Before you start

Passport and residence permit or visa
Meldebescheinigung, for most traditional banks
Steuer-ID, or an undertaking to supply it once issued
A German address for card and PIN delivery

Step-by-step

1
Open a digital account before you arrive if possible
Several German and EU digital banks issue a German IBAN without a registered address, which breaks the deadlock of needing an account to pay a deposit and a lease to open an account. Treat it as a bridge rather than as your only account.
Mobile appWho: YouBefore arrival
2
Add an established account once registered
BW-Bank, the Sparkassen, the Volksbanken and the direct banks all open accounts on presentation of the Meldebescheinigung and Steuer-ID. Some employers and landlords remain uneasy with fintech IBANs, and although refusing a euro-area IBAN is unlawful under EU rules, arguing it during a rental application is a fight worth avoiding.
In personWho: You
3
Order your free Schufa data copy in the first month
You may request one full copy of your data per year at no charge. Landlords expect a Schufa-Auskunft with every application. Request it early so the document exists when a viewing appears; expect it to be nearly empty rather than negative.
OnlineWho: YouMonth 1
4
Build the file slowly and avoid the obvious damage
A registered address, a mobile contract paid by direct debit and an account in good standing populate the file over months. Opening several accounts and credit products at once reads badly. Instalment purchases of phones and furniture register as credit, which is not what you want in your first quarter here.
OnlineWho: You
5
Know the deposit rules before a landlord names a figure
The deposit is capped at three months' cold rent, must be held apart from the landlord's own assets so it survives insolvency, and you have an unconditional right to pay it in three monthly instalments alongside the first three rents. In a market at Stuttgart rent levels, that right is worth real money.
In personWho: You
6
Set up the SEPA mandates immediately
Rent, health insurance, the Rundfunkbeitrag, electricity and your phone all collect by Lastschrift. Germany runs on direct debit rather than cards, and a failed collection produces a formal Mahnung with a fee attached rather than a friendly reminder.
Mobile appWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport and residence permit
Meldebescheinigung
Steuer-ID once issued
Employment contract, requested by some banks
Schufa data copy, for rental applications

Things most newcomers don’t know

The deposit is capped at three months' cold rent and payable in three instalments by right.

Section 551 of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch caps a residential security deposit, requires the landlord to hold it separately from their own money, and gives the tenant an unconditional right to split it across the first three rents. Landlords almost never volunteer the instalment right. At Stuttgart rents three months is a four-figure sum arriving in the same month as a move, so invoking it is often the difference between a flat being affordable and not.

Source: Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch §551

A letter from a Stuttgart employer is worth more than a Schufa score you do not have.

Landlords use the Schufa file as a proxy for reliability, and a blank one is an unknown rather than a negative. In a region dominated by large, stable industrial employers, an HR letter confirming an unlimited contract and gross salary carries real weight — arguably more than a thin file would. Ask for it in your first week, in German, and keep it in the application folder.

Source: community-reported

Refusing a euro-area IBAN is unlawful, and it still happens.

EU Regulation 260/2012 requires any euro-area IBAN to be accepted for a euro payment, so a landlord or payroll department insisting on a 'real German bank' is in the wrong. Knowing that is useful; depending on it is not. Keep a second account at an established institution so a refused IBAN never stalls a salary run or a rental application while you make the legal argument.

Source: EU Regulation 260/2012

Germany escalates a missed direct debit faster than almost anywhere.

Rent, insurance, utilities and the broadcasting fee all collect by SEPA Lastschrift. A failed collection produces a formal Mahnung with a fee, then a second, then a collection agency, on a timetable measured in weeks. There is very little informal tolerance. Set every mandate up in your first fortnight and keep a buffer, particularly in the month you pay a deposit.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Arriving with no German IBAN and being unable to transfer a deposit when a flat is finally offered.
Paying the whole deposit at once without knowing about the three-instalment right.
Attending viewings without a Schufa data copy already in the folder.
Buying a phone or furniture on instalments in your first months and thinning an already empty file.
Relying on a single fintech IBAN that a landlord or payroll department then refuses.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.