Good afternoon MatthiasKant, welcome to the NS Community!

If you already have an OV-chipkaart you can order the NS Flex subscription through our customer service by phone, chat, Facebook or X ( formerly Twitter).

If you do not yet have a OV-chipkaart you can order a subscription with OV-chipkaart at our website. 7 days later you will receive the OV-chipkaart with subscription at home. Only it is not possible to send the OV-chipkaart to your address. You have to live in the Netherlands for that. Perhaps you have family or friends in the Netherlands where the OV-chipkaart can be sent to? After receipt it is possible to change the address in our system.

Hi, I tried to get an NS Flex Dal Vordeel subscription via chat and in the customer service center at Amsterdam Central but both were not able to set up a subscription due to my German IBAN.

I am now set up to use OV fietsen with my personal OV Kaart with my German address by the very nice person at Amsterdam CS. And I was told I could get the old version of the subscription by loading money on my OV Kaart and get an annual subscription but not the NS Flex version.

Is there any option to get an NS Flex subscription with a German bank account (not able to use ideal)?

Have you tried using a (virtual) creditcard? Those have often been very useful abroad in my experience. Might be worth a try.

Did they give a reason why it failed? It should be possible with any bank account that accepts SEPA direct debit (Lastschrift). I use my Belgian bank account for my NS subscription.

Credit cards cannot be used for NS subscriptions.

Thanks for the reply. I tried it via chat and after one hour the colleague said that he is not able to enter my German address and therefore couldn't add a subscription.

I then talked to someone on the hotline who said it is possible but it would be easier to do in a service center.

In the Service Center at Amsterdam CS a very nice lady tried everything and was at least able to add my address and set up the OV Fiets subscription. But somehow the NS Flex didn’t work. She didn’t know why and was very frustrated.

I will go back there tomorrow with your information that it is possible and hope it will work.

When it still fails, do ask what error they see and let us know.

NS are required by law to accept any IBAN, but you would be the first one to have a problem with a non-Dutch address. We've seen a few more complaints about that over the past 2 months.

If you already have an OV-Chipkaart, then it may work to change the address to a Dutch address (work address, a friend's address or just the NS main office address) and then request the subscription again. Nothing is sent to that address except a new chipcard just before the old one expires.