Find the right bank for your needs in Denmark

If you need to find a new bank, compare your needs before you compare the banks. There is no single bank that is right for everyone. The bank that suits you depends on which products you use, how much you want to handle digitally, and how much weight you place on personal advice. This guide goes through what you should clarify before choosing or switching bank, and what you should compare between two or more offers.

Clarify your needs first

Before you can compare banks in a meaningful way, you need to know what you will use the bank for. Forbrugerrådet Tænk (Danish Consumer Council Tænk) recommends starting by clarifying which services you actually use or expect to need, such as loans, investment advice, buying a home, pension products or ordinary personal advice. Forbrug.dk similarly points out that you should clarify your needs, look at and compare the banks’ offers, and consider whether you need a physical branch or whether a purely online bank covers your needs.

Some people have simple everyday finances with a salary account, a payment card and a little savings. Others have a mortgage, a business, investments or children with their own accounts. The more products you have or plan to have, the more it pays to spend time comparing, because the differences in price and terms are often greatest on loans, investments and advice.

Your life situation also matters. If you are a student or just getting established, fees on everyday products and access to an overdraft facility often matter most. If you are about to buy a home, advice on loans, the contribution rate (bidragssats in Danish) and keeping a good price over time become more important. If you already run a business or plan to start one, it can be relevant to look at what the bank offers in business accounts beyond the private products, which we go into in Choose a bank for your business.

What does the bank cost?

The price of a banking relationship consists of more than the interest rate on a savings account. Forbrugerrådet Tænk stresses that interest rates on loans, fees on investments and prices for services such as payment cards, online banking and transfers can vary considerably between banks. So look at the total price of the products you actually use, rather than a single figure.

For loans, the central figure for comparison is the APR (ÅOP in Danish, annual percentage rate of charge). Forbrug.dk defines the APR as the total annual cost of a loan expressed as a percentage of the loan amount, and points out that the APR mainly makes sense when comparing loans with the same loan amount and term. A low interest rate combined with high fees can therefore end up with a higher APR than a marginally higher rate without fees.

The two accounts end up with the same total price in this invented example, even though the fee structure looks different. The point is that you should add up all the items before you compare. The figures are invented and say nothing about what real banks charge.

The same principle applies to savings and salary accounts: look at whether there is an account fee, a card fee, a fee for withdrawals at other ATMs, or a fee for overdrafts. You will find a walkthrough of the most common types in 7 bank fees you should check. If you want to compare the interest on a savings account, How to choose a savings account may be worth reading, including the difference between easy-access and fixed-term savings.

Remember also to ask about interest the other way round, that is, what you yourself may have to pay if you hold a large balance. Finans Danmark has described how, in periods of low interest rates, several banks have introduced negative interest on large balances for private customers. The threshold at which this applies, and how much it costs, is set by the bank itself and changes with the general level of interest rates, so you should ask specifically if you have, or expect to have, a larger amount on deposit.

Online bank, app and branch advice

Some banks are pure online banks with no physical branches, while others have branches you can visit. Forbrug.dk mentions this as one of the first choices you should take a view on: whether you need a branch nearby, or whether digital service is enough for you.

Think about how often you expect to need personal advice, for example when buying a home, or with a pension or investments. Forbrugerrådet Tænk recommends looking at whether the bank has branches nearby if personal advice matters to you. Also check how the bank’s app and online bank work in practice, for example by reading reviews or asking people you know, which Forbrug.dk also suggests as a source of experience alongside the banks’ own websites.

It is also worth finding out how you contact the bank if something is urgent, such as suspected card fraud. Ask about opening hours for telephone support, whether you have a named adviser, and what response time you can typically expect for messages in the online bank. For some people being able to turn up in person weighs heavily, while others never need it and would rather have low fees than a branch nearby.

Products, advice and ties

Besides price and digital access, you should look at which products the bank offers and how its advice works. Forbrugerrådet Tænk suggests looking into the bank’s quality of advice and checking the decisions of Det Finansielle Ankenævn (the Danish Financial Complaints Board) if you want to know more about complaints against a particular bank. That can give an indication of how the bank handles disagreements with customers.

Be aware of ties as well: some offers, such as an attractive interest rate or a fee-free product, can be conditional on you bringing several products to the same bank, or keeping a certain balance. Read the terms so you know what happens if your situation changes, for example if you later want to move some of your products to another bank.

If ethics and sustainability matter to you, Forbrugerrådet Tænk points out that you can ask the bank directly about its position on money laundering, human rights, financing of weapons and the bank’s CSR strategy.

Be aware, too, of how advice is organised. Some banks provide advice as part of the ordinary account price, while others charge separately for, say, investment advice or a pension review. Ask specifically whether an advice meeting costs anything, and what it costs if so, so you are not surprised afterwards.

If the bank is also to help with a future home purchase, it is relevant to ask how it advises on mortgage credit loans (realkreditlån, loans from a mortgage credit institution), and how the contribution rate (bidragssats) is set and adjusted over time, since the contribution rate typically makes up a fixed part of the total payment on a mortgage credit loan. You can read more about how mortgage credit loans relate to a bank loan for the home in Mortgage credit loans explained, and about the significance of the contribution rate in What is the contribution rate (bidragssats)?. If you are borrowing for something other than a home, Consumer loans: APR, term and the red flags may be worth a look when you compare offers from different banks.

