Call money and fixed-term deposits: interest rates are rising! Saving is finally worth it again

Savers had to wait a long time for this. After years of zero interest rates, the banks are once again competing for the highest interest rates. ING offers new customers three percent overnight interest – up to a credit balance of 50,000 euros. There is a guaranteed interest rate for six months, after which a variable interest rate applies. On top of that, there is German deposit insurance.

Just behind the ING is the Luxembourg Advanzia Bank with 2.96 percent overnight interest for six months. Here, savers can even invest up to one million euros, with 100,000 euros being legally protected by the deposit guarantee system of the European Union.

Open an overnight deposit account with ING here

Interest on call money and time deposits: More and more banks are participating

Like ING and Advanzia Bank, more and more banks are reacting to the rise in interest rates. This also includes German banks, where you always enjoy German deposit insurance. For example, Deutsche Bank increased interest rates on fixed-term deposits on April 1st.

The bank writes on its website: “2.4 percent interest pa for twelve months with a new investment of 2,500 to 100,000 euros. Applies only to private assets and funds that have not previously been invested in accounts or custody accounts of the Deutsche Bank Group (Deutsche Bank, Postbank, norisbank, BHW Bausparkasse, DWS). Reinvestments from the interest market are also new investments. Offer is open.”

Those who have already invested their money at Deutsche Bank now receive 1.75 percent instead of 1.5 percent. However, the interest rate gradually increases to 2.4 percent per year.

Here is the daily allowance comparison

But there is more to fixed deposits: If you invest your money with the Italian Solution Bank, you even get fixed interest rates of up to 3.5 percent, depending on the term. With a term of only six months, there is still 2.7 percent interest.

To the current fixed deposit comparison!

But not all German banks are following suit. At Commerzbank there is only up to two percent interest per year on the fixed deposit the daily allowance as of April 14, 0.6 percent instead of the previous 0.4 percent per year.

At the savings bank, the interest rates vary regionally for both overnight money and fixed-term deposits.

It’s worth comparing – you should keep that in mind

The question of which model, fixed deposit or overnight money, is worthwhile cannot be answered in general. The rule here is: compare, compare, compare. With a larger investment sum, unless you want to invest your money in the stock market, it can be worth opening several call money and/or time deposit accounts and dividing the sum.

Be sure to also check whether you have given your bank an exemption order. This gives you an allowance for capital gains that you do not have to pay tax on. As a rule, the exemption order is only valid for one year. In January 2023, the allowance was increased from 801 to 1,000 euros for singles and from 1,602 to 2,000 euros for married couples.

“In some cases, interest on savings has tripled in just a few weeks”

Since the interest rate hike by the European Central Bank (ECB) in July, banks no longer have to pay interest when they park money at the central bank, but instead make money from it. Therefore, money houses attract new customers, because money can be made with it. Existing customers also get interest on call money again from many banks and savings banks, but usually less than new customers.

All in all, the ECB interest rate hikes are finally reaching savers, said Oliver Maier, managing director of the comparison portal Verivox: “Depending on the term and market segment, savings interest rates have sometimes doubled or even tripled in a few weeks.”

On Wednesday, Maier classified: savers are currently not receiving such high overnight interest rates as at the Dutch ING at any German bank. According to Maier’s assessment, the new offer should further heat up the competition for savings. “Especially savers who are willing to shift their money occasionally can benefit from such promotional offers. As soon as the promotional interest expires, they simply switch to the next bank with a new customer special offer.”

The same conditions for existing and new customers are also rarely found on the market. One exception: the direct bank DKB. All customers there have been receiving one percent interest on call money since April. The DKB made a “conscious decision against temporary lure offers, limited investment amounts and unequal treatment” of customers, explained DKB boss Stefan Unterlandstättner. “Instead, we offer fair conditions for everyone.”