Student Holders of BAM Blocked Accounts in Germany Can Finally Receive Their Payments for July & August

Aareal Bank AG has been ordered to transfer to international students who have opened blocked accounts with Hamburg-based BAM Bundesweites Anlagenmanagement the money failed to be paid out since June, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has announced.

BaFin stressed that the respective bank will send the payments for July and August 2021 to all BAM customers living in Germany, including international students who have been receiving payments prior to June 1 this year, Erudera.com reports.

 “The transfers will be made to the accounts last used by the students. These customers will not have to submit any additional proof of identity since their data, in particular their bank account numbers, have already been provided,” the press release by BaFin reads.

Moreover, it advised students who entered Germany in June 2021 or after and did not get their money back, to contact Aareal Bank AG at [email protected]. It also highlighted that students must submit the digital copies of the documents below in order to allow Aareal Bank to verify their identities:

• Passport or identity card
• German visa, residency permit, (university enrollment certificate if visa or residency permit have not been issued yet)
• Entry stamp of the German Federal Police
• Blocked Account Confirmation from BAM
• Blocked Account Transfer Instructions from BAM

Following BaFin’s decision to follow procedure over the case, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building, and Community (BMI) will require federal states to ensure that BAM clients will not face any struggles regarding German residency law if the latter can open a blocked bank account with another licensed institution.

International students in Germany coming from third countries are required by the government to show that they can cover their living costs while in Germany by providing proof of their financial resources.

As of 2021, students must have at their disposal a total of €10,332, which sum must be deposited to a blocked account. Hundreds of international students in Germany have opened a blocked account with BAM as the latter offered them a moderate price to open their blocked accounts at Aareal Bank in Wiesbaden.

Nonetheless, students have been in financial distress since June, as the service provider has stopped paying them the monthly allowance of €861 deposited as required.

On July 12, 2021, BaFin ordered BAM to “immediately cease its unauthorised deposit business”, saying that the blocked accounts were not opened under the name of students. Nevertheless, the provider collected the funds in its own account.