Safety: deposit guarantee and supervision

All banks that accept deposits in Denmark are supervised by Finanstilsynet. Garantiformuen (Denmark’s deposit guarantee fund), which is administered by Finansiel Stabilitet, states that the scheme covers your deposits up to 100,000 euro, equivalent to about DKK 745,000, per bank if the bank fails and has to be put through crisis management, including by reconstruction or bankruptcy. According to Garantiformuen, the amount is made available as soon as possible and no later than 7 working days after crisis management has been started.

The limit of 100,000 euro applies per depositor per bank, so balances in two different banks are each covered separately up to the limit. On a joint account, Garantiformuen says the cover applies to each name or CPR number (the Danish personal ID number) registered as an owner of the account. There are also special rules for certain types of deposit: pension savings set up under the relevant rules are generally covered without an amount limit, while deposits connected with property transactions can be covered up to 10 million euro for up to 12 months. If your total balance is close to or above the ordinary limit, it may therefore be relevant to read more about how the rules apply in your situation, see Deposit guarantee explained.

The right to an account

If you have lawful residence in an EU or EEA country, you generally have a right to have a basic payment account opened at a Danish bank, whichever bank you approach. According to Finanstilsynet, a bank can only refuse the application in a number of specific cases, for example if you have no genuine interest in opening the account, if you already have a corresponding account at another Danish bank, if opening it would conflict with the anti-money-laundering rules, or if you have behaved in a way that is a nuisance to the bank’s other customers. A bank cannot, however, refuse you solely because you lack MitID (the Danish national digital ID), do not live in Denmark, or are registered with RKI (a Danish credit-information register). Finanstilsynet also states that the bank must process your application and reply within 10 working days at most.

If you experience being refused without one of these grounds, you can read more about the rules and your options for complaining in our guide to the basic payment account and in the article on when a bank can refuse you. If you run a sole-trader business, similar rules apply to a basic business account, which you can read about in Basic business account.

How to compare in practice

Once you have clarified your needs, the next step is to collect concrete offers. Forbrugerrådet Tænk recommends collecting offers from 2-3 banks before you decide, and using the offers as a basis for negotiation, both with the new bank and with your current one. Forbrug.dk also mentions that you can use digital comparison portals, but urges you to be aware that some portals are ranked by which deals they have with the banks, and not necessarily by what is cheapest for you. So supplement them by checking the banks’ own price lists directly.

If you want to compare two specific offers, for example on an ordinary bank package or a loan, you can find a more detailed walkthrough in How to compare two bank offers. If you are considering switching bank, How to switch bank in 6 steps describes the process itself, and Is it worth switching bank? shows how to work out whether it pays off for you. Forbrugerrådet Tænk states that the move itself generally takes 12 working days at most, and that switching bank is generally free, although your old or new bank may charge for winding up or setting up certain products such as loans and credit facilities.

Remember also to include friends and family in your research. Forbrug.dk suggests asking people you know about their experiences with their own bank, as a supplement to prices and terms in writing. A recommendation from someone with similar finances or the same needs as you can give a quick indication of how everyday life with a particular bank works in practice, without replacing your own check of prices and terms.

If you … then … Use the list to decide what to give most weight when you read the offers:

What to ask the bank

When you talk to a new or prospective bank, these questions can give you a better basis for choosing:

• What do the products I use today cost in total per year?
• Are there conditions or ties attached to your offer, for example a requirement to bring several products to you?
• How do your app and online bank work, and what support do I get if something goes wrong?
• How long does it take to get an answer or advice if I need it?
• What does it cost to set up and later possibly wind up a loan or credit facility with you?
• Can you put the price in writing so I can compare it with other offers?

Do I need to have everything in one bank?

There is no requirement to bring all products together in one place, and for some people it makes sense to spread, say, savings and loans across several banks. Others prefer to have everything together for the sake of overview, or because it triggers a better overall price. The assessment depends on your own priorities and on whether any bundle discount outweighs the benefits of spreading your products.

Does the size of the bank matter?

The size of a bank says nothing in itself about how well it suits you. Both large and smaller banks are supervised by Finanstilsynet and covered by the deposit guarantee within the applicable limits. Look instead at concrete prices, products, the digital solution and advice when you choose.

Should I choose the same bank as my parents or friends?

A recommendation can be a good starting point for research, but the bank that suits one household’s finances and needs is not necessarily the right one for you. Use the recommendation as one of several sources instead, and hold it up against your own list of needs and prices from several banks.

How often should I compare banks again?

There is no fixed rule for this, but it can make sense to check prices and terms when your life situation changes significantly, for example when you buy a home, change jobs or when a period of a tied benefit expires. Some people choose to do it at regular intervals, for example every couple of years, as a fixed part of their ongoing personal finances, in the same way that Forbrugerrådet Tænk recommends reviewing your budget regularly.