Startseite › Glossar › Overdraft Facility (Dispokredit)
Glossar · Finance
Overdraft Facility (Dispokredit)
A pre-approved credit line on a current account allowing automatic overdraft up to an agreed ceiling — convenient, but with high variable rates typically running at 10-13% per year.
What an overdraft facility is
The Dispositionskredit — Dispo in Germany, Überziehungsrahmen or Kontorahmen in Austria — is a pre-approved credit line on a current account. The accountholder can overdraw the account up to the agreed ceiling without filing a separate loan application. The drawdown happens automatically with any debit that exceeds the balance.
Legally it counts as a revolving consumer loan under the Austrian Verbraucherkreditgesetz (VKrG) or Germany's §504 BGB. Banks must disclose the effective interest rate transparently and proactively advise clients who remain in overdraft for more than six months.
Rates in 2026: stubbornly high
Despite ECB rate cuts since 2024 — the deposit facility rate sits at 1.75% after the 5 June 2026 meeting — overdraft rates across the DACH region remain conspicuously high. A snapshot of current pricing (June 2026):
- Erste Bank Austria: 11.75% per year
- BAWAG: 12.25% per year
- Raiffeisen Wien-NÖ: 12.5% per year
- Deutsche Bank: 11.9% per year
- German savings banks (Sparkassen): 9.5-12.8% per year
The roughly 10-percentage-point spread between the deposit rate and the overdraft rate is one of the most profitable margins in retail banking. Austrian consumer bodies (AK, VKI) regularly criticise the gap, but no statutory cap exists — unlike in France or Belgium.
Tolerated overdraft: doubly expensive
Going beyond the agreed overdraft limit pushes the customer into a tolerated overdraft (Überziehungskredit or Toleranzrahmen). The applicable rate is another 3-5 percentage points above the regular Dispo — frequently above 16% per year. Banks must inform clients in writing, but no separate agreement is required.
Smart usage
From a wealth-management perspective, sustained use of an overdraft is almost always a mistake. A comparable instalment loan (€5,000-€15,000) currently costs 5-8% effective at German or Austrian banks — less than half. Anyone regularly in the red should refinance the overdraft with an instalment loan or build a cash buffer in an instant-access account.
For short-term liquidity gaps (one to two weeks), however, the overdraft remains the most flexible and probably the cheapest instrument — the 12% per year cost translates into only a few euros over a short period.