The bank must convert your Girokonto free of charge within 4 business days. The one rule: one person — one P-Konto.
✓ Verified: 18/07/2026
WHAT TO DO
Conversion is reversible: once the debts are settled, the same request returns the account to normal mode. Extra fees are not allowed — a P-Konto must cost the same as your regular plan, confirmed repeatedly by the courts.
If your bank still charges a noticeable monthly fee: a second P-Konto is not allowed, but switching banks is — at the new bank you file the same § 850k ZPO request.
I filed with one sentence requesting the account be run as a protected account under § 850k ZPO. Conversion must happen within 4 business days, the bank may not refuse. Extra fees are also not allowed.
👩🏼💼
Lea recommends:
One rule: one person, one P-Konto (banks cross-check via SCHUFA), a second is near-automatically terminated. A joint account cannot become a P-Konto — the bank must open individual accounts, the balance is split.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Will a P-Konto ruin my SCHUFA?▾
The marker is reported but administrative: it does not enter the score and is not passed to lenders as negative. Deleted after reconversion.
The bank refuses or stalls?▾
Cite § 850k ZPO in writing, set a 4-day deadline and threaten a BaFin complaint — banks fear it more than your lawyers. Refusing the conversion is plainly unlawful.
The seizure already hit — too late to convert?▾
No: demand the conversion at once. If the account becomes a P-Konto within four business days of the seizure, protection applies retroactively to the start of the month — the current living allowance stays.