Drawing cash from a German based bank

[Nickinbracknell]

My mum has a small pension accruing in a bank in Germany and would like to withdraw some of this money using a Maestro debit card. Unfortunately the exchange rate and fees means she pays nearly £10 for every £20 withdrawn. She is an invalid so travelling to Germany is impossible. Anyone else had this issue and how did you resolve it: one idea is to use a bureau de change and extract cash that way. Any thoughts??

Can she not instruct the bank to transfer funds to her UK account

Unfortunately we did try but it means a visit to her bank to prove her identity and fill forms. She is not up to that

Could she write to them? Is it for a large amount?

You can transfer money via online banking, it's £10 for any amount from a U.K. account to Germany, perhaps they can do similar

Personally I’d write to the bank and explain the circumstances including evidence of her inability to travel (eg note from her doctor) and say she’d like to withdraw the funds completely. I would imagine the bank will have a process for doing this - try customer services

Is it possible to get the pension paid into a UK bank?

Starling do a Euro account, so the money may get paid in with only a minimal fee (0.4%) and then she is likely to be able to transfer to a Sterling account with no fees and a good exchange rate (check this, but it should be right).

www.starlingbank.com/current-account/euro-bank-account/

If you manage to stop money going into the German account, could it then be closed and the balance transferred to the new account?

If you can't do this without visiting Germany, could you just take the one off hit and withdraw all the money in one go.