What you need to know about Sparkassen service

The real-time discounts have had a European standard since last November, with amounts limited to 15,000 euros are. Real time means that the amount is credited to the recipient's account within ten seconds. For normal transfers, this usually takes one business day. Lightning transfers, where money is transferred immediately, there is already. But they are expensive with prices of ten euros and more.

Who can use the service?

Hypo-Vereinsbank offers instant payments since November. Now follow most of the 385 savings banks, which together count as the market leader 40 million current accounts. Where the Sparkasse Hamburger, after the counterpart of Berlin, the second largest savings bank, due to a computer change will begin next year.

Immediate payments only work if the credit institution of the person sending the money and the recipient of the service already offer it. About 20 major banks in Europe have joined the new procedure, but some can only receive real-time credit transfers from their customers

When will the other German banks follow?

Deutsche Bank will allow instant payments from November 20th. The banks Volksbank and Raiffeisen also use the new payment method in November. They then want to create the technical prerequisite for the accounts to be reachable for real-time transfers.

In the coming year, their customers can also initiate instant payments themselves. The other banks do not name a start date yet. Commerzbank says that instant payments are "at an early stage". She also wants to offer her customers the payment method, but does not say from when. The ING-Diba online bank is also focusing on the subject, but can not yet give a start date.

What do clients need instant payments for?

Up to now, only for special cases. To put it plainly: Normally, you do not need real-time transfers. It is usually sufficient that the money be credited to the recipient's account after one business day. Useful can be an instant payment – then by smartphone – but when buying a used car, which is usually paid in cash. The seller is secure because you can not revoke a payment in real time, says Christoph Auer of the consulting firm Capco.

Another example of application, Oliver Hommel, payment expert at Accenture, consultant: "You can take out travel insurance at the airport before the start of the holiday and you will benefit from the protection immediately." consumers can get an entry ticket, a subscription or a subscription Pay a bid in seconds – and get a ticket, a subscription or a product immediately. But online stores must offer instant payments as a method of payment.

Do real-time payments cost anything?

For many financial institutions, yes. For example, while Frankfurter Sparkasse and Nassauische Sparkasse für Instant Payments do not charge extra fees to customers, private customers have to pay in other houses. At the Stadtsparkasse München, for example, 50 cents, at Berliner Sparkasse according to the account model 25 or 50 cents. In several other savings banks, prices are also shifted according to the type of account.

Deutsche Bank will charge 60 cents per order. Experts believe that the action of financial institutions is critical: it will not promote the application of instant payments "when banks and savings banks are paying off," Hommel explains. Similarly, argues Auer. It highlights the potential cost savings. Finally, banks could turn off their existing systems as soon as instant payments become standard

Could instant payments become standard in the future?

This is certainly possible, but probably only if guests do not have to pay extra. With mobile-to-mobile payment systems, instant payments are already integrated. In Britain and Sweden, real-time transfers have long been common, according to Hommel, an expert at Accenture.