Blocked Account: Everything you need to know

Student visa applicants are required to prove sufficient funds to the German Embassy for the duration of their study in Germany. That's where the blocked account comes in. You will need to open a blocked account and deposit an amount of € 10,236 (as of Fall 2019) for one year. From this amount, you are allowed to withdraw a fixed sum of € 853 each month. The blocked account ensures that a student has enough funds to meet the living costs while studying in Germany.

Until recently, only Deutsche bank provided the blocked account service for students aspiring for higher education in Germany. However, new service providers such as Fintiba and Coracle now provide similar products with a much reliable service at a competitive rate. All the three service providers are approved and accepted by the German Embassy as linked here (as of Fall 2019).

So, the important question, Deutsche Bank, Fintiba, or Coracle?

Here is a quick comparison table of the main features of the different blocked account providers:

Important!

• With Deutsche Bank, there are additional steps of attesting your identification documents and signature from the German Embassy and then sending those to Deutsche Bank in Germany via post. For details on that, please refer to this link.
• Coracle and Fintiba provide travel insurance upon first availing their respective student health insurances. However, Coracle offers FREE travel insurance while travel insurance by Fintiba (which is part of the Fintiba Plus package) costs € 95.
• Customer services including data change requests, application withdrawal etc. are really quick with Fintiba and Coracle.

Based on several students feedback and my own experience, I highly recommend Fintiba. It is super convenient since the entire process is online. Moreover, it caters to customer requests and queries very quickly.

Fin.