Little side quest. A few years ago, while living in Germany, I opened a Commerzbank personal account. They allowed me to keep it after leaving Germany for Switzerland, so I said “why not? Might be helpful keeping an EUR bank account”.
Well, it is time to close it. Not only I found its usefulness very limited in a world of Wise and Revolut, but they charge me about 120 EUR/year just for “administration fees”. The goal is to close it before end of the year, so to simplify my tax declaration.
Problem: Commerzbank is s**t.
Seriously, don’t believe me, just have a quick look at online reviews. It was fine when I was in Germany, but apparently it went downhill in the last few years. And of course they try to make it as difficult as possible for you to leave.
First of all I syphoned out all my few remaining funds. Then I called the customer service, and they were extremely rude. They basically told me to do it myself from home banking.
I found a guide on how to close your account from home banking but… it doesn’t work! In the English version of home banking, the described option does not exist (different interface). I went on the German page, and when I try to complete the procedure… “Ooops, an error occurred”. AYFKM.
So I found an official form to close the account by mail, I just have to fill it in and send it by registered post. Problem is… I found horror stories online of Commerzbank taking 5-6 months to fulfill their request. I have also read that you can do it faster by going straight to one of their branches, but Commerzbank does not have customer branches in Switzerland (except for institutional clients).
So I’m going cross the border to close a f***ing bank account. Stay tuned!
Are You Fucking Kidding Me 