Today we finally received our bank account details. In other words: we opened our company bank account. It was a weird experience. While we had our notary appointment in very late November 2016 we somehow were not able to open a bank account before early February. Here are some lessons I learned as a first-time founder in Germany.

Our initial plans were to open our bank account within hours or maximum 3 days after our notary appointment. We chose an online bank called Fidor. We uploaded every document they needed except for a small mistake from our side. My co-founder left Germany just 3 days after our bank appointment and so it came that we only uploaded a black-white copy of his passport. They requested a high-quality photo and we did so a few weeks later. Finally, on January 11th we uploaded all necessary documents to their online platform. Since that day I tried to contact their (business) customer service a few times but the only response I got was unfriendly: “You need to wait, you are in a queue”.

My wish and patience to open a free bank account at Fidor bank were finally over. We made an appointment at Commerzbank and within less than 2 weeks we opened the account.

When it comes to service it is true: you get what you pay for. Instead of saving a few unspectacular Euros on the bank account I would now always go to a premium bank (like the Commerzbank) first. The idea of applying for a free bank account at Fidor stretched our nerves and did cost us a lot of time.

At least now we are ready to go.