In Germany, you will need your own bank account for many aspects of day-to-day life, such as for paying your health insurance contributions or rent.

Blocked account (Sperrkonto)

In many cases, a blocked account with a German bank will be required. To this end, upon opening a sum will be paid into the account, from which every month only a limited amount may be withdrawn. At present, the amount for a blocked account is 11,904 EUR. Every month only 992 EUR may be withdrawn from this amount.

To open the account, you will need:

• your letter of admission from the university
• your registration document from the residents' registration office (Bürgerbüro)
• your passport / identity card

Providers, that enable you to set up a blocked account from abroad, are Coracle, Fintiba and Expatrio.

Other providers in the area include Volksbank, Commerzbank, Sparkasse and Postbank. In addition, it is also possible to open an online account with DKB, BB Bank, Targobank, ING-DiBa, and N26.

Please consider that the blocked amount of 11,904 EUR will only suffice for one year and that you will also need funds for your second year (Master's programme) or your second and third year (Bachelor's programme) in order to pay for your expenses. As a student, you can not rely on earning enough money next to your studies to make ends meet.

Current account

It will be necessary for you to open a current account in order to make payments (rental, semester fees, health insurance contributions) and to receive scholarship payments or transfers from abroad. To do this, you will require your letter of admission from the university, your registration document from the residents' registration office and your passport/ID. The banks offer different services at different prices. Students are even able to open free accounts with some banks. For this reason, it is worthwhile carrying out a price comparison before choosing a bank. Many banks will only open an account for you if you are staying in Germany for more than six months.

Living costs in Magdeburg

For better financial planning, we have drawn up a brief overview of average monthly costs. We hope this will help you to better plan your budget.

In comparison with many other towns and cities, the rental prices in Magdeburg are relatively low. There are no tuition fees and the semester fee already includes the cost of bus and tram travel within Magdeburg.