Is using WeltSparen safe?

Question

There is a German website called WeltSparen ("world saving" ("saving" in the sense of saving money, not in the sense of saving something from being harmed (like the world in this case))). It provides Germans access to banks in other countries to create fixed deposits at interest rates which might actually be higher than the inflation rate of the Euro. Well, higher than the current inflation rate, obviously not higher than what the inflation rate was a few years back. ;-)

You send your money to WeltSparen and they deposit it at the bank you chose.

In Germany, afaik, every person's deposit at any bank is 100% secured up to 100'000 €. And afaik, it's the same in all of Europe since 2011. I learned in school that you get back all of the money you deposited initially and all of the interest you got up until the end of the previous year (I don't remember which kind of year).

Is it safe to put your money there? Would you at most lose the interest you got within the year the bank defaults if your deposit + interest stays under 100'000 €?

What if you deposit 80'000 € in one bank using WeltSparen and 80'000 € more in another one using WeltSparen, too? Would only 100'000 € of these 160'000 € be secured?

Do you have to pay special taxes or have to make special declarations? Afaik, you have to declare it if you move more than 10'000 € across a border. But are you technically moving money across borders or is WeltSparen?

Germany has a 25% tax on money earned through interest but the first 801 € a year are tax-free (for some reason). Is it possible to use this if the money is deposited via WeltSparen?

Answer 1

The €100'000 limit is per bank, where "bank" is defined as a financial institution with a banking license from one of the ECB members.

"WeltSparen", is operated by the MHB-Bank which is a German bank, recognized by the Bundesbank. That means your money is initially guaranteed by the Bundesbank.

When it's moved to the final saving account, you'll be saving at other banks, which are identified in the individual offerings. This can be an effective technique to split capitals in excess of €100.000.

You should obviously look for banks that are backed by ECB member banks, but keep in mind what happened to Iceland: the national banks can also fail. In particular, the Bank of Italy at the moment is looking a bit shaky because Monte dei Paschi di Siena is currently failing and will require a bail-out. There's no official back-up for failing national banks within the ECB system.