Use this topic page when your biggest question is what to prepare first and what can wait.

If you decide to obtain your pension refund through Fundsback, you will only need to provide a valid identification document. The rest will be taken care of by Fundsback.

Most cases finish within 8 weeks. Around 90% of refunds arrive within two months, some after just 10 days. The exact timing depends on how complex your case is and how busy the German Pension Insurance is; by law it may take up to six months to decide. We submit your application in full so that missing documents or wrong details don’t delay it or get it rejected. We also run all correspondence with the German Pension Insurance, so time zones and slow post don’t cost you weeks.

Most cases start with the essential identity, family and pension context that helps Fundsback understand the claim path. More specific documents can then be requested in the right order instead of overwhelming you at the start.

Almost always, yes. Your contribution history is stored at the Deutsche Rentenversicherung under your insurance number, and it does not disappear because your paperwork did. A lost insurance number can be recovered with your name, date of birth and place of birth. Missing employment periods can be reconstructed through an account clarification (Kontenklärung), the procedure that matches your record against what employers reported. What you genuinely need fresh are the documents that prove who and where you are today: a valid passport and proof of your current address abroad. Fundsback handles the recovery and the account clarification as part of the refund process, so lost papers slow a case down more often than they stop one.

Yes. The Deutsche Rentenversicherung transfers refunds to accounts worldwide, so you do not need to keep a German account open. The transfer needs complete account data: account holder, bank name and address, IBAN where the country uses it, and otherwise the account number with the SWIFT/BIC code. A payout to a non-German account can add up to two months on top of the normal processing time, and the amount arrives in euros, so your receiving bank sets the exchange rate and any conversion fee. Naming the account correctly in the application is the easiest way to avoid a second round of correspondence.