence, documentation and reporting obligations of the Money Laundry Act apply in Germany. This law has been changed for the last time at the 26th of June 2017. At this date, the threshold value, from where the “bureaucracy” applies, was lowered from Euros 15,000 to Euros 10,000.

New upper limit at the deposit machine

Until summer 2017, one could deposit up to Euros 14,999 at German deposit machines. Due to the fact that DKB-machines do not accept coins, the highest amount was Euros 14,995. Currently you can deposit Euros 9,995 at once being a DKB-customer.

That depositing higher amounts is not that easy, but finally works with a little time and patience, is shown in this video:

Recommendation / Teachings from this self-test

• Type of bills

  The deposit machine accepts all bills (Euros 5-, 10-, 20-, 50-, 100-, 200- and 500-bills; also the older ones, as we have tested with the Euro 5 bills at once; currently, there is a change of the Euro 50 bill).

• Amount of bills

  The DKB deposit machines are build the same way, so one can assume that also the rest of the machines, others than the tested one, have problems to count and to check thicker bundles. (When I tested the way through the Comdirect, its machines were able to process big bundles and coines in a separate compartment in a short time.)

  

  Even this thin bundle was too much for the deposit machine, which one would not assume at the size of the compartment. We have tested it several times!

  Do not lay more than 20 bills at once into the feeder tray, even if it looks bigger. We tried several times and the money came back as not recognizable. This costs additional time and if you want to deposit a higher amount, then you might want to do it quickly.

  After the counting procedure, the machine asks, whether further bills should be deposited. Press “Weitere Einzahlung” (further deposit), the feeder tray and the procedure starts from the beginning. You can repeat that as often as you want until reaching the upper limit.

  

  In order to deposit further money within the same booking, just choose “Weitere Einzahlung” (further deposit).

• Counterfeit bills?

  Deposit machines do not only count the money, but also check it for authenticity. If the machine doubts the authenticity of one or several bills, then you do not get them back again. They will be credited “with reservations”.

  Do not worry, if you see this note on the receipt:

  

  Deposit receipt with the note that one bill is only credited with reservations.

  It can be at older or waisted bills that not all security marks can be read positively by the machine. These bills are stored separately and will be checked after the next emptying manually by a staff member. Normally, you do not hear from the bank again.

  If it really is counterfeit money, then the bank will contact you.

• Restrained handling with higher cash deposits

  Frequent cash deposits around the upper limit and especially with a transfer to a third-party account afterwards are uncommon. A suspect notification according to the Money Laundry Act is not necessarily limited to the upper limit.

  Of course we know that there are smart bank customers among our readers, who love to test the presented ideas and instructions. You can also do that through cash deposits using the deposit machines. But please do not do it too often, e.g. by withdrawing daily using the Barclaycard (to train the credit line) and deposit it here again. No one of us wants to get targeted by new monitoring methods. Also in summer 2017, further statutory specifications have changed:

  • Abolished: § 30a AO (tax code): Protection of bank customers
    It is about a protection act for us bank customers – protection from an “all-powerful and all-knowing” state
  • supplement: § 93 AO: Disclosure obligation of involved and other persons
  • supplement: § 93b AO: Automated searching of account information
  • … as well as a few paragraphs. You can find an overview on buzer.de

  If you assume that one is taking a closer look at your account at unusual transactions without informing you of it, then you are perhaps right. We will leave it with deliberately prudent formulations and deal again with the practical use for the smart bank customers.

Why can’t I deposit more than Euros 9,995?

At amounts of Euros 10,000 or more, the Money Laundry Act requires a legitimating check and further data. Just at the legitimating check, the deposit machine is being ruled out, because a Girocard is no valid identification document and the machine cannot recognize, whether the person in front of it “fits to the card”.

When is the money credited to the account?

At the same day or, if the deposit took place on the weekend, at the banking day before! This is perhaps interesting to know for those people, who have to settle their account in due time, for whatever reason!

What experiences have you made?

Let us and other readers know what experiences you have made with the deposit feature of bank machines – especially with the DKB-machines –. Moreover, we would be glad to read about practical tips, in keeping with the spirit of our smart bank customer community.

If you are not yet a DKB-customer …

… you can find many useful instructions on how to cleverly use this German top account on our special portal, for example DKB refunds the foreign transaction fee or DKB overdraft facility up to Euros 15,000.

Especially recommended for journeys abroad is the DKB credit card, with which one can withdraw cash free of charge around the globe. You can find the basic article about the DKB here and useful tips on the account opening are also available for you!

As promised:

The link of the address list with ► all DKB deposit machines!