Appealing a Rejection
If a bank rejects your application to open an account, you have the right to appeal against this decision. To keep a record of the appeal, you should ask the bank's adviser who handled your case to fill out the rejection form provided by the ZKA, the Central Credit Committee.
This form requests the reason for the rejection, as well as a more detailed explanation for the decision. This form is useful both for you and for the bank: it provides a written record of the rejection and its reasons.
In case of rejection, banks should inform applicants about the various ways in which they can appeal the decision, but do not always do so. If your application has been rejected, you should contact the applicable organisation and request assistance from an ombudsman. The following list contains the addresses of the organisations that offer this service for various banks:
for 'Landesbanken', State banks, and the Postbank:
Beschwerdestelle für Landesbanken und die Postbank
(Customer complaints for State banks and the Postbank)Bundesverband Öffentlicher Banken Deutschlands e.V.
(the Federal Association of German Public Banks)
- Schlichtungsstelle -(Arbitration board)
Lennéstraße 17
10785 Berlin
for private banks:
Kundenbeschwerdestelle beim Bundesverband deutscher Banken
(Customer complaints for the Federal Association of German Banks)
Postfach 04 03 0710062 Berlin
for the Volksbanken (similar to building societies):
Kundenbeschwerdestelle beim Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken
(Customer complaints for the Federal Association of Cooperative Financial Services)
Postfach 30 92 63
10760 Berlin
You can also contact the 'Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht', or Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, if you believe that your application was rejected without justification. Their address is:
Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht
(Federal Financial Supervisory Authority)
Graurheindorfer Strasse 108
53117 Bonn
