I am a tourist from the US traveling in Germany and I recently lost an item on a DB train and got it back. After the lost and found gave me my item back they charged me a €5 processing fee, no problem, except that they gave it to me in the form of a SEPA transfer slip (?) and I have no idea how to pay it. I explained at multiple help desks that I don’t have an EU bank account and don’t have a way to pay it but no one has helped me. I don’t have a friend nearby that could do it for me. Please help! I don’t want the ticket to be overdue and then owe the Deutsche Bahn a crazy amount of money. (I blurred out the specific reference number just in case cause idk).
by MeowMeow8361
4 comments
That’s an account with Postbank (the identifier starting with PBNK gives it away); technically, you can go to a post office and pay in cash there. However, for € 5, they will charge you a fee of € 15.
So if I were you, I’d just ask a local for help. It doesn’t matter from which (or whose) bank account this money is sent, so you can just give € 5 to someone and they send € 5 from their account. It’s a matter of seconds with online banking.
Where have you traveled around in germany ? 🙂
I’m from the US originally so I know how confusing it can be especially with the various bank accounts. Send me a message and I can try to help!
Though this is a SEPA Transfer form, any bank worldwide should be able to do a wire transfer. The form contains the BIC, which is the international identifier of the receiving bank, which allows your bank to address them. However, the costs are quite high. Make sure you chose OUR to take over the entire costs!
I just found zoom.com, they allow to transfer money almost anywhere including German banks, you can pay by credit card or PayPal. It costs just 0,99€, but the minimum amount to send is 8,73€… Might still be cheaper than normal wire transfer.
There might be other services like this.
Whatever you do, make sure the Verwendungszweck (reference) is correct, so the recipient can link the payment to your case.